Paul Baker from the Charlton Athletic Museum tells the story of a couple of Great Saves

Few clubs outside the “big six” have a physical museum but Charlton are one of them.  A registered charity, and an entirely fan-run and fan-funded initiative (although the club kindly give us large display and storage rooms at the Valley at no charge) we rely on donations from fans to grow and fund the collection. While it is time-consuming and costly to maintain a museum, one big advantage is that many fans now see it as the right place for valuable and historic items to come home.

Back in December 2022, as Charlton celebrated 30 years back at The Valley, a Charlton Athletic Museum trustee at one of the many anniversary events got chatting to Andy Soloman, who had been heavily involved in the Valley Party and the return to The Valley both as a campaigner and as a photographer.

In the late ’80s, while the Addicks were still in exile, Andy set up a reminiscence group and published two booklets of recollections from older Charlton fans and players going back to the 1920s. Andy mentioned that he still had the cassette tapes of those interviews and offered them to the museum when he returned from a long trip overseas.

In early 2024 we remembered that we hadn’t followed up so we re-contacted Andy who was more than happy to bring the tapes into the museum. Great Save One! He casually mentioned he had some other items that he, like many fans, had salvaged from the abandoned Valley including another very special item. The folders of club correspondence from 1959/60 were fascinating, the signs literally taken off the dressing room walls are brilliant, the cassette tapes are being digitised right now, including cup-winning captain Don Welsh talking about lifting the trophy as well as having to give a Nazi salute when playing for England v Germany. But Andy was right, the special item was very special.

The museum held all of the club’s board minutes from 1921 to 1984 bar the 1923/24 season during which Charlton made a disastrous and thankfully short-lived move to Catford. We believed those minutes were long lost, possibly burnt in a “mysterious” fire that destroyed club records amongst accusations of irregular payments.

But no, those minutes had been in Andy Soloman’s loft for many years. So long that he no longer remembers how he came by them, but they are now safe in the museum and are being digitised to preserve them and make them available to any fans or historians who may be interested in them. Great Save Two!