NEWSLETTER NO. 74 AUTUMN 2008 EDITORIAL Welcome to the latest Newsletter; I hope you have had an enjoyable summer in spite of the dreadful weather, Due to a clash of dates I was unable to attend this year’s AIA Conference which was held in Wiltshire and I look forward to reading the report which will appear in Industrial Archaeology News. I am also looking forward to the forthcoming 2008-2009 Lecture Programme; full details are given on the separate sheet, meeting as usual on Saturday mornings at Claremont. In the past the Section has considered whether midweek evening meetings or Saturday afternoons would attract more members to join and attend but the general view from those who have expressed it, is that Saturday mornings are preferred. However please note that the 2009 AGM will be starting earlier at 10.30am. This is because we will have another local walk in the afternoon starting at 2pm and starting the AGM half an hour earlier gives a little more time for members’ contributions and lunch. I am sure that you will agree with me that our Lecture Secretary, Jane Ellis, has yet again organised an interesting and varied programme and I hope many of you will be able to attend at least a few lectures during the season. Robert Vickers will also lead a walk around Huddersfield on Sunday 10 May 2009, meeting at the Railway Station at 11am with a pub lunch. Let’s hope there is better weather for this than his walk around Bradford, which is reported on later in the Newsletter. The other point to note is that the Section needs to hold a short business meeting prior to the start of the October lecture to discuss the proposed membership subscriptions with effect from January 2009. Members will be aware that some controversial proposals were put forward earlier in the year concerning section membership, which resulted in a motion being sent from the section to the Society’s President, Dr Richard Hall and I subsequently received a reply from Dr Hall apologising for the apparent lack of consultation with the section. In the event, the Management Committee has decided against making a change and this was reported to the Society’s AGM (see below for more information on the AGM). In summary, Sections continue to be free to set their own membership subscriptions but the capitation fee paid by sections to the main society is being increased to £10 with effect from 1 January 2009. Subscriptions to the main Society are also being increased from £40 to £45 and in line with previous arrangements, the main Society subscriptions will be held for a period of 4 years also with effect from 1 January 2009. Proposals for an increase to section membership subscriptions will be discussed with members, but my proposal would be to retain the Section element of the subscription at £4. According to the YAHS Annual Accounts as of end December 2007, the section had funds of £4,172. Since we have no immediate plans for any additional expenditure over and above present costs, it seemed to me that holding the section subscription rate would be an encouragement for both existing and new members. If agreed, a Section only membership would increase from £11 to £14 (£10 capitation fee + £4 section membership) with Section members of the main Society paying £49 (£45 + £4) if you are a full Society member. Following my enquiries about membership of Council which I mentioned at the AGM and correspondence concerning the proposed subscription changes, I was approached to see if I would be willing to be co-opted onto the Management Committee as there was a vacancy. I have agreed to this since it will be a useful way of being able to raise matters of interest for the Section directly and to have first hand knowledge of any ongoing issues. The Management Board meets four times a year at Claremont and the next meeting is scheduled for 8 October. Also enclosed with this issue of the Newsletter are the minutes of the 2008 AGM. If any member wishes to propose corrections to the minutes please let me have the details in writing or email. No new members to welcome this time, but a reminder that copies of the membership leaflet are available on the Society’s website www.yas.org.uk. Finally, please let me have any items for the next Newsletter in early January and I hope to see you at some or all of the lectures. Margaret Tylee NEWS FROM CLAREMONT The AGM of the main Society was held on 21 June 2008. There was some worrying news from the Treasurer who reported that over the past 7 years the Society has lost about 200 members and membership continues to decline. The accounts for 2007 had shown a deficit over 2006 of £69,000 and there was an ongoing dispute with the Revenue and Customs over the Society’s eligibility to claim Gift Aid and even the risk that previous Gift Aid may have to be paid back. This being resisted by the Management Committee. The Society is presently lacking a Membership