May Newsletter
Posted on 16th May 2025 by David Taylor
May Newsletter
Firstly, we should say “well done” to Pompey for continuing in the Championship next season. It was a great effort to be safe from relegation with games to spare.
Then we would also like to extend a warm welcome to a number of new members who joined the Society recently. A number of you signed up at the Hall of Fame dinner or at our pop-up shop in the Fan Zone at a recent game and by now you should have had a welcome letter in your in-box sent out by Richard Wilson, the PHS Membership Secretary. It’s great to have you on board with us and please do let us know if you want to get involved in the monthly steering committee meetings at Fratton Park or in any of our projects. We are currently looking for help with a number of things such as adding data on past players to our web-site, researching the history of women’s football in Portsmouth, cataloguing programmes, etc. We are keen to find someone with the skills to help Colin Farmery put together our new magazine; helping him get articles from other members and so on. So please let us know if you can help by emailing history@pompeyfc.co.uk
Now that the Hall of Fame dinner is over, we’ve fully totted up the takings and we’re pleased to report that we now have around £15,500 in the Gerry Spraggs Fund. This all goes towards the £25,000 we need for the Peter Harris medals appeal. The dinner added just under £2,000 into the fund and whilst we are really pleased with progress to date, we do have to keep going so that we don't loose the opportunity to get the medals. The best way that people can help us is simply by buying one of our books. We are now selling the paperback version of the 125 year anniversary history book - the “big book” as everyone calls it - for only £15 with the proceeds now all split three ways between Pompey History Society, Pompey In The Community, and the prostate charity nominated by Alan Knight. Even if you have the book for yourself already, it would make a super present for someone. You can get a copy from the club shop or if that's difficult, email us on history@pompeyfc.co.uk and we’ll do our best to the one to you. Other items to mention are:-
MEMBERSHIP SURVEY
Many thanks to all of you who filled in the recent survey. We have collated the responses and these are the results:-
What do members like? - it was nice to hear so many positive comments such as “the society keeps surprising me”, “the depth of knowledge the Society clearly has”, “the way that the Society works with the club” and see how members clearly value the newsletters and the regular events. The new magazine is warmly awaited.
What could we do more of? - most respondents wanted to see more mornings and evenings with ex-players. Other ideas such as a “show and tell” event where fans can bring their memorabilia into us or developing better links with local schools and businesses have given us food for thought so more on that in the future.
Topics for future events? - ideas included the history of football kits; more on the Alan Ball era; a few more recent players and Mick Quinn (who kept coming up!).
Membership Fees? - most felt that £10 was about the right amount for this year and the majority felt they would be prepared to pay eg £3 if we laid on tea and coffee or had the bar open
What would encourage more members to get involved with the work of the society? - the feeling was that we simply need to tell you more when we want something as members, busy lives permitting of course, are very willing to help the Society if we give people enough notice of events or requirements.
Website usage - 78% of respondents regularly look at our web-site
Preferred Social Media site? - was Facebook, with Twitter coming up a close second with a number of members starting to use Bluesky. This kind of data all helps us know how best to communicate to you.
The survey has really helped us so thank you once again and we would like to repeat it again at some stage. And it isn't too late to fill it in as we will continue to monitor responses that come in and act on anything that you raise.
PURCHASE OF ALAN BROWN’S MEDAL
As we mentioned in our last newsletter, we recently purchased the gold Third Division Winners medal, presented to Allan Brown in 1962. Allan played 49 times that season, scoring three goals. This is now on display in the club’s trophy cabinet.
OUR WEBSITE
Committee member Dave Taylor works hard to keep our website up to date and adds interesting articles for members to read. He has just added the recording of the BBC Colin Murray show from a few months ago when Mick Comben was interviewed about the Pompey Chimes, where they came from, and how they have been used over the years. Mick even sang the original words live on the show and whilst we would never recommend that Mick takes up a new career in singing, it's a show worth listening to and a very popular one in the Colin Murray and Pat Nevin series on Radio 5 Live covering the UK’s great football songs. The Chimes of course is widely recognised as one of, if not the, oldest still in use and you can find the recording at
HISTORY SOCIETY MAGAZINE
We intend to publish this for the first time in June so watch out for more on this.
