Football exhibition a “Once in a lifetime thing”

The curator of the United In Football Exhibition at the Maidstone Museum is open to the idea of expanding the collection.

John Bunyard told Voice Of Kent that the success of the current display has fuelled his desire to expand it. Mr Bunyard said: “Because of the comments we have been getting, if you look at the comments book in the museum it seems to be exclusively positive. It is quite a relief really because when I started I really had no idea how it would turn out.”

The museum is set to run until the beginning of January with nothing currently planned for after. However, Mr Bunyard confirmed he had received a lot of support about the idea of extending the deadline.

“I’ve had one or two people say what a pity it is that the thing has to come and go, and that after January next year all the objects will have to go back to where they came from.”

He added: “So one of the ideas that has been suggested is that we will need to look into is could we do something on a Kent wide basis? Also, could we do something permanent. I am getting in to discussions about that.”

It is currently the only football collection in Kent and Bunyard confirmed that negotiations with other potential clients had begun.

“What I particularly like the sound of, and what has been said to me, is from other clubs thinking about taking this as a template for their own club. It’s early stages and I’ve only just got over the sense of complete exhaustion. I’ve got a meeting on Wednesday evening and we seem to have a lot of goodwill.”

The exhibition has exclusive access to a collection of memorabilia compiled by Maidstone United’s former chairman Jim Thompson: a collection that, including its many trophies, mementoes, photographs, and cuttings, runs to several thousand items.

Mr Bunyard hoped that the growing media coverage and public success will inspire more people to visit the collection . “It is a once in a lifetime thing, and I suspect it’s a once in history because the collection of objects here is quite unique and particularly because it is free because we got a kind benefactor coming along. So get down and enjoy the experience and remember it.”