It was with great regret that on Wednesday morning we had to announce the passing of our Founder and long-standing Director Harry Twamley (BEM), although Harry had been ill for a long time it was one of the hardest and emotional statements we have ever had to make. In very simple terms Harry was Curzon Ashton, the Club he founded and loved for over sixty years, he has always been at the centre of everything the Club does and has achieved during those times and filled every role at Curzon, Director, Chairman, Head of Finance and any other role that needed filling. Not only will he be sadly missed but he will be irreplaceable, no one could do the amount of work he has done, but we can only try to continue the legacy he has left, he would expect nothing less.

With a group of friends Harry was the Founder of Curzon Ashton, an amalgamation of Hurst Wesleyans (Curzon Road Methodists) and Assheton Amateurs, in 1963 and from very humble beginnings to where the Club is today, on very limited resources, is one of the great fairy tales of non league football, not even Harry could possibly have envisaged the rise of what was essentially a Sunday School team made up of life long friends. The history of Curzon Ashton is well documented, and many people have played a part, some small and some major but the one constant in that history has been Harry T, players have come and gone, quite a few managers passed through the door, thousands of supporters and many volunteers. Harry has seen the highs and lows of Curzon but never did his love of his Club ever leave him, he embraced every minute.

Over the last couple of days everyone at the Club have been amazed at the outpouring of love, respect and admiration for Harry on social media, texts and phone calls, not only from friends of Curzon Ashton but also the wider non league family, he was an avid supporter of the lower football pyramid, spending every Sunday reading every word in the Non League Newspaper, if you ever needed to know anything non league Harry was the person to ask and if he did not know he would get the answer off Mike Pav, a life long friend.

We will all have our memories of Harry, some football related, some business related, some serious some funny, he had a dry sense of humour with a wry grin, but I doubt you will find anyone who did not have the utmost respect and admiration for a remarkable human being. Curzon Ashton and The Tameside Stadium will not quite ever be the same, but Harry will always be remembered, his portrait will always hang in the boardroom watching over us all, reminding everyone of not only his achievements but of our duty to continue the legacy he created. Legend is sometimes an overused word but in Harry Twamley Curzon Ashton truly have their very own Legend.

RIP Harry T
The Board of Directors, Curzon Ashton FC