A man has been left 'heartbroken' after his massive Bristol City memorabilia collection was destroyed in a fire. Ben Grice kept thousands of Robins items in an outhouse in his back garden, but in a fire on Wednesday, April 13, many of them were destroyed.
The 22-year-old said that the collection contained around 50,000 programmes which dated back to World War Two, shirts and tickets. But only around 500 of the programmes were rescued from the fire.
Ben told Bristol Live that he was at work when his dad called him to tell him the barn was ablaze. He rushed back to his house to find it had burned to the ground, and was devastated when he saw what had happened.
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"I was absolutely heartbroken," he said. "I pulled up and literally just broke down, just to think of all of the memories that we had in there and the collection, the family memories and all of that. I was heartbroken."
The collection was started by Ben's grandfather and was carried on by his dad, while other family members and friends have also contributed to it. Ben says that the fire was started by an electrical fault, but they are not sure of the exact cause.
However, he has posted an appeal on social media to ask for help from the public to rebuild the Bristol City treasure trove. And he has since been invited to the BBC Bristol radio studio, where he met former Bristol City player Scott Murray, who presented him with a match-worn shirt form the 1997-98 season when the Robins were promoted to Division One.
Murray has also promised to give Ben a signed home shirt at the next game at Ashton Gate, against Hull. Ben, who lives just outside Gloucester, says that his phone has not stopped ringing since he put out his online appeal, and around 30 people have contacted him to offer him items.
"It means a lot. There's good people out there isn't there, and I appreciate the support and whatever they can offer," he said.
If you’d like to donate to Ben’s collection, you can find him on Twitter @BenGricee.
