Club stalwart from the Town Mead era passes away
It is with great sadness that the club has learned of the death of Dennis Lovell, who passed away peacefully last Friday (August 18) following a long illness, aged 65.
Dennis, who was born in London in 1948, started watching Crawley at Town Mead in the 1960s and after helping produce the match programme he became its editor in 1979, a post he held until 1990.
Dennis also ran a successful business called Soccer Souvenirs, supplying non-league clubs with flags, scarves and rosettes. His work was in high demand when the club reached the third round of the FA Cup for the first time in 1992.
Ian Hands, who succeeded Dennis as programme editor, said: “A lot of our older supporters will remember Dennis from the programme shop he ran at Town Mead out of a shed on the top terrace.
“He was a great supporter of the football club for many, many years and delighted when we finally made it to the Football League.
“His wife Lynn has asked that his friends who knew him through the club who wish to attend his funeral to come in Crawley Town colours and not black.”
Chief Executive Michael Dunford said: “I never met Dennis but I know from speaking to people who did know him that he loved this football club and did a lot of great work on the club’s behalf for many years. He was a real stalwart of Crawley Town in the non-league era and I am sure he was very well known and respected by a lot of our supporters who followed the club back then. We send our deepest sympathies to his wife Lynn and the family."
Dennis’s funeral will be on Friday, August 22 at 9.45am and Surrey and Sussex Crematorium in Balcombe Road, Crawley.
