Title
Harry Slater Oral History Recording
Subject
Harry Slater
Description
An oral history interview with Harry Slater
Creator
Michael Romyn
Publisher
Kent's Sporting Memories
Date
Interview recorded on 15 May, 2019
Contributor
Harry Slater; Michael Romyn
Rights
Kent's Sporting Memories
Format
MP3 file; also available in WAV (1:04:01)
Language
English
Type
Sound Recording
Identifier
Harry Slater
Transcription
Kent’s Sporting Memories Oral History Summary
Interviewee: Harry Slater
Interviewer: Michael Romyn
Date: 15 May, 2019
Location: Folkestone Amateur Boxing Club, Kent
0:00 Harry explains how his father - who had boxed in the army - taught him the fundamentals of boxing as a young boy of five and six, in his back garden; Harry recounts the story of how he boxed another boy at school following a dispute – ‘the teacher grabbed both of us and said “right, you’re boxing”’ - which precipitated his being put forward for the schoolboy championships of boxing; his training at a club in Dagenham called Monteagle under the tutelage of the famous Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis.
1:35 Fighting in the school championships, including reaching the semi-finals and the quarter-finals; beginning work at fifteen or sixteen in London’s West End, and putting boxing to one side; moving to Folkestone at the age of nineteen to work for a clothing company and joining a recently-opened boxing club in the town; Harry describes the club, which was on Canterbury Road and very basic; being the first to box for Folkestone Amateur Boxing Club.
3:22 Harry’s current schedule at the club – coaching, judging and refereeing at shows; putting boxing to one side again when he started his own business; being encouraged to come back to the club when it moved to its present location on Dover Road; building up the club – at one point Harry was the club’s only coach – to what it is today.
5:20 Harry’s senior boxing career, and the difficulty of training around work; boxing in the Kent Championships in Folkestone – the Southern Counties Championships – where he boxed, and won, an incredible three times in the same day at the age of twenty-one (c.1971).
8:10 Harry’s early life – he was born in Whitechapel and moving to a prefab, then a council house, in Dagenham – ‘it was the countryside then’ – when he was roughly a year old; Harry starting work in the clothing trade because his mother was a machinist working in London, on Commercial Road, and at home; taking the job in Folkestone because it came with accommodation; the ease of finding a job in London during Harry’s youth; his dad worked as a crane driver in a power station.
12:50 Learning to box with his dad in the garden – ‘it was just a bit of fun’; boxing at Monteagle, and how girls and work eventually took over; boxing in shows in Dagenham, which his mum and dad would come to watch and support him; Harry’s love of rugby, but deciding he was too small to play seriously.
16:20 His role with the Amateur Boxing Alliance – a self-funded body for amateur boxing in England – and his concerns with England Boxing (formerly the Amateur Boxing Association); travelling to Mexico with the Alliance in 2018 for a boxing tournament.
22:35 Harry explains how he began at Folkestone Boxing Club through a friend in the clothing factory; drinking at the Black Bull on Canterbury Road; starting his own clothing business in Ramsgate at the age of twenty-two, overseeing its growth, and eventually selling the business in around 2000 for a variety of reasons, including the cheap price of imports; investing in property and taking up building and restoration; the difficulties of starting up a business as a young man – ‘they thought I didn’t know enough…twenty-odd-year-old boy running a company seems a bit ludicrous’.
32:40 The lack of technical skill and experience at Folkestone Amateur Boxing Club in the early days; dabbling in coaching in his late twenties and then being more hands on with coaching at the new club on Dover Road in the 1980s; being married twice – at nineteen, when he and his wife had a baby, and again at twenty-six, to a machinist from Folkestone; Harry discusses his sons, his brother and his family in Folkestone.
39:40 Harry describes his strengths – speed - and style in the ring, and how his style changed as he got older; making the transition from junior to senior; being the first to box as a senior for Folkestone Amateur Boxing Club; winning the Southern Counties boxing competition, and what he remembers of it – ‘I was elated…we went out partying!’; training in a room over a pub in Cheriton – the White Lion (since closed) – while coaching at the same time; his training regime in the lead up to a competition - ‘I’d get up and run at six in the morning, right, and I wasn’t a very passionate runner’ – and the necessity, and difficulty, of training around work.
49:00 Boxing as a junior and reaching the semi-finals of the national schools championship; the inconsistencies in judging; changes and continuities in boxing over the years; training in Karate alongside his boxing to keep in shape; Harry’s thoughts on the ‘art’ of boxing; Harry discusses headguards, safety, and cuts in the sport.
