One of the great stalwarts of the original St Helens Supporters Club, Gerry Moore, has passed away after a short illness at the age of 87.
Gerry Moore
Born St Helens 9th June 1933
Died St Helens 15th August 2020
Gerry was a Saints’ supporter all his life and you always felt that he fully enjoyed the strong bond he developed with his fellow supporters, especially during his tenure as Chairman of the Supporters’ Club for many years.
Gerry did his military service in Hong Kong in the Army and after working with his Uncle Stan for a while painting and decorating, he moved to Fibreglass, where he worked in the garage painting the wagons. He left in June 1985. Gerry later became a self-employed painter and decorator, before hanging up his ladder ready for a full retirement.
He married his wife, Shirley, on 2nd August 1958 and they had four girls: Angela [who sadly pre-deceased him], Karen, Christine and Catherine and later the family was augmented by no less than seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Born in Laurel Road, close to the Saints’ ground, he attended Holy Cross and Sacred Heart Schools before leaving at the age of 15. He was a fund of stories, having begun his supporting days in the middle of the War, when he remembered a somewhat dilapidated Knowsley Road being used for military manoeuvres, right through to the Noughties and the move to the new stadium, as the club rose metaphorically from the basement to the penthouse! What marvellous times.
So why is he held in such high esteem by a whole generation of Saints’ supporters? In terms of the position he held, he was invaluable at the time to the club. Under his tenure, he would organise coach travel to away matches, provide essential funds to the club and local amateur teams by organising a plethora of various functions. The Supporters’ Club in its pomp was such a link between the club and the local community for all ages [remember the Junior Saints?]…
According to his good friend and fellow Committee member John Powell, Gerry was “A stalwart for well-nigh on fifty years. [Chairman] Harry Cook and Secretary Basil Lowe called him in and asked him to revive the Supporters’ Club. I didn’t know him then, but I soon came on board and realised what wonderful people he had around him, such as Ronnie Roughley, Jenny Linker, Terry Speakman, Joe and Anne Guest; Alan and Freda Finney, Ian Cartwright and many more. We ran our own merchandise outlet, booked coaches and, individually, Gerry and I would be helping with general maintenance at the club. And we mustn’t forget the organisation of the car park on matchdays – key jobs that had to be done.”
Gerry was also a valued member of the previous Supporters Club until it folded in the mid-1960s, when he was Assistant Secretary. He had also operated the Scoreboard since 1962. Remember the panic when Saints’ scored over a ton against Carlisle in 1986, when ‘emergency’ measures were the order of the day? In the early days of the organisation, he was Treasurer, before becoming Chairman in the early Eighties.
Gerry passed his Chairmanship over to Ron Roughley for a spell, although his presence was still invaluable. Alas the demise of Knowsley Road signalled the end of such a marvellous era for the organisation. “We had a fine last hurrah with our HQ at the Black Bull”, remembers John, “but time marches on and regretfully, we had to leave and that was it.”
Gerry was still involved with coach bookings for a time at the new stadium, but health issues meant that this was no longer possible. “Yet his presence was always with us,” says Bill Bates. “Even when he could no longer travel, he would drive up to the ground and wave all the coaches off. It certainly left a warm glow in our hearts.”
Coming so soon after the demise of another stalwart, Maureen Marsh, it has all been hard to take for friends, family and acquaintances. Everyone at St. Helens RFC send their sincere condolences to Gerry’s family at this sad time.
Many thanks, too, for the family’s help in compiling this tribute.
