Independent Rs Messageboard

[Steve Russell]

Really enjoyed it. Well done to Martin Percival & everyone involved.
Martin posted this on Indy's Facebook....

'Well I don't mind admitting I am absolutely knackered! Thanks so much to everyone who joined and who
supported in so many ways the QPR History Day and Memorabilia Fair today.

Fans, collectors, dealers, book authors - it was great to see so many people and an amazing team effort.

It looks like we had around 195 people through the door. That's believed to be the highest attendance for an
event of this type in London in over 5 years. Pretty remarkable!

There were some tremendous pieces of memorabilia on sale - ranging from a 1982 FA Cup final track suit top to
old players match worn shirts, tickets, programmes, handbooks - there was even a Stan Bowles brick. Seriously!

In addition to the memorabilia fair we also staged a highly competitive Subbuteo tournament where the
standard of play was stunning. Although originally from the UK, Tony the winner travelled from his home in Spain.

Tony received the Peter Adolph Trophy. Awarded by Mark Adolph, in honour of his father Peter the inventor of
Subbuteo. Both Peter and his father are/were lifelong Rangers fans.

We had a number of special guests including Michael Wale who very kindly drew the 10 winning raffle tickets.

We were also joined by Simon Inglis the author of the absolutely groundbreaking book published in
1983 "The Football Grounds of England and Wales".

Simon was delighted to see that he's quoted in the new book on Loftus Road by Dave Shields and Stuart
Byford "Loftus Road: Our Stadium Our Home".

The other excellent new book launched today was "QPR - the Venables Revolution" by Francis Peacock.

Last but certainly not least my thanks to Alistair McEwan , son of Rangers Billy McEwan, who had 12 years with
the club from 1938 to 1950. Thanks for a fun interview!

[Steve Russell]

Just before 1pm I set off to Hanwell to see them take on AFC Totton.

Charlie Austin had the ball in the net twice but both were ruled out
for offside!

That was some storm throughout the 1st half!!
Heavy rain, bolts of lightning, thunder & hail

Good turnout of R's fans in the 502 crowd. T

[steveqpr881]

I really enjoyed the Memorabilia Fair.
The only drawback was that The Forever Rs bar is too small for an event like that -
it was the same with the kit sale they did at the end of last season, a bit claustrophobic when it's full.
Still, I came away with some great stuff; QPR-related books, new & old - got the new ones signed by the authors.
I also bought some interesting old programmes, e.g. Ken Sillito's Testimonial, Chelsea v QPR & a very nice poster
done for the palace 6-nil win.
Didn't spend half of what I'd budgeted for, there were some great bargains.

[Martin63]

Glad to hear that people enjoyed the day.

The feedback from the QPR History Day and Memorabilia Fair has been very positive.
I do agree that the Forever Rs bar was very full. There's certainly no room for any more stalls.

I actually had to turn a couple of dealers away. That's a nice problem to have in some ways - but it's really not
ideal. Unfortunately there's no other suitable venue in the stadium as flat access without stairs is needed.

The stadium tours were really popular and the Subbuteo tournament was a success too. Tony Kiely the winner travelled
from Spain to participate!

There'll be a discussion later this year about potentially holding another one next year.

Thanks to everyone who came along.