The photos above were taken almost exactly 25 years apart at Bootham Crescent, home of York City FC. The ones to the left were taken on 22nd January 1977. On 3rd January 2002 I visited for the first time since then and attempted to re-create the original photos. The ground is almost identical although small alterations and improvments can be observed.
Sadly I did not follow up my interest in photographing grounds as my standard lens of the time just would not take photos as I wanted to record the grounds I visited. I did take pictures at Llanelli soon after but severe underexposure rendered them worthless. What I would now give to have photos of the old stand at Stebonheath, the far end cover and the enormous bank.
The first Non-League Directory came out around this time, and I actually bought mine in Llanelli. I recall walking to see the ground at Stourbridge and riding to look over the fence at Dulwich Hamlet (again without taking any photos) during the 1977/8 season and was well and truly hooked on the non-League scene. Another attempt at recording a ground came at Dulwich Hamlet in 1980 but again my limited equipment did not encourage me to continue, although one of the photos has been issued in my b/w postcard series.
Tony Williams again provided the spur to get out and take photos as he advertised his intention to publish a book on the Non-League Football Grounds of Great Britain, asking for volunteers to help. I rang, got out my map - and the rest is history! Cheers Tony!

Below: Further photos taken at York City in 2002, making the most of a specialist wide-angle lens.

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