It’s with great pleasure, and also admiration, that we hand Club Corner over to Andy Leeder, Chairman of the Southend United Historical Society, for this issue. He has a truly inspiring, and longer than usual (!), tale to tell about the recent launch of the Southend United Museum.
What is the formal status of your group?
The museum is operated by the Shrimpers Trust, the independent supporters’ group of Southend United FC. Within the Trust there is the Southend United Historical Society (SUHS) and the Southend United Ex-Players Association (SUEPA) – there are plans for SUHS (incorporating SUEPA) to be hived-off into a separate body with its own board members, accounts and governance, and at that point operation of the museum will fall under the auspices of SUHS. Ultimately the aim is for SUHS to seek charitable status.
What are your main achievements so far?
The ex-player community we have built up, which we believe is the largest (male team) group of its kind in the world, has helped to inspire a number of history initiatives, perhaps the biggest yet (outside of our new museum) being our current ‘Southend United Pioneers’ project. ‘Pioneers’ is all about the stories of the men that made the Shrimpers in 1906, charting their full life stories (many touched with hardship and war) from cradle to grave. It is multi-faceted – it is a book, an event where the great great grandchildren of those men from 120 years ago are coming to Roots Hall as our guests to tread in their grandfathers’ footsteps, an artwork exhibition (we have had oil paintings commissioned for each of the 20 Pioneers), and a series of educational lectures. For those interested they can learn more about the book and purchase a copy here: Shrimpers Trust – The Southend United Pioneers:
How did you start your journey to having your own club museum?
Inspired by seeing online pictures of other club museums, in August 2024 we set up the SUEPA Fund with a core objective – to build up a sum of money which might one day help to meet the costs of setting up a museum. What form the museum might be, how to go about undertaking such a task, and how to fully finance it, were at that time subjects for another day. But the seed of an idea had been sown, and some tangible momentum was the result.
Some of us visited other clubs to see what a museum can achieve – they are not only living celebrations of the past but are also community hubs, where people can come together, look and learn, and get involved. They generate discussion, interest, and help further a sense of belonging. And every club museum is different too, not only fashioned by a club’s particular history, but by the different people involved in setting it up and running it, dovetailing with a club’s own ambitions and desire to recognise past achievements. Each has its own unique identity.
Back in August 2025, and after a brief bedding-in period by the new owners of Southend United, we took club Chairman Justin Rees on a tour of three club museums (Charlton Athletic, AFC Wimbledon and Exeter City) on the way to an away match at Truro. It was a long but rewarding 24 hours, and from that the concept of us having a museum gathered some further impetus. A speculative punt was taken on obtaining some display cabinets from AFC Wimbledon in October 2025, though at that point we had nowhere to house them.
What help did you get in terms of funding, material assets, advice?
None of us had ever constructed a museum before – we sought views from our new-found friends at Charlton, Wimbledon and Exeter, and just went from there.
In late 2025 an opportunity presented itself – the club were undertaking a project to renew the 88 casings on the four floodlight pylons overlooking Roots Hall. These were due to be scrapped, but we felt that they had a value and so put out a social media post offering them for sale. Shrimpers eager to own a piece of Roots Hall history snapped them all up within five hours of the post going live, and suddenly we had a more substantive cash pile (subsequently topped up by the Trust) to work with.
A site for the museum – the ticket office adjoining the club shop – was then agreed with the club. ‘All’ that then needed to be done was to create something out of nothing and at no cost to the club.
How did the construction process go?
A small army of volunteers were found, all working for love not cash, materials were sought, memorabilia gathered, and on 1st July 2026 construction began. It was hard work, many long days (and nights), and it was not without its frustrations, but it was also fun and rewarding too. That we had our former three-time Player of the Year, and expert decorator, Ronnie Pountney join us, was a particular joy.
On Friday 14th August, accompanied by various club and council officials, the Lord Mayor, a handful of former players, and the group of dedicated volunteers, our former player and manager Steve Tilson cut the ribbon to declare the museum open. The following day it was packed with fans prior to match-day kick-off eager to see what had been done, and it was rewarding for all involved to see so many smiling faces.
What’s been the public response to the museum?
Brilliant. Fans of all generations have been to visit, lots of old memories triggered by what we have on show, and older generations seen being eager to point out old items that they once saw on the terraces to their younger friends. We’ve even had the Chairman of the National League pay us a visit.
One of our exhibits is the use of part of our old scoreboard to show the result it once proudly beamed out – Southend United 1 Manchester United 0. We just now need to find a way of contacting Sir Alex Ferguson to see if he might like to pay us a visit and pose by that reminder of a wonderful night back in 2006.
What have been the best/oldest/ most unique items that you’ve saved?
The oldest item is a contract signed by Jimmy Axcell in July 1906 – Jimmy was a member of our first ever team. His reward was £2 a week (reducing to £1 in the summer) for his sterling efforts as part of a marauding front line that bagged 58 goals in 22 matches during that first Southern League campaign.
Saying what might be the ‘best’ is difficult – different items mean different things to different people. However, the largest and perhaps most obscure is our old diesel-powered floodlight generator, which was made redundant in 1969 when the electricity supply to the ground was improved and then somehow escaped execution for over half-a-century before we hauled it 200 yards from the main stand to its new home in the museum. It is a thing of wonder.
But perhaps the most emotional item, with its own miraculous journey, is a poster from 1914 which advertises forthcoming Roots Hall fixtures for April of that year. Somehow it avoided being pasted over and then survived two world wars, three ground moves (we returned to the Roots Hall site in 1955 after an absence of 40 years) and being sat in a cupboard for decades next to a leaking gents’ toilet. It was in a sorry state when we found it last year, but we’ve had it professionally restored and it now hangs proudly in our museum once again advertising fixtures against the likes of Portsmouth, West Ham and Coventry.
When can people visit your museum and what does it cost?
The museum adjoins the club shop and so anyone can visit it during club shop hours. It is free to enter and is manned by Shrimpers Trust volunteers prior to kick-off on match days. Our Shrimpers Trust stall has taken on a new lease of life since being moved to the museum. We believe that the museum complements the club shop and vice-versa.
What one piece of advice would you give another supporters’ group about to set out on the same journey as yours?
Demonstrate to your club the benefits that a club museum can bring – with them in support the momentum will gather to allow, what initially might be seen as a far-off dream, to be realised.
You can read more about the Southend United History Group here.