Secretary and Publicity Officer. Filling both posts is an important action to help halt the decline in membership and revenue. The meeting received an update on the grant application to purchase new projection equipment, including a laptop and data projector. Application had been made for £6,000 and has had to be resubmitted on a number of occasions. At the time of writing we are still waiting to hear the outcome. There was a long discussion on the proposal to increase the subscriptions which was eventually carried by a majority; interestingly the Treasurer voted against the increase arguing that any increase would deter existing and future members. Section only members may like to read the August issue of Update, the YAHS Newsletter (copy available in the YAHS Library). The Senior Librarian Robert Frost has written a brief history of the Society and I hadn’t realised that it was formed in Huddersfield in 1863 before moving to Leeds in 1896 and that Claremont was purchased in 1924. Also in this issue is a request for volunteers to work in the Library and archive or helping the Officers – any offers for a Membership Secretary or Publicity Officer? NEWS ITEMS A 150 year old minute book from the London & North Western Railwaywas rescued from being thrown away in the 1940s and donated to the British Waterways archives. It contains details, amongst other items, of the company’s ownership of the Huddersfield canals, giving an insight into the life and workings of the canals in the mid 19th century. The Huddersfield Canal Society has now produced a digital version of the 250 page book and it can be viewed via the Society’s website www.huddersfieldcanal.com/minutebook. English Heritage has published its latest Heritage at Risk register. It has an extended coverage from the Buildings at Risk register which English Heritage has published annually since 1998 which listed grade I and II* buildings at risk. The new register will be extended to cover grade II buildings, scheduled monuments, historic landscapes, parks and gardens, places of worship, battlefields and designated maritime wrecks. In the Yorkshire & Humber Region there are 122 grade I and II* buildings and scheduled monuments at risk, most are not buildings with a link to industry but Westwood Mills at Linthwaite, Huddersfield is one of four new entries this year. They are listed grade II* and comprise a 19th century mill complex including a former scribbling, carding and fulling mill, office, warehouse, workshops, boiler and engine house. Consent was given for conversion to residential use in October 2005 and the interior and roof s were stripped for refurbishment but the rest of the scheme has not yet been implemented. The archives of the Jowett Car Club have been deposited at the West Yorkshire Archive Service in Bradford. The Jowett Motor Manufacturing Company was established in Bradford in 1901. Cars were produced commercially from 1910 until 1953 with peak production in the 1920sThe factory at Idle produced field guns and ammunition during the 2nd World War and after the war, Jowett produced the Bedford van, the Javelin and Jupiter cars. The Javelin was not successful and due to financial problems the company closed in 1953. The Jowett Car Club collection consists of over 30 boxes of material collected by the club, including road tests, instructions books, sales catalogues, price lists, brochures, photographs, club rally programmes and magazines. There are also scrap books containing articles and advertisements for Jowett cars. The full article can be found in issue 26 of West Yorkshire’s Heritage (see item below) News of more planned developments in Leeds. A planning application has been submitted to demolish Broadhead & Conyers Buslingthorpe Tannery at Sheepscar to form 208 flats and a 10 storey apartment block. The 1.5 acre Troy Mills site in Horsforth previously occupied by Xerxes Belts, manufacturers of leather belts and handbags is to be converted into 12 apartments, 2 cottages and 21,000 sq. ft of offices. The West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service regularly publishes “West Yorkshire’s Heritage - Archaeology, Archives and Ecology” containing useful information about the work of the Service. Issue 26 includes an article reporting on the industrial archaeology fieldwork that has been carried out over the past 18 months. Each local authority in West Yorkshire has seen IA activity, examples include: • an examination of the mining and mine transport features in West Bowling, Bradford • tin tabernacles in Calderdale • a pump house in Farnley Tyas, Kirklees • Monk Bridge Forge, Leeds • High Town Glassworks, Castleford Copies of the publication are free on request from the West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory service, Register of Deeds, Newstead Road, Wakefield, WF1 2DE, but please include a stamped addressed A4 envelope.