York’s Mad Alice up for national award

She may be crazy as a box of frogs, but with your help she could soon be a national award winner.

York tour guide Mad Alice has made the shortlist for the 2018 Tourism Superstar award.

And considering she ignored a broken leg to keep taking tourists around the city, she deserves to walk away with the top prize.

To do so, though, she needs votes – so please go here to give your backing to our Alice.

One-legged tour

Mad Alice, real name Alicia Stabler, has led the Bloody Tour of York for five years.

Alicia takes people on a tour of some of the bloodier moments in York history. And her character of Mad Alice is based on a real woman who died in 1825 and gave her name to Mad Alice Lane – now Lund’s Court, off Low Petergate.

The tour won a York Culture Award last year and is ranked top on TripAdvisor. But what really impressed the judges was the fact that she didn’t let a little thing like a broken leg stop her walking tour.

She kept it going from a wheelchair.

“I came up with the idea of adding another character to my tour who could push me in a wheelchair,” Alicia said.

“The quack plague doctor came to the rescue. We thought it would be even more fun to carry a prop of my broken leg around in a basket too.”

Massive credit to her

Mad Alice is on a shortlist of ten for the Tourism Superstar Award, run by Visit England and the Mirror newspaper – whittled down from hundreds of entries.

And Alicia deserves to be there, says head of Visit York Sally Greenway.

“She managed to turn what could have been a negative situation into a very positive visitor experience, which is a massive credit to her.

“We’re thrilled and delighted she has been shortlisted in these prestigious awards and really encourage everyone to vote for her.”

The deadline for voting is March 14. Winners will be announced on March 24.