The Saving Memorabilia survey

The survey was very useful and we’ve shared the anonymised data with some pioneer organisations in the football heritage arenas. They were delighted with the feedback and felt that it strengthened the case for more support for our cause. There is a brief article in the current issue of WSC, on sale in early March 2020.

You may well have been invited to this blog because you completed the online survey facilitated by When Saturday Comes magazine in December and supplied your email address in order to get feedback from the survey. This is that feedback and we hope that you’ll subscribe to The Great Save blog or allow us to continue to email you on a roughly monthly basis. You can of course let know if you don’t want to hear more.

Here’s a one page summary of the survey findings.

ECFC Museum workshops

One of the pioneer organisations is the Exeter City Football Club Museum who, working with Exeter City FC, the Supporters’ Trust and the University of Exeter (including its digital humanities lab), have made great steps in the preservation and use of heritage material.

For the benefit of interested supporters they will be running workshops as part of the National Lottery Heritage Funded ‘Celebrating our Heritage’ programme, demonstrating what they have achieved and how they’ve gone about it. The workshops will also include a selection of speakers from other clubs across the country.

The dates are:

• 27 March – Portsmouth
• 23 April – London – Roger will be speaking at this event
• 16 June – Huddersfield

Please contact Will Barrett at will.barrett@ecfc.co.uk for more details if you’re interested in attending.

17.03.20 – Sadly all these events have now been postponed.

Tales of the unexpectedly saved

Geoff: ‘An old supporter came to us with the wage-books of Watford FC from the 1950s. At first glance they’re deadly boring but when you think about it for a moment they give you a real insight into how the club was run then, what the costs were, how far from the maximum wage some players earned. It’s all hard data and a unique source.’

John:  ‘While chairman of Maidstone United from 1970 to 1992, Jim Thompson hoarded nearly everything connected with the club by way of trophies, pennants, photos, press reports, etc. He wasn’t so assiduous about the club’s less illustrious times; but he did compile a collection running to several thousand items. Knowing it was likely to get broken up or destroyed after his death, he sold it lock, stock and barrel two decades ago to the club’s commercial director, Ben McGannan, who’s kept it intact under lock and key ever since.  For me, seeing it all for the first time felt like breaking into Tutankhamun’s tomb!’

Roger: ‘Somebody at the club had taken a call from a widow in Windsor who wanted to pass on a Reading programme collection. Once we’d managed to guess the phone number from the incorrect version recorded we agreed to a pick-up. It was an interesting collection with a few oddities, and some non-league stuff we managed to move on to other collectors. But a big bonus was the sense of relief that the lady felt for having managed to pass, to a safe home, material that had treasured by her late partner. It was a weight off her mind.’

The Watford Treasury and Watford Museum

In 2018 a group of heritage-minded fans set up the Watford Treasury, a not-for-profit magazine venture designed to celebrate the club’s history (www.thewatfordtreasury.co.uk) which has now reached volume 6. The group is also working with Watford Museum to curate temporary displays within the museum’s permanent football gallery. ‘Collectors Cards’ is the current display, featuring examples from pre-WW1 cigarette cards to contemporary sets – notably including the 1910 Copes Clips cards that were recently acquired by the museum with help from Watford FC. 

The pre-Madejski Stadium film challenge

As Reading FC approaches its 150^th anniversary (2021-22) there’s a move to try and capture film and TV footage created before 1998. This was the point at which the club moved to the Madejski Stadium and, roughly coincidentally, first team matches were routinely filmed for TV. The earliest record is of a 1912 FA Cup tie versus Manchester U but it’s unlikely that footage still exists. We’ll be looking for both ‘official’ footage and material captured ‘unofficially’ by fans and players’ families.

Who’s out there already?

Our internet search has revealed a number of different heritage groups for senior clubs. Clearly there’s no one-size-fits-all model out there. Here’s a brief thumbnail of some of those we’ve found.

• Charlton Athletic – a stadium based museum, open on some home match days and the first Friday of each month
• Derby County – The Collection, independent of, but backed by, the football club. Does mobile exhibitions, schools visits, programme articles. A Charitable Trust Collection (CTC).
• Aberdeen – an independent charitable organisation working closely with the club towards setting up a fully-fledged museum
• Sunderland – The Fans Museum, sited in museum building, open five days a week, has a small bar and available for hire; a Community Interest Company (CIC)
• Luton Town – Hatters Heritage, another CIC,  it has successfully applied for Heritage Lottery (HL) funding and is running ‘memorabilia collection / cataloguing’ roadshows
• Exeter City – Museum Trust and CIC that has been funded several times by HL and developed major in-stadium heritage displays among many other outputs

If you know of more or you’d like yours featured in more detail in another edition of this blog, then please get in contact thegreatsave@btinternet.com