Curator’s Column December 2025

As Christmas approaches I thought I would write a Curator’s Wish List of items I would love to be able to add to the Museum’s Collection. Many may have ceased to exist, but if any reader knows of anything about any item mentioned below I would love to hear from them.

First up would be Club Minute books. We have two from the turn of the Century and a complete set from around the late thirties to the sixties. To fill in the gap and to bring them closer to the present would be my first wish. While it is true that Minute Books sometimes raise more questions than they answer, they are at least a starting point for investigations.

The club has in its possession the Dubonnet Trophy. When this was won individual medals were presented to the players. If any of these still exists we would love to add it to the Museum’s collection.

Third on my list is Sam Allen memorabilia. The more research I carry out the less I feel I understand him. Resigning as a director, because he wanted to become a referee, regarded as the manager, although apparently the directors picked the team. Telling a trainer he could take on an extra job and then proposing he be sacked when he did so. A man of endless contradictions, the one thing that is clear is that he was a seminal figure in the history of the club from before it became a limited company right through until his death in 1945 when he was still serving as Club Secretary.

When Swindon were relegated in 1965 having played their match in the afternoon while Portsmouth and Northampton were allowed to play out a draw that evening, which gave Portsmouth the point that kept them up and Northampton the point that put them up, I remember one old grey beard saying to me “It would’t have happed if Sam was alive.”

Military medals and caps. I am writing this in the week following Armistice Day and it has reminded me that many of the Swindon players served in the Armed Forces. In fact a figure in military uniform appears in one of the photographs of the immediate post World War One squads.

Commemorative clock. In the past one or two clocks have appeared in the local press related to the players of the Southern League Championship teams. One given to Peter Chambers appeared in the press and I thought it may have related to being a club thank you to someone who had dropped out of the first team. That my friend, Bill Silto, grandson of the Swindon players served of the same name remembers one being in his father’s house makes me think they were in fact presented to the whole team. I have to say IMO they were the most hideous examples of Victorian/Edwardian Gothic which I would not want on my mantle piece but they would be a marvellous display item for a Museum.

Finally can I thank all those who have donated items to the collection in the last twelve months and wish you all a happy Christmas and a healthy New Year and may that New Year see our Collection find its first permanent home.