It is with great sadness that we have news that Hendon legend Laurie Topp passed away overnight after a long illness at the age of 93.

Legend is a term that can be overused at times in the present day, but it is a term that is thoroughly deserved by Laurie.

Born on 11th November 1923 in St Pancras, Laurie made his Hendon debut (based on information held by the club results archive), or Golders Green as we were called back then, on 29th January 1944 in a 6-1 victory over Clapton in the wartime Hertfordshire & Middlesex League, and he went on to be a regular in the side through to the 1960-61 season when he retired. According to the archive he made 587 competitive appearances, scoring 16 goals.

He was a scorer in the 1960 FA Amateur Cup victory over Kingstonian, and was a member of the side that came lost in the final of the same competition to Bishop Auckland in 1955.

He won the Athenian League three times with the club, the only three times the club won the competition, in 1953, 1956 and 1961, as well as being part of the squads that were runners up in 1948, 1949 and 1952.

Other honours won during his time with the club were the Middlesex Senior Cup in 1956, 1958 and 1960, and the Middlesex Charity Cup in 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1954 and 1957.

He also earnt international honours, appearing in two Olympic Games along with 32 England Amateur caps.

Our deepest sympathies and thoughts go out to Laurie's family and friends at this very sad time, and he will always go down in Hendon history as a club legend.