Past Programmes
Past Meetings in 2024
Thursday 25 Jan : “Smeaton of Austhorpe" - A talk by Bob and Jacki Lawrence. This power-point presentation looks at the personal and professional life of local man, John Smeaton, known as the Father of Civil Engineering. Known mainly for designing and building the Eddystone lighthouse, a monolithic achievement in its time, we also look at many of his other works including bridges, canals and other types of infrastructure. We discuss his legacy which has resonated into the 21st century, even being recognized by NASA. Beginning with his childhood interests at Austhorpe, we examine how his achievements inspired many of the later 19th century engineers and helped shaped the industrial revolution .
Thursday 14th March: "Gentleman Jack: A Slideshow introduction to Anne Lister 1791-1840" by David Glover, president of the Halifax Antiquarian society. In 2019, the tale of a girl from Halifax hit our TV screens in Gentleman Jack. In this presentation, David offers a general account of Anne’s life, full of wonderful slides. Her background, birth and upbringing are described, along with her famous Diaries, her Lesbian affaires, her grand designs for Shibden, and her travels. Finally, her distant death, and the return of her body to Yorkshire, not forgetting the mystery of her lost tombstone.
Thursday 16th May: "Living History" a talk by Ian Leadley. Recollections of events in Wetherby from WWII and after.
Event: East Keswick Village Walk
Tuesday 11th June 6-30 pm for two hours
Starting from the Village Hall members of East Keswick Local History Group will help you explore the village, which was recorded in the Domesday survey, and its growth as a rural farming and artisan community. Learn how over half the village became part of the Harewood estate until the 1950s and how the village prospered as commuters were attracted by the healthy environment and improved transport links. Despite significant house building from the 1970s a large part of the village is subject to conservation status meaning that the heart of the village retains many older buildings which illustrate its history.
We will also share stories about some notable residents, including the Moon family who founded a Yorkshire wide Grocery empire that thrived for 100 years and the Laurence family who ran two boarding schools.
Numbers are limited so please e-mail [email protected] to reserve your place
Event: A visit to Leeds Discovery Centre
Wednesday 24th July. 2 hour visit. Time TBC £11.25 per person
A Tea and Talk visit including a curator-led talk on "The Archaeological collections of Leeds" followed by tea and refreshments and then a behind the scenes guided tour discussing the history of museum collections in Leeds and an introduction to the collections stored on site which include over a million objects.
Thursday 26th September: "Boston Spa. From hamlet to Georgian spa" an illustrated talk by Lesley Newnham
This is a look at the development of Boston Spa from a cluster of cottages to thriving Spa over a relatively short space of time using the blue plaques in the village as a discovery trail.
Thursday 7th November, 8pm: "Berenblum and the Bari Bombs" an illustrated talk by Andy Wilson (Yorkshire Cancer research)
How tragic incidents in both World Wars and the research of Isaac Berenblum in Leeds, contributed to the discovery of Chemotherapy.
Thursday 12th December, 8pm: John Hartley (1839-1915), the most prolific of 19th century Yorkshire dialect writers - Yorkshire Dialect society.
Past Meetings in 2023
Thursday 26 Jan : "Getting Around Town: Transport in Leeds c.1800-now" talk by Patrick Bourne who is Assistant Community Curator at Abbey House Museum in Leeds
Thursday 23 March : “A Lofty story” – A talk by Carol-Anne Pask.
Having a new roof fitted led to a hidden treasure trove of documents being unearthed in the attic.
The documents relate to Scarcroft during WW2 and include records of the air wardens amongst other things. They provide an amazing insight into the life in the village at the time.
Thursday 11 May : "The Lost Historic Houses of Hunslet" a talk by Steve Burt. Steve is an eminent Leeds local historian who gave our inaugural talk on the history of Roundhay Park in July 2001 and we are thrilled he has agreed to come back to talk to us again.
Thursday 28 Sept : AGM - Followed by "The Walls of York" an illustrated talk by David Taylor.
Thursday 2 Nov : “The History of Leeds /Bradford Airport” An illustrated talk by Ken Cothliff, local aviation historian, author and the official archivist for Leeds/Bradford airport.
Thursday 7 Dec : "My childhood memories of East Keswick and Howarth Timber". An illustrated talk by Nigel Wainman.
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.