My first photo of the Ally Pally Tossers c. 1977

I've been down a long memory lane today while sorting out my study. I need to make space for a new monitor and a new approach to preparing my images and to do that I feel I need to physically change my working 'space', inner and outer. Finding large boxes of unsorted folders led me to many surprises and historic mementos. 

A key find was all my archive of frisbee paraphernalia including books, posters, articles, letters and magazines from the mid 1970s. the most thrilling was to find this picture showing from left to right: me, Rob Howe, Nick Sharland and Les Bryant. It was kindly taken by Keith Hatherley in about 1977.

The four of us had met through our love of playing with frisbees and we began to meet regularly after 1976. We called ourselves the 'Ally Pally Tossers', after an early rendezvous point in North London where we'd play together. By about 1976/77 we tended to meet in Hyde Park close to Notting Hill Gate, because Rob had a stall on Bayswater Road on Sundays, which meant he could easily get away into the park to play with us all.

From then on more and more people joined us and we started to play team games such as UItimate Frisbee, disc golf and Double Disc Court. We were probably one of the very first teams in Europe, and we would play together in tournaments and national championships over the next few years. Not long after this we moved our regular meeting point to the north lawn in the magical Holland Park, about a mile further down the road through Notting Hill.

We seem to have lost regular contact and now only meet through frisbee groups on Facebook. It would be good to gather together again. I had such a fine time with these guys, and many others as time went by, in many countries of the world.

PS I must add my thanks to the photographer, Keith Heatherley, who would often join us, and also take photos. Unfortunately we all seem to have lost touch with him, but of course the copyright of this original print and many others rests with him.