Hull FC support Jack Harrison statue campaign

A few weeks ago I wrote an article detailing my campaign to have a statue of Hull FC club record holder and Challenge Cup winner Jack Harrison VC MC erected in the city centre of his hometown, now I can tell you that Hull FC have expressed great support for this campaign and a very special event we’re planning for later this year.

In my previous article I told you that we had applied for National Lottery Heritage Funding, to help us fund the Jack Harrison immersive experience, unfortunately we were turned down for funding on some very small technicalities, however that was far from the end of the line for this project.

A few weeks ago I spoke to our Grants Officer there, and she informed me that they basically do want us to get this project off the ground, she told me to reapply for funding and she assigned an advisor to me, to help me reapply, the advisor duly rang me and informed me what I need to do next, to make sure our next application is successful.

The advice I was given was to make sure I gathered evidence of the support people have for our campaign and the immersive experience, I was particularly told to get evidence of support from interested parties such as Hull FC, who I spoke to the same day.

James Price, the Head of the Community Foundation at Hull FC assured me of the club’s willingness to support the campaign and make the immersive experience happen.

Since then I applied to a locally based fund called the Chamber Culture Fund in Hull, again unfortunately we were knocked back. However now we have something we didn’t have before, which is evidence of the support of Hull FC.

On Friday afternoon, an email arrived in my inbox from James Price, with a PDF file attached, that file was a letter from Hull FC, detailing their support for the Jack Harrison VC MC Statue Campaign and the immersive experience, which personally I would like as many rugby league supporters of any club, to visit when it’s up and running, so they can learn more about the remarkable life of the man himself.

In the letter Hull FC state that they will supply us with £5000 worth of advertising for free across all the clubs platforms including their social media, website, TV Channel FC Live, in the monthly match day magazine and on the big screen at the KCOM Stadium for all their home games.

There is also an agreement to store all the display materials at their community foundation, and to use them at events such as their popular Hull&Proud Week and Heritage Week.

They finish by stating their deep commitment to the statue campaign and the immersive experience, and making both a great success.

While Hull FC and York City Knights fans are bound to take great interest in this, I personally would like to think that the whole of the #RLFamily will get behind this initiative, and come and support it so that, in the not too distant future, we can all celebrate the outstanding achievements of a true rugby league hero, who left a legacy on this great game and our country, which still stands proud to this day, over a century after his untimely passing!

We all know that rugby league loves a hero, I believe this rugby league legend defined the word hero, and I hope you all agree with me?