Toni’s celebration of Accies’ achievement

Jul 16 2009 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

Toni’s celebration of Accies’ achievement

A KEEN photographer will present his latest collage of football grounds to SPL club Hamilton Accies after the new season kicks off in August.

Toni Quigley (69), who has worked at the famous Hamish Hairdressers on Low Waters Road for 37 years, created the collage over a four-month period by going round all 12 clubs in the SPL, including Hamilton, Motherwell, Rangers and Celtic.

The framed work will be officially handed over to Accies secretary Scott Struthers before a fixture at New Douglas Park, although a date has still to be finalised for the presentation.

Toni, who started taking photographs at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, enjoyed the experience.

He said: “Hamilton came up to the SPL and stayed up, so I wanted to do something to celebrate that.

“I had Aberdeen and Inverness on file and the rest of them I took over a period of maybe four months, so I was quite fortunate really.

“I’ve changed some of them over from previous frames that I did because St Mirren now have a new stadium, but everything else is basically what has been done before from previous frames.

“It’s always very enjoyable because I’ve been doing photography since 1960, at the Olympics in Rome, so that’s nearly 50 years.

“The football scene came to me some years ago, and I’ve also done the rugby grounds for Hamilton Rugby Club.

“Although I live in Rutherglen I’ve been at Hamish’s for 37 years now and I’m so involved in the Hamilton area now that when Accies stayed up I wanted to do something to mark that.

“The season starts on August 15 and I will present the collage to their secretary Scott Struthers maybe three or four weeks into it.”