In June we welcomed Trustees past and present, and the extended family of John Bowes Morrell to York. Demonstrating the enormous contribution of JB Morrell and his family, the visit was themed around the three pillars of his public service: duty, people and place, and included visits to the Mansion House, Guildhall, Kings Manor and York Art Gallery.

The day started with tours of the Mansion House and York's Guildhall. A Councillor for much of his life, both buildings played an important role throughout JB Morrell's civic career and in particular, his two tenures as Lord Mayor, once in 1914-15 and again in 1949-50.

The Mansion House is also home to a very special piece of history - a beautiful decorative box of chocolate, which was gifted to all York men fighting on the front line in WW1 by "the Chocolate Mayors". During his first tenure as Lord Mayor, JB Morrell and his Sheriff Oscar Rowntree were both directors of Rowntree's factory where the chocolate was produced. This jolly and brightly decorated tin still holds its original contents a century after it was sent to the soldiers in Christmas 1914.

JB Morrell valued education and worked hard to ensure York became a university city. He hoped that "a city of York's artistic wealth might well become the cultural centre for the north and some of its historical buildings be preserved for the educational requirements of the new generation". A tour of Kings Manor was a natural choice, and Dr Dav Smith from the University's Department of Archaeology gave an illustrative and informative view of the building's rich history and the role it currently plays in the city. In the courtyard, skilled artisans from Pinnacle Conservation held a demonstration in traditional heritage crafts. This gave everyone an opportunity to get involved, much to the delight of the younger visitors - hopefully we've inspired the next generation of building conservationists!

Finally, we visited York Art Gallery to view Monet's The Water-Lily Pond, introduced by Senior Curator Beatrice Bertram. We were delighted to learn that amongst the accompanying pieces were four Utagawa Hiroshige woodblock prints that JB Morrell had presented to the Gallery in 1954.

With grateful thanks to Dr Dav Smith, Adam Hickey and Pinnacle Conservation, Kathryn Blacker and York Museum's Trust, Richard Pollitt and colleagues at the Mansion House and Harvey Dowdy, Alastair Reekie and team at the University of York  and York Guildhall.