Terry never played for Charlton Park. He was front row down at Goddington Lane, the home of Westcombe Park. He also played for Old Elthamians and Deal and Betteshanger. He had a distinguished playing career and when he eventually decided to call it a day, he swapped his boots for a tracksuit to take on a coaching role.

His talent soon came to the attention of the Kent RFU and he was asked to take up a role alongside our very own Dave Collen to coach the Kent U20 side.

Such was their working relationship, Dave asked Terry to come down and work with the Charlton Park forwards who, as a club, were marching towards the national leagues.

Dave and Terry had a fantastic rapport with their players and it wasn’t long before a number of them started to arrive at Pippenhall to bolster our playing squad much to the annoyance of the clubs that they played for.

Our stay in National 4 was short but sweet. But because of the work that Dave and Terry had done in attracting players, on occasions we were able to field two competitive first XV’s when there was a clash of fixtures - league match vs Kent Cup.

There has been much reminiscing about Terry on our WhatsApp group mainly, it appears, about car journeys. Martin Haines recalled the weekend away in Lille where he, Dave and Terry couldn’t find the hotel Ibis. They walked and walked, Terry on crutches, only to discover when they arrived at the hotel at 3am that there were five Ibis hotels in Lille and that particular hotel was number 5. Terry was not a happy chap that night but he lived to tell the tale.

Although an infrequent visitor to Broad Walk in recent years largely due to his health problems, his forthright views and happy persona will be sorely missed by those who knew him.

We send our love and sincerest condolences to his family and close friends.

There is an obituary on the Kent RFU website for those who want to read it.

RIP Terry Hodson.