Taggers' Palace joy despite losing out

The Tagging the Treasures project to catalogue the Lytham St Annes Art Collection missed out on a top national award '“ but the representatives who travelled from Fylde to London say they were treated so well that they were made to feel like winners anyway.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th Nov 2016, 10:00 BST
Updated 16th Nov 2016, 17:01 BST
Tagging the Treasures representatives at the Palace Theatre, London for the Angel Awards ceremony. From left: Veronica McDonnell, Marjorie Gregson, Sally Banister, Jacqueline Arundel, Heather Davis, Margaret RaceTagging the Treasures representatives at the Palace Theatre, London for the Angel Awards ceremony. From left: Veronica McDonnell, Marjorie Gregson, Sally Banister, Jacqueline Arundel, Heather Davis, Margaret Race
Tagging the Treasures representatives at the Palace Theatre, London for the Angel Awards ceremony. From left: Veronica McDonnell, Marjorie Gregson, Sally Banister, Jacqueline Arundel, Heather Davis, Margaret Race

Six of the team who worked on Tagging the Treasures - project manager Jacqueline Arundel, Veronica McDonnell, Sally Banister, Marjorie Gregson, Heather Davis and Margaret Race, chairman of the Friends of the Lytham St Annes Art Collection – had their travel and accommodation costs covered by organisers the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation after the project was short-listed in the Historic England Angel Awards.

The Taggers - a team of 150 who worked for two years to find out all they could about the artworks donated to the Collection - lost out in the Best Research project category to Port Sunlight Village Trust and Wirral Council’s Port Sunlight Local Listed Building Consent Order but Margaret said: “We were treated royally and had a very memorable time.

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“The ceremony was at the marvellous Palace Theatre in London’s Shaftesbury Avenue and they laid the red carpet up to the front door. It was just like the Oscars. We did not win but we were made to feel as if we had. Everyone there was constantly told they had made a difference and we felt it was a huge accolade just to be shortlisted.

“After the ceremony, we were invited to the nearby Groucho Club for refreshment and to admire some amazing artworks by the likes of Damien Hirst.”

An exhibition entitled Liverpool Influcences, featuring works from the Lytham St Annes Art Collection, continues at the Fylde Gallery, above Booths in Lytham, until Sunday.

Related topics:FyldeLondon