JOHN DENNETT: THE 96-YEAR-OLD FOUNDER OF ASHVILLE FC!

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In this feature we bring you the incredible story of the legend that is John Dennett. The 96-year-old D-Day war veteran founded Ashville Football Club in 1949 after being persuaded by his wife to start a youth football club. He has since had many articles written about him and interviews with the likes of LAD Bible.

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After getting married in 1947, John moved ‘up north’ permanently to be with his wife, Joyce. The pair had met at a pub in April 1944 when John had been posted back to the UK and docked in Birkenhead. He told us: “I wasn’t a big fan of football, but it was because of Joyce’s little brother who was 16 at the time. She asked me to help look after him and if your wife asks for your help you can’t say no.”

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He continued: “We got him into a youth league, so we became youth leaders for Wallasey Youth League and that’s when we started our first youth club down in Seacombe. We lived in Ashville Road. What you can see now is not what it used to be — it used to be a little village and a community where everyone knew everybody, it was a good life. In our early days when the football was doing well everybody wanted to join in, so we would hire a double decker bus and go to the football match. We have had really good fun through the years.”

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In 1962, Ashville Football Club moved to their present ground, ‘Villa Park’, where they have had great success, notably winning the First Division championship in the 1967-68 season and the Cheshire Amateur Cup in the 1997-98 season. Since 2009, John has lived in the flat above the football club.

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He explained: “I lived in Drayton Road until eleven years ago. When our treasurer Trev died the flat was empty for two years. I had lost my wife and asked the committee if there was any objection if I lived upstairs. We came to an agreement and I pay for the lights and all that. I’m glad I’ve moved here, I’m quite happy here.”

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John is also one of the oldest poppy sellers in the country and the Chairman of the City of Liverpool British Legion. He said “I still raise money every year. This year we are having a BBQ at the football club, it’s the only way to get the group together and there was no doubt this year it would go ahead. We collect quite a lot normally, we normally put out around 400 boxes in Liverpool and we collected £42,000 last year — people really do still remember.”

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John was inspired to join the navy after some of his friends came home to his village in Wiltshire dressed head to toe in his sailor’s uniform. In March 1942, aged 17, John joined the Royal Navy after altering his date of birth on his birth certificate to 18 and three weeks later he was sent to America. He took part in beach landings during Operation Torch in North Africa, Sicily, Salerno and Anzio, Italy, and part of the landing craft on Sword Beach on D-Day.

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He said: “When you are young you approach it entirely different; people ask were you frightened, and I probably was but I was more curious than anything. You didn’t know what would happen at the next landing, it was always entirely different — ships were getting blown up; it was just the luck of the draw. I’ve had a good life.”

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At 96, John now keeps himself busy helping at the club, working as a trustee and a buyer and “doing all the little odds and sods, to keep me out of mischief.” A true legend who founded a club that’s at the heart of the local community, John Dennett is an inspiration and a great man who was a pleasure to interview.

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