This week's Blog

The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed there was no blog last week.

Anyway, we are pleased to say Katie's Dad has put pen to paper and here is his latest effort..

I know this is a bit late but surely "better late than never!"

Three years ago this week Katie and her Mum were at Great Ormond Street for tests that would ultimately lead to the diagnosis of brain cancer and the awful prognosis.

Preceding that visit Jo and Katie had spent a lot of time at Ormond Street and staff there, like many other places, were taken by Katie's amazing and inspiring attitude to her condition. It's a great testimony to Katie that GOSH now use her iconic black and white photograph on one of their leaflets.

With my beloved Southend United seemingly on the brink of going into administration I am reminded of Katie’s first Southend match. It was November 30th, 1996 and I thought it was time Katie attended my spiritual home, Roots Hall, for the first time. Bless her, she was only 3 ½ and probably did not have an awful lot of input into the decision making process. Oldham Athletic were the visitors for the big game that was being played in what we now know as the Championship but was then called Division One.

I decided to sit in the front row of the ground’s West Bank and only ten minutes into the game Katie witnessed her first Southend United goal – or so I thought. Unbeknown to me her seat in the front row of the stand had meant she had seen nothing but a wall and only when I lifted her up to celebrate did she realise the “excitement” on the pitch the other side of the wall.

Mind you not much else happened in the remaining 80 minutes except that Oldham equalised and the game ended 1-1. However, the best thing about the day was the number of spectators at the game – 5,001 – and we all know who the “1! was don’t we!

Before you say anything I know being stuck behind a wall at Roots Hall is normally a good thing!

Here is this week's thought - is a student on a bike a "unicyclist" ?