Some fantastic recollections from David (OBE). He's never forgotten his Widnes roots or his passion for all things Everton.

I hope one day, we can carry on his legacy from our own experiences.

Some of his stories made me think.

When speaking about some of the '60s players, it takes me back to the stories I was brought up on. His account of his friend, Brian Labone made me think how many unsung heroes there were in that period.

Labone, the "angel" Gabriel, Derek Temple, Morrisey and Gordon West, the keeper, who could over-arm bowl a football further than he could kick it apparently. I often think World Cup winner Ray Wilson doesn't get as much a mention he probably deserved.

I'm sure there are more and I never got the privilege to watch them.

His mention of the Liverpool museum at our former ground being one of the biggest tourist attractions in the city is a message. We should build one at Bramley-Moore Dock or Nelson Dock when we buy it. And the good Doctor's collection belongs there, with more to come and be added.

I can donate. It's only a personal thing, but way back in the 1970s, my father had a local carpenter carve a plaque out of the base of a tree. It simply reads Goodison Park, and has been displayed in every house I have lived in since then.

I loved how he described living with a coal fire, candles and a coat. I've been there. It reminded me of the times I stayed at my paternal Grandad's on Hale Road in Speke, opposite the Fox and the Dunlop's football pitches for those who know it.

He once ran out of coal, so threw newspapers on the fire, nearly causing the house to burn down. He tried worse. His garden became so overgrown, that rather than cut the grass, he set fire to it, causing alarmed neighbours to call the emergency services. Cue fire engines, police and ambulances. His reaction was to head to the Fox across the road, get my dad to buy him a pint (he never paid) and leave me outside with a bottle of pop and bag of crisps watching the carnage.

The Fox, Dunnies, The Peg, The Dove, The Noah's, St Ambrose Club, The Speke Social Club. I whiled away the hours for about 5 yrs either side of 1970.

Can't wait to meet you, sir. Hopefully this fall.

Unbelievable, incredible! I was never one for collecting memorabilia, but when I look at old photographs and see how much time, money and effort has gone into Dr David's collection, then I am always thankful that these very thoughtful people exist

I believe that this collection should take pride of place inside our new stadium.

The museum has to happen, surely TFG are not oblivious to this stunning collection? They could make it happen with ease.

Derek, what was the one near the Parade? The Ponderosa? It was notorious for being a place not to go. Mind you, there were a couple of those in Croxteth when I lived with my mother's aunty there for a while. Croxteth and Speke were tough places in those days, but I didn't notice it.

The Peg brings back memories. By then I was a teenager and allowed in. The characters were like something out of a Liverpool version of Only Fools and Horses.

Billy the Bin. He was a bin man.

Freddy the Ferret. He kept ferrets.

Careful Kevin. He never bought a round.

Happy days and Everton were winning or challenging for everything in sight.

Back on topic, David's collection should be given pride of place, and hopefully added to in our new stadium or the surroundings. And, respecting his wishes, looked after. He has taken significant effort and personal time devoted to something he and we love.

The club are now the custodians of that and must, absolutely must, respect it.

He leaves a legacy based on our legacy. If you're reading, David, best wishes to you and, of course Elizabeth.

By way of background for those who might be unaware, as a matter of public record, Dr France's memorabilia was purchased by ECCT back in 2008 for in excess of £1M, facilitated by support from The Heritage Lottery Fund. At the same time, Everton Football Club donated (at no cost) to ECCT its own archive. The two combined then became The Everton Collection.

Keith Wyness (Everton CEO at the time) was a champion of the Trust and recognised that this was the only way that the expanded artefacts could be preserved outside of commercial organisations. Whilst ECCT has a close relationship with the Club, it is also necessarily independent.

The Trustees have been grateful to The Liverpool Records Office for their services and advice in storing The Collection in their state-of-the-art depository which is kept at perfect levels of temperature, humidity and absence of acidity to ensure that The Collection is stored in optimal conditions. With no criticism of Dr France or the Club, this wasn't the case previously.

