Earlier this month, Jack’s Kitchen played host to Blackburn Rovers Community Trust’s inaugural Remember the Rovers Sporting Dinner.
More than 100 people were in attendance, made up of our participants and their friends and family, who were joined by some famous faces from Rovers’ past.
It was a pleasure to welcome back Katie Anderson, Derek Fazackerley, Eric Kinder, Chris Sulley, Malcolm Darling, Mike Pettigrew, Gordon Taylor and Adam Henley who all had their time with the mic to discuss their memories of their Rovers days.
Just to add to the perfect setting, Rovers fan Max, who has collected over 300 match-worn shirts from memorable Rovers matches down the years, brought along and showcased a number of iconic kits from campaigns we have turned out in black and red.
Our participants loved looking through the collection that included Paul Kenna’s top from the UEFA Champions League away clash with Spartak Moscow and Danny Graham’s shirt from our promotion winning victory over Doncaster Rovers!
We were also pleased to welcome five descendants of former players, who played for the club between 1875 and 1960, including Richard Birtwhistle who scored the first-ever goal for Rovers and the grandson of legendary left-back Bill Eckersley.
Our Remember the Rovers group usually meet every Wednesday morning in the Darwen End and this ever-growing group really enjoyed this special celebration that helped raise further awareness of the project.
As well as the former players and staff answering questions on stage, Derek Fazackerley gave a presentation on how football has changed through the ages, there was the Rovers quiz, and the attendees took part in the raffle that saw some great prizes claimed.
Ben Howard, Remember the Rovers lead, said “I would like to thank everyone that attended our Remember the Rovers Sporting Dinner.
“It was fantastic to welcome so many people to Ewood Park on Friday, including our special guests who shared some wonderful memories of their time at Blackburn Rovers.
“I would also like to thank all those who donated with those sums going to support the project.”
Gary Robinson, Blackburn Rovers Community Trust CEO said “It was an amazing event, and I am really proud of the team, and I am especially grateful to them and the guest speakers that attended the event.
“It was an honour and a pleasure to listen to the stories and interact with the different generations of our supporter base who have fantastic stories to share of their time following Rovers.
“It was an incredible event, and we look forward to hosting another one in the future.”
Check out our chat with Derek Fazackerley of his thoughts on the evening and Rovers start to the season below:
