'Life with the Lionesses' The Exhibition - Guest Blog from Pontefract Museum
Posted: 21/03/23
We are thrilled to be hosting Life with the Lionesses at Pontefract Museum and very proud and honoured to be the first venue to display the exhibition for an extended period. The pop-up exhibition was specially re-imagined to suit our gallery and opened on 14th November 2022, just in time for the Rugby League World Cup finals weekend. The exhibition will be staying with us until National Sporting Heritage Day on 30th September 2023 and we have lots of exciting plans for events over the next few months.
Perfect match
At Wakefield Museums & Castles, our programming theme for 2022-2023 is women’s stories. We first discovered the Women in Rugby League project whilst researching for this theme and were immediately keen to find out more. It very quickly became apparent that there was an amazing opportunity for us to collaborate. Rugby league is such an important part of life and local identity in our district but we hadn’t previously explored the women’s game in our displays. This was an oversight we were eager to resolve, especially when we discovered that so many of the pioneering Lionesses either came from or had played in the Wakefield district. It felt like the exhibition was a perfect fit for Pontefract Museum.
History makers unhidden
Working together with the project’s designer, our team adapted the exhibition graphics to fit our space. A timeline of trailblazing achievements, covering a century of previously hidden history spans the length of the gallery.
The exhibition also showcases several star objects from the Women in Rugby League archive, kindly lent by Heritage Quay, University of Huddersfield – the first time that these have been on public display. Our curators were lucky enough to visit the archive and enjoyed unearthing treasures to display. They include a team tracksuit, jersey and suit belonging to Jackie Sheldon, which take centre stage in our exhibition gallery. Jackie played for Wakefield Panthers before becoming Great Britain’s Assistant Coach and later Head Coach.
Local legends
It was our privilege to welcome Jackie and other local Lionesses to a special celebration event in December. We loved seeing the women enjoying the exhibition and celebrating their amazing achievements together. Some of the Lionesses even received their international caps at the event and we heard their inspiring stories in a fascinating Q&A session. It was emotional to hear how much the sport and the recognition from the Life with the Lionesses project has clearly meant to the women.
Passion and pride
The exhibition is a brilliant tribute to the Lionesses and a revealing snapshot of their ground-breaking journey, from fundraising for their inaugural tour to playing on an equal stage with their male counterparts. The words of the women themselves bring their story to life. As some of our visitors put it:
‘it’s impressive what they’ve achieved and their passion’
‘it’s nice to see the long way that they have come’
‘it’s good to see they are getting more recognition’
Working with Women in Rugby League has been brilliant and we’re looking forward to continuing our partnership. We hope the Life with the Lionesses exhibition will encourage other local women to come forward and tell us their experiences of watching or playing rugby league, and perhaps we’ll inspire the Lionesses of the future!
