FORMER head of museums at North East East Lincolnshire Council, Richard Doughty, has been praised at an award ceremony for the educational work he did on the Cutty Sark in London.
Mr Doughty the former director of the Cutty Sark Trust was awarded a Sandford Award for the education programme at the Cutty Sark museum in Greenwich on London's South Bank.
Mr Doughty now the new director of the National Maritime Museum in Cornwall was the man behind the tea clippers £50m restoration following a devasting fire in 2007.
The Cutty Sark was reopened by the Queen in April 2012, five years after it was ravaged by fire, and following the lengthy restoration project steered by Mr Doughty.
The Cutty Sark one of the last remaining tea clippers in the world is visited thousands each year, Mr Doughty increased the educational programme of the museum, by lifting the vessel up three metres in the air to allow visitors to walk underneath it, and offering an extensive education package both in and out of the classroom to put students and visitors into the shoes of the crew who sailed this world-famous ship around the world over a century ago.
The Sandford Award is an independently judged, quality assured assessment of education programmes at heritage sites, museums, archives and collections across the British Isles.
More than 350 sites - including historic houses, museums, galleries, places of worship, gardens, landscapes and collections – have received an Award since the scheme began in 1978. They include Hampton Court Palace, Brunel's ss Great Britain in Bristol, Fota Wildlife Park in Eire, Edinburgh Castle, and Big Pit - the National Mining Museum of Wales.
The year forty-two museums, parks, zoos, houses and archives received a prestigious Sandford Award at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.
Dr Lucy Worsley, author, TV presenter and Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces, presented the awards, which are given every year in recognition of excellence in heritage education.
The awards are jointly managed by Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln and the Heritage Education Trust, and BGU's Vice Chancellor, the Reverend Canon Professor Peter Neil, gave the vote of thanks after the ceremony.
The winners, which represent a cross-section of heritage sites from across the country, this year included Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast, Fishbourne Roman Palace in West Sussex and the company archive of Marks & Spencer.
Dr Tracy Borman, Sandford Co-ordinator at Bishop Grosseteste University, said: "The National Maritime Museum was a fitting setting for this year's Sandford Awards, where we paid tribute to the innovative education work being undertaken by all our winners.
"We extend our congratulations to all the sites who received awards this year."
