Team photos: 1950-1955

The photos were a familiar sight to the many thousand of supporters who visited the rink over the years to cheer their home team onto victory in its thirty year history.  Originally framed, the photos lined the stairway to the left on the building up to the second floor where the very popular “Long Bar” was situated.

In the final stages of demolition in December 1965, all that remained of the vast rink that dominated the bottom of West Street was the main Art Deco style frontage!  Many items of memorabilia had been left abandoned in Benny Lee’s (Managing Director) office as workmen routinely burnt their remains!

Fortunately the Brighton Tigers team photographs had been rescued prior to the building being closed by the well known BBC commentator Alan Weeks.  Alan originally started his career at the rink as Publicity Officer in 1951.  One of the Tigers biggest fans he was also one of the great commentators of ice hockey and ice skating worldwide.

Unfortunately some year photos are missing due to water damage as the original frames were dismantled for storage.

The photos were kindly donated to my project by his widow (Jane Weeks) and eventually will join the entire Sports Stadium collection when donated to the city.

Comments about this page

  • Ah! Those were the days when men were men!

    By bill smith (20/10/2006)
  • Where is Andy Rochon?

    By Frank Rochon (11/03/2007)
  • Andy Rochan played only one season for Brighton Tigers 1949-50.You will find him in that team photograph kneeling in the front row.

    By johndenyer (19/03/2007)
  • I have a friend whose husband was in the Brighton Tigers in the l960s. Does anyone have any pics from that time? I think he was the goal keeper??

    By Jenny Breslau (24/03/2007)
  • I think my uncle played for the Tigers. His name was Don Straughn or Strawn. Can anybody help with information?  Thanks.

    By Lesley (12/09/2007)
  • I’m proud to see my father Gilles in that picture, more than 50 years ago. He will certainly be glad to see some of his old team!

    By Jean-Pierre Tudel (18/03/2008)
  • I don’t see ‘Lefty’ Wilmot in any of the photos. Anybody got any information/pictures?

    By John (22/09/2008)
  • Lefty is alive and well and living in Hove. I am a family friend

    By Jenny (23/11/2008)
  • Jenny
    Thanks for the info about Lefty Wilmot. In addition to watching him when he played for the Tigers, I also worked with Lefty for many years at Schweppes both in Lewes Road, Brighton, and at Victoria Road, Portslade. Please give him my regards when you next see him. If he would like to get in touch I would be pleased.

    By John Adams (21/12/2008)
  • My grandfather is in this picture as well as a couple others; this is so amazing. He played semi pro hockey in Brighton after the war, he’s second from left – Al Truelove. Absolutely amazing that I found these pictures.

    By Alan mcveigh (21/11/2010)
  • I am Gilles Trudel, (left front row) and I would like to get in touch with Jim Herriot or one of his relative. You can e-mail me at brodeur.gisele@cgocable.ca.

    By Gilles Trudel (26/12/2010)
  • Glad to find a pic of my Dad Allan Buchholz. If you have anymore of him, please let me know.

    By Kurt Buchholz (01/01/2012)
  • What happened to Jummy Knight in the Brighton Tigers?

    By Neame (04/03/2012)
  • Editor’s Note:

    Sorry but we have had to delete/edit your post. We are no longer allowing the posting of requests to find third parties, as sharing information like this breaches their privacy. We recommend you try Friends Reunited website if you want to track old friends or neighbours.

    Comments Editor

    By Aldyth Fletcher (Nee Watts) (25/10/2013)
  • John Oxley in these pictures used to be my coach when I first started to play hockey in 1945-6 after the war. He played for the Wembley Lions, I think, and coached kids around 12 and 13 years old at the Empire Pool in Wembley.  

    By NORM DACK (15/07/2014)
  • I’m glad I came across this site. I believe my father played for the Brighton Tigers in the 1950s although I didn’t see his name in any of the photos. His name was Des Dicker and if anyone can remember him I would like to know.  I remember going to the Brighton ice rink every Sunday.  I remember we all hired our ice skates but my Dad wore his hockey skates. In my opinion the worst decision ever made in Brighton was to close the ice rink.

    By David Dicker (12/08/2014)
  • Our grandad is also in this picture and we never knew till now. It’s Fish Robertson.

    By Lucy (12/12/2014)
  • Hello, I was wondering if you had any pictures of Larry Hodgson who played for Brighton Tigers I believe in 1960. 

    By Cherry Hodgson (19/01/2015)
  • Bobby Lee is rightly lauded for his long-lived brilliance, but there were worthy successors to the king. Tommy Rendall’s fairly brief Tigers career was decorated with beautiful goals, many abetted by Ron Hemmerling. Bob McNeil seemed to specialise in long range goals from the left wing; big Jack Macdonald’s slap shot was so ferocious he broke stick after stick. Great memories………

    By Martin Leach (20/11/2019)

Add a comment about this page

Your email address will not be published.