Harness heritage collection grand opening set for Friday

A treasure trove of Victoria’s rich harness racing history will be officially unveiled to the public this Friday.

The grand opening of the Victorian Harness Racing Heritage Collection will take place during the Bendigo Trotters Cup meeting at Lord’s Raceway.

With a vision to collect, preserve, share and celebrate the history of Victorian harness racing, the VHRHC includes trophies, photos, driver colours, records, rugs, membership badges, sulkies, books, race programs, magazines and much more.

Bendigo Harness Racing Club general manager Erik Hendrix paid tribute to Norm West and the late Noel Ridge for establishing and managing the collection, which also includes an online component.

“It has been a gathering of items over probably 10 years or more,” Hendrix said.

“It started up with the late Noel Ridge and Norm West, who were collecting at home and their collections got too big.

“They moved to Bendigo and it has just continued to evolve over the last 10 years to what we have today.

“A lot of the items have been donated and passed down from family to family, and we’re lucky enough to have it now stored at this beautiful facility for people to view.”

The opening of the Victorian Harness Racing Heritage Collection will take place from 6.30pm on Friday.

For more information, visit the Bendigo Harness Racing Club’s Facebook page or contact the club on 5449 3205.

CHECK OUT THE VICTORIAN HARNESS RACING HERITAGE COLLECTION BELOW:

by Tim O’Connor, for HRV