June Newsletter - Update for members

June Newsletter

Doesn’t it feel weird without our regular dose of football!! But everyone seems to be turning their minds to holidays instead so there is slightly less to report on this month although behind the scenes a number of activities have of course carried on. We need to hit our fundraising target so we’ve been thinking about how we can sell the remaining stock of the club 125 anniversary history book at £15 - with all proceeds going to the three charities including the PHS - and this is now available both physically from the club shop and on line from them at https://pompey.clubstore.co.uk/pm-15436-125-official-history-paperback And the book would make a great present for someone to read on the beach, sitting on the new “mash up” beach towel, whilst they wear the “multi Pompey crest swim shorts” that the store also has for sale alongside the book. We know of at least one of the PHS committee who has already bought a pair of these shorts and we’re sure he looks great in them…………maybe!

PHS membership numbers continue to rise; we now have over 150 members so the trend in the last 12 months has been excellent. Also, to remind you, we are still 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 archived programmes, and helping to catalogue our entire archive of memorabilia. We’re also keen to find someone with the skills to help Colin Farmery put together our new regular magazine; helping him get articles from other members and so on. So please let us know if you can help with any of these projects by emailing history@pompeyfc.co.uk

Other items to mention are:-

PETER HARRIS MEDALS FUND UPDATE

You will recall the society is aiming to raise £25,000 by December 2025 - which would have been Peter Harris's 100th birthday month - to purchase his two gold championship medals from 1949 and 1950 to add to the archive and put on public display in 2026. We have crunched the numbers and by the end of May the total raised so far stands at £15,600, which is a really encouraging amount. The main summer fundraising activity is the selling of the 125 paperback book and, if you haven't bought your copy yet there's information on how to do that elsewhere in the newsletter. 

HISTORY SOCIETY MAGAZINE

The great news is that our new magazine, which we hope to publish three times a year, will be emailed to all our members later this month. It contains the articles referred to in our previous newsletters and is a pdf that can be read on screen or printed off and read at your leisure. When you get it please do tell us what you think of it by emailing us on history@pompeyfc.co.uk

PURCHASE OF BOBBY CAMPBELL’S PLATE

As you know, we trawl through E Bay and various auction sites to identify any memorabilia that we should purchase. We don’t always buy everything that's out there of course but we go for anything that is rare or would be applicable for a museum display. A few weeks ago, PHS committee member Chris Gibbs spotted on E Bay that a hospice was offering for sale a silver plate, awarded to Bobby Campbell at a lunch in London on 2nd June 1983. Bobby got the plate for winning the third division in his first year and for more details, see the article on it in our new magazine out later this month.   

And interestingly, we were also offered a 1939 Cup Final song sheet by a lady in Australia who is the niece of Guy Wharton who played in the final for us. It is a donation which is wonderful and in the second edition of our new magazine we’ll have an article about songs at Fratton Park and the "Community Singing" movement of the 1920s. If anyone does want to talk to us about donating items at any stage then please just email us at history@pompeyfc.co.uk and we’ll be in touch.

OUR WEBSITE

Dave Taylor, our Website Editor, has been beavering away in the sunshine in his back garden, making changes to the look of the site, for example by bringing a list of recent articles to the top of the home page. Recent articles include ideas for presents for Father’s Day gifts; links to the latest Podcasts and a surprise gift from "down under". Remember there is a link on the site where you can get in touch with the Society to ask a question or pass on any information that we might appreciate such as possible collections and items for our archive.  Only recently we have come across the great-great-grandson of a player in the 1939 side who has his relation's winners medal and we’ll keep in touch with him in case there’s anyway we can help each other in the future. Keep up to date with the Pompey History Society by following us on the website as well as your favourite Social Media Channel – Facebook, Instagram, X, Blue Sky, etc

ON YOUR WAVELENGTH - “Past Chimes” in conjunction with Express FM

"Past Chimes" is a monthly series broadcast on ExpressFM, our local award winning community radio station, in association with the Pompey History Society. We asked Richard to remind us who he had interviewed so far and he told us that "It began as an idea floated in a Southsea café and it is a privilege and joy to meet, greet, and be in conversation with some remarkable people. Over the past five months I've met and recorded conversations with the legend that is Alan Knight; our brilliant tricky winger Vince Hilaire; Neil Allen, the chief sports reporter at The News, who recently reported on his one thousandth Pompey game and Mick Comben, whose wonderful new book covers the early years of Portsmouth Football Club”. Richard also told us that “coming up later this month you’ll be able to hear from our hard working left back, Colin Sullivan, one of the heroes of the 1982/3 promotion winning side and in the next few months we look forward to being in conversation with, among others, Alan Biley, Lee Bradbury, Kit Symons, Andy Awford and the great Ray Crawford”. 

