This is a photograph of an RAF football team based at Thornaby during the Second World War, the man in uniform at the left is my Grandfather Sydney H Leek, he lived in Billingham and because he had served in the RAF in the 1920s he was called up as a reserve, I should imagine quite a few of this team were conscripted reserves, my Grandfather would have been about 40 years of age when this photograph was taken and most of the back row look to be around the same age.

I have no idea whether they just played their matches against other RAF teams or went out and played against local teams, I don’t know where this photograph was taken but it seems to be a fairly large sports area, there are rugby posts in the background and a huge amount of empty space beyond them. Unfortunately, as is often the case with old photographs, there is nobody to ask about the whens and wheres. This photograph was taken over 70 years ago and it is very unlikely any of these people are still with us, also with them being in the armed forces they may not all be locals.

Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.