11 (4) Norfolk Street

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11 Norfolk Street

History of 11 Norfolk Street

1881 vacant

1901

George M Anderson, 35, chapel caretaker dairyman greengrocer, b Cambridge

Elizabeth, 35, b Histon

Hannah E, 13, b Cambridge

William, 11, b Cambridge

George, 9, b Cambridge

Florrie E, 5, b Cambridge

William Hobson, father in law, widower, 60, horse dealer, b Histon

1913

Pigott & Blake, cutler and tool dealers

1937

Octavius Water Ruse, harness maker

1939

Charles O Hawkes, b 1906, wireless stores asssistant

Dorothy, b 1914

1949 (electoral roll)

Frank Wilson

Muriel Wilson

It seems possible that these are the same Frank and Muriel whose marriage is recorded in 1946 in Wellingborough, Northants – Frank Wilson and Muriel A Wilson.

1955

Nottingham Guardian 11.1.1955

Nottingham Guardian 1955 – Frank Wilson

Mr Frank Wilson, a Cambridge saddler, demonstrating the use of his captive football invention to footballers taking a training course at Bisham Abbey, Marlow, Buckinghamshire. The able is held captive by to elastic cords and is of great value for practice in confined spaces.

1960 (electoral roll)

Frank Wilson

Muriel Wilson

1962

F Wilson and Son, saddlers

Frank Wilson

11 Norfolk Street

Photos sent by JT in 2023.

Frank Wilson, according to an email from JP in 2023, was a healer and anonymous author of a book called ‘A Fortune In Life’.

The book was published in 1988 by Friendly Ways Ltd, 150 Regent Street, London. Text and illustration are indicated ©1988 VSI. The author gives away virtually nothing in the book about himself other than he served in WWII.

Frank Wilson was also a fully qualified F.A. coach, a qualification he gained in 1955, as shown in this [undated] press cutting.

Frank Wilson press cutting, undated

Coleridge F C (November 1964) awarded for most meritorious performance in Cambridge League

Back row l-r: Robin King, Ian Ash, Mick Monk

Middle row: David Pocock, Tony Messenger, Phil Butler, Barry Carse, Neil Kent, Bill Goodsell

Front row: presenter, Pete Reele, John Pocock, Frank Wilson, unknown, Bob Thurley

1966 (electoral roll)

Frank Wilson

Muriel Wilson

1972

Cambridge Daily News 6.9.1972

Coleridge proud of their clean sheet

… managed all this time by Mr Frank Wilson, a Norfolk Street saddler. ….. Mr Wilson, an F A coach, is very much the guiding light of the club and its record can eaily be traced to his own attitudes and beliefs which are based on yoga. “If you think right, talk right and act right, you cannot go far wrong, can you? said Mr Wilson.

he added: “Really all I do is to apply the principles of yoga thinking to influence the players. There is no mystery in it at all.”

“Ability at anything is no good unless you have character to go with it. A good many of the youngsters today go about shouting for freedom, but freedom comes from discipline.”

“I always teach my lads to enjoy their football and they will only achieve this if they play with the right attitudes. You can’t tell me that people who go round punching and tripping others are enjoying the game.

“So at Coleridge I spend more time dealing with characters than football ability. But the players are no softies. The first team is in the premier Division of the County league and this shows that they can play.

“Really it all circles round character, common sense, control and balance and I also teach tenacity as opposed to aggression.

Mr Wilson does not try to present the martyr front. His approach is so sincere that while talking in his shop at least 8 or 10 customers could not be suited, yet none went out muttering or mumbling. It was uncanny, but they all reacted by either smiling or laughing.

“You’re catching on,” said Mr Wilson as I observed the pattern. he added: “Life is controlled by thoughts. Good thoughts breed good actions as much as bad thinking results in bad actions.”

But what about teams that play Coleridge. Do they ever try to intimidate to wreck the record. “Not really,” said Mr Wilson, “Some trams and some players might have ideas in that direction, but they just know that we are a clean side just interested in playing football and that’s usually how our games develop.

