Wargaming in Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent and Newcastle Under Lyme. A Staffordshire Wargaming club
A Brief history of the formation and early years of the group
Contributed by Mike Leese, John Massey and Phil Callcott.
Back in 1999 when John asked how the club had originally formed as one of the first in the country and one of the few that had its own, if rented, premises Mike wrote:-
In early 1970 Mike met Tony Ackland inBrookfield 's
(a local toy and model shop) and unsuccessfully tried to persuade him to take
up WWII, but Mike agreed that he would try Napoleonic wargaming.
On to John Massey:-
John came to join because Bob Craig's wife was the Secretary to one of his customers (Wintonfield Joinery of Newcastle Street, Burslem). The club had been running at Burslem about 2/3 weeks before he joined. Other members who were there at the opening wereGary
(of Pleasure Treasures, another local toy and model shop) with who John had his
first games with, the English Civil War period.
They used Gary 's
and a mate of his Airfix converted figures with pins for pikes.
Phil Callcott, having seen the Sentinel article on returning from holiday that summer, joined either the same week or soon after John as John remembers him with Jeff Davis as part of the ACW mob. Others John remembers were Ernie Gilroy, Denzel, Jim, Phil Ireson, Ken Milward, Peter Chadwick (now living in Trentham who still wargames at home) plus about 10 others he can't put names to.
Members, arriving early at the club on a Friday evening occasionally found themselves locked out because either the rent had not been paid by Trevor or nobody with keys had turned up. John also remembers the dreadful fogs and snow when very few found their way in the murk to Burslem (winters were worse in those days).
Soon after this the first proper National Wargames show was organised by Donald Featherstone, Neville Dickinson, Brigadier Young and others well known in the hobby. This was held at the Great Eastern Hotel inLiverpool Street/Fleet Street London Peterborough
didn't half take it out on the horses).
John and Phil wish to remember Terry (Sam Plank) Hilton who they miss greatly.
Back in 1999 when John asked how the club had originally formed as one of the first in the country and one of the few that had its own, if rented, premises Mike wrote:-
In early 1970 Mike met Tony Ackland in
They met on Friday nights at Tony's and played on a 6' x 4'
table in Tony's kitchen using CHARGE! rules by Peter Young.
Tony was a modeller
for Wedgwood and lived in Blurton at the time, later an artist at Games
Workshops Nottingham; some of the art work on the earliest Games Workshop
literature was done by Tony
They decided that they knew someone else who might be interested, Trevor Bates. An extra player made games more interesting and enthusiasm increased
They decided that they knew someone else who might be interested, Trevor Bates. An extra player made games more interesting and enthusiasm increased
Trevor persuaded Bob Craig to join them and Robin? whose
surname is lost in the mists of time, also joined.
Meanwhile in April 1972 Mike obtained premises over a
newsagent in Burslem at the top of Newcastle
Street , long gone.
The rent was 30/- or £1.50 per week.
Each member was to pay 5/- (25p) per week with Mike making up any shortfall, usually an extra 10/- (50p) per week.
Mike managed to interest the Sentinel (the local evening newspaper) and they interviewed him and the others, taking a few photographs and publishing an article.
Each member was to pay 5/- (25p) per week with Mike making up any shortfall, usually an extra 10/- (50p) per week.
Mike managed to interest the Sentinel (the local evening newspaper) and they interviewed him and the others, taking a few photographs and publishing an article.
On to John Massey:-
John came to join because Bob Craig's wife was the Secretary to one of his customers (Wintonfield Joinery of Newcastle Street, Burslem). The club had been running at Burslem about 2/3 weeks before he joined. Other members who were there at the opening were
All too often, John recalls, they moved a Pike unit by accidentally
putting a hand down onto the pikes before dropping them off in a new position
with real blood on the pikes. They used a set of rules from a small book by
Donald Featherstone of about 50 pages that covered almost every period, (the
simple rules are the best).
Phil Callcott, having seen the Sentinel article on returning from holiday that summer, joined either the same week or soon after John as John remembers him with Jeff Davis as part of the ACW mob. Others John remembers were Ernie Gilroy, Denzel, Jim, Phil Ireson, Ken Milward, Peter Chadwick (now living in Trentham who still wargames at home) plus about 10 others he can't put names to.
Phil remembers that Mike gave him a lift home to Blurton
after his first night, the journey took about 25 minutes, the chat after
arrival home lasted another hour plus!
