Sporting life through the ages

SPORTS shoes down the ages — one of the pictures on display

OLDHAM’S rich sporting heritage is being celebrated in a new exhibition at Gallery Oldham.

Young people from Failsworth School and Oldham College are among dozens from across the region to help choose pictures for the display entitled Our Sporting Life.

One of the most popular images was Adrian Turner’s photograph of children playing cricket in a Coldhurst alleyway in 1972.

Students commented that “this shows that you don’t need to be on a team or have all the equipment to play sport” and “this is what it’s about — sport is having fun with your mates.”

The Failsworth School pupils were determined that the exhibition should include sports they enjoy and were keen for a shot of youngsters playing handball, which is increasingly popular in schools and will feature in the 2012 Olympics, to be included.

The exhibition runs in the Gallery’s foyer from Tuesday — the day tickets go on sale for the London Olympics — until April 15.

Young people visited museums and galleries in Oldham, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Wigan to work with museum staff and talk about what sport means to them.

At each venue, objects, stories and photographs have been brought together to celebrate local sporting achievements.