I've got hundreds, literally hundreds, of Barnsley FC match programmes, home and away, dating from the late sixties until about 2020. I've scanned the front covers and team sheets for lots of them, to PDF files, but not all of them as the monotony of doing it eventually did my head in! I've finally decided to part with them, they represent over 50 years of being a fan, but professional football is very different today and I've totally lost interest in it. Anybody want them? Or anybody know where I could donate them (apart from the blue bin). I don't want anything for them, and the PDFs are also available if required. Please don't ask if I've got any specific examples, there are far too many to search through. Warning. They're very heavy!!!
The museum in the Town Hall? I’m assuming that the club itself has a copy of each of them, but then again…
They haven’t.., When I started in 2016 I made it a thing to retain two copies of each programme printed. So they have two of each for the seasons 16/17 to 23/24. I was astonished at the complete lack of archive there. Digital too. There was nothing. I had to build it myself. I’m very proud of what I left behind for those who came next. Programme wise, Arthur Bower (God rest him) offered me (the club) his entire collection in 2018. We even visited his house where in the basement he had two copies of every programme from the 50s onwards. One of them (from every game) was never opened, all retained in cellophane or some s***. Pristine. I politely declined because I knew that they’d end up left in a room to rot, with others piling other s*** on top etc. You know what it’s like at most places of work. The hope that was after the HOF launch we’d look to create a museum of sorts, and then accept his kind offer. But it never came to pass. Myself, Andy Clark and Beth Sefton attended his funeral a few years later, and I know his son continued to buy copies every week. So there’s one hell of an archive there.
That’s very sad but not surprising really. I suppose with everything else going on it isn’t exactly a priority for the club but still … Maybe an archive like that is better in private hands so it doesn’t just rot away as you say.
I made copies of all Arthur's programmes home and away from 1944 to 1968 and then ran out of steam. I then started again from 1993 (home only) working backwards to 1976 but again went and did something else.
I'll happily take them off you. Someone else got rid of some about a year ago and I was just a few minutes too late. I'll have a copy of the pdfs if they've already gone though pal. Thanks
Sorry but the original programmes have gone, pending collection this afternoon. For the PDFs, I'll put a download link on here later today.
