My first game was in the early part of Season 1957/58, it was either Bournemouth or Colchester..one was a 4 -2 win , the other a 3 - 3 draw. I also remember the Bees beat Norwich 7 – 1 at about that time. The big stars were George Francis and Jim Towers – the ‘ terrible twins’, Ken Coote was captain, and the late Gerry Cakebread kept goal.
We had a little right winger, Eric Parsons, who was nicknamed ‘Rabbit’ , and when he ran down the wing the crowd would sing the old Bud Flanagan favourite ‘ Run rabbit, run rabbit ‘
My dad used to take me on the old Brook Road ( Royal Oak ) stand , a lot of us kids used to sit on the row of barriers about half way back.
It was the last season of Divison 3 ( South). Only one team got promoted, and Bees came second to Brighton. Towards the end of the season there were several 20,000 plus crowds for game against Brighton, and Reading. Brighton needed to win their last game , against Watford, to pip Brentford, and did so 5 -1 .
The following season Divisions 3 and 4 were introduced, with two up, and…Bees came third, behind Plymouth and Hull if memory serves.. The home game against Plymouth had a gate not far off 30,000.