Ebbsfleet United wishes a happy birthday to a long-standing and well-loved member of our maintenance team as Peter Norton reaches 80 years old today!

The club presented Peter with a new 40-inch TV in recognition of his milestone birthday.

Peter, who works alongside head groundsman Craig Freeman, has long cared for the Stonebridge Road pitch and his birthday celebrations this morning lasted only as long as it took him to get back out and start working on it again!

Of course Peter has plenty of other achievements in his 80 years. A right-half for Empire Paper Mills FC in his day, he also reached No.15 in the iTunes dance chart with his ‘Beat The Weather’ single during the lead-up to our 2008 FA Trophy final.

Tucking into a cake prepared by kit manager Maggie Danzey, Peter had to work quickly as the club has a raft of birthdays this month (Stuart Lewis, Daryl McMahon, Adam Cunnington, David Jupp) and there wasn’t enough to go round.