Shiers Trust

The women won their fight, achieving parity with male floor managers, who were several pay grades above them.

Now, thanks to the 2023 Shiers Trust Award, Australian media historian Jeannine Baker will be able to undertake research on the strike and the early days of television in New Zealand.

Baker, the recipient of an award of £5,000, will use the money to pay for travel and her stay in Wellington for archival research and to conduct interviews with women who worked in New Zealand television during its first three decades, from 1960 to 1990.

The BBC head of outside broadcasts made his mark organising the coverage of the 1948 London Olympics, and went on to commentate on the Boat Race and present the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.

The award will be used to expand the TV Outside Broadcast History website with a special section on Dimmock’s work at the BBC.

The Shiers Trust jury was unable to decide between the two projects, which were part of a record number of applicants this year.

The documentary feature Made in Yorkshire will tell the story of how a group of young men and women took over a derelict trouser factory in a rundown part of Leeds in 1968 and set about creating television studios.

“In the decades that followed, Yorkshire Television made programmes that were viewed across the planet,” said producer/director Stuart Ramsay, who will make the film.

The Shiers Trust grant, now in its 18th year, is normally worth £2,000. This year, to mark the 90th anniversary of the RTS, it has been raised to £4,000. 

Launched in 2000, the Shiers Trust grant is named after George Shiers, a distinguished US TV historian.

The grant has enabled a range of projects, including the digitalisation of back issues of the Radio Times and the creation of a website which presents a collection of historical consumer electronics images.