Pictures

Famous Northern Irish footballer George Best visited Barnstaple in December1982 with a group of friends - the George Best All Stars. This photograph shows George, second from the right for those too young to remember him, taking part in a charity match between the George Best All Stars and Barnstaple Town Football Club at Mill Road, Pottington on Sunday 12th December. The All Stars players included David Webb, Bobby Moncur, Bruce Rioch, Chris Garland. On the home side were Kevin Barrow from Royal Pilton, and Colin Taylor and Steve Wild from Barnstaple Town among many others. Extracts from the programme have been included in the archive separately. Follow this link to see them:

http://vimp.thepiltonstory.org/picture/Extracts-from-Programme-Barnstapl...

The charity match was refereed by Henry Smale, second from the left in the photograph, whose son, Nigel, posted the photograph on Facebook. The Linesmen were B Hobbs and C Ley. The details and programme extracts were posted by Fiona Davis. The encounter took place to raise money for the club.

Barnstaple Town FC was founded in 1904 as Pilton Yeo Vale.

Many thanks to Henry and Nigel Smale and Fiona Davis.