bantamspast blog

BBC Radio 4 - Major Historical Series on the History of British Sport

2012-01-24T20:38:00.001Z

David Pendleton, the author of Paraders and Glorious 1911, is researching a part time PhD into the sporting leisure of Bradford via De Montfort University's International Centre for Sports History and Culture. Next week the centre, in conjunction with the BBC, will be launching a major new 30 episode series on the history of British sport. The series will be narrated by Clare Balding and will be a flagship historical series for BBC Radio 4 in the London Olympic year.

The first episode will be broadcast at 1:45pm on Monday 30th January. An omnibus edition for each week will also be broadcast at 21:02 each Friday night.

Further information on the first episode and the series is attached below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01b9h7c

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/sport-and-the-british.html

Paraders at Number One

2012-01-12T16:36:00.004Z

As the picture shows, Paraders, the 125 year history of Valley Parade, is number one best seller at the Bradford branch of Waterstone's (soon to be without their apostrophe, we hear).

Seasonal Best Wishes

2011-12-24T10:45:00.004Z

We would like to wish all our visitors a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

During the festive period we will be selling copies of the new book Paraders, the 125 year history of Valley Parade, on matchdays in the bantamspast museum. Copies of our previous publication, Glorious 1911, will also be on sale. The books are also available from Waterstones in the city centre and online or by email. We hope to see many of you at the matches on Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve.

Pre-Christmas Activities

2011-12-09T17:52:00.005Z

One in a Million (The Charity based at Valley Parade) and Friends of Bradford City (The fund raising group of supporters) are staging a Christmas event in the Museum/Cafe area (Above the club shop) prior to next Saturday's game against Plymouth. Shipley Salvation Army Band will be providing suitably festive music in the Museum prior to appearing on the pitch before kick off and at half time.
One in Million will be offering festive fayre in their cafe including mince pies and mulled wine, whilst Santa Claus will be dropping in.
bantamspast will have the newly launched book `Paraders` tracing the 125 year history of Valley Parade available for sale, and author David Pendleton will be available to sign copies.
Bantamstrek will be selling Santa Hats, the sales of which will benefit the Bradford Burns Unit,.
It is hoped some of the City players will be making an appearance.
Friends of Bradford City will be selling their new 2012 Calendar `Its a fan's life` featuring City players in fans roles, and will also have other seasonal gifts available.
In addition Friends of Bradford City will be giving details of the re-launched `Junior Bantams` young supporters club in association with One in Milllion and would give a warm welcome to young City supporters.
City Gent will have a seasonal twist in their new issue of the City Gent fanzine, and Friends of Bradford City will have sales locations in each stand, making it a very busy day for the various supporter groups.
Mark Neale, Chairman of Friends of Bradford City said "The home game nearest Christmas is traditionally a special day for the fans, and it's great that the various supporters organisations have joined together to have a special event in the Museum/Cafe area before what is a very important game for City".
"We are developing a great relationship with One in a Million who are now an important part of the Valley Parade scene, and bantamspast are also very pro-active in keeping alive the history of our great club".
"There will be something for every age group on Saturday, but we really hope young City fans can come and get our new Junior Bantams group of to a great start with an official launch taking place on 31st December".
Above: David Pendleton signs copies of his latest book, Paraders, at Thursday's launch, held at Waterstones in Bradford,

Paraders - Book Launch

2011-12-05T18:25:00.001Z

The official launch of a new book which celebrates the 125 year history of Bradford City AFC’s Valley Parade ground will take place at Waterstones at 6.30pm on Thursday 8 December. Entitled ‘Paraders, the 125 year history of Valley Parade’, it has been written by David Pendleton, curator of Bradford City’s bantamspast museum and author of the critically acclaimed book Glorious 1911.

Paraders tells the story of the Bantams’ home from its inception as a rugby ground in 1886 right through to the present day. From the fire disaster of 1985 to the FA Cup winners of 1911; the brief Premier League sojourn to all too many years in the basement division of English football. The full sweep of the history and development of Valley Parade is captured. Scores of previously unpublished images enhance the painstakingly researched text. Even the most dedicated Bradford City supporter will learn something new from this comprehensive history.

Paraders is much more than a history of a football ground. It touches on the social, industrial and demographic changes that have shaped the wider city of Bradford over the last 125 years. Priced at just £16 the book will appeal to even those who do not make the fortnightly pilgrimage to Valley Parade.

Paraders is on sale in the bantamspast museum on matchdays and at Waterstones in Bradford city centre. The author will be signing copies in the bantamspast museum prior to home matches during December.

