Everyone at Blowing Bubbles was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Hugh Southon, the founder of Claret & Hugh. To me, Hughie was absolutely one in a million and such a huge supporter of this fanzine over the years.
We first got to know each other a decade ago. At the time, I was looking for some promotion of Blowing Bubbles and we just hit it off from the very start. I think it helped that we were journalists and both came from newspaper backgrounds. He’d worked for many national Fleet Street newspapers and served as the ghostwriter for Hammers legend Bobby Moore.
It took a couple of years of gently persuading Hughie but eventually in 2017, he agreed to start writing the last word, the final say, in this magazine. I was always blown month after month at how his piece would perfectly sum up what was in that month’s issue, and how he would tie everything together.
He was always able to hit the nail on the head in terms of the mood for us fans at that very moment – even more so recently with such a divided fanbase.
There were months where I had forgotten to tell him all the different pieces we had in the fanzine and he’d still get the tone absolutely right. He always had such a great finger on the pulse of all things West Ham. He was always so incredibly complimentary of the fanzine. He believed in what we’ve always tried to do, and over the years he’s played a huge part in how the magazine evolved.
He also always believed in me. He was always there for advice and guidance if I needed it and I was always so grateful to be able to tap into Hughie’s experience. Above everything else though, Hughie absolutely loved West Ham. I was so pleased – and still am so pleased – that he got to enjoy watching us win a trophy in Prague last year.
It meant a huge deal to him as he meant so much to the West Ham community. His passing comes as a shock to me, considering my weekly contact with Hughie, who became a loyal friend over the years. I’m going to miss him sorely.
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