Brighton and Hove Albion Heritage Society
Brighton and Hove Albion Heritage Society

Society Timeline

1998

  • March: Twelve Albion supporters, meeting at The Eclipse pub (now the Poets’ Corner) in Montgomery Street, Hove, form the Society. Called together by Tim Carder, they approve a constitution, elect officers, open accounts, etc.
  • April: A temporary Albion exhibition is staged in the Queen’s Road offices of the club
  • December: A temporary exhibition in the Guildbourne Centre, Worthing, raises £1,800 for the football club
Members present Albion chairman Dick Knight with a cheque on the pitch at Gillingham, after selling club merchandise at the Worthing exhibition

1999

The Programme Guide provides a checklist for collectors
  • January: The first editions of the Albion Programme Collectors’ Guide and A Brief History of Brighton & Hove Albion FC are published by the Society to assist collectors and historians
  • April: A temporary exhibition is staged in an empty shop next to the club shop in Queen’s Road
  • April: Former Albion player Mel Hopkins is the first of many guest speakers at Society meetings
  • October: An annual award to whoever has done the most to promote and preserve the heritage of Brighton & Hove Albion is presented for the first time. Society founder Tim Carder is the first recipient of the Roger Harris Memorial Shield, named after his late friend and co-author.

2000

  • April: A temporary exhibition is staged in the PlanAhead Gallery, Eastbourne – three years after the first exhibition that inspired the formation of the Society
  • April: Volunteers begin recording interviews with elderly supporters
  • June: The Society issues its first facsimile of an old Albion programme (v Clapton Orient, January 1914)
  • September: The Society stages a professionally curated, two-month exhibition at Hove Museum. Titled “Brighton and Hove Albion: 99 Years of Entertainment and Passion”, it is run as part of the “Place To Be” campaign for city status.
Some of the 12,000 visitors to the Hove Museum exhibition in 2000

2001

  • January to December: The Society is heavily involved in Albion’s year-long centenary celebrations. Events etc include:
    • “Night of Legends” at the Brighton Centre
    • A play, Brighton ‘Til I Die, at the Gardner Centre
    • Service of thanksgiving at St Peter’s Church
    • Cricket match at Henfield
    • Centenary match (Football League v AFC Bournemouth)
The club’s most venerable supporters gather on the pitch with Albion chairman Dick Knight at Withdean in October 2001, a centenary event organised by Society member John Whitehead

2002

  • February: The Society presents Bobby Zamora with a memento to mark his record-breaking feat of a goal in each of ten consecutive Albion appearances
  • July: Albion hand the original company minute book dating from 1904 (and others) to the Society for safe keeping
  • December: The first of nine Albion Collectors’ Fairs is staged by the Society at Withdean Stadium. Among the visitors are former players Denis Foreman and Eric Gill.
The auction of Albion memorabilia at the first Collectors’ Fair, in the hospitality suite at Withdean Stadium. Thirty-nine items sold for a total of £2,294.

2003

Joyce Watts, the daughter of Charlie Webb, unveils a plaque to her father alongside Albion chairman Dick Knight
  • August: The first issue of the Albion Results Book is published by the Society. The pocket-sized book lists all matches, results and goalscorers since the formation of the club in 1901.
  • November: A plaque is unveiled at 15 Frith Road, Hove, the former home of Albion’s iconic player and manager Charlie Webb. This Society project was masterminded by David Schildkamp.

2004

  • January: A detailed model of the Goldstone Ground is unveiled at the annual Collectors’ Fair by former player Peter O’Sullivan. The model, built to a scale of 1:150 by supporter Alan Budgen, is constructed from original architectural drawings obtained from the city archives.
  • December: The Society raises £338 for Albion’s “Alive & Kicking” appeal from its Collectors’ Fair auction

2005

  • August: The Society takes space (with the Albion Supporters’ Club) within two temporary programme booths at Withdean Stadium to act as an ongoing point of contact for supporters on match days

2006

Some of the trophies in the care of the Society, rescued by new director Bob Pinnock in 1997
  • July: The Society is handed the contents of the Goldstone trophy cabinet to look after and restore

2007

  • April: A commemorative postal cover is issued to mark the tenth anniversary of the end of the Goldstone Ground. It was the first of nine covers issued by the Society thus far to mark significant Albion events and anniversaries.

