NEWSLETTER 79 Spring 2010 EDITORIAL
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NEWSLETTER 79 Spring 2010 EDITORIAL Welcome to the latest Newsletter. Finally we are seeing the signs of spring and it really is late this year. Another lecture programme has come to an end with the holding of the AGM on 10 April and many thanks to Jane for organising another successful and varied programme. I am pleased to report that Jane has agreed to continue as Lecture Programme Secretary and even before this was confirmed at the AGM, she had already organised the 2010/11 programme. Outline details of the lectures are shown later in the Newsletter, with fuller descriptions being circulated with the Autumn Newsletter in September, but put the dates in your diaries now. The AGM was attended by 14 members and received my Annual Report, a copy of which is enclosed with this Newsletter for information to members who were unable to attend. You will see that membership has increased slightly during the year, which is very good news. At the AGM the officers were re-elected unopposed, so I continue as Chair and Newsletter Editor, Robert Vickers as Vice Chair and Membership Secretary and Jane Ellis as Lecture Secretary. Contact details are given at the end of the Newsletter. As usual the minutes of the meeting will be circulated with the Autumn Newsletter, but there are a couple of points to note here. In a discussion about the increasing use of the section pages on the YAHS website, it was suggested that an email mailing list of members would be useful to enable documentation to be sent to members electronically and to inform of events and activities that were not able to be included in the Newsletters. It was appreciated that not all members would want contacting in this way but a request for email details could be included when issuing membership renewal forms. Also suggested was the setting up of a members’ register of interest which could be of help when receiving queries from the public via the website. Members’ views on these suggestions would be welcome. Chris Rule, who is also a member of the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society (GLIAS), asked whether the Section would be interested in developing a database for sites of industrial history in Yorkshire using the software developed for a similar database that GLIAS used. It was recognised that this could involve a lot of work with questions such as coverage, editorial policy, currency and resources but the meeting felt it was worth exploring further with Chris to have a demonstration of the GLIAS database. Watch this space for developments. After the formal business of the AGM finished, we had presentations from Robert Vickers, Bill Jagger and Jane Ellis. Thanks to all for the interesting presentations. After lunch Robert led a party around East Hunslet and the riverside, the fourth in his series of walks exploring industrial Leeds. Unfortunately I was unable to attend due to having to travel south that afternoon to start a holiday in the Scilly Isles. I was also unable to attend the walk around Saltaire on the 18th April due to having just returned from the same holiday – I must plan my holiday better in future! However a reminder that Robert is leading another Section walk this time around Wakefield on Sunday May 9th, meeting at 11am at Wakefield Westgate Station; details were given in the last Newsletter. Jane Ellis has suggested that the speaker for the lecture on mining in the Boulby area of North East Yorkshire may be prepared to guide a walk around that area, also Keighley has been suggested, so some possibilities, but ideas from members for future walks would be appreciated. When looking up information about the early history of the Section I discovered that May 2010 will be the 40th anniversary of the Industrial History Section, it is appropriate therefore that we have an event in May. Welcome to new section members who have joined since the last Newsletter: Ms R J Johnson, Ms M A Marshall and Mr K F Wilde; I hope you will be able to join us at future events. I shall be producing the next Newsletter at the end of August, so please send me items to include, particularly news items which are a bit short this time. I hope to see some of you on May 9th and look forward to the first lecture in October. Margaret Tylee NEWS FROM CLAREMONT In the last Newsletter I gave details of the appeal to sponsor the repair of the windows at Claremont. I am pleased to report that over £2,500 has been received so far which has enabled work to start on the main Library room, other rooms will follow including the Lecture Room and the Archive room. While the work is going on there will be some restricted access to the collections. It may be wise to phone ahead on 0113 2457910 if you are planning a visit to check on the access to material. It is not too late to donate to the windows appeal - cheques made payable to the Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society can be sent to the Treasurer at Claremont. Also underway is the repair of the Victorian tiles in the vestibule at the front door of Claremont, access whilst this is happening will be signed via the side door. Members attending the AGM will have noticed that at long last repairs have been made to the walls of the Lecture Room and it is looking much better. There has been a good take up of the offer of free back issues of the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal if you can collect from Claremont. The contents pages of the YAJ are now available on the YAHS website (www.yas.org.uk), so take a look. From January 2010, the Management Board agreed to increase the hours of Kirsty McHugh who works in the Archive and Library. This has enabled Ms McHugh to spend time on promotional activities, which have included increasing and improving the website content, producing new publicity leaflets and investigating possible funding sources. Work on this will continue as YAHS nears its 150th anniversary in 2013. HELP WANTED I have been contacted by a freelance journalist who is researching the history of glass working in Yorkshire. I have given her some information about South Yorkshire and pointed her in the direction of sources for the Castleford and Glass Houghton areas. She would like to speak to any members who have a particular interest in the history of glass working. If you think you could help, please contact Helen Johnson, 5 Hunters Ride, Appleton Wiske, Northallerton DL6 2BD. T 01609 881584. NEWS ITEMS The centenary of Harry Brearley’s discovery of stainless steel will be in 2013 and the building in which he made the discovery has been listed. It is the former Firth Brown Research Laboratory in Princess Street, Sheffield built in 1908 and is now occupied by a pewter firm but carries a plaque about Brearley. Sheffield City Archives have been awarded £35,000 by the National Archives to open up to public access its extensive Firth Brown collectionwhich covers 125 years from 1842 and is one of the largest business archives in Sheffield. The project is due to be completed by January 2011. The Heritage Lottery Fund has made a grant of £38,000 to the South Leeds City Learning Centre to support a project to record the social history of Yorkshire’s textile mills. The project will involve the Leeds and Bradford Industrial Museums, Thwaite Mills and the Hainsworth woollen mill at Stanningley, which has been in operation since 1783 and makes woollen cloth for uniforms and snooker tables. A water turbine has been installed at the High Corn Mill, Skipton at a cost of £35,000 to supply water power to up to twenty houses. An application has been made to install a 120kW hydro electric power station at Linton Falls, Grassington, on a site that was used for a similar purpose for over 10 years from 1909 by the Grassington Electric Supply Co. With reference to the last item, members may like to refer to an article written by section member Herbert Masterson in the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Vol 71, 1999, p237 on “An Electrical Undertaking in Upper Wharfedale in the Early 1900s”. Gayle Mill, near Hawes has published its 2010 programme. The three storey mill built in 1784 that still uses water powered woodworking machinery installed in 1879, offers demonstration days on the first Sunday in the month when the machinery will be in action and guided tours are available. The tours on these days last two hours, (starting at 11am & 2.30pm) include light refreshments and cost £10 for adults and £5 for children. The mill is open Tuesday – Saturday, Bank Holiday Sundays & Mondays for one hour daily tours (11am, 12.30pm, 2pm & 3.30pm) price £5 for adult, £2.50 for children, free for children under 7. Tickets can be booked in advance from Gayle Mill T 01969 667320 or from the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes T 01969 666210. The present owners of the Darley Mill Centre at Darley near Harrogate have restored and renovated the mill machinery with the help of Northern Millwrights. The mill was originally a corn mill powered by a locally manufactured waterwheel from 1874, an auxiliary steam engine was later installed to use when the water in the Darley Beck was too low for the wheel. The pitch breast shot wheel ceased to operate in the 1950s but is now working again and the building contains much of the original machinery.