Shrewsbury Town programmes look set to fetch £10,000 at auction

The 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 Dave Bridgwater, a retired police officer from Telford, who died at the age of 84 on June 8, 2018 after suffering from a rare muscle-wasting condition, inclusion body myositis.

His vast collection of programmes will go under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers’ sporting memorabilia auction in Derbyshire on November 23.

And although 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 Shrewsbury's first programme from that inaugural 1950/51 season from an away game at Scunthorpe on August 19, 1950 and a rare programme from the last game of that season against New Brighton on may 5, 1951.

"Shrewsbury Town’s history really comes to life through this incredible collection, a club which can trace its roots back to 1886," Mr Lofley said.

"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 her husband started supporting Shrewsbury Town at the age of 11.

She said: "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. She hopes the programmes will go to someone who loves the club as much as he did.

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 between 11am-2pm, at The Red Lion, Great Hales Street, Market Drayton.

To find out more about the collection email dwilsonturner@hansonsauctioneers.co.uk or call 01283 733988.