I recently came across photocopies of some documents from the 1952/53 season and scanned them in just in case any other supporters might be interested.
First up is the cover of a Supporters Club membership card from that season, in the name of Mr Howes, who lived at 177 Coldharbour Road. I wonder if he continued his support for the club after that season, or if any of his relatives can tell us more about him?
As you can see, the SC Headquarters at that time was at 468 Stapleton Road and the distinctive quartered badge was used above the membership number. It would be interesting to know how many members there were at that time, as Mr Howes was number 2,499.
Item number two, again in the name of Mr Howes, is an invite to the club’s Promotion Dinner at The Berkeley café, Queens Road, Bristol, on Friday 15th May 1953.
I imagine this would have been an extremely popular event, given that promotion to the Second Division had just been achieved, though how many supporters received an invite is unknown.
Item number three is an autograph sheet and I’m assuming that it’s from that same event though it only shows the year (1953) in the top right hand corner.
The names of many of the promotion team, along with manager Bert Tann, are easily identifiable and even the Lord mayor of Bristol appears to have signed this one, again in the top right hand corner.
Should anyone else have any interesti9ng memorabilia from that promotion season, and would like to share it with fellow Rovers supporters, please get in touch.
Keith Brookman