Guest of Honour Joe

2011-10-24T10:38:00.002+01:00

Joe Cooke watching City's 2-1 victory over Northampton Town. He was our guest of honour at the museum's first Black History Month event. Thanks to Jess Jess Pétrie for the photo.

Older than the Bantams

2011-10-20T08:05:00.000+01:00

Celebrating 112 years of black footballers in Bradford
Saturday 22 October 2011, prior to the game against Northampton Town
1.15pm
bantamspast museum
Bradford City AFC
Valley Parade
Admission free

In 1899 a team of black players from South Africa played a Bradford & District team at Park Avenue, four years before the Bantams were formed.

Two years later, in 1901, the spectacular show Savage South Africa was staged at Valley Parade in a three week run that played to over twenty thousand people. The show, complete with 500 hundred actors and 120 horses, also featured, what the Bradford Daily Argus termed ‘real African darkies’. Today the show is often criticised as being a human zoo. However, for a working class family, living perhaps in a cramped terrace house, in days long before radio and television, the show must have simply appeared as fabulous entertainment.

In 1905, only four years after the staging of Savage South Africa, Bradford City signed their first black player, the mixed race winger Billy Clarke, from Aston Villa. He had already become the first ever black player to score a goal in the first division of English football whilst with Villa. At Valley Parade he would win a second division championship medal and score Bradford City’s first ever goal in top flight football in 1908. A hugely popular player with the Valley Parade crowds, it is interesting to note that, during his near 100 games for the Bantams, the newspapers barely mention his race. It seems that he was accepted into the Bradford City family almost without comment.

In the 1970s Bradford City welcomed the pioneering modern day black players Ces Podd and Joe Cooke to Valley Parade. The two men became immensely popular with the supporters and Ces is still the club’s record appearance holder, playing 565 games for the club between 1970 and 1984. Arguably, the presence of both men in Bradford City’s team helped to shape the culture of the club during an era that defined race relations in Britain. Being a racist and a Bradford City supporter was simply incompatible. Today, the club still enjoys a reputation for openness and tolerance. Ces and Joe’s role in establishing that culture will be one aspect of Bradford City’s celebration of Black History Month.

The bantamspast museum co-curator, David Pendleton, will give a presentation about the visit of the black South African team to Bradford in 1899; the arrival of the show Savage South Africa at Valley Parade in 1901; and Bradford City’s first black player, Billy Clarke, who joined the club in 1905.

Professor Matt Taylor, of De Montfort University, Leicester, will speak about the pioneering black footballers of the 1970s, including Bradford City’s own Ces Podd and Joe Cooke.

The director of the International Centre for Sports History and Culture, De Montfort University, Leicester, Professor Tony Collins, will talk of the contribution of black sportsmen and women to the culture of the north of England.

We hope that our guests of honour will include, Joe Cooke and Des Hamilton, scorer of Bradford City’s opening goal during the Wembley 1996 play-off final when the Bantams secured promotion to the Championship.

The bantamspast museum event is part of Bradford City’s One Game, One Community day, which is dedicated to the Kick Racism out of Football initiative.

Programme Fair

2011-10-20T07:38:00.001+01:00

In a Bantam Frame of Mind

2011-10-04T07:31:00.002+01:00

A mini-photographic exhibition featuring life around Bradford City’s Valley Parade ground

A mini photographic exhibition will open in the bantamspast museum on Saturday 8 October. A series of twelve shots, taken by Bankfoot photographer Jess Petrie, captures a taste of life around Bradford City’s Valley Parade stadium. The photographs were taken as part the bantamsmemories project, which sought to gather the memories of the varied communities that have lived in the shadow of the football ground over the last fifty years.

The mini-exhibition runs parallel with the Bradford wide Ways of Looking photographic festival, which runs throughout October. The co-curator of the bantamspast museum, David Pendleton, said: "We are delighted to be able to display a small portion of Jess’ work. We hope to commission her once more in the near future to record the area around the ground on a match day. The importance of the football club, both socially and economically, to Manningham is perhaps taken for granted, but we feel it is important to recognise the shared links of two communities that come together for a few hours every time City play at home."

Jess Petrie gave her thoughts on the project: "I was honoured to be commissioned to document scenes of daily life from around the area. In true reportage style I set on my little journey ‘in the shadow of Valley Parade’.

I had a clear vision of the people and places I was to focus on; all the people that belong to the local religious establishments in the area, the worshippers, local business workers and the local people and communities.

The diversity and multiculturalism surrounding the area is so vast and it’s so nice to see communities of different cultures mixing, working and living together… it’s harmonious and how the rest of the world should be living.

