Widow of late Wigan rugby star receives a special early Christmas present

Carolyn Evans was surprised and delighted to receive a book about her husband Roy who was a forward with the Cherry and Whites.

Several weeks ago, Carolyn got in touch with the society and asked whether they would be interested in having a look at her collection of paraphernalia of items from Roy’s time playing rugby in the 1950s and ’60s.

And this is what sparked the book – and the visit to her Wrightington home.

Carolyn said: “When they all arrived at my house that morning, I had just dumped on the kitchen table about 14 years of Roy's playing days which also included junior days.

"They all set to and collated them into some sort of order whithin a couple of hours. I was happy for them to take these away, to work on and research the history of his game, and it was so kind of them when a few weeks later they returned it all to me with the two lovely books.”

Chair of the Wigan Rugby Heritage Society, Neil Davies, said: “When we got there we were greeted with a pile of paraphernalia from Roy’s playing days on Carolyn’s kitchen table. As we looked through we unearthed some splendid pieces of memorabilia such as items from Roy’s tour with Great Britain to Australia, directors’ box Wembley tickets and hundreds of photographs and newspaper cuttings.”

Members of the society were able to take everything away for cataloguing and research purposes.

“As a thank-you to Carolyn and her family, we had an idea to create two books for her of Roy’s playing days, personal photographs and the days when he used to work in his father’s butcher’s shop in Ince,” said society member Marc Selby.

“We had a box full of random items from airline tickets to Wembley dressing room ticket stubs so we decided to digitise most of it and collate pieces for a book so that Carolyn and her family can remember who Roy was and the success he had on the playing field.”

The society jumped at the chance to have a look at what Roy’s mother Annie started to collect at the start of his career. As part of their projects, members aim to research and preserve anything by associated with the history of the Wigan rugby club.

Carolyn said “As for the Wigan Rugby League Heritage Society, I hope all ex-players and families out there with boxes of information will get in touch with them , and let their expert eyes find any information which would enhance the memories for the fans.”