Thackray Museum of Medicine wins prestigious VisitEngland award

The Thackray Museum of Medicine is honoured to announce that it has been recognised with a Visitor Attraction Accolade for Best Told Story in the recently released Visitor Attraction Accolades for 2021–2022 that highlight the high calibre and variety of visitor experiences available across the nation. This follows an exciting year of activities after the museum’s reopening in May 2021 following a £4 million refurbishment that saw their galleries redeveloped with over 200 members of the museum’s local community. 

The winning attractions have gained the accolades based on scores received following their annual VisitEngland Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme assessments.  Marks were allocated to the 97 attractions for the outstanding experiences they provide to visitors across categories including Welcome, Best Told Story, Quality Food & Drink, Hidden Gem and Gold for overall winners.

The Thackray Museum of Medicine has a jam-packed event calendar coming up, with family-friendly activities, the resumption of their Insight Lecture series exploring medical innovations, and Meet Father Christmas presenting a cosy winter programme. With the opening of groundbreaking exhibitions for both families and adults, 2023 is set to be another huge year. 

Sue Mackay, Interim Joint CEO and Director of Collections and Programmes, Thackray Museum of Medicine said: 

“We are so delighted to have been awarded this accolade from VisitEngland! It’s a real honour for Thackray Museum of Medicine to be included in a long line of prestigious winners from Yorkshire and nationwide. 

The award is as much for the wider team of local contributors and supporters as it is for staff – it’s thanks to over 200 people and 24 organisations that we were able to uncover and represent the untold stories of everyday health heroes which ensure the museum is able to touch so many people. To know that our approach to storytelling resonated with the assessors in this way makes this accolade even more special.”

VisitEngland Director Andrew Stokes said:

“It’s so exciting to see our brilliant attractions providing outstanding experiences for visitors and to recognise and showcase the variety and quality across the country. 

“England has unmissable visitor attractions and experiences that deliver world-class customer service. They also provide the warmest of welcomes and unforgettable storytelling that connects the whole experience, including retail and food and drink offers that exceed expectations.”

Introduced in 2014, the accolades are available to VisitEngland’s Visitor Attraction Quality Scheme participants across a wide range of tourism experiences in England from museums and galleries, farm attractions, historic houses and gardens to churches, cathedrals and country parks.  Participating attractions are supported by a network of highly trained and experienced assessors who advise them on improving and promoting the quality, accessibility and sustainability of their offer.

Tourism is one of England’s largest and most valuable industries, supporting hundreds of thousands of businesses, employing about 2.6 million people and, in 2019, generating £76 billion in domestic visitor spending.