BAFM Impact Award 2022

Dr. Ken Griffin Co-Chair of The Friends of the Egypt Centre Swansea Receiving the 2022 Impact Award Certificate

Dr. Ken Griffin Co-Chair of The Friends of the Egypt Centre Swansea Receiving the 2022 Impact Award Certificate together with a cheque for £1000

We are delighted to announce that the Friends of The Egypt Centre in Swansea are the winners of this year’s Impact Award.

The Friends successfully supported staff and volunteers to engage digitally with the public during the Covid Pandemic. You can read more about their achievements in the March 2023 edition of the Journal.

The quality of entries was extremely high, and six groups were shortlisted as detailed below.

Runners Up were The Friends of Beamish Museum for their ongoing support and volunteering initiatives

Highly commended were:
The Friends of Lyme Regis Museum for their innovative engagement with a young person which enabled him to produce a promotional video for the museum.

The Friends of Wisbech and Fenland Museum for the multifaceted development of resources and fundraising events.

Herefordshire Museum Service Support Group for their invaluable help in securing the ‘Herefordshire Hoard’ which be the centrepiece of the refurbished Herefordshire Museum. The Hoard provides evidence of the Viking Great Army in 878, a crucial period in our island history

The Friends of Reading Museum who have continued to develop their relationship with The Friends of Dusseldorf Museum.

You can read more about each of these projects in the Spring/Summer 2023 edition of the Journal.

A hugely deserved well done to all our finalists and I can honestly say as I read each submission, I felt like the late great Bruce Forsyth saying ‘you’re my favourite!’.

Dave Adgar
Vice Chair BAFM


BAFM Impact Award 2021

We were delighted to announce that the Friends of Upminster Windmill were the winners of our inaugural Impact Award. The Friends successfully introduced digital telemetry to monitor wind direction and re-position the windmill’s sails as required. You can read more about their achievements in the Winter 2021/2022 edition of the Journal

Highly commended were:

Costume and Textile Association for their Coronavirus quilt

The Friends of the Judges’ Lodgings Lancaster for the development of their website

The Friends of the Whitworth for going digital

You can read more about each of these projects in the Spring/Summer 2022 edition of the Journal. A hugely deserved well done to all our finalists



 The Robert Logan Award

Robert Logan was a former Chairman of BAFM (1994-1998) who, while in office, was killed in a climbing accident. He was particularly interested in promoting and encouraging young people in The Heritage Sector and it was with these ideals in mind that this award was set up.
This Award was open to candidates under 30 years of age working in the Heritage Sector. Applicants were engaged on a project which fulfilled the following criteria;
–  made an outstanding contribution to your Museum or Institute
–  improved the Museum experience
–  attracted a wider audience

2019 Award

Holiday Donaldson was chosen as the 2019 award winner, with her Project “Family Mission D Day Edition”. She is a Producer in the Public Engagement and Learning Team at Imperial War Museums. Holiday presented her submission to the BAFM National Conference in Reading on the 12th October 2019 and received her prize from Dame Rosemary Butler, President of BAFM.

BAFM Robert Logan Award 2019 Winner Holiday Donaldson

2019 winner Holiday Donaldson


2017 Award

Fiona Greer, Curator of Art at The Scottish Maritime Museum, was chosen as the award winner. Her submission was “Enriching the Imagery of Scotland’s Maritime Heritage”.
Fiona presented her submission to the BAFM National Conference in London on the 30th September 2017 and received her prize from Dame Rosemary Butler, President of BAFM

2017 winner Fiona Greer


2015 Award

Jasmine Farram, of Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery, was the 2015 winner.  Jasmine’s project gave local teens the opportunity to take part in part in ‘selfie’ workshops run by Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery as part of an outreach opportunity to secondary schools in the borough. The Six, one-day, events were inspired by the 18th century Camden family portraits at the museum and were led by award-winning international photographer Andrew Bruce. Jasmine’s fascinating and creative project did a great deal to engage an encourage teenagers to think about art, culture and museums.

BAFM_jasmine_robertlogan
2017 winner Jasmine Farram with BAFM President Rosemary Butler and Chairman Bernard Rostron


2013 Award

Laura Hadland, from the Leicester Arts and Museums Service, was the winner for 3013 for her exhibition covering the excavation and identification of the Remains of Richard III.

Laura Hadland

2013 winner Laura Hadland


1999 Award

The first Robert Logan Award was awarded to Alicia Gurney, assistant curator at Henley’s River and Rowing Museum, for her work in establishing links with schools and youth groups and by talking to young people and introducing them to museums in a way that was relevant to them.



 BAFM Travel Award Bursary

Applications were invited from committed volunteers of any age (who devote many hours supporting a museum or gallery), or young professionals who were starting their careers in the museum world.
Funded travel could be within the UK or abroad and winners would spend time at their chosen destination working behind the scenes in order to extend their experience and make contacts for the future. Alternatively the travel could be in the form of a short duration internship or the chance to work alongside a respected specialist.


2018 Award Winner

Abigael Flack was the winner in 2018 with her Project entitled “Multaka Oxford meets Multaka Berlin”.   She attended the BAFM Conference as our guest at The Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle on Saturday 13th October 2018, where she received her Award and collected a cheque of £2,000 in order to further her studies in her chosen of field of study.

Read Abigael Flack’s full report on her Project “Multaka Oxford meets Multaka Berlin”


2016 Award Winner

Daniel Jessop of Littleborough was the winner in 2016.
Daniel’s entry was entitled “A Comparative Study of Friends, Volunteers, Members and Fellows in Tormorden, London and Barcelona in Museums, Institutions and Public Spaces” . He was the guest of BAFM at our National Conference on the 1st of October 2016, at Ironbridge Gorge Museum, where he received his award.

There was a full report of Daniel’s Project in the Summer 2017 edition of the BAFM Journal. 



  BAFM Newsletter & Blog Awards

[ezcol_2third]The BAFM Newsletter Award was an annual award open to all member groups.   The competition attracted a large number of entries and produced a wide range of winners from ‘professional’ class to ‘shoe-string’ editions. The award was split into three categories:

  1. Groups with less than 250 members,
  2. Groups with between 251 and 750 members
  3. Groups with 751 members and above

In each class we had a winner and a runner up prize – six prizes in all. The winners were announced at the BAFM AGM and Conference and were awarded a cheque for £250, plus a framed certificate. Runners-up received a cheque for £100 and a framed certificate. [/ezcol_2third] [ezcol_1third_end]