ONE-time dashing wing-half Alan Crump has netted success at the first attempt after surfing the world-wide web and coming across the St Helens Star.

Alan, now a long-time resident of sunny California, immediately contacted us to see if any of his old St Helens Town colleagues still remembered him from his playing days during the late 1940s and 50s. Names that still spring to Alan's mind from those happy Hoghton Road days included Bill Twist, Harry McCann, Higgins, Garner, Buckley and Finney.

And now the rallying cry has been picked up by Roy Thomas, himself a talented half-back of seasons long-gone, who is digging through his personal sporty archives, attempting to find any flashback pictures featuring the team of Alan's era.

Meantime, Roy forwarded to me a team shot showing Town posing before their New Year's Day home game against Wigan Rovers in 1964.

And, by a strange coincidence, the picture also features Jack McGuirk, former player turned team manager the report of whose recent death saddened veteran followers of non-league soccer.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.