Items from The Everton Collection have been displayed publicly from time to time including at the Museum of Liverpool, Goodison Park, and the National Football Museum. However, we recognise that there is more to do but displaying in a dedicated museum at Bramley-Moore Dock (or anywhere else, for that matter) is fraught with challenges including cost of the space, developing a world class depository environment that cost The Records Office millions, insurance cover, and cost of dedicated staff. We hope that in the future some of these challenges can be overcome.

Since 2008, The Everton Collection has been enhanced by further donations and loans. Purely as an example, I have personally purchased and donated over 1,500 items not previously included in The Collection. The Trustees are always grateful to receive donations of items not already held.

It would be fantastic if you could find somewhere to publicly display this incredible collection on a permanent basis one day.

Great to hear from you, and thanks for posting.

No superlative is great enough for the work of Dr Everton in compiling this incredible collection, nor in the fantastic work being done to preserve and expand it.

We'd love to do more to publicize The Everton Collection, and feature things from it here on ToffeeWeb, or with links to your website — either approach works for us.

For those who haven't visited or want to visit again, here's a link to the website: The Everton Collection

Dr France indirectly addresses the storage issue in this interview when he talks about how he and Elizabeth first looked through his adolescent collection when they were hiding in a closet during a Houston hurricane. So obviously ideal preservation conditions weren't happening back then.

I can tell you that one reason some people are surprised by the collection is because we're not all Merseysiders! As a Yank, I was a remote Everton fan for decades with only the dimmest awareness of the club's rich history ("Sorry, Dixie who???") before the internet made it accessible.

And I only knew of the collection's existence because some years back David and Elizabeth were kind enough to gift me a copy of Dr Everton's Magnificent Obsession. The story of how he gathered all this memorabilia was fascinating.

In commenting on my surprise on the sometimes limited knowledge of the contents of the Collection, I'm actually not being critical of anyone other than the Trust; we can clearly do better with our messaging.

Michael's thought about ToffeeWeb assisting is terrific and something that we'll definitely engage and collaborate on.

Thanks again for that background!

Very best wishes to them.

They were fairly regular customers but, on this occasion, they brought in the award David had received from the City of Liverpool for his work with old footballers.

I, not knowing anything about football at the time and very little about Liverpool, spoke about the only thing I did know. There was a British TV program that was shown here called Cracker, set in Liverpool. It starred Robbie Coltrane and one particular episode guest starred Robert Forster as a crazy Liverpool FC fan, sending letter bombs everywhere.

When he was captured and as he was sitting in the back of the police van, he would rock back and forth chanting, “Go Reds, Go Reds” over and over.

Back to the Frances. Because of my almost complete ignorance of anything Liverpool, I chimed in with the one thing I knew. “Go Reds”. Elizabeth indignantly countered with “Go Blue”. Having never heard of Everton, which David explained to me was the most important football club in the city, I did a little research.

There was a lot on Dr Everton. The more I read, the more needed to know. By the time they came back to pick up the framed award, I was hooked on Everton FC. I told them my situation, which would never be the same, I called David a bastard. He just laughed and said “It's like an obsession, isn't it?”

Dr Everton would know about obsessions. We talked a bit about his collection. He said it was world class. Worth millions. And he would never haggle the price, but would pay whatever the asking price was.

Elizabeth told about an incident where they were driving home after a purchase. She asked David how much he paid. When he told her, she said, “Turn around, take it back!”.

I also framed the document detailing his OBE. He said he wasn't going to hang it up, but I told him he should, because not everyone has one them. He agreed.

I owe the Frances a lot. If not for them, I would never have caught “The Blue Flu”, to which there is no cure.

I never realised when watching it that it was set in Liverpool though. I always thought it was Manchester?

I was fortunate to meet Dr David on a couple of occasions, most notably at the London launch of the movie 'Alex the Great'. There was an auction of Everton memorabilia and my son 'won' a life size cardboard cut out of Alex. Getting it home on the tube was a truly memorable experience.

It's travelled with me all over the world. The wife wouldn't accept if being hung over the bed and I couldn't bring myself to take her advice to put it in the spare toilet, so it has often been in the spare room.

Then again, I would like to have seen the statues moved the the new stadium.

When we move house, we tend to take everything with us.