Exhibitions, open days and community events
Exhibitions that bring in objects, archives, images, film and stories about sport are a great way to showcase a sporting theme, sport, sports person, or local sporting tradition. They’re also a perfect way to highlight the development of local sports clubs. They don’t have to be grand displays in museum settings (although that’s great!). They can be one off displays which last for a weekend and are held in a village hall, opportunities for the community to work together to create an exhibition and tell a local story, or the chance for a sports club to chart their history and development.
Case Study – Lea Rowing Club, Hackney
I Am A Rower, Photos Chris Baker
Lea Rowing Club is working to better represent the diverse communities that live and work in its neighbourhood through its ‘I Am a Rower’ photographic and audio project.
To amplify the message, the club used a NSHD Community Grant in 2022 to create a new exhibition that shows the diversity in its membership and challenges what it means to be a rower — from background, ethnicity, disability, sexuality to age and gender. Inclusion in sport is rooted in the club’s long and unique history along this stretch of east London river, and the club hopes that the exhibition will encourage more people to consider taking up the sport. The exhibition opened at the club on the 30th September at the Lea Rowing Club and tours museums, public spaces and schools in 2022/23.
Find out more: https://www.learc.org.uk/i-am-a-rower
Case study – Bailey Hill Project, Wales
It was great to meet some of the ex-bowlers and hear their memories and stories from the past. A huge thank you to the volunteers and everyone who has been involved. Cllr Sarah Taylor, Mayor of Mold.
Bailey Hill project for NSHD 2021
In 2021 Bailey Hill Bowling Club used a Community Fund grant to support local people to research the history and heritage of the bowling club at their local archive service. Ex- Bailey Hill bowlers met with the group to share their memories and memorabilia. These were used to create an exhibition ‘Bowls on Bailey Hill’ at the new Bailey Hill Community Centre.
Case Study – The Hockey Museum
Harry Haslam display
For National Sporting Heritage Day 2020, to celebrate hockey’s Olympic success, The Hockey Museum brought together three Olympic hockey gold medals won by England/Great Britain under one roof for the first time: England men 1908, Great Britain men 1988, and Great Britain women 2016. The event was open to the public who were invited to meet players from the 1988 and 2016 squads. There was a book signing and a strip of artificial turf in the street to encourage the public to practice their hockey skills. We also created and launched a discovery chest interactive exhibit for children and produced a short film to celebrate these sporting stories.
Case Study – Friends of Hailey Park – Reconnecting with the Community Through Tennis
Children take part in a tennis and heritage session on NSHD 2021
To bring together their local community around Hailey Park in Wales, community organisation, the Friends of Hailey Park, ran a heritage and sport project to bring the story of tennis enthusiast and philanthropist Claude Hailey to life. Local children learnt about Claude Hailey and had sessions on the tennis courts of Hailey Park with a local tennis coach.
The project was funded by a Sporting Heritage Community Grant.
Reminiscence and oral history activity
You can use National Sporting Heritage Day as an opportunity to capture memories of your sport and encourage reminiscence amongst older players, fans and others in the community. These events are easy to organise, need a minimal amount of specialist equipment and help to make sure that the lived history of your sport is saved for future generations.
Case Study – National Football Museum
NSHD2018 Oral History Event
On NSHD 2018 the National Football Museum hosted a reminiscence day to celebrate and capture the oral histories and memories of women in Manchester and beyond who had played football between 1945 and 1993. Over 50 women attended a curator led session to learn about the history of the game and to talk about and share their own sporting memories and collections. A number of new objects and oral histories were captured and added to the museum’s collection, some of which have been displayed and the films are available on the museum’s YouTube channel.
Case Study – Rugby League Family – Looking Back CIC
Thank you Sporting Heritage CIC for your support – it was a great day! Reminiscence day attendee
Looking Back CIC event for NSHD 2021
To celebrate National Sporting Heritage Day 2021 Looking Back CIC held a Rubgy League reminiscence session at the home of Dewsbury Rams supported by a Sporting Heritage Community grant. Rugby league was the connection that linked many people throughout the pandemic and after over 18 months of “zooming” they were finally able to meet in person at the Looking Back celebration. Rugby League enthusiasts from all over the country came together in Dewsbury, and conversation was sparked by personal memorabilia from their own collections and historic documents from the club’s archive.
Online activities and digital content
Online activities and digital content may be the perfect way for you to promote your sporting heritage and celebrate National Sporting Heritage Day. You don’t need to be a digital expert to create simple videos or podcasts and our website hosts a variety of free resources and training webinars to help you.
Case Study – Arlington Baths Club, Glasgow
Arlington Baths Club was founded in 1870 and to celebrate National Sporting Heritage Day they created a short film ‘Battle of the Bathmasters’ celebrating the life of the first Baths Master, William Wilson and the untold story of his wife, Ruth, who gave lessons to female swimmers. The film was made by a small group of enthusiastic volunteers who came together to create the costumes, play the parts, and film and edit the final piece.
We hope the film shared new knowledge about the history of swimming….as a resource that can be re-used, we intend to show it at other events, which is very important to recruit new members. Lucy Janes, Arlington Baths Club
Case Study – Remembering France: Gender, Football and Nation in Wales
This groundbreaking project captured, through oral history, the experiences of women who travelled to France to support Wales in the 2016 European Championships. On National Sporting Heritage Day 2021 Expo’ r Wal Goch in partnership with Dr Penny Miles and the Welsh Football Museum ran an online panel discussion about female representation in football fandom.
Through oral histories, not only are the experiences of the female contingent who travelled to France captured and foregrounded for future generations, but they provide an important step in providing representation for women and redressing invisibility in football fandom. Dr Penny Miles
Case Study – Para Dance UK Online Day of Dance
Para Dance UK Day of Dance NSHD2021
Para Dance UK is the national governing body for Para Dance Sport in the UK. They work to develop and promote dance as a sport and inclusive leisure. In 2021 they got involved in National Sporting Heritage Day for the first time, hosting an online inclusive day of dance. Throughout the day Para Dance UK instructors took the lead with easy to follow dance routines from a range of genres.
It was wonderful to see so many different people involved in the day, enjoying dance in many forms. Patrick McGeough, CEO, Para Dance UK
School event
Sporting heritage is a brilliant way to teach the curriculum inspiring children and young people to learn through the sporting past. There are lots of examples across the country of schools using sport to teach about transport and immigration, rights and women’s issues, local history and community development. You can find more about how schools can involved in NSHD here.
Case Study – Park House School Celebrates Women’s Cricket
A session with female cricket players at Park House School NSHD2021
On NSHD2021 England cricket player and World Cup winner Beth Morgan, visited girls at Park House School in Berkshire to help inspire the next generation of female cricket players. The students also took part in a new cricket resource created by Sporting Heritage exploring the development of women’s and girls’ cricket.
Case Study – Durham Amateur Football Trust and King James 1st Academy
Academy students take part in creative NSHD activities
Durham Amateur Football Trust celebrated NSHD2021 with an exhibition entitled “A Day out at Wembley”. They worked with students from the Academy, who took part in creative sessions to learn about the history of amateur football in their area and collaborated to produce the exhibition by exploring memorabilia in the Trust’s collection.
Many people visited the exhibition, viewed display boards, objects and scrap books. Older visitors enjoyed reminiscing and children enjoyed learning about the history, and taking part in craft activities.
Get Involved
If you have been inspired to take part in NSHD2023 you can apply for a Community Grant to support your project.
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