Past Programmes
2022 Meeting & Event Programme
Thursday 24 February : The Aire & Calder Navigation - a talk by David Taylor.
This talk will take a look at the Aire and Calder Navigation, the waterway which connects Wakefield and Leeds to the port of Goole. It has a long history starting in the 1600s and continued as a working waterway well into the 20 century.
Today, it has a place as both a leisure route and to a lesser extent carrying commercial traffic.
During this long history there have been many changes as technology developed and as it faced competition from proposed rival canal routes and the railways of Victorian times. The Directors met these challenges throughout it’s working life by improving the waterway, its locks and working methods.
Thursday 24 March: The Montague Burton story - Jacki Lawrence presents an illustrated history of the life and times of Montague Burton, the UK's most famous manufacturer and retailer of men's wholesale clothing in the 20th century, tracing his footsteps from impoverished door-to-door hawker to creator of the world's largest clothing empire.
Thursday 12 May: "William Gascoigne, Leeds astronomer - or how a spider placed Leeds at the forefront of the scientific revolution". David Sellers will explore the life of William Gascoigne (c.1612-1644), the first inventor of the telescopic sight and the telescope micrometer.
Wednesday 17 August (1.30pm onwards): a visit to Allerton Castle. Space is limited, so please contact Liz Parr (email: [email protected]) if you're interested. Tickets cost £18, payable in advance.
Tuesday 6th September: a visit to Hovingham for a walk and talk on prehistoric artefacts found on a local farm
Thursday 22 September: our AGM, followed by a talk "A History of the Leeds Carnival" by Arthur France
Thursday 10 November: a talk - "The Moon grocery empire". The story of the Moon family, their grocery empire and their lasting impact on the village
Thursday 8 December: our Christmas meeting - a talk entitled "You couldn't make it up: the secret family of Mary Moon". Following on from November's talk this follows the Moons to and from East Keswick, Canada and Hollywood.
The talk will be followed by festive nibbles and drinks.
2018 Meeting Programme
Thursday 1st February. Andrew Brownridge, the Hotel Manager and resident historian at Hazelwood Castle will be giving a talk on "Hazelwood Castle and the ancient family Vavasour". He will be talking about the family home of the Vavasour family for almost one thousand years, whose legacy is it's survival through England's turbulent history.
Thursday 15 March - Katherine Baxter, Curator of Archaeology, Leeds Museum Service, (who spoke to us in December 2017 on the West Yorkshire Hoard) will be talking on "Skeletons - our buried bones". She will be telling us about how the Leeds Museum's exhibition of that name was put together, highlighting the local skeletons, particularly those excavated at Wattle Syke and Dalton Parlours.
Thursday 24th May: This year is the bicentenary of Humphry Repton, the English landscape designer of the eighteenth century. In a talk entitled "The Yorkshire commissions of the landscape gardener, Humphry Repton", Dr Patrick Eyres will highlight Repton’s proposals for Harewood where Capability Brown had already shaped the landscape.
Thursday 27th September: The 2018 Annual General Meeting, following which our member David Taylor will be giving a talk on the history of All Hallows Church, Bardsey.
Thursday 8th November: "Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot and the Yorkshire Connection" - a talk by Tony Morgan, a Tadcaster resident and author of two novels relating to the Gunpowder Plot.
Thursday 13th December (Christmas meeting): James Lomax will speak on "Thomas Chippendale - hero of Wharfedale" before we enjoy some seasonal nibbles and refreshments.
2018 Summer visits
Wednesday 13th June (afternoon): Visit to Ellerton Priory. Ellerton is south-east of York (about 1 hr travelling time from East Keswick). We will have a guided tour of the church at 2pm ( tea available from 1.30pm) , and an opportunity for tea and refreshments later in the afternoon. The organisers have suggested a £5 per head donation plus a contribution to the refreshments. More details will be posted nearer the date. You may also wish to look at the church website http://www.ellertonpriory.co.uk
Monday 3rd September (afternoon): Visit to Hazelwood Castle. Following our talk on Hazelwood Castle earlier this year, we have arranged a tour of the Castle followed by cream tea. Further details on timings etc to follow. The cost per head is expected to be c £12.50.