It’s been refreshing and eye-opening to hear the stories that everyone has to tell about their life surrounding the stadium and the changes that the area has gone through over periods of time. The opportunities that have arose from the football club, the vibrancy and ‘team spirit’ that leaves an ambience in the air before each match, the beaming smiles on the faces of local business owners after each match, and the proud feeling inside everyone that is part of the community.

I have witnessed a lot of positive actions whilst taking part in this project. And my views of Bradford have been seen in an even newer and positive light since working on it.

The communities around Valley Parade are full of support and care for one another and have great dignity. Everyone has been so welcoming, kind, warm and open. I would like to thank all those who shared their stories with me, their time and their smiling faces, I will take a lot away with me from this pleasant experience."

Meet Wayne Jacobs and David Wetherall

2011-09-14T17:42:00.001+01:00

A Friends of Bradford City Event
Thursday October 22nd (8pm) FoBC Forum
A chance to meet and thank two of that rarity nowadays, the loyal club servant. Both Wayne and David never got the chance to say goodbye to the fans, and the fans would like to wish them well in their future careers. This evening is an opportunity to do so.
One in a Million will open their cafe for the evening.
Entry is free to members of FoBC and £1 to non-members.

bantamsmemories launch

2011-09-07T20:51:00.001+01:00

Over the past two years, the lottery funded bantamsmemories project has been recording the stories remembered by people from different generations and backgrounds who have lived in the area around Valley Parade. The product of much work carried out by many volunteers can now be seen on the bantamsmemories website.

A film and visual display have also been produced and these will be exhibited in the bantamspast museum soon. Watch this space!

The Season's First Pre-match Event

2011-09-07T20:42:00.000+01:00

The bantamspast museum hosts its first presentation of the season on Saturday. Prior to Bradford City's match against Bristol Rovers, the Bradford Bulls Foundation will be showing films and giving a presentation relating to their Heritage Lottery funded Past Times project which is aiming to capture the social history of Odsal Stadium for future generations.

The ground, which of course was Bradford City's home in the wake of the fire disaster, has a rich heritage and has hosted rugby, speedway, stock cars, equestrian, festivals of sport, girl guide jamborees, football, trotting, dog shows, the Harlem Globetrotters, cattle markets, tennis and many other events.

The event begins at 1.15pm in the bantamspast museum which is located above the Club Shop behind the Kop End of Valley Parade. As with all bantamspast events, admission is completely free.

bantamspast: A New Look

2011-08-18T18:01:00.004+01:00

The 1911 FA Cup Final ball has returned to the bantamspast museum following its long term loan to Bradford Industrial Museum where it was on display for their fabulous exhibition that marked City's 1911 FA Cup triumph. We also took the opportunity to create a new case that holds some of the most iconic items from the club's history. These include the match ball from City's miraculous Premier League survival when Liverpool were beaten 1-0 at a breathless Valley Parade. Also from that unforgettable match is Matt Clarke's shirt. Alongside those items are Stuart McCall's boots from the game at Wolves when City gained promotion to the Premier League and the shield the club received to mark that feat.

As fabulous as those items are, the most noticeable change are the two huge images of the FA Cup winners Jimmy Speirs and Bob Campbell which will greet visitors as they enter the museum. Over the coming weeks we will also be erecting similar profiles of the other cup heroes. More photographs will be added as work progresses.

Upcoming Events

2011-08-15T11:34:00.002+01:00

The bantamspast museum is pleased to announce the return of our popular pre-match events. Further details will appear nearer to the time but here are three for the earlier part of the season. As usual admission to the museum and events is completely free of charge.

10 September: The Bradford Bulls Foundation will be giving a presentation on the social history of Odsal Stadium and will present a 20 minute DVD which gives a flavour of the many sports Odsal Stadium has hosted since it was constructed in 1934: from speedway to rugby league; baseball to show jumping.

24 September: Bradford City's Valley Parade ground is 125 years old this year and the actual birthday falls on 25 September. As Bradford City play at home to AFC Wimbledon the day before, that seems like an ideal time to celebrate our beloved ground. The birthday party will take place in the bantamspast museum. Come enjoy a birthday cake, cards and balloons.

22 October: Bradford City's Billy Clarke was the first ever black footballer to score a goal in the first division of English football. He signed for City in 1905. Over 60 years later Ces Podd and Joe Cooke graced Valley Parade as pioneering modern day black players. We celebrate the contribution of black players to Bradford City with an event in the bantamspast museum prior to City's match against Northampton Town. Speakers include Professor Matt Taylor of De Montfort University and bantamspast's own David Pendleton. An international five-a-side match will take place on the pitch between two teams from Bradford's African refugee community. Joe Cooke will be one of our guests of honour.

