History of football in Macclesfield honoured at The Silk Museum
By Ben Grundy
13th Aug 2024 | Local Sport
Macclesfield's silk connections and our town's football heritage are perhaps two of the best-known things about our fine town.
And Macclesfield Silk Museum has unveiled a new football display with items related to the town's history in the beautiful game.
The free exhibition showcases the archives of Macclesfield Town FC, the club which formerly existed until 1874 to 2020 with the formation of Macclesfield FC, and the riches of their successes such as winning the FA Vase in 1970 alongside the Northern Premier League.
Club success is not all on display however, as the Museum's new exhibit shines a light on former stars, the development of the women's game and the connection between football and silk.
Former director of Macclesfield Town FC, Geoff Findlow, is largely responsible for creating the display after the lifelong fan donated many items from his collection of memorabilia that began in 2004.
Geoff Findlow kindly spoke with Macclesfield Nub News about his inspiration for the display.
"The museum got in touch with the club [Macclesfield FC] and asked for an exhibition about the club and if we were interested as a board, I was the Director who undertook that and liaised that," he said.
"I thought wouldn't it be brilliant to have our own little museum."
After seeing the club impact his life significantly, Geoff wishes to encourage a younger generation to get involved with the club with the display.
"I'm hoping they (the younger generation) will go around and get the story," he explained.
"This is just the first phase; a small exhibition of our history and we are now fundraising for a bigger exhibition for an all-singing, all-dancing one upstairs."
Geoff's collection includes programmes, minute books, medals along with much more, all representative of the club's 150-year history.
A centrepiece of the exhibit is the first-ever team photo, snapped in 1890, just sixteen years after the Victorian-era football club was formed.
"I started collecting (memorabilia) way back in 2004, collecting and buying things and having things donated into a huge collection of memorabilia," he added.
"I moved down to Cornwall in 2010, but I carried on, on behalf of the club, collecting but there has never been appropriate space until this opportunity now with the Silk Museum."
On display in the Museum are the winner's medals from both the Cheshire League, and Cheshire League Cup in the 1931/32 season.
Geoff spoke of the significance of these medals.
"I got Len Butt's two gold medals that he won whilst he was at Macclesfield between 1931-35, he was a star player, and he went to go on and play in the top division of English football," he revealed.
Len Butt would later go on to manage The Silkmen.
However, not everything has to be golden to be great in this display as Geoff donated a letter he received from former Newcastle United Manager Sir Bobby Robson.
"It was his (Sir Bobby Robson) first game as a manager [in English football] when we played Fulham in the FA Cup [in 1968]," recalled Geoff.
"I [later] organised an anniversary of that date, and invited all the players back to the ground to celebrate.
"I wrote to Bobby, who was manager of Newcastle United at the time, and he wrote back a fantastic letter, recalling his first game as a manager.
"[It was an] absolutely superb letter and that is on display in the exhibition."
Geoff funded this display alongside friend and former chairman of Macclesfield Town FC, Rob Bickerton, to fulfil his aspiration of celebrating the legacy of the Silkmen with fans.
Speaking about the achievement of introducing a football display to the museum, Rob said: "I'm so pleased that Geoff's vision for a permanent display recording the history of Macclesfield Town Football Club is at last coming to fruition."
The Silk Museum also extended their hand of thanks to the duo: "We would like to extend a very big thank you to Geoff and Rob for sharing this collection with us and the people of Macclesfield.
"We're absolutely thrilled to open this display."
"It will I am sure bring lots of memories back for many and be a revelation for youngsters," added Emma Anderton, director of Macclesfield Silk Museum.
The Museum is now exploring the possibility of creating an online portal to showcase other people's footballing stories and memorabilia relating to the town.
The display is now open and available to the public, so why not head on down?
Monetary donations in support of The Silk Museum can be made on-site.
In other Macclesfield football news, Robbie Savage will make his competitive home debut in the dugout at the Leasing.com Stadium on Tuesday. (Image - Macclesfield Nub News)
The Silk Museum is open Wednesday to Saturday from 10:00am to 4pm. You will also be able to enjoy the exhibit on Treacle Sunday, at the end of the month.
Macclesfield: For more information about The Silk Museum, please click HERE.
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