AMIDST the justifiably joyous summer-long jubilation surrounding the (still) barely credible deeds of Eddie Howe’s marvellous Cherries and the eagerly anticipated topflight curtain raiser at Dean Court, might it be timely to request the town’s sporting fraternity to remember, with a raised glass and tearful eye, the life and achievements of Bournemouth’s favourite son: Frederick Percival Mills?

July 25 this year will mark the 50th anniversary of the passing of the incomparable, late, great Freddie.

Mills’ legendary exploits in that loneliest of arenas, the boxing ring, took him from early contests in the Winter Gardens to the zenith of his calling – one glorious, never to be forgotten, London summer’s night in 1948.

It was at the captial’s White City where, in front of 46,000 enraptured, exuberant fight fans, Freddie outpointed the champion, American Gus Lesnevich, after 15 gruelling rounds.

He was crowned Light Heavyweight Champion of the World, becoming the first British boxer to be awarded the title since Bob Fitzsimmons had outpointed George Gardner at San Francisco in 1903.

The Bournemouth man’s renowned tenacity and undoubted bravery had taken him to the pinnacle of his profession and Freddie’s place within the pantheon was most assured.

My father, a resident of Moordown during the fighter’s pomp, would never tire of regaling me with vivid accounts of how the extraordinary feats of the former milkman from Terrace Road would raise the spirits of the townsfolk and serve to lift the all-pervasive gloom that blighted Bournemouth and Boscombe during those immediate post-war years.

Once again, Freddie, we salute you and ceaselessly marvel at how you single-handedly, albeit fleetingly, quite irrefutably placed my hometown (hardly a hotbed of previous pugilistic excellence!) at the very epicentre of the fight game. At the time, this was just about as unlikely an occurrence as the Cherries now dining at football’s finest table!

We shall not see the like of Freddie again, a long time gone but never forgotten.

There does exist a commemorative plaque at St Michael’s school, in Somerville Road, recalling Freddie’s schooldays.

DAVID TOMLINSON

Worthing, West Sussex