Cupvinnare firade 90 år

Barnets krypin på SvenskaFans rapporterar inte bara om de senaste snedsparkarna från matcher mot Chesham United. Vi hyllar också våra före detta spelare, och denna gång är det lite speciellt. Den 15 juni fyllde Les Pullen aktningsvärda 90 år vilket firades med släkt, goda vänner och en fin tårta.

 

Les Pullen var med i det Barnet som vann FA Amateur Cup 1946 och från bilderna ser vi vinnarmedaljen och här kommer en liten berättelse om ett fotbollsliv från förr, skrivet av Les Pullen själv, med hjälp av sin son Richard.

 

 

"Leslie “Les” Robert Pullen was born on the 15th June 1921 in East Ham. His early schooling was at Wakefield Central, East Ham. On leaving school he worked for Birchell Scott with the intention of becoming an architect. However, early in the Second World War he took a decision that would affect the rest of his working life. In about 1940 he joined a company called KDG Instruments then based in the Croydon working on the factory floor assembling instruments for use in military aircraft, naval vessels etc. Immediately after the war he was appointed to their technical sales department and became Sales Manager in 1948. 

 

It was also during the war that he met his future wife, Lorna, who was also worked at KDG. They were married in April 1946, just 2 weeks before Barnet’s FA Amateur Cup final tie against Bishop’s Auckland. They have 3 sons, 2 grandsons, 3 granddaughters and one great grandson. They celebrated 65 years of marriage this year.

 

After his spell at Barnet, Les played for a number of other clubs, including Tufnell Park.

 

Les was later appointed Sales Director of KDG. The company moved their factory to Crawley in the late 1950s and were subsequently taken over by the Bath and Portland Group. Soon after the takeover he was appointed as Managing Director. He was also a director on the Bath and Portland Group board. He continued working for them until his retirement in 1985 after nearly 45 years with the company. 

 

Apart from football Les has a great love of cricket. He played for Addiscombe Cricket Club in South Croydon, captaining their 1st XI for 14 years. He later became Chairman and then President of the Club. He was predominantly a wicketkeeper and lower order batsman. After moving to Sussex in the late 1960's he played briefly for Haywards Heath. He was, also, a founder member, with a group of cricket mad ex-pats, of a club in Brittany, France. He currently lives in south-west France."

(Les Pullen är tvåa från vänster på detta foto)