MY headmaster must have had an apoplectic fit", says Prof Gordon Batho, 79, recalling his school days.

Prof Batho was then 15, a hard working, conscientious Ealing Grammar School lad, with a passion for history, but yet to make his mark.

The young Batho had ambitions and grabbed the attention of the chief education officer for Middlesex.

Frustrated by the limited opportunities for exercising his interest in history, the 15- year-old wrote to a local newspaper asking people to help him set up a local branch of the Historical Association.

It was a big step for a young boy and the officer, impressed by the admirable article, assumed the youngster was an older man. Seeing the young Batho was from Ealing Grammar School, the officer assumed he was a member of staff and approached the headmaster requesting a meeting with "the History Master Batho".

The headmaster having no staff of that name was puzzled why a senior officer should wish to meet one of his less remarkable pupils, but soon everything came to light.

The young Batho achieved his ambition and even became president of the Ealing branch of the esteemed association.

At school, he was promoted to head boy.

It was the beginning of a lifetime's dedication to the association and Prof Batho, emeritus professor of education at Durham University, is now life president of the Durham branch.

His dedication will be honoured in London next month when he will receive the association's esteemed Norton Medlicott medal for outstanding services to history. It is quite an accolade, as previous winners have included Antonia Fraser, Magnus Magnusson and TV historian Simon Schama.

As well as active involvement with the Historical Association, Prof Batho is a keen member of Durham County Local History Society, being editor of its publications, including the outstanding Durham Biographies series that I will come to in a moment.

One of his most notable achievements is, however, his History of Education Project, based in the Durham Miners' Hall at Red Hills that has been running for more than 20 years. The project's title is a little misleading, reflecting Prof Batho's initial interest in the subject of educational history, but the project is really about getting people into work and now uses the alternative slogan "Durham Initiative for Employment and Training".

"The aim is to build confidence and skills" says Prof Batho.

"People become totally demoralised and we develop their skills in secretarial and administrative work."

In 2007, for example, four people found jobs through the skills and experiences developed working voluntarily in the project while two people went on to university who would not otherwise have considered that option.

"We seem to get people between 20 and 40 years of age," he says.

"They don't necessarily have an interest in history when they come to join the project, but when they leave..." he pauses, leaving me in doubt of his pride in instilling a passion for history.

The Community Volunteer Bureau is one of the organisations recommending people to Prof Batho for his project, and when volunteers arrive, they develop secretarial and administrative skills "They look after the plethora of historical things I do," he says.

Remarkably, Prof Batho's project, which employs five or six volunteers at one time, has placed more than 100 people in jobs over the years.

Sadly, there has been a setback following the collapse of Northern Rock, which was the key source of funding for the project, which has charitable status.

The project costs £1,500 a month to run and Northern Rock provided £11,000 a year for the past three years, enabling the employment of a part-time administrator.

Fearing the project could fold, Prof Batho is actively seeking new sources of funding.

At 79, Prof Batho is remarkably energetic, being involved in all kinds of history related activities. These include organising the biennial Thomas Harriot Seminar in Durham. This exists to promote the study of the life and times of the Elizabethan mathematician, Thomas Harriot (1560-1621), who Prof Batho describes as a polymath of science in all its forms.

Prof Batho has also played his part in local tourism as the organiser of special history experiences, in which people from all over the world come to stay in the North for a week and learn about our history.

Prof Batho has held his previous events in Cumbria, Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, but this year's event, held from July 24-27, will be held in Durham, with participants staying at Durham Castle and Hatfield College.

The "Durham Experience"

will include visits and tours to local places and houses of historic interest and musical evenings. A total of 35 of the 41 places for this year's event are already taken.

Prof Batho notes that three people from America have attended all his events so far.

Prof Batho's energy is more remarkable, given his disability.

In 2004, he lost all his toes in an operation as the result of diabetes and ill-fitting orthopaedic shoes.

Walking is difficult, but some medical experts thought he would need a wheelchair. He defiantly gets by without.

One of Prof Batho's biggest ongoing projects is the latest volume of the Durham Biographies series, of which he is editor.

The series has been running since 2000, and is published by Durham County Local History Society.

The most recent is Volume 5, published last year and including biographies by various authors of 48 people who have made a significant contributions to the historic County of Durham in the 19th or 20th century.

The only other criterion is that they should not be alive.

Volume 5 includes a diverse assortment of characters ranging from Robert Surtees, the eminent historian and Bishop Michael Ramsey to Bob Stokoe and Len Shackleton from the world of football, the comedian Bobby Thompson and the Andy Capp creator, Reg Smythe.

More than 200 people have featured in all the volumes so far and volume 6, which will include Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Ernest Armstrong, organ builder Thomas Harrison and footballer Ian Porterfield, is already well under way.

The series will provide a remarkable legacy of reference for the future and is yet another achievement of which Prof Batho can be justly proud.