WRHS present Carolyn Evans with book

Carolyn Evans, of Wrightington, received a special gift from the Wigan Rugby Heritage Society just before Christmas – a book to celebrate the life of her late husband and former Wigan forward Roy Evans. 

A few weeks ago, Carolyn got in contact with the WRHS after seeing the article in the Club’s official programme, and asked whether we would be interested in having a look at her collection of paraphernalia of items from Roy’s time playing Rugby in the 1950’s and 60’s.

Speaking of the visit of the Society, 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 items from his junior days. They all set too, and collated them into some sort of order within a couple of hours. I was happy for them to take these away and it was so kind of them, when a few weeks later they returned it all back to me with the two lovely books to keep, one for myself and one to pass down to my children”.

Of the visit to the Evans family home, Chair of the Wigan Rugby Heritage Society, Neil Davies said “When we got there, we were greeted with a pile of memories and memorabilia from Roy’s playing days on Carolyn’s kitchen table. As we looked through, we unearthed some amazing pieces of memorabilia such as items from Roy’s Tour of Great Britain to Australia, Medals, Directors Box Wembley ticket stubs and hundreds of photographs and newspaper cuttings”.

Members of the WRHS were able to take much of this 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 and personal photographs and collate these items into a book, so that Carolyn and her family can remember who Roy was and the success he had on the Rugby field”. 

As part of the aims and projects for the coming years, the Society aims to research and preserve anything associated with the History of the Wigan Warriors.

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

We are looking for fans, collectors, ex-players and family members to share their collections and pieces of memorabilia with us. The WRHS are in the firm belief that each piece of memorabilia should stay within individual collections or within the family group, but if are willing to share these items so we can start to catalogue, photograph items and possibly write an article, then please contact us.