I was delighted to accept an invitation to chair the Management Committee of the AHRC Centre for North-East England History in 2000, because the five-year project which had been set up seemed to me both ambitious and immensely worthwhile. As Professor of Modern History at the University of Durham from 1987 to 1995, I had learnt much about the region, had become enthusiastic about many aspects of its past and come to appreciate the quality of the research already being conducted locally. When we met periodically to assess progress of the project, with leaders of the five research ‘strands’ in the forefront, and, as draft work by our five initial researchers came in, it was exciting to see the project's objective of five substantial monographs unfolding. In fact nine postdoctoral researchers in all worked on the project and, with admirable assistance from our publisher Boydell and Brewer, five substantial monographs have been published.

The many meetings held between 2000 and 2005 and the annual conferences, especially the large international one in 2004, were crucial occasions for sharing ideas and arguments about the central themes of all this research. This has been a huge and genuinely collaborative effort. Special thanks go to the five strand leaders. It was always clear to me that they would be the linchpin, in terms of academic leadership and control. They fulfilled their task magnificently. It was equally obvious to me that the keen involvement of senior staff in the five institutions involved in the project was essential. Those who attended meetings of the Management Committee always responded readily and supportively, as we handled the administrative issues before us. The AHRC observers, Professor Barrie Dobson and Professor Harry Dickinson, also contributed much to Management Committee discussions. I would especially like to thank those who successively bore the day to day management of the project with such skill making my task very easy: Professor David Rollason and Dr Bill Lancaster.