March Newsletter

March Newsletter

Spring is upon us and March 5 saw us spring into action and get Vince Hilaire along for “A Morning with Vince”. And what a great morning is was too, with Vince being asked questions by Johnny Moore and Colin Farmery with some interesting tales – not to be repeated outside the walls of the event - of life at Fratton and Portsmouth in the 1980s coming out. More than 30 members attended and we are working on the next ‘Morning With…’ event, so stay tuned for more news on a date and guest. Other items to mention:-

BLOG ON BLAKEY
Vince’s recent talk mentioned Noel Blake and his unfortunate knack of scoring own goals, which reminded our website editor Dave Taylor, who runs the PHS website, that he witnessed them all! He’s written them up in a blog article on the website which you can read here: Noel Blake's own goals - Pompey History Society.

ON YOUR WAVELENGTH
Richard Atkins-Greig also updated us at the event on ‘Past Chimes’, the PHS history radio show produced in conjunction with Express FM. Mick Comben was the first guest and the show has gone down well. The next guest is Alan Knight and the show will be broadcast at 9pm on Sunday March 30th and on the station's catch-up afterwards. The first show featuring Mick can be listened to here: Past Chimes - Portsmouth's Express FM

HALL OF FAME DINNER
We’re looking forward to the Hall of Fame dinner, being held in the Victory Suite on April 11, with the Former Players Day at the Derby game on April 12. This event is raising money for the society’s Gerry Spraggs Fund, which aims to raise £25,000 to buy Peter Harris’s two championship medals. More on that below.  A good number of our members are attending and of course there will also be an opportunity to meet lots of former Hall of Fame inductees and hear who the 2025 inductees are to be. April 24 is the anniversary of Jimmy Dickinson’s birth so we will be unveiling something special at the dinner to commemorate our famous ex-player and Hall of Famer. For more details on the Hall of Fame and to buy tickets (subject to availability) click here: Portsmouth Football Club Hall of Fame - Pompey History Society

SOUTH STAND CENTENARY
Another anniversary to mention is the building of the South Stand in summer 1925. It opened on August 29, 1925 and around that date 100 years later, we hope to have an exhibition of its life and times. We are seeking memories of the stand by fans who have sat in it.  For example, do you recall any famous people who sat in it, or your first time sitting in it?  Email history@pompey.co.uk with your memories and we will add them to our database. We hope to include many of them in the planned exhibition.

In addition, we have provisionally booked a talk on stadium design from Simon Inglis, the foremost writer on stadium design in the UK. He will be accompanied by Michael Saunders, our local architect and Pompey fan who will talk, with Colin, on the history of Fratton Park and in particular the South Stand. It is pencilled in for the week of October 6 and we’ll confirm the date after the release of the fixtures in June.

PETER HARRIS MEDALS UPDATE
The 100th anniversary of Peter Harris’ birth is in December and by then we aim to raise £25,000 to secure his two Championship winning medals. So far, almost £8,000 has been raised towards the target. The Hall of Fame dinner is the next big fundraising opportunity, but to find out how else you can help click here: Gerry Spraggs Fund - Pompey History Society.

STADIUM TOURS PASS 1,000 MILESTONE
One of the key ways the society raises money is through the tours it conducts on behalf of the club. In February we had our 1,000th guest attending a tour this season and are now at over 1,200 season to date. A fantastic achievement for the team of guides of Mick Comben, Colin Farmery, Paul Boynton, Richard Barnes, Phil Magrath, Dave Taylor and Roger Higgins. PHS member, Graeme Moir, is soon to join the team.

VISIT A ‘POMPEY MUSEUM’
While the long-term aim of the society is to open a museum at Fratton Park, we also work closely with the city Museum and Art Gallery and there is a significant ‘Pompey’ collection on the top floor at its Museum Road building, opposite the university’s Ravelin House.
                     
Working with the museum, the display is updated by society on a regular basis (see the picture above for an example) and planned for this year is a display of former manager George Smith’s personal memorabilia which will be on loan from his family. It is free to enter so why not pop along and you can relax with a coffee in the Café on the ground floor.

RECENT DONATIONS
We are always glad to be given donations and bequests of memorabilia, programmes, scrapbooks, medals, trophies and so on. In a collection we recently acquired from Johnny Haines, there was a copy of the share issue prospectus from 1960. The reason that this is such a significant find is that it marked the start of the financial decline of the club.
The prospectus document is four pages long and contains details of the finances in the decade preceding its issue, showing the full list of the 17 houses owned by the club plus details the purchase of the Tamworth Road training ground in the 50’s and gives many details of season ticket prices and deals at the time. If you have any old documents like this one, let us know as we’d be delighted to look at them or add them to the archive. Contact us at history@pompeyfc.co.uk.  

Time for us to finish, but do take the time to check out our growing website and do let us have your South Stand memories and if you haven’t done so already, please do buy one of our books to help us get to our £25,000 target for the Peter Harris medals!

Play Up Pompey!
 
Pompey History Society