There are two elements to a successful recipe.
The first is the list of ingredients and, according to one eminent historian, Kate Tiller, ‘local history has two essential ingredients – people and place’.
The other vital element is how the ingredients should be blended together.
The MA in West Midlands History programme has the ingredients – religious communities in Norman Shropshire; Royalist and Parliamentarian antagonists in 1640s Warwickshire; the Cadburys and Chamberlains, Kynochs and Kenricks of late-nineteenth century Birmingham.
But the success of this particular recipe lies not only in the ingredients but the way in which they are blended and developed by a range of distinguished and inspirational West Midlands’ historians, coupled with the tireless support and effervescent enthusiasm of the course director.