The covers are removed and staring back at us are the unmistakable faces of Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull, and Ormond. For those of a Hibernian persuasion, they do not require first names.

For their families and descendants, many of whom are here for the unveiling, they are Gordon, Bobby, Lawrie, Eddie, and Willie; or perhaps 'dad', 'grandad', or 'uncle'. They will forever be the Famous Five; the club's lauded forward line of the 1940s and 1950s, spoken about in hushed tones by those fortunate enough to see them in action and revered by those much too young to have stood on the terracing and watched the quintet in their pomp. 

 Considering what they collectively and individually achieved with Hibs - three league titles in 1948, 1951, and 1952 and more than a thousand goals in total - it is fitting that the club's greatest-ever players are now being honoured with more than just an eponymous stand.

A general view of the Famous Five Stand at Easter RoadA general view of the Famous Five Stand at Easter Road (Image: Ross Parker - SNS Group)

 The busts themselves were a year in the making, painstakingly sculpted in bronze by Leyland-based artist Stephanie Jane-Matthews, and now housed in the revamped reception area of the Famous Five Stand, having been unveiled at a special ceremony earlier this month. 

The idea was the brainchild of, and funded completely by, the late Stephen Dunn; three times a member of the Hibs board, immensely passionate about the club, and sadly robbed of the chance to see his vision completed. His daughter, Lauren Dunn, took over the project and ensured her father's work would be completed.

 "I was at work one day and got a message from him; a picture of this semi-finished bust. Just the picture, nothing else. I just sent back a question mark. And he replied saying, 'Oh right, yeah, this is for a project I've been working on'."

 Lauren's face breaks into a small, exasperated smile as she recalls the first time she learned of her father's bid to ensure the Famous Five's contributions to Hibs were properly recognised. 

"It was typical of him. I think it was the Gordon Smith bust, so I said to him, 'What's this for?' And that's when he told me that he'd been down in England on holiday, and they'd gone into this sculpture studio 'just to have a look'. Steph, the sculptor, had been there working on something else - not related to the Famous Five or Hibs; she just happened to be there on the day. My dad walked over to her and started a conversation, and that's when the idea was born.

An in-progress picture of the Gordon Smith bust was what Stephen Dunn sent to his daughter Lauren - her first knowledge of the projectThe bust of Gordon Smith. (Image: Patrick McPartlin)

"When he sent the picture to me, that's when I got involved and developed an understanding of what was going on. The bust wasn't complete, it was still in the clay stage, but I thought it looked exactly like Gordon. My dad told me he'd sent the photo to Gordon's son Tony and he'd teared up."

 The busts took a while to finish, nearly a full year in total, but every now and then Stephen would pop up in Lauren's message with an update. 

"He went a bit quiet on it because they took a while to do but he would send me random updates. So it was Bobby's and then it was Eddie's, and it just went from there."

A volunteer with the Hibs Historical Trust since 2014 and now a full-time employee of the club, Lauren is immersed in Hibs history and has spent countless hours alongside other volunteers helping to secure the club's immense archive of memorabilia. Unsurprisingly, there were numerous previous discussions about how to immortalise the club's iconic players. 

"A couple of years ago, there was talk about a Famous Five statue - full size and to scale - and the Trust was approached, but it would have cost a fortune," Lauren continues.

"We had this conversation, and I said to my dad, 'Why is it not happening?' And he said that it would have cost the club or the Trust or whoever would lead on it at least £1 million to do a full-size statue of the five. You need something that's going to last and something that's going to look good - I don't know if you ever saw that bust of Cristiano Ronaldo... So my dad was very adamant that if we were doing something, it would be done right. I think there are some people out there still trying to do it, so maybe one day. But apart from that, there hasn't really been much talk of statues. Obviously, people suggested something to do with the Scottish Cup and David Gray but you can't have statues of everybody," she adds. 

The Hibs players pay tribute to Stephen Dunn following his passing in September 2023The Hibs players pay tribute to Stephen Dunn following his passing in September 2023 (Image: SNS Group)

As Stephen's health declined, his determination to finish the busts project increased and although he managed to avoid the limelight with flair comparable to the Famous Five's footballing skills, Lauren feels it's only right he earns, at the very least, a modicum of recognition for his efforts in recognising the club's most famous sons. 

"My dad was ill, and didn't hide the fact he was ill, but he did seem to be getting better. So his passing was a bit of a shock and it was sudden. But one of the last things he said to people was, 'I need to get these busts paid for'. At that moment in time I was thinking, 'Is that really your biggest concern?' But I got it," Lauren continues. 

The obvious location for the busts would have been somewhere in the Famous Five Stand at Easter Road but when Stephen was ill, the redevelopment of that stand was little more than an idea and a plan, and the interior was ageing and tired. Fortunately, the upgrade was completed in time to add the busts as the focal point of the redesigned reception area, with anyone able to view them on matchday at Easter Road, not just those with Behind the Goals access or a season ticket. 

"I spent a lot of time at the hospital with my aunts and uncles, and there's a lot of time, and you just try to fill it. We were talking about the Trust quite a lot, and how to move it forward, and I knew that the busts were near completion, and he wanted them to be in the stadium somewhere. At the time, the Famous Five refurb wasn't a thing, so we didn't know where they were going to go, so it was about trying to find a home for them. That was the main priority for me because he wanted them here - I assume - and it's the place you would think best for them," Lauren explains. 

"When I came back to work, I approached the likes of Ben [Kensell, CEO] and Garry [O'Hagan, Venue and Operations Director] and said, 'What's the plan for these busts when they're 100% complete?' And they said, 'We need to honour your dad's memory, and that will be either through the busts or the Trust or whatever way we can think'.