2008

Joyce Watts, the daughter of Albion’s first international player Charlie Webb, helps to unveil the club’s international honours boards at Withdean
  • March: The Society issues a special postcard to mark its tenth anniversary
  • October: Albion’s international honours boards are unveiled at Withdean. Rescued from the Goldstone Ground, they were restored by the Society.
  • December: The Society is invited to the official start of construction of the new stadium at Falmer

2009

  • April: Tim Carder compiles the first specification for an Albion Museum at the new stadium (then under construction) at Falmer

2010

The 16 cards of the Society’s “Champions of All England” series
  • September: A series of collectible cards, in the tradition of “cigarette cards”, is issued by the Society to mark the centenary of Albion’s FA Charity Shield triumph over Aston Villa. As champions of the Southern League, Albion played Villa, title-holders of the rival Football League, in a one-off match at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea. In view of Albion’s victory, the series of cards is entitled “Champions of All England”.

2011

Cllr Anne Meadows, Mayor of Brighton & Hove, and Dick Knight, Life President of the Albion, unveil the Goldstone Ground heritage board in Hove Park
  • July: A heritage board relating to the former Goldstone Ground is unveiled in Hove Park on the day the American Express Community Stadium officially opens. Many supporters follow the Society’s Hove Park–Withdean Stadium–Amex Stadium 10km walk to “lay the ghost of the Goldstone Ground”.
  • October: The Society’s newsletter is rebranded The Albion Chronicle

2012

  • April: With the backing of the Society, member Ian Hine launches SeagullsProgrammes.co.uk, a comprehensive website of past Albion programmes each individually scanned in
  • November: A new Albion war memorial is unveiled at the Amex Stadium. Suggested by Society member John Wells, it bears the name of those club employees that perished in the two world wars.
The new war memorial, which was researched and jointly funded by the Society, uses a stone kindly donated by Tilleys Stonemasons Ltd

2013

  • December: The Albion Museum, curated by the Society, is formally opened at the Amex Stadium – the realisation of a 15-year-old ambition since the Society’s formation in 1998. The gallery, designed by heritage consultants PLB Projects, comprises four zones: the club, its supporters and the community; its formation and traditions; the saga of its home grounds; and its successes on the pitch. Tim Carder dubs the museum as “of the fans, by the fans, for the fans”.
Albion chairman Tony Bloom cuts the ribbons to formally open the Albion Museum, watched by Society chairman Tim Carder, Albion president Dick Knight and club ambassador Alan Mullery

2014

  • June: Society chairman Tim Carder is appointed official (and honorary) Club Historian to the Albion
  • November: The Society stages its first Albion collectors’ fair since the move to the Amex Stadium

2015

Members of the 1964/65 squad in the Albion Museum.
Left to right: Dave Turner, Bobby Baxter, Steve Burtenshaw, Norman Gall, Jimmy Collins, Nobby Upton and Brian Powney, with the Fourth Division trophy.
  • April: The Society is heavily involved in 50th anniversary celebrations of the 1964/65 Fourth Division title. Edward David masterminds a reunion of most of the surviving members of the side.
  • October: Former Albion player Steve Burtenshaw accepts the position of President of the Society
  • November: The Society compiles the first comprehensive history of the Albion women’s team

2016

  • February: The Society deposits the historic minute books it safeguards for the Albion at The Keep (after first transcribing them)

2017

The late Peter Brackley wrote and produced the “Goldstone Days” event using the Society as consultants
  • February: The Theatre Royal stages a one-off performance of “The Goldstone Days: 20 Years On”
  • September: First talk by Tim Carder at The Keep, on the origins of the Albion and its traditions

2018

  • January: Tim Carder gives his second talk at The Keep, about the club’s home grounds

2019

  • January: Backup programme collection is moved to The Keep
  • April: New cataloguing system developed
  • April: Name change to Brighton & Hove Albion Heritage Society, to encompass all aspects of what we do and to reflect a more modern outlook
  • May: The Society publishes its first major book: Brighton & Hove Albion and the First World War
  • September: The Society accepts the permanent loan of the Irish caps of Charlie Webb, the club’s first international player
This definitive work took five years to compile

2020

  • January: The Society launches a new integrated website and online membership system bhaheritage.org
  • March: Covid-19 pandemic begins, putting an end to in-person meetings for the time being
  • April: Tim Carder keeps some members and others entertained during lockdown with a daily Albion online quiz, and with homeworking statistical projects
  • September 2020: The Society prints an EFL Cup programme Albion v Portsmouth for collectors as Albion themselves issue a digital download only
  • November: Tim Carder represents the Society at the unveiling of a new gravestone for Tommy Cook, Albion’s record goalscorer – a very rare event during the pandemic

 

Tommy Cook’s new grave in Cuckfield cemetery

2021

  • June: Brian Horton is the first guest as the Society launches online meetings for members
  • November: With fans allowed back at full capacity since August, two modest displays of Society memorabilia are installed in the West Stand at the Amex Stadium

2022

  • February: Steve Burtenshaw, the Society’s first President, passes away aged 86
  • November: Members vote to join Albion’s official supporters’ clubs scheme, and to increase the subscription to £20.