West Ham United fans will always treasure their memories of Upton Park but now have a chance to reclaim a keepsake.
The Hammers brought the curtain down on 112 years at their beloved former Boleyn Ground home in the summer as they departed for the 60,000 seater Olympic Stadium in Stratford.
While many fans did not want to leave their famous East London home, the majority signed up to the new era with the club boasting 52,000 season ticket holders – second only to Manchester United.
After the unforgettable 3-2 farewell win over the Red Devils last May some supporters took souvenirs from the ground while others purchased items from a club auction and even bought their season ticket seat.
The Boleyn Ground is currently being demolished
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Something that could not be relocated or handed back to supporters though, were the personalised bricks in the wall of Upton Park’s redeveloped West Stand.
Fans were disappointed and with the ground currently being demolished, they had accepted they would never be seen again.
But there could be hope than lots of fans will get theirs back after the demolition firm salvaged around 200 of them.
And they have arranged to hand them over to popular young West Ham fundraiser Jonjo Heuerman to be distributed to their rightful owners.
Supporters are being urged to reclaim their personalised bricks
In a message posted on Twitter supporters were urged to spread the word.
“Share the hell out of this… copy and paste and post in as many groups as you can,” the message says.
“The demolition company has salvaged around 200 bricks from Upton Park. The bricks bear the name of lost loved ones, names of supporters, messages etc.
“Matt WestHam has kindly arranged for them to be passed on to Jonjo/BMF to sort and list so that he can help find the owners of the bricks and pass them onto them. A couple of JJ’s helpers will visit the site to sort the bricks into alphabetical order and make a list so that we can share the messages/names on the bricks and help find the owners.
“Hoping to arrange a collection point on Saturday February 11th but need to make the final arrangements with the company. Please do not turn up at the site in the meantime.
“If you know that your family/loved one had a memorial brick at Upton Park please post the message on the brick or their name in a comment on this post (see Twitter post below). This may help speed up the process. Please note that not all the bricks could be saved.
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“Alternatively you can email [email protected] and we will do our best.”
Fans looking to reclaim their bricks are being invited to make a small donation to the Bobby Moore Fund for sourcing, sorting and distributing the bricks at www.justgiving.com/fornannyandbobby
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