A RECENT e-mail to the Evening News offices has brought back in focus a freak and tragic million-to-one accident which befell a Worcester man more than half-a-century ago.

A.C Hill of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, asked if I would look in our bound archives and try to trace an Evening News report of 1948, about the death of his uncle, Quartermaster-Sergeant Kenneth John Hill.

I was indeed able to find that front page report of April 20, 1948, and it makes remarkable but extremely sad reading.

It states:

"A Worcester man was one of the victims of the disaster at the Army Cup Final replay at Aldershot yesterday when the referee's whistle was struck by lightning and two players standing alongside him were killed.

"The dead man from this city was 25 years-old Quartermaster-Sergeant Kenneth John Hill, second son of Mr and Mrs Frederick Hill of 53 Tallow Hill, Worcester. He was unmarried.

"He attended Stanley Road School and completed an apprenticeship at Heenan & Froude Limited, Shrub Hill, before joining the Royal Armoured Corps. He went with his unit to India and later served in Burma. He returned to this country about a year ago and at the time of his death was at the officers' training depot at Bovington, in Dorset.

"Quartermaster-Sergeant Hill was an all-round sportsman but was particularly skilful at football and rugby. He captained the football team at Stanley Road School and later led the works side at Heenan & Froude. Several times while on Army leave, he turned out for Worcester City Reserves.

"He was playing for the Royal Armoured Corps against the 121st Training Regiment, Royal Artillery in yesterday's Army Cup Final replay."

He was one of eight children. His brother Harold was also then serving in the Royal Armoured Corps while his other brother Arthur was working for H.W Ward & Co. Ltd at Blackpole, Worcester.

He had five sisters, one of them a policewoman then stationed at Evesham.

His father was machine inspector at the works of Fisher, Humphrey & Co, the agricultural engineers at Pershore.