The Our Sporting Life initiative, which has been put together by a group of leading sports museums for the Sports Heritage Network, aims to use venues all over the country to mount a core display  which celebrates British sporting history alongside local sporting exhibits.

The best of the community offerings will then be included in a major exhibition that will be held in London to mark the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

The Henley exhibition, which runs from March 15 until July 11, combines items such as a football used in the 1908 Olympics and a rowing gold medal won at the 2000 Olympics by Ben Hunt-Davis with Henley Royal Regatta’s Grand Challenge Cup and memorabilia from local sporting clubs including Henley Town FC and Henley Rugby Club.

There are also recorded interviews with local sporting figures, including double Paralympic swimming champion Graham Edmunds.

Each Our Sporting Life exhibition will feature a similar balance of national treasures - such as the Ashes Urn, the Calcutta Cup or the football from the 1966 World Cup final - and local items.

Communities will be invited to provide further items of interest or sporting memories to supplement the original displays.

Our Sporting Life Henley was opened by Roy Clare, the chief executiv of the  Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and Malcolm Leonard, the chairman of South Oxfordshire District Council, with Edmunds and former world and British Mountain Bike Champion Rob Warner, both from the area. 

International trial bikers Jack Meek and Nick Goddard, from Henley, performed tricks and stunts in the museum’s galleries to mark the occasion.

"Our Sporting Life is an exciting example of the bond between sport, culture and people," said Clare.

"An innovative and stimulating evocation of the Olympian ideal.

"Linking creative organisations across the country, Our Sporting Life presents a wide range of opportunities for engaging the public and inviting the participation of individuals and communities.

"The various activities will make a substantial contribution to the festivities that will infuse the Cultural Festival being planned in conjunction with the London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games."

Paul Mainds, the chairman of Our Sporting Life steering committee and chief executive officer for the River & Rowing Museum, commented: "Our Sporting Life Henley sets the template and will be developed by the hundred exhibitions to come around the country.  

"I believe that, with the support that we now have from the MLA and from the other museums in the Sports Heritage Network, we can look forward to a fantastic series of exhibitions across the country over the next two years and remarkable national Our Sporting Life exhibition in 2012."

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