Grimsby Town Sports and Education Trust have been awarded almost £100,000 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver a project that will capture memories and collect memorabilia from Grimsby Town Football Club before showcasing them in a touring exhibition.

#RememberWhenGTFC will seek to record stories of Grimsby Town Football Club, and in particular from those either ageing or suffering with dementia. Key discussion points will be the stadium, in which the Mariners have played since 1899; players past and present; people connected to the Club; and poignant home and away games. The memories and memorabilia that are captured will be digitised as part of a new website.

The Heritage Starter Fund grant allowed the project team to pilot an exhibition of Grimsby Town FC memorabilia at the reminiscence hub in Freshney Place which was run by the Mariners Trust and other volunteers. During the three months the reminiscence hub was open to the public, over 3,000 people came to see the display and share their own memories too. The success of the pilot project led to GTSET, supported by the Mariners Trust, launching a bid for more funding to deliver this exciting project.

Graham Rodger, Community Officer at Grimsby Town Sports and Education Trust, said: “By completing the pilot through the Heritage Starter Fund, we were able to collect data and knowledge to support a larger National Lottery Heritage Fund bid. Without a doubt, completing the pilot project made our application much stronger – we’re looking forward to a much larger scale collection of memories to share and digitalisation of items to preserve and share worldwide through a dedicated website.”

In total, £99,400 has been awarded to Grimsby Town Sports & Education Trust and is part of the £590,000 grant which has been allocated to heritage projects in North East Lincolnshire.

GTSET will soon be looking to recruit a Project Manager to ensure the delivery of this exciting project. Keep an eye on the Club’s channels for more information.