Thames Valley Royals
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Arena: Majestic Ballroom, Reading {Capacity 1,000}
Colours: Chartreuse & Oxford Blue
Coach: Peggy Heath {1952-}
Most Appearances: 0
Honours: Promoted from Minors 1954
Most Goals: 0
In a Season: 0
In a Match: 0
Record Victory: None
Record Defeat: None
Oldest player: None
Youngest player: None
Record Attendance: None
Best position: 1955 Debut Season
Shirley-Anne Smith
Right Guard
{Rated 4} Very Good
Age 18 {26/03/36}
Born: London
Apps: 0 {senior}
Goals: 0
Born into a theatrical family, Shirley-Anne Foster grew up among dressing rooms, rehearsals and touring companies. Her mother performed musical comedy, while her stepfather produced variety shows.
A brief spell at drama school gave way to pantomime and chorus work, where she developed the balance, timing and stamina that would serve her on court. Yet Gridball offered something the family business could not: success entirely her own.
Still only eighteen, she became the outstanding figure in Thames Valley’s 1954 promotion campaign. Now facing Elite opposition, the Royals’ young star must prove her finest performances are still ahead of her.
Olwen Hunn
Left Guard
{Rated 2} Okay
Age 31 {27/01/24}
Born: Chatham, Kent, England
New Signing 1955
Kent Apps 18 {1954}
Born in Chatham to a Caribbean-Welsh family, Olwen Hunn learned to sing in church before finding work in London clubs during the forties. Gridball offered another stage, and she joined Kent Maids in 1952.
Her Senior debut proved bruising: a substitute appearance in Kent’s record 8–1 defeat at Middlesex in September 1953. Undeterred, she made eighteen appearances the following season, establishing herself despite the Maids’ demotion.
In January 1955, Olwen joined promoted Thames Valley, the club replacing Kent in the Senior Championship. Now thirty-one, she brings the Royals experience, determination and the composure of a performer accustomed to demanding audiences.
Zena Hall
on loan from Birmingham
Centre
{Rated 1} Average
Age 20 {07/03/34}
Born: Coventry, Warwickshire, England
On Loan
Birmingham {1951-1953}
Apps: 27
Goals: 8
Gridballer of the Year: 1952
Regular Season Champion 1951 & 1952
Supergrid Runner Up 1952
Coventry-born Zena Hall has already experienced more reversals than most players endure in a lifetime. Illness robbed her of a place in Birmingham’s 1951 Supergrid side, but a year later she arrived as Gridballer of the Year, helping the Vipers claim another regular championship and Supergrid silver.
Then came the setbacks: June Wigoder and Mary Derbyshire moved ahead of her, and by 1954 she was understudy to Rhoda Shipton. Sharp-witted, observant and quietly stubborn, Zena now joins promoted Thames Valley on loan.
Still only twenty, she has time to prove her greatest season was a beginning rather than a farewell.
Samantha Wickham
Attacker
{Rated 0} Squad
Age 15 {29/07/39}
Born: Worthing, Sussex
Promoted from Youth
Born in Worthing, Samantha Wickham is the first of twelve youth players promoted to Thames Valley’s senior squad for 1955. Still at school, she faces a remarkable change: from youth fixtures to training alongside seasoned players and preparing for the Senior Championship.
Quiet at first acquaintance, Samantha becomes more assured with a bat in her hand. Her coaches admire her willingness to listen and persistence when practice goes badly.
Nobody expects her to become an immediate star. This season offers an apprenticeship, a chance to learn the pace of senior Gridball and begin earning a place in the Royals’ future.
May 1954
Josephine Jones
Attacker
{Rated 0} Squad
Age 23 {28/06/31}
Born: London
New Signing
Previous Club: Bristol
Apps: 1 {Cup 1954}
Goals: 0
Born in London, Josephine Jones moved to Bristol with her family in 1944. Two years later, aged fifteen, she became a mother, raising her daughter with her family’s support. Work as a Bristol hostess brought confidence and a ready answer for difficult customers, qualities the bottle blonde carries onto court.
Her experience remains slight: one cup appearance for Bristol in 1954, when the club finished twenty-ninth of thirty minor sides. Now twenty-three, Josephine joins Thames Valley seeking a fresh start. Found herself in an emergency landing drama in February
February 1955
Blonde in Crash landing drama. 23 year old Josephine Jones was among the passengers in Saturday's emergency landing drama. The former hostess is a gridballer with Thames Valley.
Vicki Moffat
Sweeper
{Rated 0} Squad
Age 15 {08/03/39}
Born: Lancashire
Promoted from Youth
Apps: 0
Goals: 0
Lancashire-born Louise Victoria Moffat, known as Vicki, moved to rural Buckinghamshire as a child. A convent education encouraged discipline without entirely taming her independent streak, and she is happier sketching clothes than accepting instructions without question.
Fashion school is her ambition, although Gridball now offers a competing claim on her time. Promoted from Thames Valley’s youth ranks for 1955, the fifteen-year-old enters senior company with everything to learn and no shortage of determination.
She can be reserved among strangers, but teammates soon discover a lively temper and mischievous humour. For now, her sketchbook travels to training alongside her playing kit.
Valerie Bell
Netminder
{Rated 0} Squad
Age 16 {13/04/38}
Born: Brierfield, Lancashire
Promoted from Youth
Apps: 0
Goals: 0
Born in Brierfield to a family of British and Maltese heritage, Valerie Bell grew up with ambitions that extended beyond the Gridball court. Encouraged by her mother, she took dancing and drama lessons, appearing in children’s entertainments from the age of twelve.
Rehearsals taught her to remember instructions, recover from mistakes and carry on under scrutiny. Now sixteen, she joins Thames Valley’s golden generation of youth graduates for 1955.
Senior Gridball presents an unfamiliar audience and much tougher opposition. Valerie hopes her stage confidence will help, but knows that earning her place requires patient practice rather than a memorable entrance.
Peggy Heath
Coach
{Rated 0} Basic
Age 39 {25/02/15}
Born: Walsall
Coach since 1952
Playing Career
Right Guard
Birmingham
Apps: 6
Goals: 0
Regular Season Champion: 1951
Supergrid Runner Up: 1951
Team of the Year: 1951
Twice-divorced former actress Peggy Heath exchanged small parts in films for a brief but distinguished Gridball career. Born in Walsall, she was already thirty-six when Birmingham recruited her for the inaugural season.
Playing at right guard, she helped the Vipers win the regular season shield, earned Team of the Year recognition and became Supergrid’s oldest player in their defeat by Middlesex.
Celebrated as the game’s best-dressed player, she retired to coach Thames Valley in 1952. Promotion came at her third attempt in 1954. Now thirty-nine, Peggy toom the bold step in January 1955 of promoting twelve youth teamers to the first team ahead of their senior debut