"You don't hear of many people working for a club or being a director of a club over three spells, and my dad was very much of the attitude that he would support things but didn't want the plaudits. You would never see him going out and saying, 'Yeah, I did this' or 'I did that'. He didn't want his name against it, which I understand. But at the same time, my main aim was to ensure his wishes were fulfilled. Because this project isn't just about the Famous Five for me; it's also in memory of my grandad, because the Famous Five was his team. So it's for him and my dad, really."

I ask if it was a coping mechanism of sorts; a Hibs-mad daughter completing a labour of love started and funded by her Hibs-daft dad, maintaining the family connection with the club as well as honouring his memory. 

"It wasn't the main one, but it was definitely there. To have taken the project and the busts to the end is a relief in one way, but it's also really good to see the finished busts in their new home. I just hope it's what my dad would have wanted," Lauren says. 

If you've taken a walk through the hospitality suites in Easter Road's Main Stand, you will have seen the immense detail in the decorating - the programme wall in the Albion Bar or the graphics celebrating Eddie Turnbull's team in the Tornadoes lounge. The Hibs Historical Trust helped with a lot of the redesign and Lauren was heavily involved in the design aspects of the refurbishment of the Famous Five Stand. Even if unavoidable events like Covid-19 curtailed the Trust's public work, it has been full steam ahead behind the scenes, with Lauren and other volunteers continuing to work hard to sort out the treasure trove of strips, medals, programmes, and so much more in a bid to chart the club's history. 

"This is the Trust's twentieth year, and with the club's 150th anniversary coming up we want to come back and make sure that we're not forgetting the club's history. We want to highlight the club's story for new fans who might be interested, but also for existing fans who might not know it all," she says. 

"There are a lot of things that go on at this club behind the scenes that people never see. They see what happens on the pitch and that's all. The board gets quite a lot of grief, and I got that too when I was growing up because my dad was on the board. People would say to me, 'Your dad's on the board, he's making Hibs the way they are', which he obviously wasn't, but I was always reluctant to say that he was on the board for that reason. 

"But now, I'm happy to say he was on the board. He hated the limelight but I don't think people realise just how much he did for our club. The whole reason the Trust was formed was so that the memorabilia would remain at the club. That was something he was passionate about. He and the other founders of the Trust didn't want someone coming in 20, 40, 60 years down the line and just claiming all the memorabilia. So he and the others are the reason that all this history will stay at Easter Road."

Stephen was also responsible for the immensely fitting 'last-minute' intervention when the Hibs Historical Trust were bidding for ownership of Lawrie Reilly's League Championship medals, five years ago this month. 

The Hibernian Historical Trust is celebrating its 20th year this yearThe Hibernian Historical Trust is celebrating its 20th year this year (Image: HHT)

"When the Trust knew the medals were up for auction, we had a budget that we wanted to stick to and there were donations from fans as well to help us secure them. My dad was on holiday at the time but still keeping up to date with the situation and at the eleventh hour he told me, 'Go another £1000 higher', and we did, which meant we got them. So he was instrumental in securing those as well. He just got stuff done, in the background, and wouldn't accept any praise for it."

And it isn't just about the busts for Lauren or simply finishing what her dad started. As a dyed-in-the-wool Hibee, it's much bigger than that for her. 

"I've grown up here; one of my earliest memories is being sat in front of Eddie Turnbull. So I'm ingrained in this club," she says. "I work in the HR department so I see the people side of it, and there are so many folk here working behind the scenes who care so deeply about this club. We might not work on the football side, but we're hoping and praying and wishing the best for this club every single day. There are people who care so much about our club, and my dad was definitely one of them, even in the hardest times. And he had the best interests of the club at heart when he was making really big decisions, or being a part of the decision-making. He remembered being that little boy on the terrace looking up at the likes of Pat Stanton, and he always wanted that to continue."

Talk turns to the Trust and the vast archives that are still being sorted through ahead of next year's 150th anniversary and celebrations. 

"I hope that over the next year, the Trust can get back to what it was before, and make sure that the memorabilia we have can be seen by the fans. We have a lot of items that people have probably never seen before and the last thing we want is for it to be shut away in a cupboard or a storage unit. There's so much that we want people to see, we don't want to gatekeep any of it.”

Some of the more interesting items in the archives include a full set of strips from the Scottish Cup final win in 2016, a replica of the Scottish Cup trophy, and original minute books, while one of the more obscure items is a Gillette razor; the outcome of a collaboration between the club and the shaving giant in the Nineties. There are also, in Lauren's words, 'tons of pictures, clippings, ticket stubs, programmes, Scotland tops, international caps' that the Trust wants people to see. 

Are there plans for a museum of sorts then, I ask? Lauren’s response gives nothing away. 

"I'm not confirming or denying anything - as my dad would always quote - but I would love it if one day there was somewhere that people could come and visit to see all of our memorabilia, whether that's a museum or something else. I know some people might think I'm only doing this in my dad's memory but I'm the biggest history geek you could find, so I enjoy seeing these things and it's actually quite a big privilege to be able to say I've held a medal that's 100-plus years old from a significant point in the club's history, or that I was involved in the acquisition of whatever piece of memorabilia so that years later maybe my kids and grandkids can say, 'Oh yeah, mum did that'.

"It's a big privilege but the work never stops. I want to make sure that what's happening now isn't forgotten in ten years' time. Because games this season will soon be history for someone. It might be their first game, so I want us to make sure that there's something in an archive to mark it for them. We've got the programme wall in the Albion Bar and people pick out their first game.  I can't do that because my first game was a friendly that didn't even have a programme! But there's a huge amount of people who I've spoken to, or seen looking at the programme wall and saying, 'That was my first game'. 

"I'd just like that to continue."


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