Newsletter 106
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YAHS IHS Newsletter 106 YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY INDUSTRIAL HISTORY SECTION NEWSLETTER 106 SUMMER 2019 EDITORIAL Welcome to the latest Newsletter and it’s the end of another lecture season. It has been a difficult season for me due to my ill health lasting between mid-September and late January and being affected by the death of my close friend and fellow Section Officer Robert Vickers. I am hoping that the forthcoming season will be an improvement for me over the last. The Section AGM was held on 13 April with 18 members present, I chaired the meeting as the then Vice Chair and thanked those who had kept the Section going. I produced my last Annual Report for the Section and a copy is enclosed with this Newsletter. The meeting made the decision to move to a position of sending the Newsletter in future electronically to members where they have given their email addresses but to allow hard copies to be sent to the rest and on request. This is an attempt to cut down on the expense of producing the Newsletter which is an important benefit by keeping in touch with members but is our biggest item of expenditure. A suggestion was made that members receiving a hard copy should be asked to contribute towards the cost of production and postage but no decision was made on that aspect, we will wait to see how the initial change works out. This change will follow the approach taken by the main Society with its new members’ newsletter called Briefing which is primarily distributed electronically. I reported the good news that Section membership had seen an increase over last year and that attendances at lectures were also healthy with an average attendance of 34 (40% of membership). Both the figures on membership and lecture attendances were reported with the caveat that some data on attendance figures were lost having previously been held by Robert and the membership figures had to be reconstructed from data also held by Robert. In spite of now having our own Section bank account, at the time of the AGM, access to the account has not yet been established, an issue which is being followed up. Next year’s report should have resolved these problems and we will have a more accurate picture of the state of the Section. At the AGM the following were elected: Chair - Bill Jagger, Vice Chair - John Suter, Treasurer - Nick Nelson, Lecture Secretary - Jane Ellis, Membership Secretary - Nick Nelson, Newsletter Editor - Margaret Tylee with Gill Eastabrook providing production assistance. I am pleased to report that Jane Ellis has finalised the lecture programme for 2019/20 and gave details at the AGM which are also included below with the new season starting on 21 September 2019. The meeting agreed that the lecture to be given on 22 February 2020 by Professor David Perrett, who was a long time friend and colleague of Robert Vickers, would be given in his honour and memory and we are planning to hold this lecture as part of an afternoon event at the Leeds Industrial Museum together with a talk given by Steve Myers on the Sheffield Simplex car – another of Robert’s keen interests. The arrangements are still being confirmed and will be given in the next Newsletter, it is hoped that Robert’s widow Jill will be able to attend. Jane also gave details of a Section excursion to the lead mines on Grassington Moor led by David Joy on 9 July, these are given below. A welcome to new members who have joined this year: Pete Lewis, Angela Millington, Clive Owen and Andrew Millson, I hope you will be able to join us at a future event. This Newsletter is a bit thin on news and events so a further plea to members - please send me your local IA news for inclusions and consider writing something for the next Newsletter, closing date for contributions will be 2 September to enable the Newsletter to be produced and distributed in time for the first lecture. I wish you all a pleasant summer. Margaret Tylee 1 YAHS IHS Newsletter 106 YAHS NEWS Earlier this year the Management Board received the unfortunate news that D&M Heritage who were contracted to advertise and distribute the Society’s publications had gone out of business on 31 January 2019. An urgent exercise had to be undertaken to collect the Society’s stock from the D&M Premises and the stock is now housed in a storage facility near to the Society HQ at Stringer House in Hunslet. Investigations are continuing to find another distributer, meanwhile urgent requests for our publications can be made to David Buck the Society’s Hon Secretary. The Society has been approached to participate in a joint project with the West Yorkshire Archaeology Service together with others to investigate the remains of industries in the Hunslet and Holbeck areas of Leeds. Much of this area is threatened by development, including the impact of HS2 – the main reason for proceeding with the project. The work will involve consulting maps, photography and identifying physical remains both above and below ground. There is also the possibility of making a record of current uses of sites in the area. An initial meeting of those involved was held on 22 March and further details will be reported as the project develops. 2020 sees the 100th anniversary of the birth of Maurice Beresford, the renowned historian known for his research into deserted medieval villages and more applicable to the Section, the development of urban and industrial Leeds. The Society’s Promotions Group will be planning a celebration for Professor Beresford which could involve working with the project mentioned above and separately with the Medieval Deserted Settlement Group. Details will be announced when the arrangements are agreed. Following the resignation of Jane Ellis as the Society’s Hon Excursions Officer, we are now looking for a replacement to be appointed at the forthcoming AGM. Unfortunately most of the excursions which Jane had organised during her time in office had been poorly attended. There could be a number of reasons for this – lack of interest in the visit, location not convenient, not enough notice etc. It has led to the Management Board to consider whether it is worth offering excursions to members and the more general question of what the Society has to offer its membership. A member survey was held several years ago when members gave high priority to the access and value of the Society’s Collections and the welcoming convenience of meeting at Claremont. In the light of the changes that have happened since the previous survey and the excursions experience, the Management Board have agreed to hold an updated members survey which is being developed. For main Society members, a reminder that the AGM which should have been held on 25 May has had to be postponed due to delays in getting the accounts signed off by the independent examiners. It is now likely to be held in July. As well as an Excursions Secretary, we also need a Membership Secretary, the current President Gill Cookson has indicated that she will be stepping down and a nomination for the post has been received. The current Hon Secretary, David Buck has also indicated that he would prefer to stand down. There are also three vacancies for ordinary Management Board members. I will have served three years as the nominated Industrial History Section Board member and was eligible for re-election for a further three years at this year’s AGM and my thanks to the Section AGM for agreeing to my re-election. If any main Society member wishes to enquire about any Management Board vacancy please contact David Buck ([email protected]). OTHER NEWS The Calderdale Industrial Museum goes from strength to strength. A team of volunteers will be attending the annual Museums and Heritage Awards in London on 15 May as a result of being shortlisted in the category of Volunteer Team of the Year. On 24 May, the Museum will be visited by the Vice Lieutenant and deputy Lieutenants of West Yorkshire as part of their visit to Halifax. Also invited are the three Bishops of West Yorkshire, the Leader of Calderdale Council and the Chief Executive of Calderdale Council. The Museum are expected to receive confirmation from Arts Council England that they have been recognised as an Accredited Museum and it is planned that the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire will be attending the Calderdale Industrial Museum Association’s AGM on 29 May to make the formal presentation of the Certificate of Accreditation. Well done to CIMA for all the progress they have made over the years to get the Museum open for business again. 2 YAHS IHS Newsletter 106 2019 sees the 25th anniversary of Heritage Open Days and to celebrate this, events will be held over two weekends and ten consecutive days 13-22 September. The theme for 2019 is People in Power in recognition of the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre. Full details of the events will be available later in the year so check out the website www.heritageopendays.org.uk. A question was asked at the AGM about the All Party Parliamentary Group on Industrial Heritage and the status of their report. I have now discovered that the report was published in May 2018. The report examines the value of industrial heritage to the current day UK and made three recommendations. 1. To develop skills training in key aspects of industrial heritage.