We are delighted that, Sue Kerfoot and Paul Lincoln, collected the East of England Regional Marsh Award for all the garden volunteers at Gainsborough’s House.

The British Museum and the Marsh Charitable Trust announced the winners of the 2022 volunteer awards on Monday 2 October 2023, celebrating the work and achievements of museum volunteers across the UK.

The British Museum and the Marsh Charitable Trust have been working in partnership for the fifteenth year of the ‘Volunteers for Museum Learning’ award which recognises the hugely important contribution that volunteers make to help museums engage with their visitors.

The ‘Volunteers for Museum Learning’ award forms part of a programme of awards presented by the Marsh Charitable Trust in the fields of science, ecology, conservation, heritage, literature and volunteering.

Each one of these awards recognises individuals and organisations who devote their lives to improving the world today and in the future. The Marsh Awards programme is managed in association with key partners including the Zoological Society of London, English Heritage, Barnardo’s, the Refugee Council and the British Museum.

The aim of the ‘Volunteers for Museum Learning’ award is to recognise those volunteers who engage directly with museum visitors in any capacity. This could involve leading a school group, helping with family activities, running a guided tour or any number of other ways in which volunteers provide support to museum visitors.

Sarah Saunders, Head of Learning and National Partnerships at the British Museum, said:

Volunteering brings so many benefits to the nation’s museums and galleries and the communities they serve, helping to promote health and well-being, and learning and enjoyment. Volunteering brings so many benefits to those people who generously give their time freely, from making new friends to gaining confidence in a new skill. I’m sure that this year’s Marsh Awards winners will inspire new volunteer projects giving people across the country increased opportunities to get involved in supporting their local museum.

The winners each receive a cash prize of £500, donated by the Marsh Charitable Trust. The one overall national winner receives an additional £2,000.

The winners for the 2022 Volunteers for Museum Learning are:

National Winners The Preservative Party, Leeds City Museum, Leeds @presparty

Scotland Bronwyn Close, Scottish Maritime Museum @Scotmaritime

North East & North West The Celebrate Different collective, Sunderland Culture. @SundCulture

Yorkshire The Preservative Party, Leeds City Museum, Leeds. @presparty

East Midlands Chatty Café Team at Wilderspin & National School Museum, Barton upon Humber.

West Midlands The Diglis Island Guides, Canal & River Trust, Worcester. @SevernUnlocked

Wales (Joint Winners) St Asaph Cathedral Heritage Garden Team, St Asaph. Elliott Attwood, Firing Line Museum, Cardiff. @FiringLine

East of England Sue Kerfoot and Paul Lincoln, Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury. @GainsboroughsHouse

South West Alan Vowles, Avon and Somerset Police and Fire Headquarters, Portishead. @ASPolice

South East Landing Craft Tank 7074 Volunteer Tour Guides, The D-Day Story, Portsmouth. @TheDDayStory

London  Research and design volunteers, Sculptures of Crystal Palace Park project, Invisible Palace, London. @invispalace

Northern Ireland Mervyn Hall, The Inniskillings Museum.