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From
the future to the past, it’s the dateline journey that culminated
in the official opening of the Memorabilia Exhibition at New Grosvenor
last season. It was a simple post on the Internet that kick-started
the idea as Ged Irwin, Chairman of the Lisburn Whites and manager
of the Club Shop explained.
He said "A few years ago the Lisburn Whites and a few friends
of the club became aware of Distillery medals being sold on the
Internet and felt that we should purchase these as they were a part
of the club history. The three medals belonging to Tom McClatchey
were advertised by an antiques dealer on eBay and were from 1895/1896.
We clubbed together, bought them and it really started from there.
Over the last year or two we have been collecting bits and pieces
here and there, small items such as programmes, medals and then
shirts and we have now put them together into this exhibition."
The
Lisburn Whites Supporters Club have done much to contribute to the
Whites on and off the pitch over the last 11 years and there have
been spin-offs for them in terms of this latest project as Ged went
on to explain – "Some of the items have been easy enough
to get and when we started up word got out and things started falling
into place through our connections with the 1963 League Championship
and the 1971 Irish Cup winning sides but we are always on the look
for more material"
On
the walls in the club shop are framed shirts spanning a number of
decades, framed programmes, medals and other memorabilia. Amongst
the more unusual items are items from Dunville's Distillery where
the club was founded, Mervyn Law’s club blazer from the European
Cup Winners trip to Barcelona and an original minute book dating
back to late 1800s, unearthed recently by local journalist Colin
McAlpin in a Dublin Road bookshop.
The
opening in October 2003 was yet another unique event and another
first for the club with a proud tradition and famous history and
fittingly in keeping with that they invited a number of former players
"home" to mark the occasion.
The
exhibition was opened jointly by then Chairman Tommy Anderson and
Distillery’s youngest ever chairman Denis Moore, who sadly
passed away this summer.The following players represented the various
decades –Tommy Walker (40s), Frankie Watters (50s), Derek Meldrum
(60s), Alan McCarroll (70s), Bertie McMinn (80s), Winkie Armstrong
(90s) and Chris Coffey (2000 onwards)
It
was back to the future though as Ged went on to add "There
is a long way to go still, we plan to do things with players shirts,
individually and collectively, add more items and then hopefully
aim for a combined museum and a hall of fame."
The
exhibition is a permanent feature and is situated in the club shop
area, it is open to all fans visiting New Grosvenor and of
course if you want to donate or lend something to it, then Ged Irwin
will be only to happy to hear from you
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