Bristol Rovers FC

Bristol Rovers 1 Lincoln City 2 - Football League, Division Two

Archaeological finds believed to be 60,000 years old, discovered at Shirehampton and St Annes, provide evidence of human activity in the Bristol area from the Palaeolithic era. By the 14th century Bristol was one of England's three largest medieval towns after London, along with York and Norwich, with perhaps 15,000–20,000 inhabitants on the eve of the Black Death of 1348–49. The plague resulted in a prolonged pause in the growth of Bristol's population, with numbers remaining at 10,000–12,000 through most of the 15th and 16th centuries. Bristol's city centre suffered severe damage from Luftwaffe bombing during the Bristol Blitz of World War II. The original central shopping area, near the bridge and castle, is now a park containing two bombed out churches and some fragments of the castle.

Bristol Rovers FC was founded in 1883 as Black Arabs F.C., and was also known as Eastville Rovers and Bristol Eastville Rovers before finally changing its name to Bristol Rovers in 1898. They were admitted to the Football League in 1920 and have never dropped out of it since. The team play their home matches at the Memorial Stadium, in the Horfield area of the city. The club is their distinctive blue and white quartered shirts, which they have worn for most of their history.

Staying at Weston Super Mare for the following day’s League Cup Final at Cardiff, enabled a good opportunity to visit this venue. We were able to walk from Bristol Temple Meads station stopping off for refreshments en route. I recall a very good variety of cornish pasty being available in the ground.

Programme courtesy of Jamie Howarth Bristol Rovers Memorabilia

Belper Town FC

Belper Town 0 Gretna 2 - Northern Premier League, Division One

Belper is a town within the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England. It is eight miles north of Derby, on the A6, by the River Derwent. At the time of the Norman occupation, Belper was part of the land centred on Duffield held by the family of Henry de Ferrers. The Domesday Survey records a manor of "Bradley" which is thought to have been somewhere in the vicinity of the Coppice. At that time it was probably within the Forest of East Derbyshire which covered the whole of the county east of the Derwent. It was possibly appropriated by William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby at some time after it was disafforested in 1225 and became part of Duffield Frith.

Belper Town FC was established in 1883 and joined the Midland League in 1961. After the 1981-82 season, Belper Town joined the Northern Counties East League Premier Division, winning the title in 1984-85. After a second place finish in 1996-97, they were promoted to the Northern Premier League First Division. In 2007, Belper Town competed in the inaugural season of the Northern Premier League Division One South.

This Pieman’s visit to Christchurch Meadow was an opportunist one. Spurs were playing a lunchtime Saturday fixture at Pride Park. On conclusion of that fixture we opted to get back to the railway station which proved a good move as the traffic around the ground was gridlocked. A taxi ride in heavy rain had us doubting if we would see a 2nd match, but on arrival we were pleased to see the ground open and visitors Gretna along with the home side were warming up.

I recall some excellent hot food at the ground and a pretty decent Gretna performance too. We made our way back to Derby by train, stopping off at the Alexandra for some fine ale, before heading back to London.