Supporters Trust Urge Supporters to Back the Museum Project
We hope that as many supporters as possible will register their support for the Council's bid for a lottery grant for a heritage museum in the Town Hall. As a result of this bid, which the Supporters Trust are supporting, our own search for a suitable site has been put on the back burner.
Andy Fyfe the chairman of the Supporters Trust Museum Committee said “Our efforts to form a museum have been put on the back burner, because we have put our support behind the Town Hall bid”.
The main problem the Trust has encountered is that we have been unable to identify a suitable site for a museum. Ideally the location would be at Oakwell, but there is nowhere feasible at the ground. Various suggestions have been made, but they would involve a substantial cash outlay, and we would then need to investigate fundraising options.
Andy says that “the problem is we have plenty of items to display, but no visible way of displaying them”. “For example, a museum room, must be secure, safe and accessible so we can get insurance on the items. The room also needs to be in a prominent position so that it gets noticed and there is no where at Oakwell where there is space for that”.
The Supporters Trust have met with officials from both Bradford City and Sheffield United, both of whom have a museum located at their respective grounds. Andy admits that it would be good if we could have something similar at Oakwell. Sheffield United have some of Barnsley's items on display and these should be shown at our own museum. We are also confident that we could loan items from former players and their families to help the museum take off.
The memorabilia the Trust hold include a framed photograph of the founding team of 1890-91, items from the 1912 Cup final and may more. Much of this has been collected and catalogued by the clubs historian and Trust member Arthur Bowers. Arthur says “it would be encouraging to see the Barnsley supporters flocking to see the displays and show their support for the museum project”. “It would certainly help and could act as a stepping stone towards getting a museum”.
Anyone with any items of interest can contact Arthur on 01226 289962
Members of the Trust visit Bradford City Football Museum
4 members of the Trust, George Myers, Ray Brammer, Paul Kershaw, and Peter Jones, together with 2 guests, Anne Kershaw and Graham Noble, in his capacity as a Museum Group Member and as Asst. Director of Culture, Sport and Tourism for Barnsley MBC, visited the Bradford City football museum on Wed 3 May 2006.
We were met by all the 3 members of their Museum Committee (it is independent of their Supporters Club or Trust). Mike Callaghan, who works in the Museum Service for the City of Bradford, Dave Pendleton and John Ashton, gave us a very warm welcome and were able to answer our many questions.
The Museum evolved from a highly successful ‘100 Years of Claret & Amber' exhibition, held to celebrate Bradford City's Centenary at the Bradford Industrial Museum. Over 10,000 fans visited the exhibition, which ran from September to November 2003. In a way this was similar to the successful exhibition we ran at the Cooper Gallery in 1988.
About the same time, the stadium was undergoing re-development and the then Chairman, Geoffery Richmond, decided to include a Club Shop and Restaurant, with an ambition that it would be the biggest Club Shop in Europe. At the rear of the Shop, extensive space was available and this was used, housing the cases and exhibits of the 2003 exhibition, to create a dedicated Club museum. The Museum, and Shop, occupy a very large area and this adds to effectiveness of the display. A website has been developed at www.bantamspast.co.uk which is well worth a visit for it has a virtual tour where one can get a good feel for the size and content of the display.
The Museum is open from 9am to 5pm, 6 days a week, and opens later on evening match days. There is no attendant present, and security and maintenance is carried out by the Club Shop staff, thus reducing costs. Insurance for the items is borne by the Club as part of it's general insurance policies and arrangements.
Special events are held from time to time out of normal hours, such as past player evenings, or talks etc on the historical aspects of Bradford Football, and on these occasions, at least one of the Committee of 3 will be present.
They have established strong links with the Local Education Authority, who use the Museum for teaching purposes, and there is also a link to the special Learning Centre situated at the Club (similar to the one at Barnsley in the Corner Stand).
They liaise with other Clubs for materials and currently there is an exhibition relating to Cup Finals held at Crystal Palace at the end of the 1800's and early 1900's. It was very interesting to see material relating to the 1910 Final and the 1912 Final, with some Barnsley material which none of us had seen before. A lot of Barnsley material for 1912 had been loaned by a private collector in Cardiff!
If anyone is in the Bradford area during the day, try and call in and see the Museum, it is well worth the diversion.
