More than 3,000 Shrewsbury Town football programmes – including hugely rare examples – are expected to fetch thousands of pounds at auction.
The ‘mindboggling’ collection includes virtually every matchday programme – home and away – since the club was elected to the Football League in 1950 to the present day.
They belonged to lifelong fan of The Shrews Dave Bridgwater, a retired police officer from Telford, who sadly died at the age of 84 on June 8, 2018 after suffering from a rare muscle-wasting condition, Inclusion body myositis (IBM).
His vast collection of programmes will go under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers’ Sporting Memorabilia Auction in Derbyshire on November 23. And though it is yet to be catalogued in its entirety, Hansons’ sports valuer Alistair Lofley says it could achieve in the region of £10,000.
Mr Lofley, who will be in Shropshire to do free sports memorabilia valuations on October 11, said: “It’s an incredible, single-owner collection in superb condition. Mr Bridgwater meticulously filed away each programme in thick plastic sleeves and stored them with care.
“He had virtually every programme from 1950 when Shrewsbury Town were accepted into the Football League and a few from before that time. The earliest is from a Shrewsbury Town v Gainsborough match played in October 1946. It’s mindboggling to find such an immaculate and complete collection.
“It includes The Shrews’ first programme from that inaugural 1950-51 season – an away game at Scunthorpe on August 19, 1950. It was Scunthorpe’s first match in the Football League, too, which is quite incredible. Its estimate is £300-£400.
“Another rare programme is from the last game of that season against New Brighton on May 5, 1951. It’s sought after because that was New Brighton’s last game in the Football League. They were relegated. Its estimate is £200-£300.
“Shrewsbury Town’s history really comes to life through this incredible collection, a club which can trace its roots back to 1886.
“Collecting programmes must have been something of an obsession for Mr Bridgwater but he certainly did his team proud.He was in the Premier League when it came to his hobby.”
Mr Bridgwater’s wife, Barbara, 77, said: “Dave supported Shrewsbury Town from around the age of 11 and went to every game. It was his passion. I went with him to one game when we first met but wasn’t really interested in football – I went shopping instead!
“It’s horrible without him but he was very poorly towards the end. We would have celebrated our 58th wedding anniversary this year. We married in 1960.”
Despite his illness, Mrs Bridgwater said her husband rarely missed a game and had bought his season ticket for this year: “Shrewsbury Town refunded him the money.”
She hopes the programmes will go to football fans who will appreciate them as much as her husband did. “He always told me to go to a proper dealer to sell them.”
Mr Lofley, who has a collection of 100,000 programmes himself, is hoping to unearth more sporting gems at a free valuation event on October 11, 11am-2pm, at The Red Lion, Great Hales Street, Market Drayton, Shropshire, TF9 1JP. General antique valuations also available.
To find out more about the Dave Bridgwater Shrewsbury Town FC Collection, please email [email protected] or call 01283 733988.
