Gazette Series lists the advantages of adding a blue plaque to your historic home.

Gazette Series lists the advantages of adding a blue plaque to your historic home.

Also recently relisted are seven buildings that witnessed the life of Charlotte Brontë.
These include Grade I listed Haworth Parsonage, where Charlotte and her sisters Emily and Anne grew up and where her novels were written, and Grade II* listed Norton Conyers, the property that inspired Charlotte’s most famous novel Jane Eyre.

Also coming up in July

 

We endeavour to send these newsletters every 4-6 weeks, but there is so much going on at present, we thought you'd like to know you can also get the latest news by following us on twitter @BronteParsonage and @BronteShop, Instagram @bronteparsonagemuseum and facebook at BronteParsonageMuseum.

Our free Tuesday talk in July will focus on Villette, Charlotte Brontë's final (and some say greatest) novel. Head along to the Museum for 2pm on Tuesday 5 July to delve into the secrets of this haunting and deeply autobiographical novel.

Our friends at the National Media Museum in Bradford are hosting Jane Eyre: Afterlives on Saturday 9 July at 7.30pm. Samira Ahmed, of BBC Radio 4's Front Row, will lead a panel discussion on the Brontë phenomenon before a screening of the 1943 film version of Jane Eyre, starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine. Follow this link to purchase a ticket for this fascinating evening.

Poetry Festival at the Brontë Parsonage Museum

Keighley News announces the first Poetry Festival at the Brontë Parsonage Museum:

A field behind the Brontë Parsonage Museum is the setting for Haworth's first-ever poetry festival. Poetry at the Parsonage will bring dozens more than 100 poets and performers from across Yorkshire to Haworth on Saturday and Sunday, July 2 and 3.
The Word Club of Leeds has teamed up with the Brontë Society to organise a packed programme of readings and workshops. 

The festival has been organised on behalf of the Brontë Parsonage Museum by Matthew Withey. He said: “Poetry at the Parsonage will be the biggest gathering of poets anywhere in Britain this year.“It is a free-to-enter festival with sets by more than 100 performers, all coming together on the edge of the moors that inspired some of the finest poetry in the English language.“The weekend will be fabulous feast of words and we invite people to bring their families and share it with us.” 

Helen Mort, one of the headliners, said events like the festival created a sense of community and encouraged poets to support one another.“Yorkshire has a thriving poetry scene and it’s good to bring everyone together. ”Charlotte’s Stage, at the Old School Room next to the Brontë Parsonage Museum, will see performances by Mark Connors, Helen Mort and Alan Buckley on the Saturday, and Gaia Holmes, Clare Shaw, James Nash and Kate Fox on the Sunday. The Saturday line-up for Emily’s Stage at nearby West Lane Baptist Centre includes Ilkley Young Writers and Lorna Faye Dunsire, who appeared as part of Charlotte’s bicentenary celebrations in Haworth in April. 

Eddie Lawler, also known as the Bard of Saltaire, will headline Emily’s Stage on the Sunday. The event will be compered by Yorkshire favourites Craig Bradley, Geneviève L Walsh, Winston Plowes and Mark Connors of Word Club. Performances will begin at noon each day. Visit bronte.org.uk/whats-on for further information and tickets. (David Knights)

The Truth About The Illnesses Of Anne Brontë

Anne was the last of the six Brontë children to be born, and her mother Maria died just a year later. It’s easy to imagine how this could lead to her siblings, father and Aunt Elizabeth spoiling her and being extra protective of her. It seems as well that Anne suffered from asthma and was thought of as a fragile child, as it’s referred to in letters from Charlotte Brontë and from Anne herself.

Often thought of as being weak and permanently unwell, was that really the case and was asthma actually the cause of her complaints? Read the answer on: annebronte