Members, arriving early at the club on a Friday evening occasionally found themselves locked out because either the rent had not been paid by Trevor or nobody with keys had turned up. John also remembers the dreadful fogs and snow when very few found their way in the murk to Burslem (winters were worse in those days).
The Napoleonic gamers at Burslem were very fond of Guinness,
but never took the bottles back for the deposit to the pub on the corner, so
some members got free membership by taking the empties back, once there was so
many they had to take them over back over several weeks!
John moved to join Jeff and the two Phils (Callcott and Ireson) in ACW whenGary
began not turning up on a regular basis.
John moved to join Jeff and the two Phils (Callcott and Ireson) in ACW when
He later joined Mike Leese's lot in Napoleonic 25 mm games
after the club moved to Longton.
Pete Ridgway & Richard Hogarth joined about two weeks
before the move to Longton.
The Burslem premises were out grown by then.
Phil Callcott had a chance conversation with Andrew Whalley,
the manager of Brookfields, who showed Phil some premises that Brookfields were
prepared to rent out. After much to-ing and fro-ing and several inspections the
move to Longton was agreed.
Moving to Longton’s larger premises for the club was a great
success with 40/50 members, the Napoleonic game often had on paper 20/24 players,
including Mike Leese, Allan Mountford, Dave Walker, Dave Nixon, John Wheawell,
Chalky White, Ernie Gilroy, Ken Milward, Pete Ridgway, Peter Chadwick and
others who we forget the names of. The table at that time measured 15’ x 6’.
About this time Trevor, who was club treasurer, asked Phil
Callcott if he was interested in taking over, following nomination by Trevor,
seconded by Pete Chadwick Phil was duly elected. Only after election did Phil
realise the work involved in trying to collect money from so many members!
It was Phil who coined the name “Stoke on Trent Wargames
Group” in order to open the club’s first bank account.
Ken Milward was a great bloke, he was a furniture maker at
Fraylings and we used to see him in our premises building tables for gaming,
often with a mouth full of nails which he used to spit out with great accuracy
before clouting the nail with his hammer.
How those old skills have been lost, spitting that is!
We used to game until 02.00 a.m. on a regular basis - and
sometimes it was 04.00 or 06.00 before everyone left.
Once Keith Hancock's wife thought he must have had an
accident on the way home, he was actually hooked on a first world war aircraft
game that Phil Callcott set up. She went to Phil’s house and knocked his
parents out of bed in the early hours!
Phil arrived home after dropping Keith off to find the house
all lit up, and concerned relatives on the front step.
Soon after this the first proper National Wargames show was organised by Donald Featherstone, Neville Dickinson, Brigadier Young and others well known in the hobby. This was held at the Great Eastern Hotel in
During a meeting at Leicester we saw 15mm Napoleonics for
the first time and were very impressed, although the very large game they had
organised didn't last too long as we destroyed the Leicester club’s team so
quickly (John remembers a massive cavalry flank attack by Phil Callcott, Phil
has had an affection for Polish Lancers of the Guard ever since).
Phil recalls seeing a large table filled with 15 mm strip
Minifigs and being asked with John if they “wanted a game?” They were told that
they would be using “complicated” rules by Halsall and Roth, but not to worry
as Maurice Roth was there and would be acting as umpire. Unfortunately for Leicester - John and Phil, with Mike, had been using
those rules for their 25mm games for months!
To fill the rest of the day some of us joined a Leicester
club member who introduced us to a new craze that had just arrived from some
bloke named Gygax from the USA, we were fascinated with a game played with just
pencil and paper and were hooked, Keith Hancock took part.
John started to Role Play at the club with Colin Salt and others such as Bob McGee, Bo, and Darren Longstaff.
John started to Role Play at the club with Colin Salt and others such as Bob McGee, Bo, and Darren Longstaff.
Colin was also doing 1/300 WWII with the Tractics rules. Peter
Neale, John Fletcher, John Pickles and others came.
John with a lot of help from Alan Mountford, Richard
Cotterill and others organised our first show, Midlands Militaire (a name used again by Bob
Belt's Birmingham club a few years later) at Longton Town Hall, which was a
great success. This was followed by shows at the King's Hall organised by Peter
Neil and others, also very successful.
John and Phil wish to remember Terry (Sam Plank) Hilton who they miss greatly.
It was Terry who introduced Phil to wargaming. He became a good friend to John and the Group.
NB We decided to call our selves Stoke Wargames Group, although you can also search for us on the web as Stoke Wargames Club.
NB We decided to call our selves Stoke Wargames Group, although you can also search for us on the web as Stoke Wargames Club.
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