Geoffrey Ball, a regular contributor to the Saffron Walden Historical Journal, has been awarded a prestigious national prize by the British Association for Local History. The photograph shows him receiving the prize from David Hey at the BALH agm in Birmingham in June.
Geoffrey, who lives in Saffron Walden, received the BALH Publications Award 2015 in the short article category. The article, published in the Autumn 2013 issue of the Journal, explored the history of the WW2 agricultural committee in the town and district, the so-called ‘War Ag’, based on the rare survival of its records in the Town Library.
Journal Editor, Jacqueline Cooper, commented: ‘There are very few awards for local historians, so this one matters – it’s from the British Association of Local History for the best short article in a local history journal. We are so pleased for him – Geoffrey has been one of our most prolific contributors ever since the Journal first started, and it is good to see his excellent research and writing recognised in this way.’
Geoffrey specialises in the history of agriculture and associated trades and has written a large number of articles for the Journal over many years, some of which are gathered together in the SWHS Publications volume, Land Agriculture & Industry, on sale at the TIC in Saffron Walden.