FEW clubs in football have such a rich and colourful history as Town.

They will forever be rememered as the first club to achieve a hat trick of League titles - a record equalled subsequently only by Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United - and, of course, the Town name is on the FA Cup (won in 1922).

In the build-up to Town's centenary in 2008, however, it is worth remembering it all started in much more humble circumstances.

Town's first trophy came in 1909, when they lifted the Huddersfield and District League Cup, beating Lindley Temperance 5-0 at Leeds Road.

The following year they won the Bradford and District Hospital Cup with a 1-0 win over Goole Town in a match played at Castleford.

At that time, Town were not in the Football League.

But they were established and played in two FA Cup finals by the time they took the Huddersfield Infirmary and Victoria Nurses' Charity Cup in 1924, beating Heart of Midlothian 2-1 in front of more than 10,000 spectators.

Roy Shiner scored both goals when Town beat Sheffield Wednesday to win the Westmorland Invitation Trophy final in April 1953, while fans of a different generation might remember the Shipp Cup, which was won on a mini-League basis against Cambridge United, Peterborough and Sheffield Wednesday (away) in the summer of 1977.

All this can be discovered in the latest official club publication The Light at the End of the Tunnel, an A to Z history by Tony Matthews which will intrigue any Town fan (publisher 90 Minutes, £12.99). Crammed with detail it starts with abandoned matches and goes right through to Alf Young (there are no Z entries), including a special section of pictures to mark the glorious play-off success masterminded by manager Peter Jackson last season at the Millennium.

Jackson provides a short foreword for the book and all the club's great players are included.

While few administrators or directors are mentioned, there is rightly a slot for Sir Amos Brook Hirst OBE, who did great things for the club over many years and was chairman of the FA.

The big matches and sections on Town's opposition are there in easy alphabetical form.

And, at a glance, it gives a perfect illustration of the rich and proud history and tradition of the club.