Reflecting on Advertiser Clipper Club memories 50 years on

Andrew Redding, of Kimberworth, had not seen the card for 50 years until he discovered it in the toy cupboard at the top of his staircase.

The Clipper Club, fronted by Captain Jack, is the Rotherham Advertiser’s children’s club and is open to three to ten-year-olds. 

It gives away prizes and announces its members’ birthdays each week.

Andrew joined the club on July 1, 1968, when he was six, and, according to his membership card, was member 2484.

Andrew (pictured), a semi-retired sales ledger clerk, said: “I was looking through the Advertiser and Captain Jack caught my eye.

“I was thinking about how you can email him now and how much it had changed.”

It was then that Andrew decided to find his membership card.

“It’s ever so quaint,” he said.

“I remember the page well, including Sunshine Corner, which I think was a throwback to the Second World War.”

Andrew said his family bought the Advertiser every weekend when they were growing up.

“We loved reading about local life,” he said.

“My father used to read the back pages and look at who had won the Kimberworth Park Raffle and we used to read Clubland and look at all the acts we had never heard of.

“Now, we like to look back at 50 years ago and 25 years ago.”

Andrew said he had fond memories of passing the former Advertiser offices in Rotherham and seeing the printing presses in action.

“It’s strange to think I’m 56 and I was a member of Clipper Club,” he said.