02nd March 2022

National award for our latest book

We're delighted to announce that we've won yet another national award for our work. This is our fourth award in four years, but the first for one of our publications. Our book Nunnery Lane and Clementhorpe: Exploring old shops and pubs in York, published last September, has been judged joint winner of the Best Community Publication in 2021, in the national CILIP Alan Ball Local History Awards.* 

Anne Houson, our Chair, said “We’re delighted about this, a worthy reward for the hard work carried out by our researchers.”

One of our major activities in sharing the stories of local people has  focused on the history of local shops and trading, as many were and are still independent. Our series of books on this theme was launched in 2018, following successful pitches to public funding bodies, including support for outreach work. These books have proved very popular, both locally and further afield.

We carried on researching material for the Nunnery Lane book during the 2020/21 pandemic restrictions, despite the closure of Clements Hall. Between lockdowns, to reach new groups, we used a pub, the Trafalgar Bay in Nunnery Lane, as a ‘local history hub’. We held beer garden sessions to share memories, and launched the book there in September 2021.

Susan Major of the Group said “Our book has attracted some excellent reviews too, which noted the illustrations and the quality of production, at a reasonable price, with 142pp, 112 illustrations, three maps and an index.”

“This beautifully produced, well-illustrated book is a model worth emulating” (Local History News, published by the British Association for Local History).

“A must for anyone interested in the history of York”. (YAYAS Times (Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeological Society)

The book is on sale price £8 locally at Pextons, Frankie and Johnny’s Cookshop, Fred’s Bakery, The Trafalgar Bay and The Winning Post, and in town at Waterstones.

It is also available by mail order, contact clemhallhistory@gmail.com.

Notes

*These awards were established by the Library Services Trust in 1985, to encourage local history publishing by public libraries and local authorities. They are now organised by the Local Studies Group of CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals), the UK's chartered body representing the library and information profession. The Alan Ball Awards were named after Alan W. Ball, a former Chief Librarian of the London Borough of Harrow, and author of many local history publications. Their awards are open to all heritage and community organisations involved with some aspect of local history and who receive or have received public funding, such as lottery funding. As well as local authority libraries, archives, museum and archaeology services, this includes small local museums, heritage centres and community history projects. The History Group was eligible because of funding to support their publications from the Council’s Micklegate Ward Fund.

Last year we won the ‘Community Engagement’ category in the Community Archives and Heritage Group (CAHG) awards. The judges noted the wide range of activities that we employed to reach a wide audience, and commented on how well we continued to maintain our community links through lockdown. CAHG is a subgroup of the Archives and Records Association (UK & Ireland), the sector’s leading professional and membership body.

In 2018 we were highly commended in the CILIP Alan Ball Award Best Digital category, for website work on our World War 1 project. Also that year we won the Community Archives and Heritage Group Award for Excellence for our digital work.