Former goalkeeper Reg Barton has sadly passed away at the age of 84. Reg not only proudly wore the shirt but he was also an enthusiastic supporter of the club and was a season ticket holder in the East Stand at the Deva Community Stadium. The Chester-born player made 14 Football League appearances for the club and had the distinction of being the goalkeeper on the day that Chester hammered Wrexham 6-1 in a Division Four fixture in February 1965.

Reg was brought up as a supporter of the club and first watched a game at Sealand Road towards the end of the 1940s. After playing for Chester Schoolboys and Saltney Juniors he was offered a trial at the Stadium and signed as an amateur in 1957. Over the next four years he worked his way up through the A team and Reserves before making his first team debut, against Doncaster Rovers, in September 1961 in a game Chester lost 3-2.

An agile keeper, Reg continued to appear regularly for the Reserves over the next four years while making occasional first team appearances as an understudy to John Hardie or Dennis Reeves. His most memorable game was the aforementioned victory over local rivals Wrexham and, recalling the game in later years, he emphasised how much it meant to him as a long standing supporter with the size of the victory making it even more special.

A month after the Wrexham match Reg experienced the other side of the coin when he was on the receiving end of a 5-1 defeat at Crewe Alexandra. Looking back Reg admits that he had a bad game that day and realised that his chances of being retained at the end of the season were remote. As expected Reg was released at the end of the 1964/65 campaign and went on to play for Nantlle Vale, Holyhead and Penmaenmawr. He finished his playing career with Connah’s Quay Nomads in the early 1970s.

After leaving Chester Reg worked for Hawker Siddeley, British Nuclear Fuels and British Aerospace, lived in Buckley and rarely missed a home game.