Stewart Kitching has a cache of picture cards and an assortment of rare paraphernalia commemorating England’s 1966 World Cup win.

Stewart, 56, a former sergeant major in the Royal Engineers, started souvenir hunting 10 years ago and persisted with his passion despite suffering a stroke in 2009.

He said: “I’d been in the Army for 25 years and suddenly realised I didn’t have any hobbies.

“I started looking at stuff from 1966 and remember watching the World Cup as a child on a black and white telly.

“I began collecting picture cards of England’s first team, but when I read up on the tournament, I realised there was something like 26 people in the squad.

“So I started looking out for them as well, and then the management and so on.”

A trickle of cards led to a flood and the Milton resident now owns about 1,000.

His collection includes all England’s star names from their 4-2 final win over West Germany, as well as signed pictures of the vanquished visitors.

Among the pile is the signature he treasures most – our forever golden boy, World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore.

He’s also in possession of autographs from the men whose voices conveyed England’s glory to a grateful nation that sunny July day – commentators David Coleman and Kenneth Wolstenholme, whose immortal line “Some people are on the pitch, they think it’s all over...it is now,” famously described the fourth and final goal.

A board game, a tie, a rosette, and a pocket watch are among his other World Cup-themed items.

He’s also tracked down a small union flag believed to have been used to decorate tables at a post-final London banquet held in the team’s honour.

And when the old Wembley – scene of England’s triumph – was knocked down in 2003, Stewart snapped up one of 1,000 souvenir seats on offer.

The father of three has assembled most of his ‘66 stock via eBay, but occasionally something will turn up from an unexpected source, as he explained.

“A friend of mine did a talk at a school and got chatting about the World Cup to one of the caretakers, who said ‘I was a ball boy at the final’.

“I‘ve got his autograph. Now I’m trying to find him so he can point out which ball boy he was from photographs I have.”

Stewart, who also has five grandchildren and lives with his partner Janet, 48, and daughter Stephanie, 16, estimates he has spent about £1,500 on his hobby.

Wary of online opportunists, he said he only buys from professionals or known sellers, but said he can’t be sure every scribble he owns is genuine.

“When I die my family can fight it out as to what’s real and not,” he said.

“But I’ve got an original final programme, which I know isn’t a reprint, because originals weigh 130g while reprints weigh 95 or 122g.”

Stewart, whose stroke robbed him of a flourishing post-Army lecturing career, auctioned some of his nearly 50-year-old assets at a charity boot fair on Saturday.

It was held at the Ypres Tavern in Sittingbourne High Street in aid of Help for Heroes, and the Sittingbourne and Milton Regis branch of the Royal British Legion, where he is a member.

Stewart said he’s going to carry on collecting – and top of his World Cup wish list is the medal awarded to Gordon Banks, the goalkeeper who defied the Germans in ‘66.

But the items he already has, he holds dear – whether real or not.

He said: “Think how many years Earth has been going, and we’ve won the World Cup just once in that time.

“In a way, I don’t really care whether every single signature I have is genuine – it’s what the collection stands for that matters.”