Among the souvenirs which Tom Grace brought back from Mexico was a bottle of tequila. Tom, complete with sombrero which he bought in Mexico City for his young son, pours a drink for a delighted customer at the 110 Club.
Burnley club steward Tom Grace, back home after the holiday of a lifetime, a 17-day £1,000 World Cup trip to Mexico which cost him nothing spoke yesterday, the 29th June 1970, of "the most wonderful experience I have ever had, more exciting than could possibly be imaged." Tom, 44, is the popular steward at the 110 Club, Yorkshire Street, and won the free trip by selling more Bass Export bottled beer than any other club steward in Bass Charrington's North West Region.
There's a bonus to come to those who helped him by buying and drinking the beer. Tom took his cine camera with him and plans to show a colour film of his holiday as soon as possible. It includes many of the highlights from the diary of one of the few people from the area to attend the World Cup, and one who says: "Despite the disappointment of England's defeat in the quarter final we can and should still be proud of our team. Watching on television here must surely have been misleading. Honestly you wouldn't believe how hot it was sitting in the Jalisco Stadium at Guadalajara just watching. You felt to be frying and for the players it must have been absolutely killing."
In all Tom saw eight games and said "Even though I genuinely believe we would have beaten Brazil given the chance at the Aztec Stadium on final day I can't accept Sir Alf Ramsey's view that we had nothing to learn from the Brazilians. Our defence was streets ahead but their forwards showed us how to attack in style. Everyone in our party of 53 thought that Ralph Coates should have been kept in the England Squad."