A daughter whose dad helped coach the Ely It’s a Knockout team to victory in 1973 has put together a photo book all about it.
Heather Lackmaker is the eldest daughter of Bill Oughton who guided the team to victory in three games - the inter-town competition in Ely, the semi-final in Arnham, and the final in Paris.
She said: “Dad lives in France now and all he had as memories from the top hit show were the scrap pieces of paper.”
Ely hosted Hertford in the inter-town competition on Sunday May 13, 1973.
The games included a drum roll, drum stacking, a water race, a mat race, trampoline tennis, rope climbing, basketball sliding and punch bag balancing.
The game ended with a triumphant 19-1 win to the home team, a show record at the time.
The programme was recorded in one of the parks in the city on the same day that TV broadcaster Stuart Hall assaulted a 17-year-old.
After collecting several photos and looking back on videos of the event, Heather has now created a new photo book to share the team’s journey with the people of Ely.
She said: “I’ve put together this photo book and I would now like to share it with the Ely community and the team.
“Due to my father being the coach, I’ve got a lot of connections online with those who took part and their friends and families, so I’ve been lucky to have had a lot of photographs donated from them to help me in the creation of it.”
The photo book also includes detailed memories of the team’s victories in both Arnham and Paris.
Heather says it took her around three months to make from start to finish due to sourcing all the photographs and making sure she got all of the wording perfect.
“I worked on putting the photo book together in the evenings as I work full time,” she said.
“The wording and dates had to be correct, as did the games that they competed in – everything needed to be accurate!”
She added: “I was aiming to get a variety of pictures, black and white and colour,as well as the original tickets, so it was nice to get them.
“I could’ve kept adding things forever though!”
The trophy that the Ely team won is currently located at Sessions House, Lynn Road, Ely, CB7 4EG.
You can view the photo book here through bonusprint.
You can also see a video of the event in Ely back in 1973 here.
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