France-Belgium 2011 - A Final Picture

2011-06-25T06:51:00.002+01:00

Our band of travellers at Jimmy Speirs' grave. An appropriate way to end the celebrations of Glorious 1911.

France-Belgium 2011 - James Comrie

2011-06-25T06:45:00.003+01:00

The huge Menin Gate at Ypres has become the site of one of the best known and poignant ceremonies that surrounds the modern memory of the First World War. Every night members of the Ypres fire brigade play the last post beneath the imposing gate on which are inscribed the names of 56,000 men who died in the defence of Ypres and have no known grave.

Among those names is James Comrie, signed when Bradford City gained promotion to the first division and he replaced Gerald Kirk in the team. When the war came James was living in Lincoln, but for reasons unknown he ended up serving with the Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed near Ypres, but has no known grave. As large crowds gathered to witness the last post ceremony, the traffic was stopped and the bugles sounded their lament, I looked for James' name, but found myself pondering the eleven men whose graves we had visited.

My eyes were then drawn to the endless lists of names on the Menin Gate. I read as many as I could, thinking of the places and lives they had left behind. This is no glorification of war, far from it, there was only sadness and a thankfulness that my generation had not been asked to face the horrors that these ordinary men had.

France-Belgium 2011 - Gerald Kirk

2011-06-25T06:40:00.002+01:00

The village of Poperinghe was for British troops a respite from the hell of Ypres. This was the railhead for the infamous Ypres Salient but also a place where bars and restaurants could be visited. For City's amateur centre half Gerald Kirk it was the place he came to die. Badly wounded during the defence of St Julian following the first ever gas attack in the history of warfare, when the German's released poison gas on French colonial troops who ran for their lives at the sight of the yellow gas clouds.

Gerald's company were thrown into a hasty counter attack designed to plug the gap in the line, it was successful but it cost Gerald Kirk his life. Badly wounded he was taken to Poperinghe, but the following day he succumbed and he lies in the Poperinghe Old British Cemetery.

France-Belgium 2011 - Robert Torrance

2011-06-25T06:26:00.002+01:00

As you walk down the gravel path to the Tyne Cot Cemetery halfway up the Passchendaele ridge, a soft woman's voice reads a name, regiment and age at the time of death. It's a beautiful litany of the 300,000 men who died in the infamous Battle of Passchdaele. Tyne Cot is the largest British and Commonwealth war cemetery in the world. Over twelve thousands graves and an additional 36,000 on its Memorial to the Missing. This truly is the Silent City.

Among the names on the Memorial to the Missing is that of Robert Torrance. Probably Bradford City's greatest defender. The auburn haired centre half was the man-of-the-match in the 1911 FA Cup Final replay. Seven years later he lost an arm during an artillery barrage near the Belgian town of Ypes. The field hospital he was taken to was then shelled and Robert was blasted into oblivion. His body was never found. Today he may still lie undiscovered under a Belgian field, or he may lie in a grave marked simply 'known unto God'.

France-Belgium 2011 - Jimmy Conlin

2011-06-21T20:07:00.002+01:00

The Nieupoort Memorial to the Missing was unlike any other we had seen thus far. It was situated in the centre of the town, at a main road intersection with trams and canals nearby.

City's first ever England international Jimmy Conlin is commemorated on the memorial. He was quite a character. The first City player to be sent off, only the second ever player in the world to be sold for over £1,000 and he was at the centre of a riot at Valley Parade against Manchester United in 1906.

Sadly, his brilliant career ended with suspension as drink got the better of him. Jimmy was killed in action at Neiupoort whilst serving with the Highland Light Infantry. He has no known grave and is thus commemorated by name on the memorial. The photograph shows bullet holes in the memorial from the Second World War.

France-Belgium 2011 - Ernest Goodwin

2011-06-21T19:59:00.003+01:00

Line after line of brilliant white headstones. Étaples British Cemetery, within sight of the sea, is a poignant place. Here wounded soldiers were brought from the front. If they survived they were placed on a boat for Britain and home. Sadly, over 12,000 got within sight and sound of the sea, and by association, home, before succumbing to their wounds.

Among the rows of headstones is City reserve Ernest Goodwin. He lived on South Parade right behind Valley Parade's main stand. Ernest was badly wounded by shrapnel attacking Thiepval during the Battle of the Somme. He made it to Étaples, but no further.

