. From the main site:- ..Today the funeral of John Henry Ellen, aka CorkedHat aka The Fulham Bard took place in Australia, and as has been mentioned on a previous thread, he will be sadly missed, not just as a friend, but as one of the founding members of Friends Of Fulham. My first contact with him was on the old, old, old offal, a keyboard warrior was giving him grief and I defended John, he thanked me, and we got in touch and became friends. Although he lived in Australia, he was a Battersea boy and a Fulham fan. He survived the second world war bombings of London with a fellow Fulham fan (used to sell the Fulham flutter tickets by the Hammersmith End, and sadly also dead) and another mate who supported the other team in SW6, he is still alive and lives just up the road from me. In 1975 he watched our cup final and shortly after was offered a short term contract in Australia which became a long term career in media, for which he won many prestigious awards for his work and dedicated mentoring of those new to the career. He met his second wife Jeannie who was his love, his friend, his rock, and they were utterly devoted. I never met her but we spoke on the phone several times, and it was always lovely to hear her soft Scots brogue. Jeannie died in 2006 after a debilitating illness and John was devastated. He wrote a book dedicated to her called “The Rainbow in my Heart” (ISBN 978-1-4478-7192-7) and as sad as it is it is a love story. As a consequence of her death he moved to another part of Australia, in the relative middle of nowhere, to a place in the Australian outback called Rupanyup, a place that was to become known to members of FoF through John’s posts and ramblings, and our members sponsored writing competitions and the Rupanyup U14s Aussie rules football team as a result. John was by his own admission a strong and determined individual having had to very much fend for himself during the war, he was also fiercely loyal to his friends and many humanitarian causes, a staunch fan of Carlton ARF, but his overriding sporting love was Fulham FC, and Johnny Haynes (who sent him a get well card for Jeannie which he treasured). There is so much more I could say but it will bore some people, but this is to introduce some of his poems to those who never read them before, and to remind those who did of his works. John entrusted me to keep the poems you will see over the weeks re-posted on here. We were going to write a softcover book, with my historical input of the players John’s poems were dedicated to, and the occasional drawings of the players by ‘VB’ aka ‘Von Billy’. I came up with a working title of “From Bard To Verse” but even with the help and assistance of Ashwater Press the costs would have been too high with a limited demand. So here is the first of the poems, in no special order, which when complete will be put into the archive section. I hope you enjoy them:- GRAHAM LEGGAT What a joyous day it was When from Aberdeen he came A Scottish international I saw his very first Fulham game You couldnt help but love him If you were a true black and white Dancing skipping and shooting From out there on the right And when they moved him inside And at centre forward he played This guy was just as lethal And another legend had been made You can talk of him in the same breath As Sir Johnny and this is rare But boy he had some talent Combined with outrageous flair And if he didnt have the ball He would surely always beg it ’Cos he loved to be in the game God bless you Graham Leggat friendsoffulham/forum/index.php?topic=43980.0
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 23:23:01 +0000
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