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Restoring 1920s minute books
Henry Irving
Posts: 85,266
The museum holds the #cafc board minutes from 1921 to 1984 but such historically important items need to be protected.
Our friends at @TheBookBindery, their workshop is in Landsdowne Mews, have cleaned, restored and created a special box to hold the 1st two volumes.
We're raising funds to have the next series of minute books restored and boxed so if you know anyone who wants to fund or sponsor the next book and box get in touch.
https://x.com/CHATHMuseum/status/1906260888039907739
Our friends at @TheBookBindery, their workshop is in Landsdowne Mews, have cleaned, restored and created a special box to hold the 1st two volumes.
We're raising funds to have the next series of minute books restored and boxed so if you know anyone who wants to fund or sponsor the next book and box get in touch.
https://x.com/CHATHMuseum/status/1906260888039907739
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Comments
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How much?0
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The first two and the specially made box were about £650 IIRC.
It is very labour intensive work.
The next book chronoglically is much bigger and in worse condition.
We're waiting on the book binders to give us a quote but I'd expect it to be at least the same.1 -


This is the third of the minute books that we have now committed to repair.
As you can see the spine and cover is badly damaged and the pages in a poor state.
The size of the book, into which mainly typed minutes have been glued or stapled, means it will cost around £2k to restore. Staples in particular are a problem as they cause rust.
Fortunately, one of the US owners has made a very generous donation to cover a large part of the that cost but if anyone else, US owner or not, want to help protect and preserve our history then get in touch.
More photos as the work progresses.1 -
I just looked at the clip on X. For "minute" books, to be honest, I thought they'd be even smaller.0
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I’ve got a pet salamander, I call her Tiny.Chizz said:I just looked at the clip on X. For "minute" books, to be honest, I thought they'd be even smaller.
Because she’s my newt.1 -
Is there a PayPal ID we can send donations to?Henry Irving said:The museum holds the #cafc board minutes from 1921 to 1984 but such historically important items need to be protected.
Our friends at @TheBookBindery, their workshop is in Landsdowne Mews, have cleaned, restored and created a special box to hold the 1st two volumes.
We're raising funds to have the next series of minute books restored and boxed so if you know anyone who wants to fund or sponsor the next book and box get in touch.
https://x.com/CHATHMuseum/status/19062608880399077390 -
Yes @AddicksAddict You can use the paypal linked to email address cafchistorian@gmail.com or inbox us and we can give you the museum's bank details.AddicksAddict said:
Is there a PayPal ID we can send donations to?Henry Irving said:The museum holds the #cafc board minutes from 1921 to 1984 but such historically important items need to be protected.
Our friends at @TheBookBindery, their workshop is in Landsdowne Mews, have cleaned, restored and created a special box to hold the 1st two volumes.
We're raising funds to have the next series of minute books restored and boxed so if you know anyone who wants to fund or sponsor the next book and box get in touch.
https://x.com/CHATHMuseum/status/1906260888039907739
And thank you.
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Ahh sounds like you need to read ‘The Art of the Deal’ by a certain person 🤔😆Henry Irving said:The first two and the specially made box were about £650 IIRC.
It is very labour intensive work.
The next book chronoglically is much bigger and in worse condition.
We're waiting on the book binders to give us a quote but I'd expect it to be at least the same.
You may have played your hand too early with that negotiation!
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That was for one much smaller book in better condition.valleynick66 said:
Ahh sounds like you need to read ‘The Art of the Deal’ by a certain person 🤔😆Henry Irving said:The first two and the specially made box were about £650 IIRC.
It is very labour intensive work.
The next book chronoglically is much bigger and in worse condition.
We're waiting on the book binders to give us a quote but I'd expect it to be at least the same.
You may have played your hand too early with that negotiation!
This one is bigger and in much worse condition.
We did try a chinese book bindery but they quoted 145% more while muttering something about "so much winning"
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thanks for perceiving with this Ben1
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Yep. You are right. It’s all in his mind and it’s really just an old library book he found ! 😉😆lancashire lad said:thanks for perceiving with this Ben0 -

some more "before" pics
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Could you take them to the Repair Shop. It would make great television…all you have to do is cry at the end!12
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Could the Club make a donation?
Important club history - and they were their books after all !
PS: If they plead poverty, they could always sell a player to pay for it.
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No, the club won't. Their focus is on the first team to the extent that there will be no Player of the Year dinner this season.Oggy Red said:Could the Club make a donation?
Important club history - and they were their books after all !
PS: If they plead poverty, they could always sell a player to pay for it.
As said, one of the owners has made a private donation and the club do provide the museum's premises but I think the lesson from our history is that Charlton fans are better to do things themselves rather than waiting for the club.
One lifer made a very generous £100 donation today for which we are very grateful.1 -
This isn’t a bad shout btwSolidgone said:Could you take them to the Repair Shop. It would make great television…all you have to do is cry at the end!0 -
Probably requires more than my quick Google, and might be more for future books, but have you looked into grants? There are a couple of museum associattions that offer grants for restoration etc it seems. Not sure what it would cost to join such associations of course.0
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We have and they are frustratingly difficult to deal with.McBobbin said:Probably requires more than my quick Google, and might be more for future books, but have you looked into grants? There are a couple of museum associattions that offer grants for restoration etc it seems. Not sure what it would cost to join such associations of course.
You are in competition with dozens of longer established, and very worthy, charities with much more experience of bid writing.
And, I believe, being foorball related goes against us as clubs are seen as rolling in money even though we are not part of or funded by the club but a separate charity.
Still, any experienced charity bid writers willing to volunteer wouls be most welcome.1