France-Belgium 2011 - Harry Potter

2011-06-19T20:23:00.003+01:00

The huge Arras Memorial to the Missing lies alongside a major road just west of the city centre. Once inside the high walls of the memorial the noise of the traffic disappears and once again you find yourself in the tranquility of an English garden.

The beauty and peace of the Commonwealth Cemeteries strikes the visitor time and again. Among the 30,000 names on the Arras Memorial is that of City reserve Harry Potter. A native of Bradford, Harry was living in Girlington with a young family when war came. He died holding the line in the German all-or-nothing spring offensive of 1918. It was the beginning of the end of the 'war to end wars'.

Once the German offensive was spent, the British began a sustained push that rolled the German's back towards their border and eventual surrender. Little compensation for Harry's wife and young daughter left behind in Bradford.

France-Belgium 2011 - Bradford Pals Memorial

2011-06-19T20:12:00.004+01:00

The tiny village of Hebuterne has a plaque on its church wall commemorating the Bradford Pals. The location was chosen because it is close to where 44 Pals were killed in woodland, but it is a couple of miles distant from Serre where the majority of them were mown down on 1 July 1916. The area around Serre has several Pals memorials - Accrington, Barnsley, Sheffield to name but a few, so it does feel a bit odd that the Bradford Pals memorial stands on its own at Hebuterne.

Thanks to Steve Whittaker we were able to lay a claret and amber wreath to remember the Pals who died on the Somme. Both battalions were admitted free to Valley Parade in the days leading up to their departure from Bradford. Their initial meetings took place at the Drill Hall right next to the ground and undoubtedly many of them will have been supporters of Speirs, Torrance et al.

Indeed among the ranks of the Pals was none other than City's most famous player, the England international winger Dickie Bond, fortunately he survived the conflict.

France-Belgium 2011 - Donald Bell - Part Two

2011-06-12T14:36:00.003+01:00

A few minutes drive from Bell's redoubt is the final resting place of Bradford Park Avenue's Donald Bell VC. We walked down a grassy path between ploughed fields into what the troops called the Caterpillar Valley, dominated today by the large Gordon's Dump Cemetery.

Without a building in sight we walked among the long lines of brilliant white headstones. Several wreaths of poppies lay at the foot of Donald Bell's headstone - including ones from Aireville School, Skipton and Donald Bell's former school, Harrogate Grammar.

Undoubtedly, his grave attracts the most attention in the large cemetery, yet all the headstone are of exactly the same size and design; the message being that they fought together and died together, equals in life and death. It was a sentiment that was to change Britain and beyond, for among the battlefields of the Great War our modern world was formed.

France-Belgium 2011 - Donald Bell

2011-06-09T16:44:00.003+01:00

The Somme.

The tall white cross of sacrifice that stand sentinel over every British and Commonwealth cemetery becomes a regular sight. We wind among narrow lanes and suddenly come across Bell’s Redoubt on the edge of the village of Contalmaison.

On the roadside stands a memorial marking the spot where Bradford Park Avenue’s Donald Bell died. He is commemorated because a few days before his death he charged across no man’s land under heavy fire and killed the crew of a machine gun that was decimating the attacking troops. For his extreme valour Bell was awarded the Victoria Cross. A few days later he attempted to repeat a similar act and was killed.

Alongside the memorial was a wreath of poppies from Bradford Park Avenue. It was strange seeing the familiar civic coat of arms so deep in the French countryside; a little piece of a foreign roadside that will be forever Bradford.

Bradford Park Avene's Jimmy Smith

2011-06-08T16:37:00.001+01:00

Another remote French village, set in rolling fields of barley, Ramicourt. Situated on the edge of the village and on a rise is the final resting place of Bradford Park Avenue's Jimmy Smith. He was a striker with an incredible scoring rate. Signed to strengthen the Avenue side in the wake of their promotion to the top division, he carried on hitting the net with an unerring regularity. Just a few days before he was due to return home to Bradford to marry his fiancé at Heaton he was killed in action. His portrait hung in the boardroom at Park Avenue as as a reminder of his supreme sacrifice - I wonder what became of it after Park Avenue was demolished in 1980?

Unfortunately, his grave stone is badly worn, but will doubtless be replaced in the near future. As we looked out in brilliant sunshine over the fields of barley swaying gently in the breeze, it was once again difficult to comprehend the slaughter that had occurred in that place. If the cemeteries did not exist the battlefields of the Great War would have already been returned completely to nature. In some ways a sad thought, in others a lovely one.