Archive: Nov 2019

The Roughyeds Kitbag

New Oldham Rugby League Book Now Available. By Michael Turner

190 A4 pages – Packed with facts, figures and images, the book, hardback and in full colour, deals with the running of the club during one of the darkest periods in the history of the country.

Read how just finding 13 players to pull on the jersey became a major struggle with so many of the club’s personnel away in the services. The poignant letters home from players and officials writing from the trenches – filled with hope and despair!

How the mood of the country changed as the “home before Christmas” attitude gave way to the realisation that the conflict would endure for years.

The bravery and sadness as some players were honoured and others were lost.

View the flyer here to obtain your copy please email the Trust by clicking here.

This hard backed book is priced at £20 and is available to buy directly from the Trust. Send a cheque for £20 made payable to:

The Oldham RL Heritage Trust
9 Dumfries Drive
Denshaw,
Oldham
OL3 5SG
(Delivery free to Oldham postcodes. Please add £3.50 for P&P for addresses outside the Oldham area).


Pass it On

Preserving Oldham’s Rugby League Heritage for the next generation

The Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust has been awarded a generous grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The money will enable the Trust’s superb assortment of Rugby League memorabilia to be made more accessible than ever before. After work to catalogue and digitise the collections is complete they will be donated to Gallery Oldham who will safeguard the collection for future generations. The project is titled: “Pass it on!” Preserving Oldham’s Rugby League Heritage for the next generation.”

This unique collection has been brought together by the Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust over many years and is recognised as being one of the most important rugby club memorabilia collections in the world in either code of the oval ball game. The collection will first be prepared for storage using packaging materials designed specifically to aid against deterioration. But that is not all… the items will be professionally photographed with the images added to a new, revamped website along with digitised copies of the Trust’s extensive collection of programmes, booklets, yearbooks etc.

This undertaking will be a lengthy exercise and the Trust will soon be seeking volunteers to aid in the packaging and scanning of documents. Anyone interested can contact the ORLHT – tel: 01457 810197 or email: oldhamrl1895@gmail.com.

Michael Turner of the ORLHT said

This is a fantastic project and I’m delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has supported it. It will enable the Trust to make one of the most generous donations to Gallery Oldham in our history. This will make an important addition to our collections and help to tell the story of the lives and passions of Oldhamers.

Michael Turner of the ORLHT

The Trust has recently been active promoting their latest book “The Roughyeds’ Kitbag”. Published last October to rave reviews.