By James Sherrard
A SPOT of gardening lead to a Feltham man digging up more than just weeds when he uncovered a football trophy.
Michael Wall was clearing an access road to his garage of fly-tipping rubble when he came across the small treasure trove last Tuesday (July 22).
“I was digging and I kept hitting something hard.
"I thought it was just breeze blocks, but then I saw the trophy,” said the 72-year-old Lansbury Avenue resident.
“At first I thought it was bronze, but once I had cleaned it up it seems to be made of bronze-coated ceramic.”
With one side of the trophy bearing a footballer, and the other sporting a football, Mr Wall was soon sure of the prize's origins.
Mr Wall's suspicions were confirmed when he cleaned up a plaque on the bottom of the cup which said it had been given to the Division 1 winners of the 2006-2007 South West Middlesex Sunday Football competition.
Tables for the 2006-2007 season show the winners of the league to be Feltham Reunited.
Also in the large cardboard carton was a large set of kitchen knives, cutlery and cups and saucers.
Mr Wall believes that it may be the haul from an unsuccessful burglary.
“When it's dark, you could quite easily believe that it was genuine bronze, which is worth quite a lot, but in the day light it's quite obviously covered in bronze gilt,” said the retired warehouseman.
“I wonder if someone took it and dropped it when they realised it wasn't bronze.”
He also unearthed a box of kitchen utensils.
If you have any information about the lost trophy contact the Chronicle on 020 3280 3211.
