GORTON STREET GAZETTE Today our 1XV entertain Didsbury Toc H RUFC. The 'Toc H’ organisation was founded in 1915 during the First World War by Captain (Reverend) Philip Clayton of the Sixth Division of the British Army in Poperinge, just a few miles from the British trenches in Belgium, when he rented what was to become Talbot House as a peaceful refuge for soldiers on the way to Ypres. The club was open to all men, regardless of rank and dubbed ‘Toc H’, being the abbreviation for the letters ‘TH' used by British Army signallers. After the war in 1920 Clayton founded a youth centre in London and Toc H developed into international Christian charity. In 1924 members of Manchester Toc H formed a rugby club situated at Victoria Park, Manchester. After moving to various sites, the club arrived in Didsbury in 1986 and the club’s name became Didsbury Toc H. The first recorded fixture between Eccles ‘A' and Toc H was on 23rd January 1924 soon after the Manchester club was founded. At this time Eccles RFC played at Redclyffe Road, near the Barton Swing Bridge on the banks of the Ship Canal. Games between Toc H and Eccles ‘A’ , Extra ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams formed a regular pattern in those years. However, it was not until the 1953/54 Season that Eccles 1XV played Toc H. On 16th Sept 1953 an extract from the Eccles Journal match report - "After having most of the play, Eccles lost to Toc H 8-6. Once again it was a case of missed chances and poor tackling that lost this game.” Later in the same season, 27th Feb. 1954, Eccles 1st XV played at the Toc H ground (the club’s three other teams also faced each other) with the match report stating "Eccles defeated Toc H at Stenner Lane on Sat. 15-0 and so avenged their home defeat earlier in the season. Conditions were far from ideal, but nevertheless, both sides contributed to make it an enjoyable game. There was a marked improvement in the Eccles play both in attack and defence. Stanley on the Eccles wing ran strongly to score three tries. Eccles took an early lead when Stanley scored from a quick passing movement. Later he ran 50 yards to score in the corner from a pass given by Eccles player Scholes. Stanley scored his third try after Broomhead had. The photo taken at a Sevens competition at Caldy in 1952, shows Harry Broomhead, Capt. (kneeling left) and Eric Stanley (kneeling centre) scorer of those 3 tries. Fixtures with Toc H have continued on a regular basis since then with the results broken away from a loose scrum.”
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