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In 2014-2015 The Radcliffe Trust commemorated the 300th anniversary of its establishment by Dr John Radcliffe of Oxford.  As part of its Tercentenary, the Trust celebrated the achievements of the many extraordinary organisations and individuals it has supported over the years with the Balfour of Burleigh Tercentenary Prizes for Exceptional Achievement in Crafts.

These prizes were named in honour of Lord Balfour of Burleigh who retired as a Trustee in 2014 after 40 years’ distinguished service to The Radcliffe Trust and, in particular, to the Trust’s Heritage & Crafts programme.  Sadly, Lord Balfour died on 18^th September 2019 and is greatly missed by fellow Trustees and many in the Heritage and Craft sectors that he so loved.

Radcliffe Trust grantee organisations were invited to nominate individuals they felt had demonstrated exceptional achievement in crafts and excellence in a particular field. For our purposes, by the term Crafts we intend the whole sector currently covered by the Radcliffe Trust Heritage & Crafts grants programme: designer-making, heritage crafts, rural crafts, building crafts, conservation crafts and artefact conservation.

We received a wonderful response to this call.  All the letters spoke of excellence and expressed the exceptional dedication, skills and achievements of the individuals concerned in all fields of crafts and conservation.  They also spoke with moving warmth and respect of their colleagues. This was a tribute both to the individuals and to the organisations who have supported and nominated them.

Given the very high standard of the nominations, the Trustees recognise that to have received a nomination constitutes, of itself, an outstanding distinction and all nominees have received certificates of excellence to mark their achievements. In addition to this, a number of special prizes were presented in person by Lord and Lady Balfour at a celebratory dinner held in London on 24^th November.  Sir Christopher Frayling was our special guest and toasted the health of the Radcliffe Trust as it moves into its fourth century of operations.

The Radcliffe trustees offer their thanks to the nominating bodies and their sincere congratulations to all nominees and prize winners.

The nominees were:

* special prizes.

A new composition by Orlando Gough, developed through research in the Respiratory Medicine department at the Churchill Hospital. The composition highlights breath as an essential part of the human life cycle. This new piece of music theatre was performed at The North Wall by three women who sing about breath from birth to death.

www.ocmevents.org

The Bodleian Libraries’ winter 2014 exhibition celebrated the life and legacy of John Radcliffe, a physician and philanthropist who left a lasting mark on the University and city of Oxford.

The exhibition considered his legacy to Oxford, and the three buildings in the city which bear his name: the Radcliffe Infirmary, the Radcliffe Observatory, and the Radcliffe Camera: the first circular library in Britain, and one of the country’s most distinctive and recognisable buildings. The exhibition also looked at Radcliffe’s ongoing legacy in the work of the Radcliffe Trust as it marked the 300th anniversary of his death.

The exhibition ran from 28^th November 2014 to 20^th March 2015.

Link to The Bodleian website for more information.

One of the outcomes of the exploratory Round Table held on 13 July 2010 was the co-organisation, in partnership with the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), of a follow-up event which took place on 24 March 2011 at Mary Ward House in London. This was attended by over 130 organisations from the Heritage and Crafts sectors, including funders, beneficiaries, support agencies and stakeholders.The aim of this day-long conference was to build on and give a much wider airing to the issues raised at the Radcliffe Round Table 2010. Our joint objective was to identify the strong messages that could be taken forward and acted upon, both by HLF and the Radcliffe Trust and by participants themselves.

The day was divided into: Radcliffe Trust and HLF grantee sharing workshops; plenary sessions on Qualifications and Standards, HLF’s future directions on heritage skills and Issues affecting the future of the Heritage and Crafts sector; a concluding Round Table for funders only. As a result of this final discussion amongst funders, a Heritage & Crafts Funders’ Network is now being set up, to be administered initially by The Trust Partnership.

The notes below include comments from participants on the event itself. The most frequently heard of these was that it had been a truly unique event and the first time ever that such a range of people – public and independent funders, support agencies, beneficiaries and fundraisers – had been assembled to work together so successfully.

The following documents provide more detailed information:

i) Summary notes of all the sessions

ii) Appendix 1: written responses to HLF’s skills questions

iii) Qualifications and Credits Framework:

• Explanatory Tables (2)
• Handout

iv) List of attendees

As part of the run-up to its Tercentenary Anniversary in 2014, on 13th July 2010 the Radcliffe Trust organised a Round Table with a number of key players in the Heritage & Crafts sector. The purpose of this exploratory meeting was to open up a constructive dialogue between funders and beneficiaries and to start identifying the main issues affecting the sector as well as ways in which, over time, we can work together to address these.

Nineteen organisations attended the meeting*. These were divided approximately equally between public and independent funders, stakeholders and grant beneficiaries. All participants had provided briefing notes in advance of the meeting, giving background information on their organisations and raising the issues of most concern to them.

The following documents provide more detail on the background, aims and outcomes of this event:

i) Briefing notes from Radcliffe Round Table participating organisations*

ii) Radcliffe Round Table agenda and issues raised

iii) Summary conclusions from Radcliffe Round Table