West Ham will be hosting a special memorial service at the Boleyn Ground on Sunday 20 March at 10.30am to remember all those Hammers fans who sadly will not be able to join us on the journey to the Club’s new Stadium on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
The service will especially commemorate all those loved ones whose ashes have been scattered or buried down the years around the Boleyn Ground or in the Memorial Garden, and those whose names are currently remembered on the commemorative bricks outside the Boleyn Ground.
It will also be a chance to remember all those former players and managers, including legends like Bobby Moore, John Lyall and Ron Greenwood, who were taken from us too soon, and to pay tribute to the members of the West Ham Pals Battalion who served so gallantly in the First World War.
The service will be led by the Club chaplain, Reverend Alan Bolding, and the doors of the Betway Stand Lower will open from 10.00am to welcome every member of the West Ham United family, regardless of whether you have a faith or not.
The service is expected to conclude at approximately midday and the Boleyn Ground car park will be open on the day. Supporters wishing to attend are asked to contact the Ticket Office on +44 (0) 871 529 1966 and select option three, (calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras).
Looking ahead to the service, Rev. Bolding said: “We know that, for many West Ham supporters, their visits to the Boleyn Ground have been about much more than football.
“They were a chance to keep up with friends and family each week, a fond reminder of those dearly departed, and – most happily – an opportunity to introduce new generations of fans to the traditions we all hold so dear.
“Many of us will be lucky enough to continue those experiences at the Club’s new Stadium, but we all know at least one person we will be leaving behind, whether they are one of the legends we supported on the pitch, or the fellow Hammers, friends or relatives, that we sat beside in the stands.
“I hope that, at our service in March, we can say to all those departed loved ones: ‘This is where my memories of you are strongest, but that is not where they will stay; they will always travel with me, in my heart, wherever we follow West Ham; and I know you will be there with me again.’”
We hope to see as many Hammers fans there as possible, joining together to say a fond, shared farewell to all those we have loved and lost in our years at the Boleyn Ground.