ON YOUR WAVELENGTH
Richard Atkins-Greig has now delivered the third history radio show produced in conjunction with Express FM, called ‘Past Chimes’. Richard’s latest guest was Vince Hilare following Alan Knight into the hot seat. Alan’s show received universal praise. The next show will be at the end of the month and will feature Neil Allen, Senior Sports Editor of The News, who recently covered his 1,000th Pompey game. You can catch up on the show with Vince, who is always worth a listen, at https://www.expressfm.com/programmes/past-chimes/ or via our website at https://pompeyhistory.org/posts/news/2025/05/latest-podcast---vince-hilaire The music isn’t bad either!
SOUTH STAND CENTENARY
As we’ve previously stated, we are keen to have an exhibition of the South Stand’s life and times in August and we’re working on gathering together fans memories of it over the years. We’ve got a decent number already but if anyone does have any that they want us to include in an exhibition do email us on history@pompeyfc.co.uk and we will do our best to include them. One thing that we’re a bit short on, but are keen on including, is a list of any famous people that have been seen sat in the stand so if you can recall anyone, like George Best or Will Ferrell, then do let us know by email. If you can recall roughly when they were here that would help us as well. After the fixture list comes out on June 26th we’ll be able to give you more detail about an exhibition. Email history@pompeyfc.co.uk with your memories or famous people and we will add them to our database.
CITY MUSEUM
We are starting to make more use of the City Museum to display our memorabilia. The museum is next to the Portsmouth Grammar School in Old Portsmouth and the third floor already has a collection of Pompey items. It is really worth a visit. Entrance is free and you can see exhibits like the Barry Harris sailor suit or one of the stadiums' original turnstiles. We are talking to the museum about helping them staff the football exhibition with volunteers on a regular basis to help explain the artefacts to the public - do let us know if you fancy being part of that team.
PAUL MAIDMENT’S PHOTOS
Member Paul Maidment who has now joined our monthly committee is keen to help raise funds for the Society. He has produced a number of signed photos of ex-players and wants to offer these to PHS members before they go on general sale. All funds will go to the Gerry Spraggs Fund to be used for the Peter Harris medals. The pieces measure 10 by 8 (we havn't gone metric yet here!) and are mounted with an exclusive sticker. All photos are professionally printed so all you need to do is purchase a frame. Paul expects postage to be around £4 within the UK and he may be able to arrange local delivery. To get one, just email Paul on pauljmaidment@gmail.com and it’s "first come first served". Currently he has the following four made up but is ready to make up others such as Neil Webb, Vince Hilaire, Guy Whittingham, Alan Biley and Mick Tait, so you can always ask Paul if you want a particular player:-
1/ Dave Munks signed in classic pose. Played for Pompey from 1969-1973. Exclusive price £16 + postage.
2/ Kevin Dillon. Signed action photo. With Pompey from 1983-1989. Exclusive price £18 + postage.
3/ Norman Piper. Another signed in classic pose. Played from 1970-1978. Exclusive price £19 + postage
4/ Svetoslav Todorov. Signed action shot in classic TY shirt. Played from 2002 - 2007. Exclusive price £21 + postage.
PHS BADGES
As you know, we have now had made up some History Society badges which many of you have told us that you thought would be a good idea. They are for members only, and a member may buy a badge for £5, obtaining them from one of our events or by emailing us on history@pompeyfc.co.uk and we will put one aside for them. As a special offer, from now until the start of the new season, if a member refers a friend who subsequently signs up to join PHS then they can get a free member badge. To qualify, you need to email history@pompeyfc.co.uk and propose a new member who we will then follow up. Provided they sign up before the start of next season there will be a free badge available for you to be collected from us at a home game.
CHARITY MATTERS
The History Society has a board of Trustees and they met before the Hull game to ensure that the Society is working as it should. Thank you to the Trustees and the Treasurer and Secretary for their efforts in guiding the work of the Society. At the meeting it was agreed to change the society's financial year end to June 30, to fit in with the football season. This year our intention is to have an AGM in early October and we’ll probably combine it with the Simon Inglis talk. The Society’s accounts have to be independently examined by an appropriate person or body and we have arranged for the University of Portsmouth Accountancy Faculty to undertake this task for us when they start their new 2025-26 year.
NEXT EVENT
We are working to organise another “Morning With…” event early in the new season, once the summer works at Fratton Park are complete. When the fixture list comes out we’ll set the date and let you know the details.
That is all for now.
Play Up Pompey!
Pompey History Society