Pictured are :-

Back Row - Barry Mordike, Mike Jackson, John Bolland, Arthur Smith, Barry Hodder, Jim Hullah, Brian Hill, Graham Carter, Mike Coane, Peter Hicks

Front Row - Maurice Whitehead, John Murray, Malcolm Perrott, Brian Pagett, B Dunhill

Maurice Whitehead went on to skipper AOE, and Malcolm Perrott played for Aston for many years and is now the chief pitch marker.

Known as 'The Invincibles' the King Edward Aston school side of 1952-53 was captained by John Murray, who also went on to captain the North Midlands Schools XV and the England Schools XV. Watcyn Thomas, schoolmaster at Aston and former captain of Wales, described this exeptional player in the school magazine ...

'Murray had a devasting cut-through and his strength, swerve and body-shrug often beat intending tacklers in the space of a yard. Tribute must be paid to his defensive covering; his uncany instinct for anticpating where the ball was going next saved many a try. Murray was an excellent kicker and tactician, a fine captain who knew what he wanted from his men - and got it!'

The playing record for the season was Played 30, Won 28, Drew 1, Lost 1, For 769, Against 46.

The single loss was against Aston Old Edwardians.

Watcyn Thomas, again, recollected...

'In the 29 school games played, the 1st XV was undefeated, piling up 766 points, including 193 tries (then worth only 4 points) and conceding only 35 points. Our line was only breached on four occasions. We were frequently weakened owing to the call of representative games - our drawn game was against Moseley Grammar School being a result of this.

Often opponents were disconcerted and left standing by the brilliance of Mordike and Murray in midfield. Mordike's acceleration and speed from the base of the scrum and after a dropped pass carried him past apparantly immobile opponents, and enabled him to score 39 tries - an extraordinary performance by a scrum-half.

Elsewhere, Whitehouse was purposeful in attack and most intelligent in his defensive covering and fellow centre Edwards matched his 27 tries for the season. 16 year old Bolland scored 22 tries from the right wing.

The school was, almost inevitably, victorious in the North Midlands sevens.

10 of the team played for North Midlands Schools, and Carter and Mordike represented their county alongside Murray. Two of the younger members, Hullah and Manders won England School's caps in subsequent years.