Andy Calvert died last week aged 79.
Andy, who was recently made a Club Vice President, played all of his football at the Poly and stood out because he was profoundly deaf from birth.
He nevertheless was a gifted player, in fact, one of the best at the Poly of recent times. He joined in 1954 when he was 18 and at about 20 was the regular 1st team centre forward. A fellow team member said that if he could have given up the smoking and the beer he could have been a professional!
Over the years he dropped down to the 3rd’s and then to the Strollers. He was one of the characters of the Weston Super Mare tour from its beginning in 1960 and because he could lip read, many were unaware at first of his disability. His humour will be missed by all.
Here’s Andy scoring for the 1st team on the Stadium pitch in 1954.