Emily Brontë roars into Haworth for new exhibition

The event at the Haworth museum was held to launch a year-long exhibition dedicated to the life and work of the famous Wuthering Heights author.

Brontë Society members and creative people were among the first people to be given a glimpse of the exhibition, Making Thunder Roar.

Guests included a host of artists, writers and musicians who have been involved in putting together this year’s packed programme of events to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Emily’s birth.

They included model and social entrepreneur Lily Cole, the Brontë Society’s 2018 creative partner, Ben Myers, who was heavily involved in creating Making Thunder Roar, and novelist Michael Stewart.

Artist Peter Brears was on hand to examine the second exhibition of 2018, a display of his original illustrations for the book The Real Wuthering Heights: The Story Of The Withins Farms.

Also present was Sally Wainwright, who wrote the acclaimed 2016 TV biopic about the Brontë family, To Walk Invisible. She has contributed to Making Thunder Roar.

Rebecca Yorke, the Brontë Society’s communications officer, said the launch was very successful, with guests giving a “really good response” to the new exhibition.

She said: “People enjoyed hearing about our plans for the year, presented by Brontë Society executive director Kitty Wright and contemporary arts commissioner Jenna Holmes.

Although the centrepiece for 2018 at the Brontë Parsonage Museum is the Making Thunder Roar exhibition, staff have retained last year’s well-received life-size recreation of Branwell Brontë’s studio.

Making Thunder roar was launched the day after the Brontë Parsonage Museum reopened after its annual month-long closure. The first members of the public to visit were Harriet Coates and Jill Galvani from the Wirral.

Visit bronte.org.uk/whats on for information about the opening times, admission fees, and the full programme of events of 2018.

Pictures by Simon Warner.