Today sees the official National Lottery Heritage Fund public announcement confirming the exciting news that the Lancashire Cricket Foundation, in partnership with Lancashire Cricket, has been awarded an initial £176,650 to initiate a project which aims to transform Emirates Old Trafford into a year-round heritage site, highlighting Lancashire Cricket’s pivotal role in the community for over 160 years.
The Lancashire Cricket Heritage Experience, which includes the development of a purpose-built interactive Heritage Hub and vibrant Outreach Programme, will look to safeguard, promote and celebrate the sporting and cultural heritage of Lancashire Cricket and cricket across Lancashire.
This initial grant will allow us to pilot a range of activities over the next 12 months in preparation for a more detailed Delivery Stage application which will be developed, following further consultation, and submitted in Q4 of 2025.
Key aims of the project:
- Inspiring our communities through cricket: Engage with local, regional, national and international communities that would not normally visit traditional museum and heritage offers.
- Education and learning: Maximise the learning opportunities offered by cricket to enhance the educational outcomes and life chances of children and young people.
- Making our collections more accessible: Provide public access to our significant archive items, together with supporting media and film in an imaginative, interactive heritage experience that will widen inclusion, access and participation in heritage.
How we will achieve our aims:
- Heritage Hub: Providing a brand-new Heritage Hub situated on the ground floor of the new hotel extension which will feature heritage collections, immersive technology, cinematic space, interactive displays, oral histories and hands on exhibits. The Hub will showcase the pivotal role Lancashire Cricket and the ground has played in the community for over 160 years.
- Heritage Trail: Developing a Heritage Trail incorporating the whole stadium, by extending displays into the Pavilion (the existing Members’ area) and onto the second floor of the Player & Media Centre, and transforming the concourse areas at the ground, tunnels and outdoor space to reflect key heritage events and stories and enhance the Heritage Hub experience.
- Outreach Programme: Delivering an Outreach Programme which will incorporate a mobile heritage vehicle and online/virtual offer to take Lancashire Cricket out to targeted schools and communities across the County, widening inclusion, access and participation to heritage.
- Upgrade the existing Lancashire Cricket Library to make the space more welcoming and accessible to all, creating an archive room and safe storage space for artefacts.
Consultation with Lancashire Cricket members and the wider community has been an integral part of the development process to date. With over 750 responses received from members to the initial consultation questionnaire and membership representation on the Project Management group, we will continue to ensure that further consultation shapes our plans moving forward and endeavour to communicate these at every opportunity.
For further information on the project please contact:
Sandy Mitchell,
Head of Heritage & Community Wellbeing,
Lancashire Cricket Foundation,
[email protected]
Included is a conceptual design / plan for the project which was submitted as a key part of the application; please note that at this stage this is just to provide an indication of how the project could look rather than a final design.