Original AVA minute book restored and returned to Volleyball England

It ensures that a crucial piece of its history is protected for generations to come. 

The hard-back book covers meeting minutes from its inception in 1955 through to 1970. 

Dr Don Anthony, the founder of the AVA placed a lot of value on the book as it provided a good record of the work of the start of the Association and the people involved. 

He particularly valued the hand written elements of the book and was at pains to ensure the book was not lost. 

While Barbara Totterdell was researching for her book on the History of the Association, Don asked her to keep an eye out for it. 

It was found in one of the archive boxes and Barbara passed it to Jayne Hughes, a long time EVA and Volleyball England staff member (1979 to 2013), to keep safely in her desk. 

When she left, Barbara put out a call to check on the book’s whereabouts and Head of Operations at the time, Martin Lyndsey, located it and continued to look after it. 

Then, one day, the book was posted to Barbara at her home in an unmarked envelope without a message. 

At this point, the book was suffering from its age, the spine was coming apart, pages were loose and becoming detached. 

At this point, current Chief Executive Officer, Charlie Ford, who is interested in the sport's origins formed a Heritage Project Group to help preserve the Association’s history for the future. 

With his blessing, Barbara researched bookbinders and honed in on one in Charlton, London - BookEnds Bindery - who specialised in repairing books trying as far as possible to keep them in their original form. 

They waited until the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Guin Batten, had digitised the book, a process that the Association has embarked upon to record other items of the history. 

Bookends Bindery then carefully unpicked the book’s remaining binding, took off browning sellotape and rebound the book incorporating loose A6 sheets at the end of the book.

They also created a slipcase to match the new spine to help preserve the book for the future. 

"In truth the book is on its last legs and the bookbinders advised that it is reaching the endpoint in terms of the paper’s lifetime, but the work has allowed it some more years for those in the future interested in the start of the Association that organised and nurtured the sport in this country," said Barbara. 

Charlie explained that the book will now become part of a collection of the Association’s historical artefacts that will be housed at De Montfort University, joining Boxing, Hockey and Gymnastics sport collections.

He added: "I would like to place on record our profound gratitude to Barbara for her efforts in ensuring the original AVA minute book did not become lost forever. 

"Without her diligence, the book could have been disposed of without others realising its true significance and place in our sport's history. 

"We have been delighted to have the book restored and it will be one of the centrepieces of our planned collection which we're really looking forward to putting together with the expert guidance of the sports heritage archivists at De Montfort University."

Pictured is Charlie Ford and Volleyball England Hub Team receiving the restored book at the organisation's SportPark offices in Loughborough. 

Find out more about the Volleyball England Heritage Project here.