Here is Sheffield Wednesday – and I have to wonder how many of you knew straight off why it was chosen?
Well, it was because it is said that theirs is the only football ground in the United Kingdom that is entirely encircled by a river, this being The Don. I can’t quite see that on any map, but it is frequently encircled and broached by flooding, as it has been this year already. Maybe that is what they meant
Let us start with our set, which is described in our original British Trade Index part two as :
- FAMOUS FOOTBALLERS. Sm. 57 x 33. Nd. (50) ...CLZ-10
And then, in our updated British Trade Index, as :
- FAMOUS FOOTBALLERS. 1959-60. 57 x 33. Caricatures. Nd. (25). ... CLE-170
The number in the set is obviously an error as there are definitely fifty cards in the set. It is not the only numbering error in a Clevedon set though, as card 25 of their set of "Famous Cricketers" states "Set of 50" and not the actual number in the set, which was only 40. There may be others like this too.
As this is the first time we have used a Clevedon card as a Card of the Day, it becomes the home page for all their issues, with links out to each set as we feature them - and also a biography of the company, as best we know.
Their name was actually “Clevedon Confectionery (Blackpool) Ltd.” though their cards sometimes abbreviated this. The first quandary is that according to Companies House, they are a "Private Limited Company, incorporated on the 13th of June 1963". And yet in our original British Trade Index part two it clearly states that they issued cards between 1954 and 1963.
The 1954 issued sets were :
- “Famous Screen Stars”
- “British Trains and Engines”,
and we know they were issued in that order because they were given codes on the reverse, the screen stars being Series A.1. and the trains Series A.2. At least the screen stars were on the reverse, I cannot find any of the British train cards at all to check.
There were no sets issued in 1955. However in 1956 they issued several, namely :
- “Regimental Badges”
- “British Aircraft”
- “British Ships”
- “Famous Cricketers”
We know that the “Regimental Badges”came first, because it is coded “A.3.”, again on the reverse – where it also, rather amazingly, says “By Courtesy of The War Office”. However after that they dropped the "A" numbers and I am not sure why – or what the “A” stood for. Anyone know?
In 1989, two of the directors resigned, and the following year one was appointed. At this time they were at felstead street hackney london E9 5LG, and they relocated in 1992. We also know that since 1993 they have been listed as a dormant company, and that in 2016 they were partially taken over by Swizzels Matlow Ltd.