Culture And Memory

Digitising The Fans Museum’s heritage and closing the digital skills gap within our community.

The Fans Museum was founded in 2016 by Michael Ganley. The iconic former Monkwearmouth Railway Station currently houses his huge collection of football-related heritage memorabilia providing an interactive visitor experience. It also serves as the base for a Mental Health Hub (supporting over 60 participants, using football as a conduit), and outreach activities delivered in schools, sheltered accommodation, hospitals and community environments. Our current online presence (website and social media) needs enhancing. By developing an interactive website, cataloguing and photographing the collection (mitigating risk of loss), creating 3-d images and augmented reality, we can extend our reach across the community. Providing digital access to the collection from homes, educational settings, hospitals and community settings, will reduce physical travel to the Museum, minimising environmental impact. This funding will enable us to appoint employees to lead on the development of that technology, increasing community involvement and lead to us becoming economically sustainable.