Here’s an update from Paul Hedges, TrustSTFC Board Member and Museum Trustee.
Since our last update in November, the total number of match day programmes we have collected
has risen to more than 6,700 with two copies of virtually every home programme since the 1950’s
and the vast majority of the away ones too. One copy will be kept to preserve the history, a key objective of the museum and the second will be made available for people to browse through in the
future.
We want to thank all the people who kindly donated programmes and the museum website will be updated shortly with full details of any missing ones which would be great to locate. A huge thank you to our Trustee Andy Cossens for his amazing work in this regard. We have a considerable number of surplus programmes so if there is a particular one you are after let us know and if we can help we will. Other than those missing ones sadly we cannot accept any more as we just don’t have the room to
store them. If you get a chance to visit the site and do have a missing programme you would be
willing to donate or any other interesting artefacts, please email me secretary@stfcmuseum.org
In addition, around 1,000 other artefacts have been archived and are currently in storage until a
dedicated display area can be found. We would like to thank another trustee, Steve Trowbridge MBE for allowing us to store all the artefacts in one of his offices and while he has been delighted to do this he and the museum are excited to have been contacted recently by Craig Oxley on behalf of Bleckmann Logistics who have said they would provide us with free storage at one of their local sites in Swindon and South Marston and even assist with some of the other logistics. What a fantastic offer and one that will
help us immensely. Many thanks to Bleckmann Logistics and we look forward to working with them.
Following the two very popular stadium tours given by Museum curator and club historian Dick
Mattick two more have been arranged for January, which are now fully booked. There will
be at least one tour a month through 2024 with bookings again through the website. Priority for all
stadium Tours and other events in the future will be given to “Friends of the Museum”. There is no
cost to register as a friend but it will allow us to improve our communications and future offerings so
please take a minute to register at www.stfcmuseum.org
Our two projects, the 1969 League Cup Story and the history of STFC Playoffs are progressing well.
We are in discussions with the club to find a suitable room to create a display of the 1969 League
Cup story and we have obtained a replica of the trophy to be displayed. We would like to thank
Town CEO Anthony Hall for his support and enthusiasm to progress this and it is great that he and
Club owner Clem Morfuni are so supportive of the Museum.
We have also been helped by the wonderful team that makes up the Local Studies group based in the
Swindon Central Library has provided access to an incredible amount of historical information.
We would highly recommend anyone interested in the history of Swindon, not just the football club,
or who has family in or from Swindon visit them. It is truly amazing how much information they
hold.
The Museum is sponsoring a new club initiative called “The Centurion Boards” to be unveiled soon at
the County Ground which will celebrate every past player who has played at least 100 games for the
club.
Two of our Trustees, Dick Mattick and Vic Morgan, joined by another club historian and great
museum supporter, Paul Plowman has now been able to update the Hall of Fame boards which
were last added to back in 1994 which are situated in the staircase leading up to the hospitality area
in the Arkells stand. It is fitting and long overdue that so many great players have now been able to
be recognised for their contribution to the rich history of Swindon Town Football Club.
Paul Plowman has also started creating a range of past player anthologies, the first of which is for a
player called Bob Jefferson who played for the Town from 1907 to the early 1920’s. These will all
appear on the museum website shortly.
We are also very excited that the Swindon Advertiser has invited the Museum Trustees to visit their
offices and is offering complete access to all their archives. What a wonderful offer and we would
like to thank the editor, Daniel Chipperfield for making this offer and we look forward to providing
an update on this soon. They are also allowing us to display the Player of the Year Trophy they
sponsored over many years as soon as we have an area where it can be displayed.
Finally, a reminder that our Trustee and Treasurer Keith Coatsworth, who looks after the museum
finances, has created a JustGiving account through which charitable donations can be made.
So, a gentle reminder that STFC Museum is a registered charity and funded 100% by donations and
either one-off or regular donations would be greatly appreciated. As always this can be found on the
website www.stfcmuseum.org
A Belated Happy New Year and please let me know of anything you can do or offer to help us
preserve the history and deliver a great museum in the future.
Paul Hedges
secretary@stfcmuseum.org