Gillingham legend launches museum appeal

Gillingham legend Andy Hessenthaller is launching an appeal for a new museum to celebrate the football club's history.

Hessenthaller played for the club as they went to Wembley for the first time in 1999, then again as they were promoted the following year.

Now head of recruitment at the club, he said: "This club's been a big part of my life, my family as well.

"It's exciting times, I'm sure there are going to be a lot of people wanting to get involved in the museum, and I'm looking forward to being part of it."

The new museum will be built in the club's Priestfield stadium, where the old club shop was, and organisers are appealing for sponsors and memorabilia.

It will include a small cinema, and fans behind the plan say they want to create "one of the biggest - and best - outside of the Premier League".

David Garth, from the Gillingham FC Supporters' Club, said: "We think it's a good idea for the community to be involved.

"We can actually then get things together for people to come along and remember some of the really good days, and there've been some fantastic days as a football club."

The club started as New Brompton FC in 1893 before becoming Gillingham FC in 1912, and they've been on the same site since the very beginning.

The origins of the name are lost to time, and it's not known if the stadium is named after the street it's on, Priestfield Road, or vice versa.

The supporters' club has been appealing from memorabilia since last year, and it already has boxes of programmes, a number of signed shirts, and more pledged.

A relative of a player has been in touch to offer the medal he got for scoring the Gills' first ever goal, and they are waiting to receive the item, which is currently abroad.

Gills fan Stefan Bennett is currently storing a number of boxes in his flat, with player-worn shirts and hundreds of programmes, among other items.

He said: "One thing I do love, which I find myself doing, is there are decades of programmes that date back to the 60s.

"I go through and find ones from matches in the 90s and 2000s that I was at, some of our most famous matches.

"It's a real Gills fans' treasure trove."

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