West Ham United has joined forces with the Bobby Moore Fund to re-unite supporters with their treasured commemorative bricks from the Boleyn Ground.
Dozens of volunteers have managed to salvage many of the bricks from the memorial wall on the Sir Trevor Brooking Stand and are now working in partnership with the Club to locate the individual or family who commissioned them.
West Ham United was originally advised in 2015 that there was no guarantee the bricks could be saved as part of the demolition process and arranged for every message to be reproduced on a stone at Champions Place at London Stadium as a lasting memorial.
However, the demolition company has managed to keep many of the bricks intact and is now working with West Ham United and the Bobby Moore Fund to return them to their owners with more than 100 bricks handed back to people this Saturday.
Donna Heuerman, who raises money for the Bobby Moore Fund, said: “We are delighted to be working with West Ham United to ensure as many commemorative bricks as possible are returned to their owners.
“It was an emotional day at the Supporters’ Club as people came from far and wide to collect their treasured bricks. This is all about re-uniting people with these sentimental items and we would also like to take the opportunity to thank people for the generous donations they have chosen to make to support the Bobby Moore Fund as part of this process.”
Fifteen-year-old Jonjo Heuerman, with the help of his family and fellow West Ham supporters, has raised more than £300,000 for the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK.
He was inspired to start fundraising in 2009 following the death of his beloved nanny, Lyn, to bowel cancer and in recognition of Club legend Bobby Moore who passed away of the same illness. Jonjo’s fundraising achievements have gained national recognition and he became the youngest ever recipient of the British Empire Medal in the 2016 New Year’s Honours list.
Not all the commemorative bricks have been recovered yet as the demolition process is still ongoing but once they have all been removed from the West Stand there will be further opportunities to reclaim them later this year. Due to the nature of the process, although every care is taken, not all bricks will be able to be salvaged.
If you had a commemorative brick at the Boleyn Ground the Club would be delighted to hear from you to help you locate it please contact: [email protected], or www.fornannyandbobby.com where you can search a log of the recovered bricks.
You will also be able to register the inscription of the brick you are trying to trace in the event that it is recovered in the next phase of reclamation. Alternatively you can search via Facebook group Boleyn Brick Salvage at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2047807192112530/.
To identify the location of your stone please follow our step-by-step guide below:
- Visit the Champions Place home page at https://www.championsplace.whufc.com
- Click the 'Customer log In' tab in the top right hand corner of the page.
- You can either input your surname and order reference or surname and voucher number.
- Once logged in, you will be able to view the zone your stone is located in along with a downloadable/printable location map.