Trent Bridge Community Trust secures Heritage Lottery Fund support

The Trent Bridge Community Trust has successfully secured £10,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for a project to protect and share the history of Trent Bridge.

Trent Bridge is the third oldest Test match venue in the world, and Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club’s archivist Peter Wynne-Thomas oversees a large collection of cricket books, records, photographs, paintings, equipment and clothing, spanning nearly 175 years of history.

HLF support will help volunteers in the Heritage Working Group to decide the best ways of protecting and enjoying this heritage, by funding detailed advice and consultation from museum and heritage experts. The Group are also inviting local people to get involved with the project.

“We would welcome help in cataloguing the collection, and we are always keen to hear what memorabilia and memories people have about Trent Bridge,” said David Beaumont, Chair of the Heritage Working Group.

The project will help the Cricket Club to understand more about the records and artefacts that it holds, and the volunteers also hope to discover some new information.

“The story of Trent Bridge isn’t just about cricket, and it’s not just of interest to cricket enthusiasts,” said Heritage Working Group member Steve LeMottee.

“It’s also about numerous other sports, links with traditional local industries and changing social attitudes – so people don’t have to be cricket experts to help with this project.”

“This treasure trove of material tells the story of Trent Bridge’s greatest matches and iconic players but also how the game and its place in wider society have changed over the years,” added Head of HLF East Midlands Vanessa Harbar. “This funding will help the volunteers to understand the collection better and develop proposals for how to share the history of this famous old ground in the future.”

People interested in helping with this cataloguing work, or who would like to tell the Group about their own memorabilia and memories of Trent Bridge, are asked to contact Lynda Miles on [email protected] or 0115 982 3003.

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