Friends of Gloucestershire Archives

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The Friends' latest purchase for Gloucestershire Archives is this new microfilm reader. It is now safely installed in the search room where it is proving to be a useful asset.

Horsley House of Correction Records

Gloucester Rugby Football Club Community Heritage Project

Volunteers Needed

Gloucester has a rich cultural identity, and an important part of that for the past 135 years has been the honour and history associated with the City’s rugby heritage. Many of the citizens of Gloucester and Gloucestershire relate to rugby, and one trip to Kingsholm on match day is enough to understand the immense sense of pride and passion they have in relation to the game of rugby.  

This substantial level of local support for Gloucester RFC recently led to the construction of a fine new stand to increase the ground capacity and improve facilities for supporters.  To make way for this, the old wooden grandstand, which had been in place for 75 years, was demolished.  During the demolition, it was discovered that boxes and files of old papers had been stored under the stand over the years, and fortunately Gary Little of GRFC  intervened as these were about to disappear into a skip, and asked the Gloucestershire Archives if they might contain items of interest.  A quick trawl through this material revealed that there was indeed much of historic interest, with documents dating back to the formation of the Club in 1873, and many team photographs.  The material was removed to GA for safe keeping, where it remains on deposit.  

It was agreed by GRFC and GA that this should form the basis of a project to create an archive devoted to Gloucester Rugby, and Malc King (formerly secretary of the Friends, and a season ticket holder at Kingsholm) was invited to become project manager.  The original idea of an archive gradually expanded into a project which would seek to make the history of GRFC more accessible to the community and to involve the community in building up the archive.

If you would like to contribute to the project, with donations, memories or by volunteering your services, it now has its own website which you can access at:  Gloucester Rugby Club Heritage Project

If you would like to volunteer for any aspect of this or any other project, please contact the

Friends of Gloucestershire Archives

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