A HAUL of Nat Lofthouse memorabilia will be brought back to the town after Bolton Council splashed out more than £75,000 - with support from partners - on some of the Wanderers legend’s most treasured items at auction today.

Council chiefs drew up a wish list of 16 of Nat’s most prized pieces — including his FA Cup winners’ medal and the ball from the same match — and secured 13 lots, which will now go on permanent display at Bolton Museum.

The council led a consortium, backed by car parking firm NCP and Bolton at Home, to bid for memorabilia at Bonhams in Chester.

They helped finance the council's bid.

The items bought by the council are:

  • 1958 FA Cup winners’ medal - £16,500
  • The shirt and shorts Nat wore in the 1958 final - £9,500
  • The match ball Nat kept after scoring both goals in the 1958 final - £4,200
  • The Lion of Vienna trophy given to Nat when he retired - £4,600
  • The England cap from the 1952 Austria match where he earned his nickname - £4,500
  • His runners-up medal from the iconic 1953 FA Cup final defeat to Stanley Matthews’ Blackpool - £5,000
  • The England shirt he wore against Scotland in 1954/55 – £2,400
  • The cap from a match with the Soviet Union in 1958/59 - £1,500
  • Some telegrams and letters sent to him during his career - £620
  • His OBE medal - £1,400
  • A bronze bust of Nat - £1,900
  • The book he received for appearing on This is Your Life - £2,000
  • A silver basket and scroll given to Nat by Bolton Council when he was awarded Freedom of the Borough - £1,300
  • A signed dinner menu from the 1923 FA Cup final - £1,800
  • A signed shirt from the last Wanderers match at Burnden Park in 1997 - £320.
  • Assorted 1922/23 Bolton Wanderers signatures - £100
  • A grandmother clock presented to Nat in 1951 - £100
  • The programme from the 1958 FA Cup final, plus some assorted others - £200
  • Match programmes from Bolton’s South Africa tour of 1959 - £300

The collection, which charts the former Bolton Wanderers and England player’s impressive career, will be put on permanent display at Bolton Museum.

A special 13-week exhibition in 2011, held not long after Nat’s death, was the museum’s most popular ever exhibition attracting more than 30,000 visitors.

Most of the items on display were loaned to the museum by his family, so when they became available to buy at auction the council and its partners pooled resources to purchase some of the more significant items on offer.

The council’s cabinet member for culture, Cllr Tony Connell, said: “It’s clear that Nat Lofthouse was much loved by many people and his achievements are something that we are all proud of in Bolton.

“When the opportunity arose to buy the memorabilia at auction there was a great wealth of support from the public to try and keep some of that history in his hometown.

“We are fortunate to have a very supportive Friends of Bolton Museum and Art Gallery group who were keen for us to try to obtain some items and we received further support from some of our other partners.

“We are delighted to have been able to secure some of his vast collection and will be arranging for it to be included in our popular Bolton Lives gallery in the museum.”

The consortium is made up of Bolton Council, the Friends of Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, National Car Parks (NCP) and Bolton at Home.

NCP chief executive Jo Cooper said: “We are delighted to have played a part in securing a lasting tribute to Nat Lofthouse, so that he can be remembered by many future generations in Bolton.

“NCP is always happy to get the chance to prove how much we value the local communities that we work in, and it is great that we are able to demonstrate that commitment by helping to bring home this memorabilia.

“We hope everyone enjoys the chance to see the items when they go on display.”

Bolton at Home chief executive Jon Lord said: “We are happy to be playing a part in supporting the retention of a valuable part of Bolton’s history for the benefit of the people in the town.”

Arrangements will be made in the near future to place the items on permanent display.

Read about the auction as it happened in our live blog here.