56:30 The best boxers Harry has trained – Tommy Maxwell; Gary Smith; Josh Kennedy; Harry deciding not to box professionally because of the lack of money in the sport; how Folkestone boxing is hampered by geographical limitations, but how the town produces quality boxers nevertheless; the clubs impending move from its current home; Harry’s fondest memories in boxing and the valuable lessons he learned as a boy from Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis.
Interviewee: Harry Slater
Interviewer: Michael Romyn
Date: 15 May, 2019
Location: Folkestone Amateur Boxing Club, Kent
0:00 Harry explains how his father - who had boxed in the army - taught him the fundamentals of boxing as a young boy of five and six, in his back garden; Harry recounts the story of how he boxed another boy at school following a dispute – ‘the teacher grabbed both of us and said “right, you’re boxing”’ - which precipitated his being put forward for the schoolboy championships of boxing; his training at a club in Dagenham called Monteagle under the tutelage of the famous Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis.
1:35 Fighting in the school championships, including reaching the semi-finals and the quarter-finals; beginning work at fifteen or sixteen in London’s West End, and putting boxing to one side; moving to Folkestone at the age of nineteen to work for a clothing company and joining a recently-opened boxing club in the town; Harry describes the club, which was on Canterbury Road and very basic; being the first to box for Folkestone Amateur Boxing Club.
3:22 Harry’s current schedule at the club – coaching, judging and refereeing at shows; putting boxing to one side again when he started his own business; being encouraged to come back to the club when it moved to its present location on Dover Road; building up the club – at one point Harry was the club’s only coach – to what it is today.
5:20 Harry’s senior boxing career, and the difficulty of training around work; boxing in the Kent Championships in Folkestone – the Southern Counties Championships – where he boxed, and won, an incredible three times in the same day at the age of twenty-one (c.1971).
8:10 Harry’s early life – he was born in Whitechapel and moving to a prefab, then a council house, in Dagenham – ‘it was the countryside then’ – when he was roughly a year old; Harry starting work in the clothing trade because his mother was a machinist working in London, on Commercial Road, and at home; taking the job in Folkestone because it came with accommodation; the ease of finding a job in London during Harry’s youth; his dad worked as a crane driver in a power station.
12:50 Learning to box with his dad in the garden – ‘it was just a bit of fun’; boxing at Monteagle, and how girls and work eventually took over; boxing in shows in Dagenham, which his mum and dad would come to watch and support him; Harry’s love of rugby, but deciding he was too small to play seriously.
16:20 His role with the Amateur Boxing Alliance – a self-funded body for amateur boxing in England – and his concerns with England Boxing (formerly the Amateur Boxing Association); travelling to Mexico with the Alliance in 2018 for a boxing tournament.
22:35 Harry explains how he began at Folkestone Boxing Club through a friend in the clothing factory; drinking at the Black Bull on Canterbury Road; starting his own clothing business in Ramsgate at the age of twenty-two, overseeing its growth, and eventually selling the business in around 2000 for a variety of reasons, including the cheap price of imports; investing in property and taking up building and restoration; the difficulties of starting up a business as a young man – ‘they thought I didn’t know enough…twenty-odd-year-old boy running a company seems a bit ludicrous’.
32:40 The lack of technical skill and experience at Folkestone Amateur Boxing Club in the early days; dabbling in coaching in his late twenties and then being more hands on with coaching at the new club on Dover Road in the 1980s; being married twice – at nineteen, when he and his wife had a baby, and again at twenty-six, to a machinist from Folkestone; Harry discusses his sons, his brother and his family in Folkestone.
39:40 Harry describes his strengths – speed - and style in the ring, and how his style changed as he got older; making the transition from junior to senior; being the first to box as a senior for Folkestone Amateur Boxing Club; winning the Southern Counties boxing competition, and what he remembers of it – ‘I was elated…we went out partying!’; training in a room over a pub in Cheriton – the White Lion (since closed) – while coaching at the same time; his training regime in the lead up to a competition - ‘I’d get up and run at six in the morning, right, and I wasn’t a very passionate runner’ – and the necessity, and difficulty, of training around work.
49:00 Boxing as a junior and reaching the semi-finals of the national schools championship; the inconsistencies in judging; changes and continuities in boxing over the years; training in Karate alongside his boxing to keep in shape; Harry’s thoughts on the ‘art’ of boxing; Harry discusses headguards, safety, and cuts in the sport.
56:30 The best boxers Harry has trained – Tommy Maxwell; Gary Smith; Josh Kennedy; Harry deciding not to box professionally because of the lack of money in the sport; how Folkestone boxing is hampered by geographical limitations, but how the town produces quality boxers nevertheless; the clubs impending move from its current home; Harry’s fondest memories in boxing and the valuable lessons he learned as a boy from Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis.