Fan's legacy boosts fund

Frickley Athletic's mission to raise £50,000 towards new community facilities has received another major boost after the sale of a vintage piece of football memorabilia for the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League club raised almost £600.

After 12 months of fundraising to build a new community pavilion at the Premier Division club's Westfield Lane, the sale helped push the total raised so far for the Frickley Athletic Redevelopment Fund to £25,023, just over the half-way mark.

The item of memorabilia, a programme from the 1935 FA Cup Final between Sheffield Wednesday and West Bromwich Albion, pictured, was eventually sold for £585 on eBay after a week of frenzied bidding. The programme was one of over 3,500 donated to the club by life-long fan Barry Jackson. He passed away three years ago and left them to the club on the provision that any proceeds raised went towards ground improvements.

Since then Chairman Gareth Dando has been selling them on behalf of the club and the sales have contributed around £12,000 towards their £50,000 target.

Dando said: "The club is enormously grateful to Barry and his family for the donation of his huge collection. As well as many FA Cup Finals from the 1920s and 1930s, Barry also had a large amount of rare items from Leeds United and Doncaster Rovers and a vast number of Non-League programmes from the 1950s.

"He had also collected many Frickley programmes going back to 1925. We've decided that these won't be sold as they form an invaluable part of the club's history and in many cases, are probably the only copy in existence."

When built Frickley's new development will house four changing rooms, officials changing rooms, additional male, female and disabled toilets and a community function room with its own catering facilities.

The complex will be shared with South Elmsall United Juniors and South Elmsall United Services and will be open to community groups in the area for a range of activities and educational programmes, many aimed at encouraging people to enjoy the nearby country park as well as building the Evo-Stik NPL Premier Divison club's futuer fan base.

Anyone interested in the remaining items for sale or in contributing to the club's appeal in any other way can contact Gareth on gdando91@gmail.com or on 07709 098469.

For more information on the redevelopment fundraising visit: www.fafcredevelopment.weebly.com.