The Bradford Bulls Foundation has appealed for memories and memorabilia as part of a £200,000 heritage project focusing on Odsal Stadium.

The Past Times project, launched yesterday, aims to collect archive material and information about a range of past events at the stadium, and not just Rugby League.

The project aims to show the stadium’s lesser-known story which played a key role within the fabric of the community, focusing in particular between 1934 and 1966.

Traditionally known as one of the UK’s top homes of Rugby League, the stadium also played host to a variety of sports from cricket to speedway, baseball and showjumping.

It was also home, during the Second World War, to Dig for Britain and the Air Raid Communications Centre for the North.

Bradford Bulls Foundation chairman Ryan Duckett said: “We have got a massive amount of memorabilia and we have talked to people in the community who have great memories.

“There’s a massive amount of history and a lot of stuff has gone on here which has played a great part in the city’s sporting, cultural and social life since 1934.”

Mr Duckett said the project could include exhibitions featuring photos, memorabilia and film footage of events held at the stadium over the years.

He said: “A lot of it has been at the club for a while, and over the years people have added certain things.

“We are hoping, as part of this project, we can unearth more objects which are out there.”

John Mason, trustee of the Bradford Bulls Foundation, said: “We want to get people talking about their memories and hopefully bring to us things like programmes connected to events here beyond Rugby League.”

The project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, will see the West Yorkshire Archives Service and Huddersfield University work with the foundation to deliver the three-year scheme.

It will offer volunteering and learning opportunities for people of all ages.

Fiona Spiers, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Yorkshire and Humber region, said it took 4,265,525 lottery tickets to fund the £199,200 project.

She said: “Bradford is one of our development areas – we are looking for projects in Bradford which encourage the community.

“We try to spread the lottery payers’ money back to lottery payers, so everybody gets a fair share of it, and Bradford hadn’t. So we’ve been working actively in the city to promote more projects.”

For more details, or to offer memories or memorabilia to the project, e-mail john.downes@bradfordbulls.co.uk, or martin.bass@bradfordbulls.co.uk.