As part of our Community Grants Programme this year we are delighted to be able to fund the following Round One projects thanks to the generous support of the players of The National Lottery and The Heritage Fund.
If you’re interested in hearing about and applying for future rounds of Sporting Heritage Community Grant funding please sign up for our free newsletter
British Deaf History Society (BDHS)
Lenore Dawson and Marjorie Durlacher, Ladies Doubles Final. International Games for the Deaf, 1928
2024 is the Centenary Year of the International Games for the Deaf (later World Games for the Deaf but now known as the Deaflympics). The British Deaf History Society has a huge collection of photographs and artefacts, some very rare and unique. Much of this collection has never been exhibited due to lack of space. This project will enable the BDHS to curate a three-month display of these items and artefacts and make the display available in their Manchester base, with an opportunity to take it on display to other parts of the UK.
The project will aim to target Deaf people and their friends & families with the aim of cultivating Deaf Pride in the amazing collection. It will also aim to engage with current Deaf sports heroes and heroines and motivate them to try and qualify for the next Deaflympics, which will take place in Taiwan in 2025.
Find out more: www.bdhs.org.uk / Facebook @bdhsuk
Leeds Irish Health and Homes
Old friends reminiscing. LIHH
For the first time, this project will uncover and share the origins of Gaelic Football in Leeds. It will collect oral histories from those who set up the sport and who played an influential part in bringing the culture of Ireland to the north of England, as well as engaging young people who play the sport now. It will engage non-traditional audiences in sporting heritage by providing reminiscence sessions and intergenerational sessions for those currently underrepresented in the sector.
The project will work with existing and historic GAA clubs in Leeds to record the origins of Gaelic Football in Leeds as well as hear the stories of current players. It will also begin the process of collecting the material heritage of these stories and look to link with Leeds Museums to create a long-term collection based on this. A reminiscence box of Gaelic football will be created and used through a pilot series of reminiscence sessions with vulnerable communities who have an interest in Irish sport, as well as intergeneration sessions to support sharing stories.
The project will also look at the use of digital resources and use the Croke Park virtual museum as a starting point. This will enhance digital skills of those working on the project by engaging people in subjects that are meaningful to them. We will use a VR headset to help those with memory problems reconnect with memories.
This project is the first of its kind and seen as a pilot to inform long-term resilience and sustainable growth of these collections and their use across the city.
Find out more: www.lihh.org / X @leedsirish / Read the Project Blog
Warrington Wolves Community Foundation
Warrington Wolves Volunteers
Warrington Wolves Community Foundation will work to create an online portal which will archive, celebrate and share the history and heritage of the club.
By training volunteers and developing a club wide understanding of the project, the portal will specifically support the archiving of the Women and girls’ game and the development of disability rugby league for the first time in the club’s history. With the work that the community foundation already participates in with older people and schools, it will use the portal to offer improved access to this heritage across the community.
Find out more: X @WWRLFoundation
Bayfirth Research CIC (in partnership with Scottish Women and Girls’ Cricket Research Network and Cricket Scotland)
2028 is a significant year for cricket in Scotland as it marks 150 years since the first recorded cricket match for women and girls was played. A small group of pioneers laid the foundations for women’s and girl’s cricket in Scotland today and this project will enable those involved to tell their stories for the first time, share their memories and present a history of Scottish women’s and girls’ cricket in Scotland through a touring exhibition. Volunteers will be trained to capture and upload memories to an online memory map, mostly as oral histories.
The project will involve the Scottish women’s cricket community including the national women’s team who have just qualified for the Women’s T20 World Cup, and the global (and Olympic) audience. The aims of the project include enabling women and girls in Scotland to take their place in the cricketing world, revealing and publishing the untold histories of a critical time – when the national team was officially recognised by the sport’s governing body and to develop long lasting outputs which celebrate and share this heritage.
Find out more: www.bayfirth.co.uk / X @BayfirthResCIC
Powered by Hip Hip CIC
Northern Hordes – International Breaking Competition, St Helens 2012. Powered by Hip Hop (UC Crew)
This project will uncover the UK stories of how the Breaking athletes and teams were influenced and what contributed to their success.
The focus of the project will be to use diverse photos and videos of sports people to be more representative of their place within UK sport. In particular, from UK breaking history, many of UKs early pioneers where black British African or Caribbean.
A key objective of the project will be to conduct interview with Breakers across the UK from various backgrounds, races, religions , wealth classes and cultures. And these will form the basis of the projects outcomes, specifically a physical and online exhibition.
