Yorkshire Vet is a Cas fan 555
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The Yorkshire Vet is a Castleford fan
Julian Norton is a partner at the Skeldale Veterinary Centre near Thirsk. This is the former practice of the very famous James Herriot. Some of you may know Julian as a very busy vet in the TV series The Yorkshire Vet. He hails from Castleford and was a Castleford fan in the mid 1980's. I contacted him and he very kindly replied to all my questions. By the way I did correct him on the date of the HKR cup final!
Here are his memories of his time as a Castleford RLFC fan:
I used to go to watch Castleford when I was a boy and would go to pretty much all the home games, walking there with a couple of mates who lived nearby my house (in Hightown, near Whitwood). In those days it was called ''Wheldon Lane''. I would be between the ages of about 12 and 18, I guess, so from 1984 to 1990.
In my earlier days, I would go with my father and Grandfather, both also from Castleford. My dad, Roger, taught at Rodillian school and went to Castleford Grammar as a boy and was a good rugby player, but better at running (he subsequently got a blue at Oxford) and cricket.
My Grandfather, Jack Taylor, was a builder and top level amateur cyclist. He also kept dogs and one of his hungry lurchers famously ate a sandwich that John Joyner was about to eat. I remember him saying that of all the rugby player's sandwiches he could have eaten, it should have been anyone else's (the implication being that John Joyner was a very small rugby player - in comparison to some of the forwards - and needed as many sandwiches as he could get!).
When I went with my family we would always stand on the terraces on either sides of the main stand and move ends at half time. When I went with my mates, we always stood behind the posts, again swapping ends after each half. After one Challenge cup semi-final (which was televised on Grandstand) we ran down the middle of the pitch at half time and got on telly- my first time!! Not that we made a habit of this!
My best memory was a midweek game against Wigan on a Wednesday night (I think) when we won, (I think 10-8). Kevin Ward, Beefy England, Kevin and Bob Beardmore, John Joyner, David Plange etc, etc. One big highlight was going to Wembley in 1986 when we beat Hull KR. I remember the whole of Cas was on a high. It seemed everyone went to London that day. My memory of that day was that my parents had bought our first video recorder, as a surprise present for the family (unbeknown to me) so when we got back from Wembley I could watch the game again. Happy days.
Please could you send me a link to the website when it is constructed?
I hope that brief memory will be helpful!
Best wishes
Julian Norton
Researched and written by Margaret Hudson
