Essex Retro Football & Cricket Show
Essex Retro Football & Cricket Show
“So here it is, this is Christmas (nearly.) Everybody’s having fun.
Let’s look at Arsenal. Yepp, they’re on the run.”
So, it is (nearly) that time of year where people put out their Christmas stockings, Gillingham fans start talking about “next season we will…” and Arsenal fans brood about VAR, refs, wrong type of grass, wrong colour ball and amuse everyone with variation number 34567890 on Wenger excuses. Spurs fans starting selling tickets to the annual, “Arsenal have blown it again Party.” They ignore that they are also looking at a season without silverware but mumble darkly about the Carabao cup or such nonsense.
More importantly it is the Essex Retro Football & Cricket Show at the unique venue of Chelmsford cricket ground, the home of Essex County Cricket Club. Great venue and a 10 minute walk from the railway station which offers easy access to London and, well, Essex!
I caught up with the organiser, Greg Lansdowne, yesterday and he told me,
“Steve, The latest Essex Retro Football & Cricket Show takes place at the Cloud County Ground in Chelmsford this Sunday November 17th.
On the back of the successful event in June, football and cricket nostalgists get another chance to come together at the home of Essex Cricket.
A wide range of stallholders will have plenty of Christmas present ideas, from books to programmes, shirts to cards and photos to magazines.
I will also be signing copies of my latest book, Panini Legends, published this month (November 7th).
Greg said: “The upcoming Essex Retro Football & Cricket Show promises to offer a trip down memory lane for those who love the winter and summer games.”
Entry is free, pavilion doors open at 10.30am and a fully-licensed bar will operate throughout (show ends 2pm). The Essex Cricket Museum will also be open on the day, for one final chance to see the Nasser Hussain exhibition.”
I know Lee Hermitage of NW Middlesex Football Programmes is looking forward to his day out. He has a huge collection of complete seasons football programmes and, as always, they will be at fair/fare prices. The pun is my idea!) Other favourites of mine include Welling Collectables, Groundtastic and Cobblers Collectibles.
Further details are available on greglansdowne.co.uk and updates will appear on the Essex Retro Football & Cricket Show page on Facebook and @panini_book on X.
See you all there.
Edit: In the interests of not upsetting Port Vale fans, I have not written about Gillingham’s first win in seven on Saturday. I know they are confident that they will waltz the league but if you lose to a team that has one point from eighteen, I can only but wonder!