I had planned to meet up with Tom Salinger (Squad#96) at Wingate & Finchley, where I was to be giving the privilege of presenting the man of the match award, but this too was postponed. However I was confident that my Plan C was definitely a goer as Harlow Town have a new 3G pitch. The Weather God may be our foe but we have a friend in the third generation playing surface.
My newly drafted timetable went “off to a tee”. I arrived at Kings Cross at 1040, then after purchasing travel tickets, took the Victoria Line up to Highbury & Islington. I called into some cracking second hand record stores* on Essex Road and ticked off a couple of Wetherspoon pubs; The Angel and The White Swan, before taking the underground to Tottenham Hale. The train journey to Harlow Town takes around 20 minutes so I had plenty of time to alight at Waltham Cross for a 'Spoons lunch before finally reaching my destination at 2pm.
* I could have spent hours in Haggling Vinyl and Flashback but was short of time, but I'll be back
The original village is mentioned in the Domesday Book as a typical rural community, around what is now known as Old Harlow, with many of its buildings still standing. The new town was part of the ‘Phase One’ development of new modern settlements built after World War II to ease overcrowding in and around London, due to the mass desolation caused by the bombing during the Blitz.
The Harlow plan was drawn up by Sir Frederick Gibberd in 1947, incorporated Old Harlow and the surrounding villages, each divided into neighbourhoods with their own shopping precincts, community facilities and boozer. Britain's first pedestrian precinct was built in Harlow, along with the first modern-style residential tower block - The Lawn constructed in 1951, which is now a Grade II listed building. The town center plus many of its neighbourhood shopping facilities have undergone major redevelopment with the original buildings rebuilt to bring this “new town” into the 21st century.
In 1907 they joined the new Stansted & District League, winning four league titles during the 1920s and also had a team in the East Herts League, where they added a further four championships during the same era.The club also appeared in the Herts & Essex Border League and the Spartan League until joining the Premier Division of the London League in 1954.
They switched to the ill fated Delphian League in 1961, then two years later were placed in Athenian League Division Two, winning promotion in 1963–64 and the Division One title in 1971-72. In 1973 they arrived in the Isthmian League where they’ve played ever since, apart from having to take a season out because of ground reasons in 1992-93, plus a brief spell in the Southern League between 2004 and 2006.
The Club moved a mile and a half to the west of their former home to the Pinnacles Industrial Estate in September 2006, playing their first senior match the following month in a Division 1 North fixture against Ware. The stadium is now known as Harlow Arena and is quite impressive when compared with some of the other new builds in recent times, especially the impressive carpet of a pitch. The main focus is the stand which houses all the amenities including changing rooms, club offices, refreshment bar, clubhouse and 500 red seats split into four sections, with the letters HTFC picked out in white. There’s also a function room at the top of the stand which overlooks the pitch towards the Jack Chapman Stand opposite. This covered terrace has standing room for 500 spectators and is the main gathering point for the young Town fans, who give good vocal support and encouragement throughout with their chants of “Aarlow Aarlow”
The team dugouts are in front of the terrace with hard standing and grass verges behind each goal. The 3,500 capacity stadium is finished off with tall thin floodlight pylons in each corner and there's also the nice touch of a kiddies 3G pitch next to the Main Stand.On arrival in Harlow I walked from the train station along Fifth and Fourth avenues, which is a canny hike just to tick off another public house. However this was nothing compared with the slog along the same road to the football ground, having to walk at postman speed instead of a leisurely wander which I would have preferred as I was carrying a belly full of beer.
At the ground I bumped into ace football ground photographer David Bauckham, who graciously offered me a lift to the station afterwards, so this allowed plenty of time to get back to Kings Cross for the 1900 back to Newcastle.Although I was initially disappointed with the Welling match being postponed things turned out great in the end, having a really smashing day out, going to a ground and a part of outer London that I wouldn’t have visited otherwise. On the downside though, yet again the completion of the top 116 clubs will again elude me for yet another season, but deep down I knew that this was the probable outcome, as our old enemy the Weather God defeats this Groundhopper yet again.
Simple Pieman's visit in November 2006 and memories of Harlow Town.
HTFC 3(Laird 50 Reed 59,83) WFC 0
Att.214
Admission £10
Programme £2 (sold out)
Ground no.380 Barrows Farm Stadium - Matchday Web album (33 pictures)