EXETER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB LAUNCHES MUSEUM EXHIBITION BID
By Narelle Doe
09/01/2008
Community museums officer Mary Goodwin kicks off the campaign with two of Exeter's young stars, club captain Matt Gill and striker Adam Stansfield.
Exeter City Football is working with the Royal Albert Memorial Museum to create an exhibition and archive dedicated to the beautiful game.
The St James’s Park football club is appealing for local football fans to donate memorabilia from the last century to kick-start a bid to document and celebrate its culture and history.
The supporter-led club has strong links with the community and wants to preserve memories for generations to come.
Mary Goodwin, Royal Albert Memorial Museum’s community museums officer, is working with the club to help it achieve its aim.
She said: “Exeter City Football Club is a fantastic community-based club, which has always worked closely with the local community, including youth groups. They already have a captive audience every Saturday.”
Mary hopes this initiative will provide an excellent opportunity for the museum to engage with the wider community and demonstrate how museums and heritage are relevant to everyone’s lives.
The football club and museum hope to secure funding for the project which will include oral history material with video and audio recordings of supporters, a short feature film on the club’s history, and a schools’ project where young Exeter City supporters will be interviewed using mobile phones.
An interactive exhibition is hoped to be on show to visitors both at St James’s Park and the museum when it re-opens in the spring of 2010 (the museum is currently undergoing a major redevelopment). In the meantime the feature film will be screened at a variety of venues and made available online.
Exeter City football heroes past and present are also pitching in with support for the project including local footballing legend Alan Banks, whilst Tony Badcock, a member of Exeter City Supporters' Trust Board of Society, is spearheading the club’s bid by encouraging fans to get involved.
The collaboration of football club and museum is not a new concept. The National Football Museum, Preston, reports that Portsmouth, Reading and Norwich museums have all had successful football exhibitions working in partnership with local clubs.
If you’d like to contribute, contact Tony Badcock c/o Exeter City Football Club, St James’s Park, Exeter, EX4 6PX or email: community@exetercityfc.co.uk or phone: 07792 393442.
Queen Street, Exeter, EX4 3RX, Devon, England
T: 01392 665858
Open: N.B. Main Museum building currently closed for refurbishment, re-opens Spring 2010
However, you can visit RAMM in the Library, Exeter Museum's city centre home while the Queen Street building is being redeveloped.
Based next door to Exeter Central Library in Castle Street, Exeter, RAMM in the library has a range of objects on display and there are also hands-on gallery activities. RAMM in the Library is an ideal place for family visits.
RAMM in the Library is Open Mon-Sat 1000-1700, Admission Free.
Please see our listings on 24 Hour Museum website or the Museum's own website for the wide programme of exhibitions, events and activities taking place around Exeter and Devon whilst the main Museum building is closed.
You can also visit St Nicholas Priory - A Tudor Home, at the Mint, off Fore St Exeter. In part of what was once a medieval priory this splendid building was later lived in by the wealthy Hurst family. It is now presented as their Elizabethan town house with replica furniture, sumptuous fabrics and rich colours. Come and feel at home in this historic family home. Open on Saturdays and on weekdays during school holidays 10.00 - 17.00. Admission £2 for adults (£1.50 concessions), children free. All children aged under 8 must be accompanied by an adult. www.exeter.gov.uk/priory
