Biography of an Ancestor Competition - Winners!

Our 50th Anniversary Competition invited entrants to submit a biography of an ancestor. We were thrilled by the number of responses we received (almost 250) and also by the extremely high standard of the entries. It was very hard to pick a winner and a runner up, but after much deliberation we are delighted to announce that the winner of the competition is Mrs Dee Helmore with her biography of her ancestor William Gush. The runner up is Miss Pamela Willing with her biography of James Willing. We will be posting more details of the winners and their biographies, plus details of those who were short listed and highly recommended on our website in the next few weeks. We extend our warmest thanks and congratulations to Dee and Pamela but also to all of you who entered and contributed to what has been a wonderful event. We will be holding a prize winners' ceremony as part of our Open Day on July 21st and all who entered are invited to attend.

The top nine entries are now available online below. Some of the illustrations have been removed due to copyright issues.

The Winner: William Gush - Portrait Painter by Mrs Dee Helmore

The Runner-up: James Willing Junior by Pamela Willing

Other shortlisted entries were:-
Walter Aitchison: His Life by Paul Wigmore
The Story of Ward Swale by Will Swales
A Portrait of Robert Newstead by Jane Swan
And When He Died Strong Men Wept by Virginia Sylvester
No Ordinary Man - Richard Bryant by Patricia Atkins
Alfred Bayles by D.E.A. Tompkins
John Timbrell Milward Pierce by Anna Markham