Kent maille maker wins Lifetime Achievement Award 2024

Nick Checksfield has won the 2024 Heritage Crafts Lifetime Achievement Award, supported by the Marsh Charitable Trust, including a £1,000 prize awarded at a special presentation at Eltham Palace on Tuesday 26 November 2024.

The award celebrates a heritage craftsperson who has demonstrated an outstanding contribution to their specific craft over 25 years or more. It marks a lifetime’s dedication to a particular traditional skill, resulting in a practitioner operating at the highest level, having made a significant impact on the continued high-esteem in which their craft is held.

Nick Checksfield is one of only a couple of professional maille (sometimes known as ‘chain mail’) makers working in the UK today, and of these, he is by far the most experienced. The restoration of original, historical pieces is a huge challenge, requiring the making of maille links in a bewildering range of styles and types. Nick has fashioned new armour pieces for some of the most famous competition jousters and historical martial artists around the world.

The other two finalists for this year’s award were Tony Bedford, who began his life as a silversmith aged 16 as an apprentice at Nayler Brothers, on completion of which he was made a Freeman in 1969, going on to work for Stuart Devlin, Grant Macdonald, Garrard’s and Asprey’s, and Kevin Gauld, whose determination, eye for design and attention to detail has resulted in a waiting list of over three years for his Orkney chairs. In 2018, he was recognised as a Scottish Design Champion ahead of the opening of the V&A Dundee.

The Marsh Charitable Trust runs a portfolio of awards with a number of nationally and internationally recognised partners to celebrate the outstanding contributions of people who are committed to social, cultural and environmental causes.

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Photo: Nick Checksfield, winner of the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award, and Nick Carter from the Marsh Charitable Trust. Photo by Robert Wade.