Henry knows that I can't resist a challenge so, since his earlier posting ("Something for anyone currently with time on their hands to search for"), I have found some contact details for one of George Laver's descendants. It struck me that the official photographer of the day might be a good place to start.
I'm waiting to hear from the descendant but, in one of his online postings, he mentions that he has a lot of family photographs going back to 1908, so there is a chance that they may also have some of George's sporting pictures.
It's a long shot, I know, but more news, if any, later.
Henry knows that I can't resist a challenge so, since his earlier posting ("Something for anyone currently with time on their hands to search for"), I have found some contact details for one of George Laver's descendants. It struck me that the official photographer of the day might be a good place to start.
I'm waiting to hear from the descendant but, in one of his online postings, he mentions that he has a lot of family photographs going back to 1908, so there is a chance that they may also have some of George's sporting pictures.
It's a long shot, I know, but more news, if any, later.
I hope something comes of that, as long as George wasn't the first Charlton fan to boycott for moving South of the A205 :-)
It was about ten years ago or more that Richard Redden said somewhere that no photos of CAFC at Catford had been found, it surprised me then and nothing appears to have come to light since. Quite rightly, for me, the Holy Grail of Charlton memorabilia.
There's footage of the 1936 Arsenal game which seems to go on and offline at regular intervals; having seen that, if anyone really thinks having a working PA could have packed more people in then Selhurst really is a 20 minute bus ride away......
Having moved to the Valley in 1919 and turned professional in 1920 we joined the Football League in 1921.
This is our first ever Football League programme from our 1 - 0 win at the Valley v Exeter
We're now a Ltd company and we're selling advertising.
The price has doubled from 1p to 2p but you do get more pages.
(Great idea Henry)
Apologies if this is slightly off piste, as it doesn't include any programme info, but I thought some might be interested in this little tale from Jimmy Seed's autobiography, about a rainy day at the Valley in 1920:
'I recall how dreary The Valley was in 1920 when I played there for the first time in the Spurs reserve team against Charlton in a friendly game. I was Cup-tied, having already played in the F.A. Cup for Mid-Rhondda before signing for Spurs and, therefore, couldn't turn out for the first team in the fourth round of the Cup against Aston Villa in the famous game in which Tommy Clay put the ball into his own goal and the Hotspurs lost 0-1. Villa went on to win the Cup. After a cold, wet and thoroughly miserable day [the match was abandoned half way through because of the weather-ed] we were unable to take a bath or shower, but had to stroll to a nearby hut so that we could change back into our dry clothes. [According to a different source, the players of both sides then went to a local pub (the Royal Oak?) where Jimmy entertained them on the piano]. Charlton Athletic became a professional club in 1920 and joined the Southern League in the 1920-1 season, and the following year were elected with nine other clubs to the then one-year-old Third Division (Southern Section). It meant League soccer had returned to the district more than seven years after Arsenal had taken the big decision to move from Plumstead to Highbury (1913), a move which proved a tremendous success. Naturally, the directors were delighted to have established League football at The Valley, but they obviously didn't know what they were letting themselves in for. Money was splashed around freely in anticipation of the boom that was expected, and in 1921 work on a stand, dressing-rooms and terracing was under-taken at an estimated cost of £14,000. The club didn't have the cash available, of course, but they entered a contract for £14,000 with Messrs Humphreys Ltd. Charlton had bad luck from the start. The contractors were unable to build the stands on schedule, and it was not until well into 1922 that the work was finished. This obviously did not help to increase the number of supporters, and early in I922 Charlton Athletic were losing around £100 a week. Yet they had a wonderful run in the Cup in the 1922-3 season when they beat three First Division clubs - Manchester City, Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion - before being knocked out in the fourth round by Bolton Wanderers.'
[From The Jimmy Seed Story 1957]
Going to say nothing changes, with bad luck and money problems.Then I read that we had a cup run.....
i) An original Ikey Bryan fish on a stick ii) Sam Bartram's big baggy jumper iii) £30k worth of rubber from Bangkok iv) Matt Southall in a set of stocks v) Some sort of documentary evidence that Cory Gibbs was a real living person
The colour has gone and the price has dropped back to 1d (one old penny).
The heading is rather plain but we are back at the Valley again.
And again we're short of money and asking fans to invest in a debenture scheme.
We kicked off at 2.30pm because Valley floodlights are 35 years away andthe game needed to finish before it was too dark to see.
