Malcolm Doolin Award for Local History Research 2025-2026: the results are in!

27 July 2026

Our annual competition inviting schools to research what the First World War meant to their community attracted a record number of registrations and some outstanding, original entries. Entries came from as far afield as Scotland, Cornwall, the Republic of Ireland as well as places in between. The judges had a very difficult time making their final decisions.

Huge congratulations go to our primary and secondary school winners Newbold Primary School, Binfield, Berkshire and Penair Secondary School, Truro, Cornwall who each win £500.

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90036E98 271D 434F 9D02 2FEC128B8491 Edit — Newbold’s project.

Newbold’s project was led by teacher Maria Gogarty, the History Lead at the school. Like many schools, their starting point was the local war memorial but as the project grew, they researched family histories and the places around the village that had been important in the war such as the hospital and brickworks. Finally they created a walking guide to the village to share their research with visitors. Their project culminated in and exciting open evening which was exceptionally well attended by families, local councillors, other members of the community and by their Western Front Association link Barbara Taylor.

29985631 D9AC 4F0A 962B BBD7A659F311 Edit — Part of Newbold’s project.

Judges were impressed by how inclusive the project was as it involved all Key Stage 2 children as well as some even younger pupils. It was a project that had started relatively small but grew into a comprehensive view of the experience of war in a small village.

The same might be said of Penair School’s project which was undertaken by the school’s extraordinary history club, led by their teacher Tina Turuelo. They took as their theme “Beneath the Battlefields – Cornish Miners and the Underground War 1914-1919”.

Cid 19E87bb66c2c0c987621 Edit — Penair School’s history club.

The students had clearly become skilled in using primary sources to inform their research and produced a number of biographies of those who went to war and those who stayed at home. Particularly poignant are the stories of those who survived the war only to be killed in the Levant Mine disaster.

Students also compiled technical booklets such as on rationing and tunnelling. They shared their work through an accomplished assembly and created a portable display destined for the local museum. They had also managed to trace some of the descendants of the miners who shared family memorabilia with them and with whom the school shared its final outcomes. Their Western Front link Rocky Salmon was a constant source of advice and encouragement. Judges were bowled over by the sophistication of the research underpinning this project.

IMG 3884 Edit — Penair School’s project.

Congratulations are also due to our second prize winners St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Leek, Staffordshire, their teacher, Mollie Tomkinson and WFA link Mike Akerman as well as to The Sweyne Park School, led by Lucy Dymock, supported by Alistair Hollington. Runners up winning £50 each are the Mary Russell Special School, Dumfries and Galloway led by Emma Kane, supported by Gary Guess and The Ursuline School, Tipperary led by Aoife Whelan.