Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Ken Powell’s barber shop at 292 High Street Northcote doubled as a shrine for Carlton Football Club memorabilia. More often than not, Blues supporters who fronted for the mandatory short back and sides came armed with team photographs for the lifelong Carlton devotee to display - amongst them the son of the legendary Carlton premiership player and coach Norman “Hackenschmidt” Clark.

“Some of the customers who came in had photographs and didn’t know what to do with them,” said Powell, who now lives in retirement but still crops the odd scone.

“As they got on in years they worried that their grandkids might get hold of them and destroy them. They knew I was a Carlton supporter, they knew I would look after the photographs and they knew I had a place to display them.

“These photos were given to me mainly by Norman Clark’s son who lived off Mitchell Street in Northcote and is now no longer with us. He used to come up to my shop, we’d have chats and every so often he’d walk in with a photo. He even found an old premiership cap of his father’s which he gave to the club years ago.

“He used to say of his father that he was a good coach, and he did coach Carlton to two premierships didn’t he? He said his father would have played in another if it wasn’t for a payment scandal in 1909, and he reckoned Norm always said there was no scandal, rather that somebody had just brought up a rumour.”

Amongst the treasures Clark’s son passed on to Powell was a glorious sepia-toned photograph of the Carlton premiership team of 1908, a Capstan image of the 1909 outfit, and equally rare pics of former players like Steve Leehane, a hero of the Clark-coached 1914 Grand Final team, and the dual premiership forward Vin Gardiner.

“I put them all up on the back wall at a time when I was also selling Carlton memberships out of the shop from 1968 through to 1979, because everybody in Northcote knew that I barracked for Carlton,” Powell said.

“When I left the shop 20 years ago I took them home, and they were just sitting there collecting dust in a plastic bag . . . then I thought I’ll take them over to Carlton to give to the club.”

This week, Powell handed over his precious items to the club for the benefit of future generations of supporters who file through the doors of Visy Park. It’s a noble deed, and Powell, a current member of the Captain’s Club and 60 years a supporter,  wouldn’t have it any other way.

As he said: “I’m happy now that there’s a new place here at the Carlton ground to showcase these photos. It’s far better than having them sitting around at home . . . “