Judges have awarded the first prize in the inaugural Anthony Buckingham Memorial History Competition to St Peter’s Primary School in Sittingbourne, with the second-place spot going to Bobbing School. The competition, which was launched in January this year to commemorate local resident Anthony Buckingham, generated plenty of interest from local primary schools giving the judges a difficult job.  

 

Judges included Anthony Buckingham’s wife and daughter who together created the prize, and representatives from the Sittingbourne Heritage Museum (SHM). They were delighted to be joined on judging day by the new leader of Swale Council, Cllr Mike Baldock who has always championed local heritage.

 

The panel considered all the entries last week before voting unanimously in favour of St Peter’s Primary to win the overall prize of £400, noting that it had woven elements of local heritage into the history studies for every year group, each of which had studied a different topic including Victorians, Tudors, WWII, and barge making, all with associated visits, and even an in-school Tudor feast featuring Henry VIII!  

 

Allen Whitnell, Chair of SHM commented that “a lot of fun had clearly been had, and many discoveries had been made regarding history in our own locality.” The school noted that the children had so much fun doing this local work that St Peter’s is considering making a local history element a permanent part of History studies in the school.

 

 

Anthony Buckingham’s daughter Christina Davis explained “we loved looking through all the entries. Schools have been so hard-pressed through Covid that there was a distinct chance that no-one would have the time or capacity to enter but we were all delighted to see the interest and enthusiasm shown for the idea. All the teachers told us how enthused the pupils had been to study the history of their own town – my father would have loved it so it’s mission accomplished for us!”