The debenture scheme was launched to try to raise funds to help pay for the new stand which cost £14k. The club only paid the deposit of £1,000 to Humphreys the builders to start work on the stand. When they could not afford to pay the further instalments , Humphreys the builders became more involved in the running of the club.
Moving on to late 1925 and the Addicks face the Royalists in the 1st round proper of the FA Cup. The programme is a mish mash of fonts including some very 20s art deco lettering.
The main advert is no longer a local firm but a big regional brewery while the price has gone up again to 2d.
Charlton won 4 - 2 and went on to beat QPR after a replay. 21,184, three times the average league gate, saw Charlton lose 0 - 1 to eventual Champions Huddersfield in the third round.
It's the end of the 1928/9 and 14,071 turn up for this top of table four pointer London Derby.
The programme looks almost the same as in 1925 apart from the return of the bright red cover but there is a lucky number on the front.
The front advert is for a national Sunday newspaper.
This game ended 0 - 0 which turned out to be a vital point.
The top six were separated by only two points at the end of the season. Charlton claimed the only promotion spot on goal average ahead of Crystal Palace. It was our first promotion as a league club. It would take the Glaziers another 30 years to get in the 2nd tier.
The Giant Killers by Bryon Butler is the book I think @seth plum is thinking of.
The museum is starting to gather as much information and as many artefacts as possible related to that team and cup run although we were outbid for a Bolton programme (£125 didn't win it) recently.
@SE7toSG3 covered the cup run in his recent presentation for "A night at the Museum"
The most iconic Charlton programme layout, frequently re-used in more recent times. It was even used for the flyers when the museum opened.
The design is clear, simple and colourful and there are no adverts to distract from its impact.
The distinctive lettering and jumping players design was used throughout the 1930s, the club's golden era, but this programme is from the last game of 1932/3 relegation season.
The Addicks dropped back in Division 3 South but a new manager from Clapton Orient was about to arrive that summer and change everything
At first glance this looks the same as the 1933 Chesterfield programme but much has changed since then not just the switch of opponent's name and official programme.
Jimmy Seed has lead the club to two successive promotions and runners up in division one.
Charlton are attracting huge crowds at the Valley and we are one of biggest clubs in the land.
But then Germany invades Poland.
Football continues during WW2 but paper rationing means programmes have fewer pages and lack colour. The price drop to one penny reflects this.
War time programmes are rare and much sort after by collectors.
The war continues but while for the allies the tide had turned at Stalingrad and victory in North Africa had led to the invasion of Italy in September 1943, the Charlton programme cover has gone backwards.
The mishmash of fonts has returned and we are now given a list of directors.
The leagues have been regionalised hence we are playing Brighton who were a division 3 South club pre and post war.
There is no image but we do have some chatty club notes.
Notice that we are letting Millwall use the Valley after the Luftwaffe bombed the Den.
We had just lost the 1946 cup final and we're still in a three horse race for the Football League south title.
Ultimately, despite winning this game 1 - 0 in front of 47,000, we'd finish third, one point behind champions Birmingham City. Derby County did for us again, beating us 3 - 1 at the Baseball ground in the midweek game mentioned in the notes.
As for the programme itself it had become even plainer bar a black and white advert for Oxo. The beef extract product is promoted as a drink rather than just as stock as it is usually used now.
Love these. Shows that the traditional 3pm kick off isn't that traditional. Earlier pre-floodlight starts I get, but Chesterfield at home in May goes at 3.30 and Millwall on Nov 6th at 3.15, when it must have been getting dark at the end.
Love these. Shows that the traditional 3pm kick off isn't that traditional. Earlier pre-floodlight starts I get, but Chesterfield at home in May goes at 3.30 and Millwall on Nov 6th at 3.15, when it must have been getting dark at the end.
Comments
A photo of the team taken at Catford.
Board minutes from before 1921
Any shirt older than 1950
The yellow Woolwich away shirt.
Any home programme earlier than 25 December 1919
A 2019 winners medal and "we're going up" banner.
More storage space and our own entrance at street level.
Photo of Arthur Bryan's fish shop
A 1950s enamel Three Robins badge.
The letter handed to Matt Southall last Thursday.
@killerjerrylee @charltonnick @cafc999 @SE7toSG3 anyone What would yours be?
(i) to find a written board note acknowledging that the 1936 Arsenal game was our actual highest attendance nearer to the 80,000 mark.
