SAINTS' supporters searching for that ideal Christmas present for their nearest and dearest need look no further _ thanks to a man who first stood on the Knowsley Road terraces just three seasons ago!

For local king-of-the-video-camera Ron Lee has burned the midnight oil over the past three years to produce two official masterpieces which are veritable drop-kicks down Saints' Memory Lane.

And there is no room for doubt that they are certain to be 'musts' on the shopping lists of Rugby League buffs everywhere.

Ron, proprietor of St. Helens-based North West Video, has left no stone unturned in his quest for material to encapsulate the absorbing story of Saints, which is narrated by Granada TV's Paul Brown, and an absorbing mix of professional and amateur footage in both editions.

The first, dubbed 'The Saints Go Marching On,' traces the club's origins from the days of its founding father 'Herman the German' in 1873, to as recently as the encore Silk Cut Challenge Cup triumph against Bradford Bulls at Wembley last season. Personalities dominate throughout this compelling 124-year odyssey of Knowsley Road affairs, from the heroics of 'Kitty' Briers in the early days of the century, through the glorious era of Ellaby and Fairclough, and on to 'greats' of recent memory such as Vollenhoven, Murphy, Karalius, Duggie Greenall and Austin Rhodes

The dark days of two world wars and their effect on the Saints' playing fortunes and ground are copiously chronicled, as indeed are the troubled times when the club faced extinction in the depressed 1930s.

In short Ron Lee's two-and-a-half-hour epic is at once a tale of the trials and tribulations of the team and a social history of the club itself.

'The Saints' Go Marching On' is available now at the Knowsley Road Superstore price £14.99, and will be on general release from next week at the new town centre shop, Wardleworth's booksellers, and other outlets.

Alternatively it may be purchased from North West Video, Studio House, 13 Coleridge Avenue, St. Helens WA10 6RN. Telephone 01744-29976

His appetite for matters Saintly thoroughly whetted, tireless Mr Lee then focused his all-seeing lens on the production of 'Rugby's Coming Home,' again a unique video of 45-minute length, and this time highlighting Saints' historic lifting of the Challenge Cup in1996 and 1997. Hero's welcomes, civic receptions and in-depth player interviews make for fascinating footage in this fan's-eye view of their 'team,' which will be on sale at the same outlets, again from next week, price £9.99.

So endless months of painstaking research (to say nothing of miles of film footage exhausted) has come to fruition for a Ron Lee who initially became involved with Saints by joining the club's 'grab-a-grown-up' scheme at the behest of his schoolboy son Andrew. Let's hope that Saints' fans of both terrace and armchair persuasion rally round to ensure the commercial success of both 'The Saints Go Marching On' and 'Rugby's Coming Home' - believe me they will not be disappointed!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.