The Oldham Rugby League Heritage Trust was formed by a group of supporters who first met in 1995 to discuss the players to be inducted into the Oldham Rugby League Club’s Hall of Fame.

At that time it was realised that in and around the town there was a number of people who owned representative caps, medals, and other awards won by Oldham players from bygone eras, some of whom wished to donate those items to the ‘Hall of Fame’.

To protect the ownership of this collection and at the same time ensure it was kept available for generations of Oldhamers to come, the Trust, under the guidance of Gallery Oldham, the Charity Commission and solicitor Tim Hughes was formed.

Most of the items in the collection have been donated or left with us on a long term loan basis but from time to time the Trust will bid for Oldham related items at auction, again in an attempt to either keep them in the Borough or bring them back to town. For instance, the Challenge Cup winners medal won by test forward Albert Brough when Oldham beat Swinton 26-7 in the 1927 final, was tracked down to an auction in Ludlow, Shropshire, a bid of £630 by the Trust protecting its future. A collection of four medals, including his 1907 Challenge Cup runners-up medal and two caps awarded to Oldham’s Cumberland born Edwardian half back William Dixon were bought at two separate auctions in Yorkshire for just under £1,000.

We didn’t get them all. A pre-Northern Union Lancashire cap won by Oldham’s Sam Lees came under the hammer at an auction held at Kempton Racecourse some three years ago. Lees was purported to be the central figure in the famous W. B. Woolen portrait that hangs in the boardroom of the R.F.U. at Twickenham depicting a Roses match of the early 1880’s. The Trust, the Rugby League and the museum of the English Rugby Union, the ‘Twickenham Experience’, were all outbid for the cap, which was then exported to South Africa.

As a result of the Trust’s endeavours the people of Oldham now have access to one of the best collections of rugby club memorabilia in the world.
From time-to-time the trust will engage in various fund raising activities to enable it to go about its business, each of which will be covered on this site. So will other non-fundraising activities.The Trust’s chairman is Mick Harrop and the Trustees Tim Hughes, Michael Turner, Brian Walker and David Whitehead. All five are Roughyeds fans of long standing.

If you require any further information whilst this site is under construction, please feel free to email