The Bristol Rovers History Group – Marc Radford, Secretary
What’s the formal status of your group?
We are the Bristol Rovers History Group. There are a select few of us such as official club historian Mike Jay, who is the driving force behind our being, as well as co-author Ian Haddrell. Hilary Lewis is the daughter of one of our greatest players, no-one less than one Harry Bamford. I am the barmy individual who tries to call order (aka the secretary) and Jamie is the one who puts everything on the website – go and check it out at your leisure here: Eliot and I help Mike to catalogue bygone days and Jamie has his own mammoth treasure trove of past programmes.
Chris has helped us overcome some massive red tape just to ‘exist’ officially. At first, and for now, we are a simple “society” but we need to firm up our Aims and Objectives, maybe in a sort of Charter so that we know where we are heading. As with all sporting clubs and gatherings, there needs to be a structure in place so we can work alongside other such bodies. For example at Bristol Rovers there is the Community Trust and the BRFPA (Former Player’s Association) and other structures that have existed for years such as the Supporters’ Club and the Club itself.
Richard is full of fantastic ideas and is our sporting history aficionado. Our next meeting is on March 25th 2021 at 1900 GMT over zoom – if you are interested in joining us, please email marcradford21@gmail.com to introduce yourself. We already have opened our doors to a good handful of prospective new members at this meeting.
How did you get started?
I suppose that the BRHG has been in its ‘infancy’ for many a decade, yet it has only become a concrete entity in the most recent of (strange) times. We have now had no less than six meetings.
The one thing that unites us all, before even thinking about ‘ethos’ or ‘raison d’être’, would be our love for our football team. Now that we are a “group”, we have decided to meet intermittently to decide how best to move forward.
How much stuff have you got?
We’ve got anything from the obvious, such as press articles, photos and match day programmes to the more obscure. We have a whole chunk of memorabilia, and we wondered how on earth to catalogue and therefore preserve this. At present there are exciting times ahead, as Bristol Rovers will soon have a “Hall of Fame” which will raise the profile of the club along with such artefacts, and make the “display” of such things more permanently on show to fans home and away alike.
How do you make it available?
The first two public showings of many of these items took place in the Supporters’ Club bar on a match day when we received support from the SC. We linked this to raising the profile of Dementia UK in the second event. That was keenly visited and a lot of interest came from former players Steve Elliot and Tom Stanton who showed considerable interest in our work.
What’s the most unusual find?
We believe this is the first ever “trophy” won by Bristol Rovers in 1888/89 season (the Gloucs FA Cup), one of many medals no doubt handed out that year but this has stood the test of time. It is tiny and cost a small fortune but it is so significant to us. Eagle-eyed Eric spotted it for sale and we swooped. He also found a long lost Black Arab photo from the 1880s. Now the medal belongs to the BRHG, along with a lot more ideas, all of a sudden the future opens up full of possibilities and adventures! The very acquiring of this medal has increased our profile no end.