“There was a case last season where an opponent deliberately elbowed one of my defenders in the back. Most people would have retaliated but my man walked away. At the end of the game the offender walked up to him and apologised. My player told me that a few years earlier he would have thumped him off the pitch. That typifies Coleridge.

“In another match we had a talented youngster making his debut. We lost 2-0 and afterwards he loudly criticised another player for making the mistakes which led to the goals. I pointed out to the complainer that had he not missed three open goals we might still have won the match.

“He could not see the point and persisted in arguing and so I told him to go away for three weeks and think about it. He came back a better player and a better person.”

From left, nos 17-13, 11, 3 Norfolk Street April 1974 (MoC601/74)

1976

Cambridge Daily News 6.5.1976

…. Coleridge FC have graced the soccer scene for 22 spotless seasons. Never once in all those 22 years has any single player been so much as cautioned by a referee. Never has a Coleridge man been booked. Never has one of them been sent off or disciplined in any way whatever. They are pure white in a wicked world.

“What’s the secret?” I asked interviewing the Coleridge squad in their tiny changing room at Teversham Rec, their home ground. “How do you do it?”

They all pointed or nodded towards one small middle-aged chap sitting in a corner. Frank Wilson, saddler and football manager extraordinaire. “It’s him,” they said in unison. Frank looked at the floor.

All these big chaps in their red shirts and white shorts were full of praise for the little man in the corner, but the only virtue to which Frank Wilson would confess as he looked over the top of his spectacles was that he is “a fair judge of character.”

In other words, Mr Wilson, who lives over his shop at Norfolk Street, Cambridge, is fussy about who he has in the team. For the past couple of seasons Coleridge FC has fielded only one team but formerly there have been two or three elevens with a total squad of more than 40 players. This means that in 22 years Frank Wilson has had a hand in the selection of at a rough guess, 500 amateur footballers. And never a dirty player among them.

I would judge that Mr Wilson, founder, chairman and manager, is much more than merely a “fair” judge of character……..

And Frank Wilson was in the middle of all the bustle wearing his new scarlet track suit. Very quiet but undisputed master of the scene. That’s Frank Wilson. And such a good judge of character, too.

1977

Cambridge Daily News 18.5.1977

Frank Wilson CDN 1977

As the photograph above shows, there are briefcases and briefcases. The case is a special order conceived, designed and executed by master craftsman Mr Frank Wilson of Norfolk Street, Cambridge for a London barrister. It’s home eventually will be the Old Bailey, holding the briefs for and against the famous and infamous of that renowned courthouse. The order was placed two years ago. Four cow hides have been used to make it. Mr Wilson has hand-stitched it all. His work on the case will soon be finished and the result of his labour insured … for £600.

1979

Cambridge Daily News: 20.9.1979

… What is the secret of this extraordinary club? [Coleridge FC] Mr Frank Wilson, chairman and general mainspring behind the club, is also a saddler in Norfolk Street, and he has no doubt about it whatsoever.

“People should be aware of what they need in life, not what they want out of it,” he says. “All one needs is a bit of self-discipline. It is the basis for everything.”

1986

Cambridge Town Crier 12.4.1986

It’s later the same day in that marvellous, tiny, time-warp of a leather shop in Norfolk Street, Cambridge, wherein the impish proprietor rank Wilson has been purveying his skills and wit these past forty years. I’m standing in a queue behind an elderly man who is giving instructions for the repair of a large golf bag. There is much stitching and work to be one on the bag. The customer, at last satisfied that his requests have been noted leaves the shop. No sooner than he gets outside than he remembers something else and returns immediately. As he steps back through the door Frank Wilson glances over his glasses and says with a huge grin: “It ain’t ready yet, my old duck.”

1988

Cambridge Daily News 13.12.1988

Classified Ad:

Would you like to help a distressed friend? The book “A Fortune in Life” from Friendly Ways Ltd is essential reading. Available in Dillons, Heffers, Sherratt & Hughes and Galloway and Porter of Cambridge.

Cambridge Daily News 21.12.1988

Advert under Personal Services:

A Fortune in Life. The book which defines the purpose of balance. Available in Dillons, Heffers, Sherratt & Hughes and Galloway and Porter of Cambridge.

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