THERE's been a flood of response to my appeal for the original lyrics to Saints' Wembley ditty from 1953, sung to the tune of 'Side By Side' and lionising the superb Knowsley Road squad of that era.

Sadly, it proved to have a hollow ring about it - Saints being dumped 15-10 by Huddersfield, leaving the whole of St Helens in deep mourning. My thanks to one and all for recapturing the moment. Naturally, after a gap of 43 years, some of the lyrics vary slightly - and with some briefer than others. So I've tried to amalgamate them into one glorious whole at the foot of this item.

However, the letter which most amused me referred not to what was hoped to have been a victory song, but to the sporting dirge which Glyn Hesketh penned immediately after that 1953 Wembley let-down.

Glyn, of Fairclough Road, St Helens, writes:

"I wrote the follow-up ditty - and even persuaded Gullick and Llewellyn to join in singing it.

"I remember," adds Glyn, "travelling to Fartown - the Huddersfield ground - for a league game just before the Wembley Final. If I recall correctly, it was Easter Monday.

"Saints drew 10-10 although they were fielding about eight reserves, one of them being Peter Metcalfe who dropped the ball under the sticks. We would have won had he scored and we all returned home confident that with a full-strength side, we'd murder 'em at Wembley.

"But history reminds us that we lost 15-10 - though a week later we beat Huddersfield 46-nil in the top-four play-off."

However, that revenge thrashing didn't compensate for the Wembley shock defeat sandwiched in between - and Glyn's funereal ditty spells out the gloom of that dark day. Here it goes:

'Oh, we aint got a barrel of money,

To go and watch Langfield and Honey,

With Duggie and Llew,

Aint got a clue,

Side by side.

'We've just had another assembly,

Down at a place they call Wembley,

There's Gullick and Mac,

Just aint got the knack,

Side by side.

'They've played all the hardest matches,

Aint even drew away,

But when they get to the Final,

They crash on the very last day,

Now, we've all come home broken-hearted,

To find we're back where we started,

And Sully and Cook,

Have both took their hook,

Side by side.'

Just for guidance, Glyn explains that the Duggie mentioned is Duggie Greenall; Llew (Steve Llewellyn); Mac (Stan McCormick); Sully (coach Jim Sullivan); and Cook (Harry, former chairman and now, at 92, an honorary life member). My special thanks to the following for chipping in with snatches from that more optimistic original anthem: Edward Hardman of Rye Close, Clock Face; Bernard Jefferies of Dee Road, Rainhill; and Janet Spaven (nee Shuttleworth) of Clarence Street, Earlestown.

Janet tells me she is the sister of Ken Shuttleworth, former Lancashire and England fast bowler, and I'm pleased to hear that this sporting son of Parr is still in good buck and living in Congleton.

My abiding memory of Ken is when he turned up, as a teenaged prospect, to play his first game for Earlestown CC - a tall, lanky and laid-back youth with his tatty boots and grass-stained whites in a paper package.

The Charnwood Street kid didn't have a lot to say - but his venomous quick bowling, in contrast to his off-field amiable nature, certainly did the talking for him!

From the outset he was obviously eventual Test match material.

But back to the oval-ball.

Edward Hardman's family roots go back deep into Saints history. "My dad," he says, "presented a newsreel item from the 1956 Wembley Final to the Saints skipper and Lance Todd Trophy winner, Alan Prescott."

That was the first time Saints lifted the Cup, beating Halifax 13-2.

And now, finally, a mixture of that ill-fated Wembley anthem from three seasons earlier. All ter-gether now!

'Though we aint got a barrel of money,

We've got Langfield and Honey,

Duggie and Llew, running them through,

Side by side.

'Prescott, Parr and Reg Blakemore,

Parson's kicks makes 'em work more,

Bretherton and Cale,

Telling the tale,

Side by side.

'In all kinds of weather,

The Saints turn out to play,

You have to give 'em credit,

For playing Jim Sullivan's way.

We've got Mac and Moses and Gullick,

Charging their way just like bullets,

Hail, rain of snow,

To Wembley we'll go,

Side by side.'

WONDER if any of our current day Saints fanatics could pen a new little Wembley Anthem along the same sort of lines in time for the big day against Bradford Bulls on April 27? If so, please drop me a line at: Whalley's World, St Helens Star, YMCA Buildings, Duke Street, St Helens WA10 2HZ.

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