The first project, History and Heritage of Wallsend Boys Club, will publish a book telling the club’s history which spans over a century. The second, Durham Amateur Football Trust’s Youth Development, will work with young volunteers and digitise precious and rare historic pinks*

Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in the North East, Ivor Crowther, said: "These fantastic projects not only capture the North East’s wealth of football history, but also play a pivotal role in the social lives of young people throughout the region. They will provide them with valuable opportunities to get involved, learn valuable skills and play an active role in conserving and promoting these inspiring histories that are their heritage.”

History and Heritage of Wallsend Boys Club
This youth organisation has had many well known members over the years including footballers who have gone on to play at a professional level including Alan Shearer, Michael Carrick, Peter Beardsley, Steve Bruce and even musician Sting to name only a few. HLF has awarded the club over £36,000 to publish a book detailing its rich 107 year history. It will contain fascinating stories, facts and images detailing over a century of its existence.

The project will focus on the club and its impact on the local community dating back to when it was started by the Swan Hunter Shipbuilders in 1904. The project will allow around 2,500 local primary school children to learn about the history of the club as part of the curriculum. Through local care homes and other members of the older generation they will have the opportunity to record these people’sgreat memories. In addition, the club will deliver a series of workshops to other members of the community sharing their stories of the club.

Newcastle legend Alan Shearer, commented on the funding, saying: "It was actually because Wallsend already had such a positive history and heritage that my School Master, Jimmy Nelson, recommended me to join them when I was a young lad. So I think it is fantastic that this rich history is eventually going to be recorded in a book with the valuable support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. I am sure there will be enormous interest in how this Club has played such a valuable role in the lives of so many Tyneside youngsters, while at the same time consistently producing so many quality footballers over the decades. I’m certainly looking forward to reading the whole history."

Manchester United’s Michael Carrick, said:“I started going to the Boys Club when I was 5 years old on a Saturday night playing 5-a-side football, and later on 4 nights a week and was on the members committee. The Boys Club is doing great work regarding the positive futures of the young people in the community.”

“I would like to thank the Heritage Lottery Fund for their financial assistance in helping to publish this book and for keeping the heritage of the Boys Club going for the foreseeable future.”

The books co-authors Vince Carrick and Michael McGill, jointly said**: "In 2003 we were asked by the committee to produce a booklet on the history of Wallsend Boys Club. With help from local press, former members, a number of founder members from 1938 that came forward, photos, documents, programmes including visiting local studies centres, history societies, archive centres and the archives of the local press, we soon built up a large dossier of invaluable information. Without the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund, our 107 years of fascinating history would be lost to the public domain"

Youth Development
Durham Amateur Football Trust (DAFT), has also been awarded an HLF grant of £32,600 to develop and work with a group of young volunteers who will help conserve and exhibit historic football memorabilia. The funding will also digitise rare collections of sporting pinks* that could otherwise deteriorate and be lost forever.

The project will focus on the ‘golden age’ of amateur football dating between the 1940s to 1960s in County Durham. The voluntary-run community group will engage and train more young volunteers between 13 - 25 to sustain the county’s football heritage. Through taking part in the project, the young people will learn a wide range of heritage skills enabling them to care for, catalogue and promote these collections. The collections will also be used as a learning resource for high school students.

John Phelan, on behalf of DAFT, said: “Over the past few years the Trust has acquired a vast amount of memorabilia from the era, unfortunately the people involved are aging and we feel it is essential that a new generation takes on the task of keeping the wonderful football and social history memories alive. We are indebted to the Heritage Lottery Fund for providing the funding to enable us to progress our youth development work.”

Notes to editors

* Rare sporting pinks – Rare and valuable Saturday evening sporting newspapers produced in Darlington, Co. Durham.

** The book is compiled with the help of Margaret Scott of Tyne Metropolitan College.

Brian Fitzgerald of Wallsend Boys Club can be contacted to order copies.

Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported 30,000 projects, allocating £4.5billion across the UK. To date HLF has awarded over £12,4000,000 in North Tyneside and just under £40,000,000 in County Durham.

Shaping the future – for heritage, for everyone
Have your say – HLF’s three-month consultation on the future of Lottery funding for heritage is now live on our website.

All views given will help shape HLF’s strategy from 2013 to 2019. This is people’s chance to tell us what they think we should continue to do and what we should do differently.
To respond to the consultation and to view the video until 26 April 2011. 

There are two questionnaires available on-line. If you work within the heritage sector or community organisations in a professional capacity and would like to contribute to the full consultation, please fill in longer questionnaire. If you are a member of the public and wish to express your personal views on HLF funding in the future, please fill in the less detailed public questionnaire.

Wallsend Boys club
We are a Registered Charity with a mission and wider aspirations for the future, run by volunteers who organise and administer the activities of the club.

We organise youth football in the North Tyneside community, including 5-a-side leagues at our premises in Wallsend and representative 11-a-side teams based at Bigges Main, Wallsend. www.wallsendboysclub.org

Durham Amateur Football Trust, ‘Celebrating the Golden Age of Soccer’
The 1940's and 50's are acknowledged as the high point of Amateur Football in England, and in particular Durham County, with teams from the area selling out Wembley Stadium and winning the F.A. Amateur Cup on numerous occasions.

Durham Amateur Football Trust is a not-for-profit organisation that seeks to celebrate the rich football heritage of the north-east of England and promote interest in grass-roots sport by curating exhibitions, film nights and ‘talk-ins’, football tournaments and other events.

The Trust currently has a permanent base at Shildon Locomotion Museum. www.thedaft.org.uk

Further information

Robert Smith, HLF Press Office on 020 7591 6245 or roberts@hlf.org.uk

Brian Fitzgerald, Wallsend Boys Club on 0191 262 3051 or fitzgerald224@btinternet.com

John Phelan, Durham Amateur Football Trust on 01388 768551 or john.mphelan@yahoo.co.uk