A new book has been published telling the story of Doncaster’s winning campaign to achieve city status. Doncaster secured its coveted city title in 2022 by entering a civic honours competition to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. This culminated in the visit by King Charles III in November of 2022 to confer city status at a historic ceremony held at Doncaster’s civic Mansion House.
The Race for City Status: How Doncaster became one of Britain’s Newest Cities was written by Jim Carley, who lives in Retford and who served as the Project Director for the campaign. His book charts the story of how Doncaster’s winning proposal was developed and written.
It not only recounts some of the things that Doncaster is most famous for, such as horseracing and legendary locomotives, but also some of its lesser-known credentials as a city in waiting. It’s a story with everything from Paddington Bear to Ivanhoe, and from the invention butterscotch to prize-winning budgerigars.
The city status campaign was developed by a partnership involving Doncaster Council, Doncaster Chamber of Commerce, the NHS, local colleges, Club Doncaster, and many other local organisations. The book shares some of the challenges which the campaign had to overcome, and the political backdrop which shaped the competition.
While the story is focused on Doncaster, the book visits some of the other competitor towns from around the UK, and takes inspiration from cities around the world, in asking what it really means to be a city in the 21st century.
Mr Carley, the author, owns a Doncaster-based business which provides proposal writing services to his clients, and he is also the current Vice President of Doncaster Chamber of Commerce.
Speaking of the book, Mr Carley said: “It was an absolute honour and privilege to be the Project Director for this campaign, and to write Doncaster’s historic winning application to become a city. So many different people played a role in that success. I hope this book does honour to those achievements and is a faithful replay of Doncaster’s amazing journey.”
The book is published in paperback by Fisher King Publishing and is available from Amazon and from all good on-line bookstores. Kindle and e-reader versions will be available soon.