Heritage fund grant brings Guildhouse archive to life

A priceless 100-year trove of material charting the development of adult education in Rugby has attracted a significant grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The £20,000 plus grant will enable Rugby’s Percival Guildhouse to collate, catalogue, digitise and display its extensive records which reveal how it has developed and how it has reflected changes in society locally and nationally since it first opened on 1925.

Until now material from course programmes, to play scripts, diaries and minutes of meetings has lain undocumented in heaps of boxes in the basement of the St Matthew’s Street Centre. “It was only when we started to look through some of the boxes that we realised what treasures we possessed,” said Liz Pichon, the Trustee at the Guildhouse who is leading the Archive project.

“We consulted the National Archive at an early stage and they confirmed that we had material of national significance. But, we had neither the means nor the finances to transform our treasure into something useful. Working closely with various expert advisers we put together our successful bid to The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

“National Lottery players’ support means that we can now not only preserve all we have for posterity but create a searchable historic resource which can be used by schools, local historians and people who are simply curious about the past.”

Liz worked with fellow Guildhouse volunteers Steve Becker and Peter Harris to conduct the initial sifting of material. With confirmation of the grant, work is now starting in earnest scanning and cataloguing all material, ready for the oldest and most fragile to be digitised professionally in order to protect the archive for future generations.

A website is also being created to give the wider public easy access to the contents of the archives.

“The archives tell many different stories about the Percival Guildhouse and its wider contributions to the heritage of Rugby and surrounding districts,” added Liz Pichon.

“We are planning a series of Heritage Forums for the general public at Rugby Art Gallery & Museum in autumn 2025/spring 2026 to give wider access to this heritage and help people to engage with six main themes relating to the history of the Guildhouse: the Foundation, Courses, Activities, Significant People, Debates and the Guildhouse Players.”

The public can get an initial taste of what the archive has to offer by visiting the Percival Guildhouse Arts & Archive Exhibition at the Gallery from June 4th to 16th June 2025.

“The Percival Guildhouse Archive reveals the rich contribution the Guildhouse has made to local adult education as well as its wider contribution to adult education in this country, to the visual and dramatic arts, and to enhancing the lives of many through its forums, clubs, debates and other activities since its inception in 1925,” commented Rob Close, Chair of Trustees.