Our newsletter for January is now available to read online or download in PDF format.
The contents include:
Any corrections, comments or feedback are welcome and will be added to this page.
Our newsletter for November and December is now available to read online or download in PDF format.
The contents include:
Any corrections, comments or feedback are welcome and will be added to this page.
Kirklees Libraries’ Lunchtime Club is an informal meeting of people with an interest in local history. Meetings are held every two months in Huddersfield Central Library and begin at 1pm. Light refreshments are provided.
Although the talks are free, you are requested to book places in advanced at ticketsource.co.uk/kirkleeslibraries
The advertised talks for 2020 are:
Our latest publication, Names, Places & People: a selection of articles from Old West Riding, is now available to order for £6.95 (+p&p).
This 160 page paperback book, which is edited by Cyril Pearce, will be launched on 23rd November 2019 at our Annual Study Day.
Old West Riding published 23 editions from 1981 to 1995. It was a joint venture by three local historians – Jennifer Stead, George Redmonds and Cyril Pearce. This collection of over a dozen articles is dedicated to George Redmonds, who died in August 2018.
ISBN: 9780992984120
The society’s October newsletter is available to read online or download in PDF format.
The contents include:
The 2020 programme of events for Marsden History Group has now been announced, which includes four talks:
Further details can be found on the Marsden History Group web site.
Details of the Windrush Huddersfield Exhibition on Saturday 19th October 2019 are given below.
In celebration of Black History Month Education 2000, Amour Promotions and Kirklees Local TV in partnership with the University of Huddersfield Heritage Quays are delighted to invite you to our Windrush Huddersfield Exhibition.
Date: Saturday 19th October 2019
Venue: University of Huddersfield Archives, Heritage Quay
Time: Doors open at 12.30 pm
Refreshments and an opportunity to view the exhibitions of Venn Street Sound System and Culture Huddersfield, Echoes of Colonialism and the Windrush Generation Huddersfield
Exhibition Overview:
Venn Street Sound System and Culture
This exhibition explores three generations of community activism, bringing reggae music to Huddersfield. The exhibition includes pictures of Sound System’s reggae music events, dance hall clashes, the camaraderie, fun and celebrates African Caribbean individuals, families and the community.
University of Huddersfield Archives, Heritage Quay: Echoes of Colonialism
This exhibition explores the impact of British colonialism throughout the world, as seen in Heritage Quay’s archive collections. Curated by University of Huddersfield History students, the display features textiles, sporting collections and more.
Windrush Huddersfield
The exhibition traces from the Caribbean’s history of enslavement through to African Caribbean peoples coming to Huddersfield between the 1940s and the 1980s. It portrays how those early pioneers created organisations and associations to create a safe space that enabled African Caribbean families to build solid and stable lives in Huddersfield.
Windrush The Years After Documentary
This documentary captures the memories of African Caribbean people and their families coming to England and settling in Huddersfield West Yorkshire between 1948 and 1972. The documentary highlights the personal testimonies of community activists, faith leaders, mothers, fathers, musicians, writers, professionals and others. People overcame barriers of race, prejudice and many forms of discrimination. Three generations of African Caribbean descendants showed courage and determination to succeed.
Presentations will include:
Debbie Johnson: Debbie has been developing skills as a genealogist for over ten years. Debbie will present the importance and excitement of tracing her family tree through DNA mapping and research.
Natalie Pinnock Hamilton: Natalie will present her early classroom experiences as a child and then as a teacher in the British education system.
Denzil Nurse: Denzil will share his experience within the Health Service, for example, the recruitmentjourney for African Caribbeans.
Our three presenters will form a panel and give the audience members an opportunity to ask questions.
The society’s September newsletter is available to read online or download in PDF format.
The contents include:
Heritage Open Days is England’s biggest festival of history and culture. Every year, in September, thousands of sites across the country invite you in to explore local treasures of every age, style and function, and many special events are held. It’s your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences — and it’s all FREE. In 2019 it will run from 13 to 22 September. All events nationwide are posted on the Heritage Open Days website.
Locally the programme is coordinated by the Kirklees Heritage Open Days Committee, a Borough-wide partnership, supported by Discover Huddersfield. In 2019 the Kirklees programme offers a record total of 68 events, including 30 new ones.
The local brochure can be viewed here and will be widely available in print from about 19th August.
Discover Huddersfield will be offering several free walks, which must be pre-booked. Bookings will open on 24th August.
Several of the upcoming Discover Huddersfield walks may be of interest to our members:
What do Huddersfield’s town centre buildings tell us about its history?
Chris Marsden, architectural historian and author of ‘Huddersfield in 50 Buildings’ will lead a guided walk on Thursday 20 June at 7.00pm.
Based on his recently published book, ‘Huddersfield in 50 Buildings’, author and architectural historian, Chris Marsden, will provide an authoritative insight into a wide variety of structures and offer an insight to how they form a critical record of the town’s development.
The walk, organised by the Discover Huddersfield partnership, starts at St. George’s Square (Harold Wilson statue), will last between 1.5 and 2 hours and costs £3 per person. No booking is required.
One of the Discover Huddersfield partnership’s most popular guided walks over the past few years will again take place on Sunday 7 July. Local resident, David Verguson, will lead a walk through Lindley’s history, revealing the variety of historical features within one of Huddersfield’s most bustling urban communities.
The walk will uncover the story of the community’s development and the people and stories behind its growth. Following some lesser known footpaths, passing pubs, mills, chapels and grand houses, David will unveil the lives of mill owners and millworkers, Methodists and their memorials, a tinsmith and a sculptor.
The walk, which starts from Lindley Methodist Church on East Street, Lindley, at 2.30pm, will last between 1.5 and 2.0 hours.
The walk costs £3.00 per person but no booking is required.
An evening guided walk around the centre of Huddersfield will highlight the often overlooked wealth of sculptural and other public art in the town.
Led by Chris Marsden, former chairman of Huddersfield Civic Society and author of the recently published, ‘Huddersfield in 50 Buildings’, the walk will begin at 7.00pm on Thursday 18 July from the Harold Wilson statue in St. George’s Square and last approximately 1.5 hours.
The walk features a number of features of national importance, including the world’s largest ceramic panels at Queensgate Market and the stone figures outside the library as well as superbly carved figures such as on the Kirkgate Buildings, Lloyds TSB and Britannia Buildings.
Chris will reveal the background and artists responsible for the works as well as the stories behind various mosaics including ‘Systematic Sequence in Line and Shade’ and ‘Development of the Woollen Industry’.
The walks costs £3 per person but no booking is required.