The judges of the second year of the IHBC Marsh Awards have met together and carefully assessed the submissions, and are delighted to announce the 2017 IHBC Marsh Award winners:
- Marsh Award for Successful Learning in Heritage Skills
- James Archer (£500 Award), now a construction apprentice with the Canal & River Trust, specialising in masonry skills. James ‘shares his skills with others [and] has given training sessions to the team and volunteer groups around the traditional skills of mixing and working with lime mortars’. He has ‘great passion for the waterways’ while ‘in addition to his paid work at the Trust, he volunteers with the Waterways Recovery Group in his spare time, to help to restore disused/neglected canals around the country’. He ‘has also recently volunteered at the Transylvania Trust, Romania, where he carried out work at Banffy Castle’.
- Marsh Award for Community Contribution (Retired Member)
- Ken Burley (£500 Award), ‘a keen RTPI and IHBC Member’ for his work with the South Yorkshire Buildings Preservation Trust, especially in ‘enabling its talented members to work to their full potential to achieve a successful outcome despite the formidable challenges’.
- Marsh Award for Community Contribution (Retired Member: Highly Commended)
- Edith Gollnast (Exceptional £250 Award): For ‘the meticulous drawing of Oxford’s buildings to illustrate a series of books on heritage walks… the proceeds of the books go towards furthering the work of the Oxford Preservation Trust.’
All three have the chance to attend the IHBC Full School (Residential) in Manchester, 22-24 June, themed on Transport Infrastructure, and valued at up to £500. The programme includes the IHBC’s Annual Dinner where the formal presentations of these well-deserved awards will take place, along with the presentation of the Gus Astley Student Award 2016.
Cash prizes are awarded by the Marsh Christian Trust, while the offer of free places at the 2017 Annual School in Manchester is sponsored by the IHBC.
IHBC President and awards co-judge David McDonald said: ‘It has been a real privilege to have been a judge again for this second year of the IHBC Marsh Awards. Not only have I been able to appreciate the work of a number of the unsung heroes of conservation, but it has also been an extremely positive experience working with the Marsh Christian Trust.’
Brian Marsh, inspiration and behind the Marsh Awards, said: ‘We are pleased to be able to work with IHBC for the second time to deliver these Awards, recognising those who have dedicated a lifetime to heritage conservation and those who are dedicated to heritage learning and development.
The quality and range of nominations was very impressive, showcasing high level technical work and also grassroots contributions to heritage conservation and learning. We hope that in years to come, more and more nominations will be encouraged and we can continue to raise the profile of this important sector.’
Emily Reeves, Trust Manager at the Marsh Christian Trust, reported: ‘It is a pleasure to be working with the IHBC on this Awards partnership to help recognise and promote the exceptional work taking place in heritage conservation and learning.’
‘We were pleased to see that the standard of nominations across both categories was very high and we hope that, as awareness of these Awards grows, more and more nominations will be encouraged every year.’
The next IHBC Marsh Awards will close in 2018, so be sure to start planning your nominations now! For more on the annual IHBC Marsh Awards for community contribution and successful learning see the IHBC Marsh Awards website and for background see the NewsBlogs.
