A KNUTSFORD student who was inspired by the late historian Joan Leach has been shortlisted for a top accolade from her university.

Michala Hulme, of Tabley Hill Lane, could scoop the award for best dissertation in regional and local history at Manchester Metropolitan University.

The 30-year-old said she could not have done it without the encouragement of Joan, the founder of the Gaskell Society.

The pair were next-door neighbours in Chester Road for three years.

“Her passion for history inspired me,” said Michala.

“There was nothing she didn’t know. Whenever I needed help I’d knock on her door and she’d say: ‘Leave it with me’.

“She would return an hour later with a load of books and post-it notes saying ‘look here’.”

Michala’s 18,000-word dissertation is about Philips Park, Manchester’s first municipal public cemetery, which she hopes to turn into a book.

“I knew about it as my ancestors are buried there,” she said.

Michala was studying for a history degree when Joan died in September 2010.

A week later, she found out she would be doing a work placement at the former home of Elizabeth Gaskell in Manchester, a place close to Joan’s heart.

“It felt like Joan was watching over me,” said Michala.

The budding historian is also well known at Brook Street Chapel, where the Cranford author is buried, after holding an exhibition about Elizabeth Gaskell’s husband William.

She said: “William was so important in his own right. He was the minister of Cross Street Chapel and chairman of the Portico Library.”

Michala hopes to follow in Joan’s footsteps as a historian, and feels proud to live in a town where history still feels alive.

She said: “Cranford is about a group of ladies living in King Street, and if you look in the census you can pick these ladies out.

“When you walk down the high street you get an overwhelming sense of history.

“History goes hand-in-hand with Knutsford. You can imagine yourself in the time when Elizabeth Gaskell was writing.”