A £45,000 development grant has been awarded to progress plans for the Museum of Two Halves - the Football Museum for Wales by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Wrexham Council says the award offers them the 'opportunity to secure a further grant of over £2 million' to complete the project.

This means the plans to refurbish the Grade 2 listed Wrexham Museum building to be both a local history museum and a nationally styled football museum with improved facilities and new off-site collections store can now move forward with confidence.

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The grant will help the project team to develop its plan of events, activities and learning programmes that will ensure the new museum will serve not just communities across Wrexham County Borough, but also throughout Wales.

The new Football Museum galleries will provide a permanent display space for the ever growing Welsh Football Collection for the first time since it was established in 2000.

The two-part museum will see the whole two storey building brought back into use increasing its potential as a hub for learning, enjoyment and well-being attracting an estimated 80,000 visitors annually.

Cllr Paul Roberts, Lead Member for Partnerships and Community Safety, said, "This is brilliant news for Wrexham and I look forward to receiving updates on progress and to eventually enjoying visiting the Museum of Two Halves - The Football Museum for Wales and the new Wrexham Museum."

The Leader:

PIC: A birds-eye view of how museum could look once completed.

Cllr Mark Pritchard, Leader of the Council said, "Once again we have reason to celebrate in Wrexham and this excellent news is especially welcome. I would like to thank all the staff involved in bringing the project this far and also the National Lottery Heritage Fund for their recognition of the football sporting heritage in Wales and here in Wrexham - the spiritual home of football."

Andrew White, Director of the National Lottery Heritage Fund in Wales said, “We’re excited to award this development grant to the Museum of Two Halves - the Football Museum for Wales. This investment will allow the Wrexham County Borough Council to develop a plan for the project that they can pitch to us for further funding to deliver on the dream.”

Ian Bancroft, the Chair of the steering group for the project added "The new galleries will capture the passion, the emotion and the experience that football fans have felt for the game ever since the Football Association of Wales (FAW) was formed in 1876 at Wrexham's Wynnstay Arms Hotel. The timing of the project could not be better with the FAWs 150th anniversary in 2026 and the recent qualification of the national football team for the World Cup."