Bournville recognised the long service of club photographer Lee Sullivan with the presentation of a signed shirt by former England captain Will Carling at the recent Sports Lunch at Avery Fields.
Lee has just completed his 14th year as official photographer but his association with the club goes back much further.
He first joined Bournville at 18 and was a regular first team player for more than a decade when his work commitments with the Fire Service permitted.
Lee then started taking photographs of the first team and is now a regular presence on the touchline at Avery Fields and at grounds around the country capturing memorable moments on and off the pitch.
“Gary Conroy, a colleague from the Fire Service, spotted me taking photos of a game at Rowheath Playing Fields – that takes me back a bit – and asked if I would do it on a regular basis. I told him I was a complete self-taught novice on cameras, but would give it a go,” Lee explained.
“I now have a digital archive of matches I photographed going back to 2011. Before I signed up to Flickr in 2015, I was passing my photos directly to Gary Conroy via micro media cards. Sadly some of those photos have been lost.”
The photograph of the shirt presentation was taken by Rob Sigley and has not been digitally-enhanced by Lee – “I haven’t messed with it – I really do look that good!” he said jokingly.
Lee has not missed many Bournville matches over the years but he did join the club’s injury list for a short period last season when he suffered a nasty rib injury and spleen damage when he fell as he raced to take a photo of Josh Bloomfield’s breakaway try against Loughborough Students.
“Lee is normally the man capturing the action but on that occasion he was the man at the centre of attention. Happily, he was back on the touchline with his camera a couple of weeks later,” said Bournville Managing Director Phil Maynard.
“Lee is well-known to everyone at the club and his photographs have helped to capture some fantastic moments and memories from the most successful period in our history.
“We greatly appreciate the contribution he has made to the club and the shirt presentation made by Will Carling was a public recognition of our appreciation.”
Lee Sullivan and Will Carling