The feedback has been excellent and the radio station are delighted with Richard’s work for us. For future programmes, the Society can obviously help him get the right people in front of him but Richard is keen not to miss anyone so has asked us to say to members that “if you have contact with any former players, have a word with them and see if they’d also like to be my guest on ‘Past Chimes’. If so just let me know on pompeylegend1954@gmail.com  and I’ll contact them. But I do want to make this series as diverse as possible, so I’m also looking for men and women who have served the football club over the years, as players, supporters, working behind the scenes -  you get the idea. Maybe you are someone who would like to be a guest. Either way, just email me and I’ll get in touch”.

Our show and the recording is usually broadcast on the last Sunday of each month, but it’s often repeated so if you can’t hear it on the day, then, very shortly afterwards, it’ll be on the ExpressFM website. If you cant find the link then do email us on history@pompeyfc.co.uk and we will sort it out. And a massive thanks to Richard for doing it - he really does have a wonderful “radio voice”, it’s just perfect for the job!

SOUTH STAND CENTENARY

To remind you, the anniversary of the opening of the stand is at the end of August so we are waiting for the fixture list to see what event might be possible but we are working hard on the exhibition that we hope will go up in the South Stand, covering its life and times. Our friend Michael Saunders, a local architect, and heavily involved in all matters to do with the stadium when the fans owned the club, has produced a detailed timeline of the building and improvements over the years and this is being turned by Colin Farmery and a designer into boards similar to those in our “Championship Corridor” that many of you will have walked past on our stadium tours. We also now have a good number of fans memories about the stand and many thanks to committee members such as Richard Barnes and Phil Magrath who grabbed people at the Hull game and asked them for their input. Many of these memories will go up alongside the history of the stand. It’s probably not too late to include any last minute submissions so you can still email us on history@pompeyfc.co.uk if you want to. 

CITY MUSEUM 

As we have mentioned in previous newsletters, we recently purchased one of Jimmy Dickinsons England shirts. If you were at the Hall of Fame dinner in April you will have seen it unveiled on the night. We are improving our display of items at the City Museum in Museum Road, Old Portsmouth, where we have a large chunk of the third floor dedicated to our items and we have now decided to bring the Barry Harris sailor suit back to Fratton Park where it will go in the Legends Lounge. We hope to replace it in the Museum with Jimmy’s England shirt and the Scottish shirt worn by Wille Woodburn that Jimmy swopped for his shirt after the game in Glasgow in April 1950. Kindly lent to us by Andrew Dickinson, Jimmy’s son. We will add other Jimmy Dickinson items to the display so that you can go and view them over the summer.

PAUL MAIDMENT’S PHOTOS

To remind you, PHS Committee member Paul Maidment has been busy producing a number of signed photos of ex-players by using all of his contacts to get them to sign a professionally printed photo of themselves to help us raise funds for the Peter Harris medal appeal. He has already sold a good number of his initial stock and the medal appeal has already benefitted but he has a few left and many more are coming soon. The pieces measure 10 by 8 and are mounted with an exclusive sticker. All you need to do is purchase a standard frame and although Paul expects postage to be around £4 within the UK, 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” but he is able to make up photos of many players so do email him direct if you are interested. To give you an idea of the prices, a signed action photo of Kevn Dillon is £18 + postage and a shot of Toddy in the classic TY shirt is £21 + postage. Obviously signed by the players. 

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

Our new membership database is now up and running. This enables us to deal with sign ups and renewals on line and send out newsletters at the push of a button. We also recently registered with HMRC so that we are able to use Gift Aid when people donate money to us and when members pay their subscriptions. One of our trustees, Mark Parnell, has kindly been sorting this out for us in conjunction with Treasurer Paul Boynton and we have just received our first payment from HMRC of £371. This goes straight into the Gerry Spraggs fund to go towards the Peter Harris Medal Appeal. Thanks to Mark for doing this for us.

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's all for now.

Play Up Pompey!

Pompey History Society