De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) academics and alumni are playing their part in an exhibition celebrating Leicester City’s incredible Premier League triumph.
Fearless Foxes opened at New Walk Museum and Art Gallery this weekend – with more than 1,500 people through the doors on its opening day.
The story of Leicester City’s rise from relegation favourites in March 2015 to Premier League Champions in May has captured imaginations around the world and led to a resurgence of pride and confidence in Leicester.
DMU History graduate Bekki Gooding helped to put together the events programme for the exhibition, which includes talks, poetry, family activities and sports events.
Bekki, who studied the history of women’s football while at DMU – supervised by DMU’s Professor Jean Williams – said: “As part of our role on the front of house team, we put together events throughout the year focusing on different temporary and permanent exhibitions.
“This one has been particularly interesting to do, due to the last minute nature of it and my own love for the topic!”
Using video footage, photographs and memorabilia from an extraordinary season, ‘Fearless Foxes’ will aim to capture the excitement of the 2015-16 campaign – and the impact that the club’s unexpected success has had on the city and its people.
As part of the exhibition, fans will be encouraged to record their emotions and reactions to Leicester City’s extraordinary season and add these personal stories to the growing display.
Prof Williams said: “Rebecca was an enterprising researcher who worked independently and wrote up her findings with care. So it’s no surprise that the same skills are helping her to make the transition into the Museums and Archives sector. I’ve always loved the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery since I saw the Tutankhamun treasures as a kid.
“My personal research interests focus on material culture and ways of presenting history to a wider public, so the #FearlessFoxes exhibition is particularly timely, as it can give a serious consideration of a popular topic. It’s rare that recent history gets this kind of consideration so it’s good to know it’s in capable curatorial hands!”
Prof Williams’ colleague, Dr Neil Carter, of DMU’s International Centre for Sports History and Culture, is in conversation with LCFC’s official historian John Hutchinson on July 24. Dr Carter, who has written for the club magazine for three years, will talk about John’s latest book, From Shed to Stadium.
Dr Dave Dee, senior lecturer in Modern History and History admissions tutor, said: “It’s great to see Rebecca's involvement in such an interesting range of programmes celebrating Leicester City's achievements.
“It’s also really gratifying to see how her studies on the DMU History programme, the curriculum of which allows students to combine interests in 'traditional' History subjects with more innovative offerings such as sports history, have been so useful to her in her career since graduation.'
Fearless Foxes is a partnership between BBC Radio Leicester, the Leicester Mercury, Leicester City FC and Leicester City Council.
Photographs courtesy of Leicester Mercury
Posted on Wednesday 8 June 2016