Blue plaque unveiled at Dixie Dean’s primary school in Birkenhead
MARTIN MURRAY “THE NEW GEORGE BEST” – Interview by Steve Zocek November 2018
Matchdays with EFCHS
The Church of St Luke The Evangelist – better known as St Luke’s – is famously nestled between the Glwadys Street and Main stands. Whilst the church hall volunteers dispense pre-match cuppas to the Blues faithful on the ground floor, upstairs a dedicated band proclaims the gospel of St Domingo. For it is here that EFC Heritage Society (EFCHS), founded in 2008, has been welcoming home and away supporters for the past two seasons.
The banners adorning the fence outside proclaim Everton to be The First Kings of Anfield. As you then ascend the stairs you’re immersed in a sea of articles and images depicting events in Everton’s 138-year history. Many hours of preparation go into the matchday offering and much of the credit for these displays goes to Paul Wharton, Richie Gillham and researcher Billy Smith (curator of the wonderful Blue Correspondent website which transcribes newspaper reports dating back to the club’s infancy).
There is often a theme to the displays exhibited. For the recent Stoke City match we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Alan Ball joining Everton. Visitors enjoyed seeing photos of the great man plus one of his England caps. Former left-winger Ronny Goodlass was on hand to promote an Alan Ball DVD in aid of his Health Through Sport charity, whilst tickets were on sale for the Ball of Fire play. A special edition Bally’s Boots t-shirt designed by Toffee Art for EFCHS was flying off the shelves as were the free “Alan Ball – 50 years a Blue” badges. Thomas Regan’s Toffee Art stall is always a big draw with his unique range of tee-shirts, coasters and much more.
Visits by former players are becoming an increasingly regular occurrence. John Bailey and George Telfer were present on the most recent occasion – the latter supporting the Everton in the Community team. The Ruleteros Society celebrates the links to our Chilean namesakes – a recently imported consignment of replica shirts was selling fast. Everton Supporters Trust is a regular attendee at St Luke’s, as is Phil Thomson, selling his book: The Holy Trinity and Beyond. Future book launch events include one for EFCHS founder David France’s Everton Crazy tome.
An extensive range of vintage matchday programmes and team-sheets is on sale by the Society, as are books, posters and other items of memorabilia. Bren Connolly always has some of his artefacts on display and sells items – many of them player-autographed. Crawford Miles, the Society’s sound and vision guru, lays on a presentation of goal footage from previous encounters with the day’s opposition.
The Society fosters close links with historians at other football clubs and they kindly share with us images of players who have turned out for both clubs. It is always a pleasure to welcome supporters from other clubs as well as Toffees visiting from far afield.
This season the Society has expanded its pre-match presence. Paul Kelly, aided by young volunteers, mans our stall at the Matchday Hub located in the Everton Free School on Spellow Lane. So, if you have not visited us before why not call by in either location? We are typically open to visitors from two-and-a-half hours before kick-off to thirty minutes before. You can keep tabs on us via twitter (@Evertonheritage) and Facebook (theefcheritagesociety) whilst our website: www.efcheritagesociety.com is due for a relaunch in the coming months.
Photo credits: Rob Eagleton and Rob Sawyer.
About
The EFC Heritage Society is a voluntary group researching and chronicling the rich history of Everton Football Club.
The Society was founded by Dr David France in 2008 to promote and preserve the rich heritage of our great football club.
Since then, EFCHS has grown and a full list of members is below:
Dr David France, OBE – Founder and Life President
OFFICERS
Brendan Connolly, Chairperson and collector of Everton memorabilia.
Richard Gillham, Secretary and Media Officer.
Paul Kelly, Treasurer.
Peter Lupson, Vice-chairperson and author.
MEMBERS
Ste Blease, programme specialist
Gavin Buckland, author and statistician
James Corbett, author
Paul Gallagher, historian
Kjell Hanssen, historian
Steve Johnson, author, statistician and historian
Alison Jones, Everton Ladies
Peter Jones, historian specialising in Everton links with the war
Lyndon Lloyd, Society webmaster and owner of Toffeeweb
Crawford Miles, video archivist
Tony Onslow, author and historian
George Orr, author, historian and life member
Mike Owen author and Ruleteros member
David Prentice, journalist and author
Thomas Regan
Ken Rogers, author, journalist and historian
John Rowlands, author and historian
Mike Royden, author, historian, website admin
Rob Sawyer, author and historian.
John Shearon, Ruleteros Chairman
Paul Simpson, memorabilia collector
Billy Smith, author, researcher and historian
James Smith, website construction
Tony Wainwright, historian, WWI/WWII specialist
Keith Wilson
Steve Zocek, author