We have now asked David Wilson Homes, the developers of our spiritual home Plough Lane, to move the Womble Till I Die gates from their present position, so that we can take them to the place where they can be temporarily stored.
We know that this will be an emotional wrench for all Dons fans for whom the gates were the last remaining evidence of those colourful and extraordinary years when the Lane was our home. But with the building work advancing day by day, the move has become inevitable.
The gates will be taken down in the next few days, and stored on the site until we can collect them.
We will then take them to a location where they can stay indefinitely while we work to restore them, and until a permanent home for them has been found.
Several fans have offered a temporary lodging for the gates, and we are grateful to all of them for doing so.
The challenge now will be to try and remove the blue paint which has covered up the WTID graffiti. We have taken professional advice on the best way to do this, and are cautiously hopeful that the top layer can be removed without disturbing what is underneath. However, it will be a long and laborious task, so we will take it step by step, and see how things go. We will need willing hands to help with this, and we are likely to be asking for volunteers later in the year.
Equally importantly, we have also now spoken to DWH about possible ways in which Wimbledon FC¹s history can be commemorated in the new development.
The Section 106 agreement (the legal contract agreeing what amenities must be provided by the developers for the local community) commits DWH to paying for “art interpretative boards and entrance features” for the development. We have told DWH that the fans would like to be involved in planning what form this should take.
We have also asked them about the possibility of burying a signed Wimbledon shirt and/or a time capsule underneath the development -- ¬ an idea which some of our fans have suggested on the guestbooks.
DWH have been very receptive to both these ideas.
Of course, this makes sense, as our input should save them the work of coming up with ideas themselves.
One of the traditional ways to commemorate Plough Lane¹s identity as the former home of Wimbledon FC would be by the use of names connected with the club.
We are still negotiating this aspect of the development, but we will let you know as soon as there is anything you can do to help the commemoration process.
In fact, we will at some stage be presenting ideas to DWH on all aspects of commemoration, and we will therefore be asking for your input.
Nothing can ever replace Plough Lane in our hearts and memories as the centre of our lives for all those years when it was our home. But it is us, the fans, who are the club, and we will rise from this to build another home, hopefully in Merton.
Meanwhile, WISA will do whatever we can to ensure that those heady days in Plough Lane are never forgotten.
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