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Can you tackle this rugby cap puzzle?

Eileen Payne
11/11/2002

CALLING all rugby union fans - particularly ones who have a knowledge of the sport's history.

David R Johnson from Polegate, East Sussex, has asked us to see if any of our readers can solve a family mystery.

He wants us to find someone who can identify the rugby club his grandfather played for and for which he was awarded the cap pictured here.

Mr Johnson also has a medal dated 1890 inscribed with the initials SDJRU and his grandfather's name, T Johnson.

His address at that time was 41 Crosby Street, Wellington Grove, Stockport.

Mr Johnson said that from the initials it would appear that his grandfather played for a local club in Stockport or a representative side from this area during the 1899-1890 season.

In his attempts to trace the rugby union team, Mr Johnson has been in contact with the Museum of Rugby at Twickenham, but they have failed to throw any light on the matter.

"I hope that you will be able to solve this family puzzle for me," Mr Johnson added.

If you can throw any light on Mr Johnson's picture, please give our newsdesk a ring on 0161 475 4834.

TWENTY YEARS AGO
Thanks to a unique Common Market grant the amount of cash being spent to help illiterate adults in the town was to be doubled. Almost £250,000 would be given to Stockport over the next three years by the EEC to help disadvantaged people get jobs. One of the projects being considered to utilise these new funds was a drop-in centre for adults with literacy difficulties. Green-fingered pensioner Wallace Gledhill got the surprise of his life when he was picking sprouts in his garden. Among them was a monster sprout weighing just over 3 pounds (1.36 kilos). Wallace, 74, grew the mammoth vegetable from an ordinary packet of seeds. He said: "I've been growing sprouts for 50 years and I've never seen anything like it."

THIRTY YEARS AGO
At a meeting of the Adswood Tenants' Association it was decided overwhelmingly that they should withhold payment of the new 66p rent increase. The increase had been introduced as part of the Fair Rents Act and the tenants were hoping to gather support from other council tenants in Adswood and across the borough in refusing payment as a protest. Councillor Jim Vesey informed the Housing and Social Services Committee that nearly 3,000 Stockport residents were living in dwellings which were not fit for human habitation. He said the problem had been worsened by the slow-moving slum clearance programme which meant private landlords were not dealing with vital repairs as the homes were to be pulled down over the next year.

FORTY YEARS AGO
Firemen worked round the clock to prevent a mill blaze from spreading to nearby houses. The fire severely damaged the top two floors of the disused Newton Mill on Wharf Street in Heaton Norris after ten fire engines had raced to the scene. It took them over an hour to get the blaze under control. Mothers with young children in Reddish were warned not to let them play outside with fluffy toys in case an escaped falcon attacked them. The female peregrine falcon had escaped from a house in Heaton Moor and had already attacked rabbits, pigeons and poultry on local allotments and farms. The bird had been recently sighted in Reddish and head keeper at Belle Vue warned parents in the area to be vigilant.

Published October 23, 2002