The Heritage Project

[silent majority]

Looking Back to go Forward

Doncaster Rovers Community Foundation is excited to announce an exciting new project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. We are going to look back at club, local and national history to give a unique insight into the club and town for everyone in the local community.

Using archives from the Stadium, desk research, discussions with local historians, player interviews, staff interviews and fan forums, we are creating a “Walk In Museum” right here at the Keepmoat Stadium. The end result will be a fantastic museum and timeline that will adorn every wall in the concourses. The timeline will focus on key events within Doncaster Rovers History from 1879 to the present day. It will also showcase other significant historical periods such as the miners’ strike, the evolution of football and media, The World Wars etc., to show Rovers history in context to other events.

The concourse will be the main focus of the project and every fan visiting the ground will be able to see the finished timelines also use interactive displays and watch media videos.

Tony Bluff, Doncaster Rovers Historian said “When I was approached by the Foundation about this project, I was excited to see what was going to happen and how we were going to achieve it. I have long said that we need a museum showcasing DRFC history and I am happy to be part of the project that will see this turned into a reality. Barry Watson, Steve Uttley and myself have built a great archive of items and photographs that deserves to be seen by fans.”

Fiona Spiers, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund Yorkshire and The Humber, said: “This project will stir memories and emotions for fans, former players and families who have been involved with the Rovers over the years. It will record a history that shows the impact of the club on the community that has lived with and supported it.”

We are now at the research stage of the project and the Foundation and Club, with Tony Bluff, the internet and football history resources we are gathering the information/imagery that will go onto the timeline.

AFTER Christmas we are planning to conduct player, staff and fan interviews, so we are urging any avid Doncaster Rovers fans of new and old to be a part of it. If you would like to be interviewed, or feel you have any interesting stories about anything Doncaster Rovers, we would like to get in touch with you! Please call 01302 764663 or email Nicola Moran, Community Officer on nicola.moran@doncasterroversfoundation.co.uk. Or if you have any memorabilia that you would like to donate, please get in touch and be a part of the history!   

[Chris Black come back]

This is fantastic. What a coup to get funding for this. Really looking forward to seeing the end result. Well done to all involved.

[RedRover45]

Fantastic idea. Long overdue.

[scaley back rover]

great stuff this sounds like an excellant project

[Dutch Uncle]

Absolutely brilliant - fantastic news - and in great hands from our side. Congratulations to all.

Mind you when I read the thread title I thought the Wing Commander was involved somewhere................

[PDX_Rover]

Chocks away....

[roversdude]

Yep I thought it was about wing commander Peter

[hoolahoop]

Superb I can't wait to see and hopefully be a part somewhere of the end result.

[rover-n-out]

Me too Hoola, looking forward to seeing the finished Timeline.
A fantastic way to let fans old and new see how our great club has progressed over the years.
A big thank you to everyone who was involved in getting this project started. 
 

[wing commander]

Well Heritage project is a great name...;-) The Peter Heritage project would have been even better..lol A great initiative though and fantastic that its in the concources..Theres plenty of space to fill in those so its not going to be a small undertaking but well pleased...

[hoolahoop]

Seems like a daft question but will there be a complete story on all 3 home sides ? Sorry meant a complete story in each one ?

[wing commander]

I doubt there that far forward at this stage Hoola...

[wilts rover]

Well we have 130= years of history to cover so I would hope they would use all 4 sides for something different. What they could do is duplicate it on the interactives. Having plenty of experience with those things lets also hope they have enough in the budget for on going maintenance of them, as the only guarantee you get is they will break down at some point.

What I would do is have the same introductory panel, with the other three areas in miniature and then the area for that concourse exploded. Then you would have a 'taster' of what is elsewhere.

[Muttley]

I'd steer clear of "interactives".

Any museum you go to with interactive exhibits invariably has a cloud of disappointment hanging over it as the buttons have been hammered to death by enthusiastic kids or somebody's unplugged the screen so they can hoover the changing rooms.

If there's a desire to have some moving images to keep those with ADHD happy, then how about a selection of Rovers highlights on a loop?

[River Don]

Sounds like a good idea, it might go a small way to giving the stadium a bit of character.

I'd agree about interactives, bound to fail regularly, particularly if they're in a busy space. I'd be careful about video too, it could become very repetitive and annoying if it uses audio when it's in a public space like the concourse, it'd be better suited to a museum area. For the concourses, I'd suggest printed boards and things mounted in cases/frames. Spot lighting could help make it all look a bit more special.

[Bristol Red Rover]

I think it should work on two levels, impact/art and narrative/detail. Off the top of my head, very large iconic images (including the Sarge v Joey Barton one ) spanning the whole history would dominate, and at head height various illustrated stories (can be some longer, but mainly a couple of sentences) are there for those who want to look closer.

Some of the older images could be photoshopped into having something approaching natural colour, or coloured in an impact/arty way. It's very easy to see the distant past as some ghostly grey period, I hope we can get past this.

The successes of recent years should feature, but only because they are successes, not because they are recent.

[Wokingviking]

Superb initiative!

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Again, I think this goes to show the club isn't paying lip service to the ideas put to them.

Through talking to Gavin and Shaun, in addition to the feedback from S_M, they genuinely want the stadium to be the best it can be and realise, especially from the feedback from fans, that it fell far short of somewhere we could call home and be proud of.

 

[Chris Black come back]

Hope we are not going to see John Ryan airbrushed out of this like the BBC were reporting of that North Korean bloke.

Whatever transient petty enmities some may hold against Ryan, he is a colossus in the history of our club and should be given centre stage in this project.

[silent majority]

CBCB,

It's a Heritage project not a conspiracy project. It's also being put together by fans and historians.

[Chris Black come back]

To the extent that was reassurance, thank you SM.