It was with great sadness I learned of the passing of Terry Adams last Friday.
Terry was Club President and press officer of Hadleigh United FC. He died in Ipswich Hospital. He was 78.
For more than 50 years Terry sent reports to us here at the East Anglian Daily Times, Green’Un and Ipswich Star.
From 1991 it was Hadleigh he was covering, but Terry went back with his reporting far further than that.
Indeed his first match report for us was back in 1966.
A former goalkeeper for Woodbridge Town, Terry wasn’t just good at what he did with his notes and reports, he was also hugely reliable.
Terry never missed a beat when it came to sending in his reports and/or club notes.
As a former editor of the Green’Un, I valued his steadfast contributions. He was one of many people who did, and who continue to support non-league and support our coverage.
He wrote his Hadleigh Green’Un notes under the nom-de-plume, Brettsider and not many people know he was also a big speedway fan, often to be seen at Foxhall Heath watching the Witches.
He never drove a car and never bothered with computers. Notes and reports were either faxed or telephoned over, people happy to give him a lift to games – or he used public transport. He was one of a small army of volunteers who help us so much here in the local media and I thought a great deal of him.
I’ll leave Rolf Beggerow, chairman of Hadleigh FC to sum Terry up perfectly.
“Terry was a true legend and a great character to have around the Club and he will be greatly missed,” said Rolf.
“He joined in 1991 as our Press Officer and for the last 10 years has been our Club President.
“Terry rarely failed during 27 years of service to meet a reporting deadline even after he became ill two years ago and was unable to get to our matches, he continued to gather in all the news and write up match reports and phone them in from his home. Terry’s ability to recall detailed facts on matches going back many years was outstanding.
“In November 2017 we named our Hospitality Area the Terry Adams Suite as a tribute to a man who dedicated so much of his life to Hadleigh FC.”
Meanwhile Former EADT sports editor Tony Garnett added: “I was so sorry to hear of the passing of Terry. He was one of Saxmundham’s cricketers in the 60s. He lived with his parents at Hasketon.
“I would collect him for the Saturday game and he would usually stay at Kelsale Hall for the Sunday match to save me chasing all over Suffolk. He attended the Saxmundham Cricket Club reunion at Rushmere Golf Club a couple of years ago.
“The EADT football team had two excellent goalkeepers, Terry who played for Woodbridge and Bury Town and Doug Wade who played for Stowmarket Town.”
As I have said, I will miss his notes and contributions, his chit-chat to make sure all was okay, and I know I speak on behalf of all the current and former EADT and Ipswich Star sports teams when I say, thank-you Terry and rest in peace.
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