He had been a great friend of this club for a long time, supporting us through matchball sponsorships, buying programmes, and attending events here at the club – he enjoyed the night at our Gold Cup Winners 30th anniversary event back in November 2023.

His affinity stemmed from our time shared at Seaview with his beloved Crusaders and memories of visits to Grosvenor Park. His family hailed from Yorkshire and came to Belfast many decades ago.

As a young man Trevor had a big interest in sport – coming from that part of the world he was naturally interested in cricket but he played football and was good enough to make under-age teams at Linfield, Larne and Portadown.

He always remembered Wilbur Cush looking out for the younger players when the tackles and things got tough in training or matches, when he was at Shamrock Park. But he also played tennis competitively, playing in tournaments at the Belfast Boat Club and elsewhere, and he played table-tennis when the Churches table-tennis league was active in Belfast. Most people would know Trevor though either because of his Crusaders’ connection, or through the world of football programme collectors.

He was a long-standing and faithful supporter of The Hatchetmen – a former bond-holder when things were difficult at Seaview many years ago, and heavily involved with others in establishing and building up the club’s museum, and other historical or archive projects. And on matchdays he would be there supporting his team and not necessarily quietly as some match officials may well remember over the years.

An avid programme collector, he was a well-known and highly respected member of the Northern Ireland programme collectors club building up his own collection over the decades, and in that regard we was only too willing to copy material and provide information for us here at Distillery from many years ago. That material helping us in programme production and other things.

We extend our deepest sympathies to Anne, daughters Claire and Joy and the wider family circles at this very sad and difficult time for them all. Trevor had many friends who will miss him too, many of course stunned by his sudden passing and our thoughts are with them too as they mourn the loss of a good friend.

He will be missed by us all. (DH)

A day where we focus on the ground, tidying, cleaning, painting, litter picking, and generally getting the ground ready for the new season. No job is too small!

Reward yourself after your hard work with a pint in the Social Club while watching the FA Cup Final.

Bring yourself, bring a friend, and we’ll bring the sausage baps. Come along anytime, from 10am.

Shareholders will receive formal notification.

A great deal of time and work goes into this process and our thanks to everyone within the club who assisted with this matter.

Our thanks also to the teams at Magill Adams Accountants and Skelton Callender Solicitors for their help with the Finance and Legal sections of the application.

Finally, thanks to Stacey Moffett (Club Licensing Manager) and Mark Beattie (Club Licensing Officer) from the Irish FA for all their help and guidance these past months.

The project will also see the refurbishment of the Club House area, and installation of a multi-purpose toilet block.

The funding will ensure that the space is more shared, inclusive and fit for purpose.

The project is supported by PEACEPLUS; a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). The club will also receive some equipment and facilitate cross community activity once the space has been upgraded.

Pictured L-R: Ryan McQuillan (Director & Grants Committee), Denis Nightingale (Grants Committee), Niamh O’Carolan (Peace Manager LCCC), Ged Irwin (Grants Committee) and Cllr Uel Mackin (Chair PEACEPLUS Partnership LCCC).

“We guaranteed the club a minimum of four programmes but somehow ended up delivering twelve.” writes Programme Editor David Hunter. “Whilst that has been a huge task, my thanks to everyone who has supported us this season by purchasing a programme, and I have expanded upon that in the programme editorial.

We sign-off with all our regular features, and in “On this day” we look back at games against Linfield, Bangor and Ballyclare Comrades. Saturday’s match is being sponsored in memory of our friend, and former great winger Billy Totten, and our centre-spread is a tribute to the wee man with an abundance of skill.

The “Spirit of the Eighties” has now been produced for five seasons, the only club matchday programme produced consistently at this level over that period. (for back-issues please email ldnetweb@hotmail.co.uk)

Our league fixtures over that period have all been Premier Intermediate League fixtures and as things currently stand in terms of league structuring, this could well be the last programme produced for any Premier Intermediate League game – an end of another era. You can pick up programmes as usual from Neil (Partridge) just inside the turnstiles.”