March 2026 Newsletter

Greetings to all, it was good to see many of you at our evening with Paul Wood a couple of weeks ago. Many thanks to Paul for coming all the way from Bournemouth (as did one of our members, Tim Farmer, despite having a bad knee - thanks Tim!) and a good evening was had by all. We also raised around £300 for the Dementia UK charity.

And a massive thank you to those who needed to renew their membership so far this year and did so. There are a few still outstanding so please so do let us know if you aren’t going to renew by emailing us on history@pompeyfc.co.uk as its good that we know why and then we can stop sending out emails. Thank you for that.

The big item to cover this month is the forthcoming Hall of Fame dinner. It takes place on Sunday 5th April in the Victory Suite at Fratton Park. Like last years very successful event, we induct the three latest members of the Pompey Hall of Fame and enjoy a two-course meal and an evening packed with nostalgia! The Hall of Fame was inaugurated in 2009 by the club’s Former Players’ Association and ran successfully until 2019 until the pandemic intervened. It was decided to revive and revamp the event for the club’s 125th anniversary in 2023/24 and this is the third event under the new format organised by the Pompey History Society (Charity No. 1201687), working with the Former Players’ Association (FPA), on behalf of the club. This event is raising funds for the Pompey History Society to support it in its charitable remit of preserving the archive of the club and sharing it with the public. Jake Payne from the FPA will host the event and alongside a two-course meal you can meet a number of the club's stars from the past, including Hall of Fame inductees and other former players. The climax of the event will be the induction of three new Hall of Famers, including one living former player, one posthumous former player and a posthumous former manager. The former player will be there on the night.

PHS members qualify for a discount on tickets and have until Friday 13th March to secure their tickets before any remaining go on more general sale. You can book for yourself and non-members. This is the link to buy them and we really hope to see you there:-

Other items to cover this month are:-

PAST CHIMES

Unfortunately our usual presenter, Richard Atkins-Greg, has been in hospital and is now recovering at home so a big thank you to Colin Farmery for standing in and keeping the show going. Shows are normally scheduled on the last Sunday of the month with Barry Harris the guest in January whilst February’s show saw Colin interviewing Pam Wilkins, a big part of the fan takeover at Fratton Park in 2013. Do have a listen.

This is the link to listen back to past episodes of Past Chimes:

 https://www.mixcloud.com/pompeyonexpress/  

PORTSMOUTH CITY MUSEUM

We told you previously that we were intending to revamp our top floor exhibition space and the exhibits at City Museum in Museum Road at the end of March. The plan has now changed as whilst our current exhibition of items will stay for now, the Museum has asked us to be a large part of the whole “Portsmouth 100” celebrations that include revamped museum displays to chart city life since 1926 when Portsmouth became a city. We are now going to focus our efforts on this and provide the Museum with the history of the club’s last 100 years, together with various displays including our recently purchased memorabilia such as Jimmy Dickinson's shirt and the Peter Harris medals. Our history can then be shown to a large number of the public from the end of October in a very professional museum setting. Committee member Phil Magrath has offered to lead on this with committee member Greg Hills bringing his Mary Rose Trust experience to this as well. They both have much museum experience through their work with the Royal Artillery, Emsworth Museum and the Mary Rose Trust. If any other members want to help then please let us know. 

SUPPORT TO STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH

Our recent email covered this. Four students are asking for our help to be interviewed about the period from 1999 onwards with the results written up to help them get their degrees. The recordings will then be passed over to us to keep for use by future historians. Its not too late to be included so do let us know if you want to be part of this by emailing us on history@pompeyfc.co.uk

CAPTURING FANS MEMORIES 

A similar project to the University one, but covering fans memories of their first game, is being run by Steve Tovey. Thanks to all those people that have responded so far. Steve is working his way through this and if he hasn’t already, he will be in touch shortly to record your memories. If anyone wants to add their name to the list then please email Steve Tovey on Tovey566@gmail.com giving your telephone number and game attended and Steve will do the rest. Thanks Steve.

SCANNING OLD SPORTS MAILS

We need to scan our collection of Sports Mails so that they are available on-line for researchers to look as quickly and easily. We have purchased a professional scanner, we now just need someone to operate it. It can be used at home and if you are interested in helping us, for example by scanning a year or two at a time then please do let us know by emailing history@pompey.co.uk

 Thats all for now. We look forward to seeing many of you at the Hall of Fame dinner. We’re looking forward to it.

Play Up Pompey!