(ii) to acquire Sam Bartram's FA Cup medal(s)
(iii) a heritage walk around the local area with info boards in East Street/Pound Park/Sam's Shop that sort of think
(iv) a secure future for the museum for future generations to discover and benefit from
I hope something comes of that, as long as George wasn't the first Charlton fan to boycott for moving South of the A205 :-)
It was about ten years ago or more that Richard Redden said somewhere that no photos of CAFC at Catford had been found, it surprised me then and nothing appears to have come to light since. Quite rightly, for me, the Holy Grail of Charlton memorabilia.
There's footage of the 1936 Arsenal game which seems to go on and offline at regular intervals; having seen that, if anyone really thinks having a working PA could have packed more people in then Selhurst really is a 20 minute bus ride away......
Nice extract. enjoyed reading that
The colour has gone and the price has dropped back to 1d (one old penny).
The heading is rather plain but we are back at the Valley again.
And again we're short of money and asking fans to invest in a debenture scheme.
We kicked off at 2.30pm because Valley floodlights are 35 years away andthe game needed to finish before it was too dark to see.
ii) Sam Bartram's big baggy jumper
iii) £30k worth of rubber from Bangkok
iv) Matt Southall in a set of stocks
v) Some sort of documentary evidence that Cory Gibbs was a real living person
Please PM me anybody who has a copy.
Moving on to late 1925 and the Addicks face the Royalists in the 1st round proper of the FA Cup.
The programme is a mish mash of fonts including some very 20s art deco lettering.
The main advert is no longer a local firm but a big regional brewery while the price has gone up again to 2d.
Charlton won 4 - 2 and went on to beat QPR after a replay. 21,184, three times the average league gate, saw Charlton lose 0 - 1 to eventual Champions Huddersfield in the third round.
It's the end of the 1928/9 and 14,071 turn up for this top of table four pointer London Derby.
The programme looks almost the same as in 1925 apart from the return of the bright red cover but there is a lucky number on the front.
The front advert is for a national Sunday newspaper.
This game ended 0 - 0 which turned out to be a vital point.
The top six were separated by only two points at the end of the season. Charlton claimed the only promotion spot on goal average ahead of Crystal Palace. It was our first promotion as a league club. It would take the Glaziers another 30 years to get in the 2nd tier.
The museum is starting to gather as much information and as many artefacts as possible related to that team and cup run although we were outbid for a Bolton programme (£125 didn't win it) recently.
@SE7toSG3 covered the cup run in his recent presentation for "A night at the Museum"
The most iconic Charlton programme layout, frequently re-used in more recent times. It was even used for the flyers when the museum opened.
The design is clear, simple and colourful and there are no adverts to distract from its impact.
The distinctive lettering and jumping players design was used throughout the 1930s, the club's golden era, but this programme is from the last game of 1932/3 relegation season.
The Addicks dropped back in Division 3 South but a new manager from Clapton Orient was about to arrive that summer and change everything
At first glance this looks the same as the 1933 Chesterfield programme but much has changed since then not just the switch of opponent's name and official programme.
Jimmy Seed has lead the club to two successive promotions and runners up in division one.
Charlton are attracting huge crowds at the Valley and we are one of biggest clubs in the land.
But then Germany invades Poland.
Football continues during WW2 but paper rationing means programmes have fewer pages and lack colour. The price drop to one penny reflects this.
War time programmes are rare and much sort after by collectors.
The war continues but while for the allies the tide had turned at Stalingrad and victory in North Africa had led to the invasion of Italy in September 1943, the Charlton programme cover has gone backwards.
The mishmash of fonts has returned and we are now given a list of directors.
The leagues have been regionalised hence we are playing Brighton who were a division 3 South club pre and post war.
There is no image but we do have some chatty club notes.
Notice that we are letting Millwall use the Valley after the Luftwaffe bombed the Den.
Our most successful season ever.
Or at least that's what the programme notes said.
We had just lost the 1946 cup final and we're still in a three horse race for the Football League south title.
Ultimately, despite winning this game 1 - 0 in front of 47,000, we'd finish third, one point behind champions Birmingham City. Derby County did for us again, beating us 3 - 1 at the Baseball ground in the midweek game mentioned in the notes.
As for the programme itself it had become even plainer bar a black and white advert for Oxo. The beef extract product is promoted as a drink rather than just as stock as it is usually used now.