An Image From The Seventies

Before the Wycombe game, City director Bill Roper approached us again with another picture from his collection. It comes from a 1974 fund-raising event. The gathering includes the famously bearded Trevor Hockey with goal-ace Bobby Ham to his left. Garry Watson is also there on the right.
Next to Trevor Hockey is Gladys Hannah. Over several decades Gladys has supported the club through numerous fund-raising efforts, most notably by selling raffle tickets. We at bantamspast were honoured to have her open the museum in 2005. Recently Gladys has had a serious fall and is currently in a nursing home in Manningham. We are sure all supporters will join us in wishing her a rapid recovery.

Forgotten War Hero Discovered?

bantamspast reader Bill has written to us recently, claiming to have found another of City's fallen heroes. Harry Hanger played for the club between 1906 and 1909 and was part of the side that won the Second Division Championship in 1908. Shortly after this he was transferred to Crystal Palace where he enjoyed several successful seasons, becoming club captain.
Thanks to an entry in one of the Palace forums, Bill has discovered that Harry enlisted in Northampton in 1915 and was sadly killed in action in Flanders in March 1918.
We are currently checking details in order to confirm that the City and Palace Harry Hangers are the same person. If so, this is a truly remarkable find. Many thanks to Bill for doing the research and bringing it to our attention.

1980's Presentation and Other Museum Events

For once, pre-match events in the bantamspast museum were not followed by disappointment on the pitch as City went onto victory, knocking Wycombe off their top-of-the-table perch.
bantamspast's presentation of images from the early 1980s went down well and we were also able to show video footage of games from the era, most notably the League Cup tie against Manchester United (image, right).
Radio Leeds' City correspondent Derm Tanner was also on hand to interview curator David Pendleton regarding recent speculation about ground sharing with Bradford Bulls. The main reaction from him and other supporters present was that we'd heard it all before over the years.

Presentation Reminder!

Just in case a number of you subscribe to this blog, it's worth mentioning again that, prior to the Wycombe game, bantampast will be presenting: Going Places - Bradford City 1981-84 in the bantamspast museum. This illustrated talk will describe the short but tumultuous period in which the foundations for future footballing success were laid. It will begin around 1.30 p.m. and, as always, admission is free. Image shows action from a game against Bury at Valley Parade during the 1981-82 season.

1980's Presentation

As you would have read in Monday night's programme, had the weather not cruelly intervened, we are planning another of our illustrated presentations. This will take place prior to the Wycombe game on Saturday 14th February in the bantamspast museum.
It will concern that tumultuous period in the club's history in the early 1980's. In the space of just three seasons - a famous League Cup victory, promotion, resignations, near extinction and the foundations laid for two decades of footballing progress. We will also be featuring many of our newly acquired images from that period. The one displayed here shows action from the home game against Wigan during the 1981-82 season.
As usual everyone is welcome and admission is free.

Grimsby Town Programme Notes

David Pendleton's account of an early away day outing to Grimsby are now in our Programme Notes section.

Further Website Updates

Today we have added pages pertaining to grounds: Valley Parade, Carlisle Road (City's first home, as Manningham RFC) and Odsal, which has had a number of links with City, both potential and actual, over the years.