I Am scared that one day I'll wake up and all the characters will be gone. Thankfully, many are still here. It was, for instance, Jimmy Currie's surprise sixtieth birthday party on Saturday at GHK.

Jimmy still plays for GHK's mighty golden oldies team, and his son Colin had flown in

especially to play alongside his old man. ''Jimmy Thow told me he was struggling for fitness, and there was a bloke from Hillhead who could step in,'' says Currie.

''So in walked this lad who I thought was my son, who is working in Spain. I got quite a shock when I realised it was my son. But he regretted coming as he's now in plaster after wrecking his ligaments after five minutes.''

It was, by all accounts, some party. Drinks were 60p, the music was from the sixties and a good time was had by all. Currie didn't play rugby at school, preferring to run instead. He still holds the Scottish schools mile record which is 4min. 29 point something

seconds which was set in 1957.

Mathematicians among you will realise Currie will have been somewhat of an old schoolboy at the time. ''Yes, I was 19,'' he admitted shyly while, as his wife Christine had told me to expect, he was across picking up the 21-inch TV he had been given as a present. ''I repeated a year. Mind you, so did Andy Little. We both repeated first year when Latin and all that stuff came in.''

Currie is one of Glasgow's great characters in a club full of them. His veterans' team has Thow, Archie Burleigh, Graham Ogilvie and a cast of rogues to contend with. He misses Rodney Balfour, who used to play but now seldom comes round the club.

Currie was a bit of a player in his day as well. ''I can remember being in a televised game on Rugby Special when High School FP's played Accies in 1968,'' says Currie. ''It was in black and white, and Bill McLaren called me a balding veteran when I was just 30. That stuck for some time.

''That Accies team had Les

Monaghan, the Simmers brothers, Dave Kernoghan, and John Hardie in it, while we had Mike Hunter, Rodney Balfour and Andy Little. We had been favourites but we lost 32-3. A disaster.''

Memorable moments in the Currie career include a reverse trip to Dublin when Ireland played in Scotland. For #120 each the team flew to Dublin and stayed in Jury's for two nights and played Bective Rangers on the day Alan Watt played at Murrayfield.

A trip to Arran seven years ago also sticks in his mind. ''It was

terrible weather and the boat couldn't get into Brodick harbour, so most of the team spent 16 hours drinking on the boat,'' says Currie. ''But we still got off and beat Arran first XV. A great weekend.''

You know, blokes like Jimmy Currie, and many others around clubs in this country, give rugby the social backdrop most of us crave. They give the game life, colour, fun, history, and tradition.

It is a good tradition full of good-hearted fun and a protective umbrella for youngsters who want friends. A rugby club, according to Currie, is like a family. ''It really is,'' he says. ''We were, and still are, just like a family. But I think that the game is getting a little less social.

''I come into the bar here after a game,'' he says, pointing at GHK's bar area, ''and I see our team here, and their team over there. It's not professionalism, it's just more serious. I suppose it started when leagues came in. Before leagues you played against the same people at school, and then in FP rugby. You had been knocking your heads against the same blokes for 10 years.

''With leagues you could play a team, they would be relegated, and you would never see them again.''

Time was, says Currie, that fixture lists would also publish where and when club discos would be held.

''You would open it up and there would be one at Balgray, next weekend one at Burnbrae, one at Accies and so on,'' he says. ''Also, the roles of women and young men have changed. Most players have a beer after the game and go into town. For us the club was the focus of our friendships. I hope it stays that way.''

For those who are interested, and I am, there is still a little

circle of friends who gather at GHK on a Friday evening for a pint, and it is a good pint. Currie has had great times, but I can exclusively reveal that this might be his last season.

''Yes, my boots are wearing thin and I don't think I'll buy another pair.'' He stopped and thought. ''But, you never say never!''

Well let's hope not. Happy sixtieth, Jimmy Currie, balding veteran.