Phones were still a rarity in Greenock in 1967
We were busy taking bookings and as far as I can recall it always looked as if we would fill the bus. Someone had a Spanish friend who wanted to come along and that wasn’t a problem. I was, however, still praying that my mother would receive a copy of her birth certificate and forward it to me without delay. Phones were still a rarity in Greenock in 1967 and all I could do was be patient. That was difficult as it still hadn’t arrived on the Friday before we were due to leave.
Then a miracle happened and all the magic documents arrived in the mail on Saturday. I already had my own birth certificate, the completed application form and the necessary photographs and was impatient for Monday morning to arrive to see how I would fare in the Irish Embassy. I needn’t have worried. The woman at the passport desk listened to my tale and told me to take a seat. I left about 30 minutes later the proud holder of an Irish Passport.
A party of 53, including the drivers, set off for Southampton
On Monday evening we met up at our usual departure point, a north London pub, the local of our Honorary President, George McDonald. Fifty men had booked to travel to Lisbon but now there was a woman in our midst and she wasn’t there to wave us off. She was determined to travel to Lisbon. She assured us she would sit on the steps at the door and we just didn’t have the heart to say “no”. Eventually a stool appeared from the boot of the bus and a party of 53, including the drivers, set off for Southampton.
Celtic supporters in Lisbon. Photo IMAGO (The Celtic Star)
In the 1960s the British Government had introduced a Foreign Travel Allowance to control the outflow of cash by those departing the country. The upper limit was £50 when we were travelling. I doubt if anyone in our group had anything approaching that amount, about a month’s salary for me, but we had to form a queue to be questioned individually about just how much cash we were carrying.
Danny Harkin declared that he had 7/6
We had a bit of an incident when Danny Harkin declared that he had 7/6. The official thought Danny was playing games and asked him a second time but received the same reply “7/6”. At this Danny was warned, in no uncertain terms, that if he didn’t stop messing he would not be travelling. A frustrated Danny put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a handful of coins, and responded angrily “Ah’ve got seven an’ a tanner¹. Dae ye want tae see it?”. Fortunately the official accepted that he had been overzealous and Danny was waved on.
A long conga chain started to make its way noisily through the ship
Once on board the majority headed for the bar to avail of the duty-free prices. A few of us sought out comfortable seating to try to catch some sleep and I suspect the only ones with a berth were the drivers. Sleep was hard to come by as the singing got louder as the night wore on. I became concerned for our reputation when a long conga chain started to make its way noisily through the ship, upstairs and downstairs, and in and out of lounges. I was able to relax when I noticed a uniformed ship’s officer stuck in the middle of the chain, clearly enjoying himself.
We entered the famous town of Le Mans
We berthed at 7:00am and the bus was quiet as we drove off the ferry and started out on the long journey south. I was seated directly behind the driver and my fascination for maps prompted me to get involved in the navigation. Motorways were scarce in 1967 and progress was slow. It was interesting when we entered the famous town of Le Mans as the Le Mans 24-hour race had a much higher profile then than it does now. It turned out to be even more exciting when we found ourselves driving along part of the actual race circuit.
Celtic supporters in Lisbon. Photo IMAGO (The Celtic Star)
By the time we reached Tours we were hungry and it was decided to stop for a bite to eat. Language was a problem and I presume we ordered the Plat du Jour. That turned out to be a very rare minute steak which many of the group thought disgusting and made their feelings known. However we moved on without incident and passed close to the magnificent cathedral of Tours. At the time I thought it something of a sacrilege to be so close to such a wonderful historic structure and not stop to view it properly, but we were all focused on getting to Lisbon on time.
