The P in GSPS stands for Preservation, and part of our reason for existing is to collect and save original material relating to the Goon Show. Until now, our collection of material has been lovingly kept by society members, but this isn’t sustainable in the long term.
We’re delighted, therefore, to be upping our preservation game by entering into a partnership with The Borthwick Institute for Archives, part of the University of York, which is renowned for its expertise in archival preservation and in making historical records accessible to everyone.
At the GSPS annual meeting in September, our guest speaker was Gary Brannan, whose job title is Keeper of Archives and Special Collections at the Borthwick Institute. Gary described the facilities the Borthwick has for storing items and making them available for viewing. He also talked about some of the archives it already holds, from the likes of Barry Took and Frankie Howerd.
Gary is very enthusiastic about this project as, it turns out, he’s a big Goon Show fan too. At the meeting, we had a quiz and a reading of The Jet Propelled Guided NAAFI script, and Gary played his part in both.
The next tasks will be to gather the material which is being stored by our members around the country and transfer it to York where it can be safely stored.
There’s more information on this in the article in our recently issued newsletter no 186, and see also the Borthwick Institute website.
The Goon Show Preservation Society 