Find out more: www.poweredbyhiphop.org / X @poweredbyhiphop / Read the Project Blog
LEAP Sports Scotland
This project is specifically about hidden histories of LGBT+ people. It will tell stories of the people, the groups they formed and the movements they created. For example, the almost forgotten group of lesbian women in Dumfries who developed a wild swimming group in the 1990s, or the key characters who established the Gay Outdoor Club and Gay Ramblers clubs.
The project will work with colleagues at OurStory Scotland and will involve the creation of a physical roadshow of discussion events around the country, meeting local people and capturing their those stories. It will particularly focus on engaging with those in non-sports spaces where such stories are currently hidden. to host us for these events in order that we maximise engagement.
Find out more: www.leapsports.org / X @LeapSports
Jim Clark Motorsport Museum (Live Borders)
The Jim Clark Rooms, Duns. Live Borders
The project will support volunteer training and staff time to catalogue, understand and share a an extremely important recently donated audio and video and wider related items within the museum’s collection.
The project will develop a long term understanding of these collections, their position in the telling of the story of motorsport, and preserve them for future generations. This project is seen as the first step in ensuring these collections are removed from risk, and in a position to understand the cost implications for ongoing development.
Find out more: www.liveborders.org.uk / X @LiveBorders / www.jimclarktrust.com / X @JimClarkTrust
Flintshire Museums in partnership with Mold Alex Football Club
This is a joint project between Mold Alexandra Football Club and Mold Museum (Aura). The history of Mold Alexandra Football Club (Mold Alex), in Flintshire North Wales, reflects the lesser-known profile of the amateur sector of the game and the roles of grassroots sports in communities. This project will create a temporary exhibition about the club within the newly redeveloped museum in Mold, January – March 2025.
Display panels using original photos and documents will be augmented by short videos, slides and oral histories will be used, and the project will chart the history of the club, championing it’s sporting successes and highlighting some of the individuals who have made important contributions to that story. The exhibition will illustrate the everchanging way in which the media have told the story of local football.
The exhibition is intended to act as a catalyst to encourage those who have additional photos, documents and artifacts to lend these or donate them as part of the football club’s collection. There will also be a number of memory days to accompany the exhibition, both at the club ground and within the museum. The display will be bi-lingual in Welsh and English.
Find out more: www.aura.wales/heritage / X @aura_wales / Facebook @mold.alexandrafc
CofGâr (Carmarthenshire County Council’s Museum and Arts Service)
Margaret Allan, racing driver and long time Carmarthenshire resident. CofGâr
This project will engage young people in honouring and showcasing the achievements of women in sports from Llanelli. It will raise awareness of their contributions and inspire more young girls and women into sports. The project will establish new and develop existing connections with sports clubs, colleges, community groups and leisure centres to engage our target audience, women and girls from the local area, along with the wider sporting community, and encourage their participation in, and contribution to Llanelli’s sporting heritage.
Through temporary displays at external venues and a series of engagement events, the project will invite sports clubs to highlight opportunities in women’s sports and share stories of local sportswomen, with an aim to unearth new sporting stories from the community. In collaboration with colleges and film studios, the project will engage a small group of young people, empowering, and enabling them to interview past and present sportswomen. It will document the stories, challenges, and successes on film, and the young people will receive training in interview techniques, camera operation, and related skills.
The project will culminate in a temporary exhibition, ‘Smashing Boundaries’ at Parc Howard, Museum, Llanelli. Shaped by the stories shared and film created during this project, the exhibition will include written interpretation e.g. biographies and stories of champion and noteworthy sporting women; memorabilia e.g. medals, programmes, uniforms, and sports equipment; photographs and personal artefacts; oral history recordings and film.
Find out more: www.cofgar.wales
Skye Camanachd Club & Isabelle Law, Photographer
Sarah – Skye Camanachd Ladies present player. Isabelle Law Photography
A photography project based on the Isle of Skye, this project will capture the faces and stories of past, present and future players of Skye Camanachd club. It will culminate in an exhibition with photographer, Isabelle Law of all the images and narratives to show how important the sport is to the community today and has been throughout living memory.
The project will show the different generations involved in the sport, and the different ways people access the sport. Shinty is a huge part of our Highland identity and something most people are involved in, even if they aren’t a player!
Find out more: www.isabellelawskye.com / Instagram @isabellelawphotography / X @skyecamanachd
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