Family of ice hockey legend appeal for shirt

Funeral: Bereaved relatives want to lay Joe Guilcher to rest in his number 11 Dundee Rockets top

The family of a Dundee ice hockey legend have appealed for information to find his memorabilia top, believed to have been stolen from the wall of a pub, in time for his funeral.

Joe Guilcher, who played for the Dundee Rockets in the 1970s and 1980s and was a key part of the team that lifted the British Championship in their heyday, recently died aged 69 after a long battle with cancer.

In the early 00s, Joe had loaned one of his shirts to the All Stars pub on Commercial Street to display as memorabilia.

But when the pub closed down in 2006 and he went to collect the shirt, it had disappeared from the wall.

Now his family want to find the garment so that they can reunite it with its rightful owner when he is laid to rest on Friday.

Joe’s step-daughter Rhonda Mckay said: “Joe had loaned the shirt to the Marr family when they ran the pub, some time in the early 00s.

“They closed up in 2006 and and sent out a letter to everyone who had given them memorabilia to come and collect it.

“Joe went down straight away, but the shirt wasn’t there – it was missing, along with the frame it was in.

“We think someone must have taken it, there’s no other way it could’ve been lost.

“Everything else was still up on the wall, just that one item was missing.

“Then Joe was diagnosed with cancer and his cancer took precedence.

“We’d always planned to look for the shirt, but we had to concentrate on getting him better first.

“It was a long illness, so we never quite got round to it.

“We’d like to appeal now, if anyone has it, or has seen it, to hand it back.”

The top is a blue number 11 Dundee Rockets shirt, with the letters going from the right shoulder to the hip, and was in a blue frame when it disappeared.

If anyone has the shirt or knows where it is, email rhonda.mckay@sky.com