Plans Afoot To Boost Charity Coffers Further

A useful new kitty is building up for the benefit of good causes – and we wondered whether any of our loyal readers wished to swell it further.

After keepsakes belonging to late 1960s Wolves wing-half Johnny Kirkham were donated to us early last winter, we promised to support charities with 100 per cent of the proceeds from any sale.

We will be having another handover of funds in the coming months and, in the interests of transparency, will publicise it when we do.

From the souvenirs of Johnny’s that were sent to us by his son, Darrell, in the middle of the 2024-25 season, we have now picked out two press photographs of Wolves squads from the early 1960s.

Both are in excellent condition and come complete with a solid, broad pine-wood frame and with overall dimensions of 11.5in x 9.5in. 

We would love the items to go to one or more of our keen Wolves Heroes followers and would consider offers of £20 for one or £35 for both.

The pictures appear with this article and are each from the annual pre-season photo-call, with the names of all the players and staff members given in the accompanying captions.

As our regular readers know, we have already donated Johnny’s FA Youth Cup winners’ medal from 1958 and Charity Shield medal from the 3-3 draw at Burnley in 1960 to the Wolves Museum.

Staff there were also given one or two lesser items from his collection for display while we have recently had some success in this money-raising mission on ebay.

A West Ham supporter bought two FA player itineraries – the ones sent to Kirkham and his England under-23 colleagues before matches – and a team photo taken on the pitch in Spain before kick-off in one of them.

And one other item remains unsold on ebay if any readers are interested. Johnny played in a North v South international schools trial at Gravesend & Northfleet in 1955 and the FA booklet sent to each participant contains the squad names and even the menu for the post-match dinner.

Barry Bridges and Barry Smart (later of Chelsea), John Osborne and John Talbut (later of Albion) and Dave Gaskell (later of Manchester United) also took part in a game contested in front of the England Schoolboys selectors.

We have asked £10 on ebay for this item and would consider offers close to that figure.

If anyone is interested in any of these items, please email us on info@wolvesheroes.com