At half-time on Saturday, Oxford United honoured Alison Kinnear and Peter and Jan Stroud, who had help sell programmes for the club for around 50 years each.
Oxford United runs on the kindness, hard work and dedication of our supporters, match-day volunteers and helpers. Saturday saw the end of an era as we welcomed three very special people who have quietly helped the club for close to 150 years between them.
Pete and Jan Stroud have supervised the sale of programmes at both the Manor and the Kassam Stadium for many years, while Alison Kinnear is instantly recognisable to anyone who has bought a programme on the corner of the Osler Road entrance or in the South Stand Upper. All three were our guests of honour on Saturday as they step back and enjoy what we hope will be a long and happy retirement.
“It will be very sad,” Pete told us. “I started out coming along with my friend Kevin Gardener when I was 14 in 1969. I was a City fan, but it was an easy walk to the Manor and I got paid to watch football! I grew to love the club and always will. Ken Nash was in charge of the programme for many years, and when he retired, I took on the role.
“When I got married to Jan, I persuaded her to come along and help for a couple of games and she stayed for 40 years. We have loved it and it has been fantastic to help the club for all these years. Jan deserves the credit, because she is the one who organised things!
“We have two grandkids now and our priorities have changed over the last year or two. We talked about it for a while and it was a difficult decision, but we are always going to be fans and it just feels like the right time for us to hand it on to someone else.”
Their retirement comes alongside Alison’s decision to ease up after a lifetime of service to the U’s.
“I started in 1968,” she said. “I came up for an interview with the Manager, Arthur Turner, and he took on 32 of us to sell programmes and be the Manorettes. Fifty-three years have flown past and I have met so many amazing people. You get to know people behind the scenes and your regular customers, and I am going to be so sad on Saturday.
“But it’s the right time. I have been struggling with my eyesight and even have to have a steward help me down the stairs. So if anyone got the wrong change for the last year or two, can they hand it back!
“I was always on the Osler Road and in the South Stand, and being able to watch the games was great fun over the years. I grew to love football and to love the club and I want to thank everyone who has made it such a pleasure.”
The pleasure, we assure all three, has been all ours, and we look forward to seeing them here for matches for many more years to come.