CLUES about the 'mystery' picture of an old-time Blackburn police football team poured in after it appeared in Looking Back last month.

Kicking off was reader William Baxter who recognised his father, ex-Blackburn Rovers right back Tommy Baxter as the player third from the right in the middle row.

His inclusion in the team helps to date the picture as being in the early 1930s - as he did not join the old borough force until 1932, the year after his Ewood Park career was ended at the age of 24 as a result of a serious injury he suffered at West Ham the previous season. But he went on to score 28 years as a Blackburn bobby.

Next in play was County Councillor Tom Sharratt, of Hoghton, who was "gobsmacked" by the picture - as it showed a photograph that he had never seen before of his father, PC Dick Sharratt, who is second from the right on the front row.

PC71 Sharratt, who rose to Acting Inspector before his sudden death at the age of 41, not only played football for the police, he was also a member of force's cricket and water polo teams.

"My Dad was a great sportsman," says Tom. "He was born in Lambeth Street, up Audley, and played for St Thomas's. He used to complain that St Thomas's never had a proper pitch and played on a cinder-pad. He had cinder scars on his shins."

And it was at St Thomas FC's Newton Street ground that former borough bobby Arnold Hedley, of Blackburn, believes the picture was taken, as the wooden building in the background looks similar to one that stood there.

"The year would probably have been 1933 or 1934, shortly after the appointment of the late George Looms as Chief Constable of Blackburn," says Mr Hedley. "Mr Looms recruited many ex-Guardsmen, three of whom appear in the photograph."

Mr Hedley's dating of the picture also stems from the fact that police sporting teams were, he says, not permitted to participate in civilian competitions after 1934 - and he believes the team in the dark strip may have been a 'civvy' side.

The occasion, he guesses, may have been the final of the old St Thomas's Medal Competition which attracted amateur teams from Blackburn and surrounding towns.

The competition was started in 1928 to raise money for the upkeep of the Newton Street ground and continued into the mid-1950s.

Among the proud winners of a St Thomas's medal is ex-Blackburn Rovers and England winger Bryan Douglas who, then an apprentice motor mechanic, was the teenage star of Blackburn Transport's winning team of 1951.

The ground disappeared in 1966 when the new St Thomas's CE School was built on the site.

Of the police side, only former Inspector Cyril Entwistle (fourth right, front row) is still alive, says Mr Hedley. He is now aged 90 and lives in Australia where he emigrated on his retirement.

The full team was: Light shirts (left to right): Back row - Fred Smith, Fred Newell (goalkeeper), person unknown; Middle row - Harold Eastham, Tommy Baxter, Fred Dixon, Harry Turner, Matt Wilson; Front row - Bob West, Cyril Entwistle, Jack Davies, Dick Sharratt and Peter Mulheir.