10,000 members and counting

We're delighted to share the incredible news that as of end February 2021 the HA has over 10,000 members. That figure includes both individual and school or organisational members covering multiple members of staff, and means that really many thousands more teachers, students and general history lovers are now members of the HA.  

A few years ago, when the HA was setting its strategy figures for 2021 the target of 8,000 members was given. It was seen as and felt like an impossible task at the time, so to have achieved that milestone and passed it by 2,000 is great news.  

How have we done it? – well, we are constantly trying to ensure that we provide the best resources, support, and representation that we can. We try to be innovative when we need to be but not gimmicky; we try to be supportive with CPD and lifelong learning tools as well as inspirational; and we aim to make history accessible, inclusive, and engaging.  

As a charity we can only deliver what we do through membership support from subscription fees to the inspiring and hard work of all our member volunteers. We are very proud to have your support even as times have been difficult, and as always, we will do all we can to make sure all our members get the most out of their membership. 

We've identified our 10,000th member as Laura Covington, an individual secondary member and Head of Humanities at Harris Academy Battersea, who has also completed an MA in Education focussing her research on the representation and engagement of working-class girls in their history curriculum. She is also a member of Be Her Lead's teacher advisory board, advocating for the wellbeing of girls in school. She hopes her membership will 'reinvigorate my commitment to my development as not only as a history teacher but in my new role as a leader in curriculum design and implementation'. A warm welcome to Laura and all our newest members, and a big thank you again to all our long-standing members and supporters. 

To celebrate this milestone moment with the wider membership, we have also released a brand-new podcast with well-known historian and Silk Roads author Professor Peter Frankopan. In this podcast he explores what Greek, Syriac, Armenian, Arabic and Hebrew sources tell us about the origins of the First Crusade, and the opportunities for interpretation they offer in contrast to their Latin (Western) contemporaries: