Haworth councillor calls for Bronte Society to forge closer ties with village following its recent internal wrangles

by David Knights

A HAWORTH politician has called on the Brontë Society to improve its links with the local community. Parish council chairman John Huxley urged the long-established literary society to forge closer ties once it had overcome its current internal problems. Complaints that the society -- which runs the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth -- had lost its way culminated in an extraordinary general meeting last month when 53 members called for a change of leadership. Cllr Huxley suspected this internal strife had affected the society’s communication with the wider community in recent months, but said the situation been “patchy” for many years. He said: “We’ve been through several directors in the past few years, and initiatives where the Society has wanted to engage with the community, but there have been several false starts. “We would like a regular communication with the Brontë Society for activities that would sustain jobs and the tourism industry. “There’s an important legacy which I feel many people in the community would like to take part in. We want to be supportive.” Cllr Huxley welcomed new moves by the Society to work closely with the community, as part of a £99,178 Arts Council England-funded contemporary arts programme.  He said: “I have met the new operations manager, but we’ll have to wait until management has settled down. “A well-coordinated Brontë Society is an important and integral part of Haworth. It would have spin-offs for the whole community if they could get themselves together. “ A spokesman for the Bronte Society this week said that discussions about several forthcoming bicentenary celebrations – funded with the Arts Council grant -- had involved society members, museum staff and representatives from Haworth. She added: “This will assist in developing and delivering an exciting and innovative programme of events and exhibitions around the bicentenaries. She said: “We are also currently in recruiting a project manager to co-ordinate the bicentenary plans, with a focus on working closely with local people, businesses and community groups as well as with the newly-appointed membership officer and the marketing and communications officer. “The leadership team at the Parsonage and the trustees are determined to renew and develop relationships with local, national and international partners to ensure that we not only continue to safeguard the legacy of the Brontë family, but add valuable new chapters and interpretations to it over the coming years.”keighleynews/Haworth_councillor_calls_for_Bronte_Society