Coracle set for return to club

Saturday 23rd February 2008, 11:38AM GMT.

A coracle which was used for years to retrieve Shrewsbury Town’s footballs from the River Severn while the team played at the old Gay Meadow was due to be returned to the club ahead of today’s game with Hereford United.

Lifelong fan Tim Beard was due to hand over the one-man boat, used by the late Fred Davies, before the match at the new stadium in Oteley Road.

Mr Beard, 52, who now lives in Surrey but has a second home at Habberley, near Shrewsbury, bought the coracle for £400 with his friend Alisdair Wilson in a charity auction following Mr Davies’s retirement in 1986.

He said he felt it was time for the coracle to return to Shrewsbury Town after the club had completed its move from the old Gay Meadow to the new £15 million stadium.

Today’s match was chosen as Hereford United manager Graham Turner is a former Shrewsbury Town boss.