A project designed to celebrate the history of Gloucester Rugby Football Club (GRFC) has received a funding boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
The HLF will contribute £50,000 towards the Gloucester Rugby Football Club Community Heritage Project, a partnership between the club, Gloucestershire Archives and the Friends of Gloucestershire Archives (FoGA).
The three-year project, which will cost £88,000 in total, aims to document more than 130 years of the city's rugby history through a range of documents, photographs and recordings.
GRFC, together with Gloucestershire Archives, will provide much of the material for the scheme, but fans will also be invited to contribute items at a number of roadshows over the next
few months.
FoGA's Malcolm King is co-ordinating the project, and he said: "This major financial contribution from the Heritage Lottery Fund, together with contribution from the three project partners, will enable us over the course of the next three years to build an online archive.
"This will capture, preserve, celebrate and share Gloucester's rich rugby heritage, revealing its impact and importance for the community."
GRFC's managing director, Ken Nottage, said: "We are trying to create a modern facility that befits a modern rugby union side but at the same time, it is vital we respect and honour the roots of the club. This project will achieve this ambition perfectly."
The project will be officially launched at the club's Kingsholm stadium on 29 November, and the money will be spent on providing hardware and software for the digital archive and audio-visual equipment, as well as promoting learning activities for local schools.
