HEWITT'S HISTORY FILES

On the ball are the words "Felpham FC 1919-20" and under the ball is a basket; in the basket, it would seem, is a pigeon or two.

In front of the basket, on a slate, is the bizarre legend "Felpham Pigeon Service".

Just why did a football club have a pigeon service? Was it a joke? Was it '“ unlikely perhaps '“ a way of letting home fans know the team's away results?

Dick Tomsett, whose father Adolph is the moustachioed footballer in the back row on the far right, would like to know.

"My father is in the photograph, but I don't remember ever discussing it with him," Mr Tomsett says.

It was taken just after Adolph came out of the army '“ and he kept his army moustache for the rest of his life.

"They used to encourage moustaches in certain regiments," Mr Tomsett says.

"He told me that in this regiment, they were virtually ordered to grow one. The only excuse was if you couldn't grow one. I think in the cavalry they thought it made you look fiercer."

Adolph built his own house in Aldingbourne and lived there for the rest of his days, until his death in 1977.

But he was born in Bognor and was a bricklayer by trade.

"He was in the army for 11 years," said Mr Tomsett. "He joined in 1908 and he served in Egypt and India and then in 1914, his regiment went out to France to sort out that problem."I think he got a minor wound, a chip in his shoulder, but not serious. Although the death toll was horrendous, nevertheless, the majority of men '“ not a big enough majority '“ did survive."

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette July 25