When the queues in the post office got too much for one Rayleigh man, he was delighted to take the opportunity to pursue his first love - sport.

Dave Alexander had worked for the post office since leaving school, but the Eversley Park cricketer and football boss is now the proud owner of Sport Remembered, a memorabilia store in Leigh-on-Sea.

And a working life surrounded by signed photographs, historic match programmes and trophies is much more fun than dealing with pensions.

In the frame : Dave Alexander with some of the signed pictures of top football stars he sells Picture: DAVE HENDERSON

"It's been great," he said. "I've always been sports mad, really, and now when I get up I'm looking forward to coming in to work.

"The wife's pleased too -- there's a bit of space in the attic at home!"

Like many football fans, the bug bit early on as he accompanied his father to games at West Ham. Soon he was collecting programmes and swapping football stickers at school: "I starting collecting them in 1978 for the World Cup when I was about 10."

Collecting programmes is a growing market, and games with a local interest have been flying off the shelves since the store opened early in May.

Programmes from the Southend United v Liverpool FA Cup tie from 1979 and West Ham's 1964 FA Cup final win over Preston -- Bobby Moore's first Wembley win -- have also been incredibly popular.

"I just put them in the window and they're sold," said the 36-year-old. "The West Ham v Preston one went within an hour."

Football memorabilia is the big seller at the moment, although there is a market in cricketing relics as well.

Locally, items relating to Essex's successes go down well and star players like Graham Gooch remain a big draw.

Sports Remembered is just off Broadway West in Leigh. For information on what is in stock, call Dave on 01702 482222.

Published Tuesday, May 27, 2003

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