Bronte celebrations continue through to summer

The evening is one of several spring and summer events continuing a year of celebrations of Patrick Bronte becoming Haworth’s minister 200 years ago.

The event, subtitled “I look for something of the gentleman”, will be on Friday, April 26 at 7.30pm and will look at figures such as Constantin Ager, William Weightman, Henry Nussey and Charlotte’s husband Arthur Bell Nicholls.

A museum spokesman said: “For better or worse, the literary men that flowed from the pens of the Brontes have been acclaimed as heroes and heartthrobs both on the stage and screen.

“But what of the men in their everyday lives? Outside of their father and brother, who were the men of their acquaintance and what impact did their encounters have on the sisters’ view of gentlemen more widely?”

Earlier on April 26, at 2pm, the latest Bronte Treasures session will give people exclusive curator-led access to treasures from the Bronte Society collection.

The spotlight turns fully on Rev Patrick Bronte, father of the famous sisters, on May 7 in free talks at 11.30am and 2pm about his work to improve education in 19th-century Haworth.

As a young man Patrick seized opportunities for learning in order to get on with the world, and his passion for the importance of education drove him to create a school for Haworth children.

It also inspired him to send his four older daughters away to the miserable experience that was Cowan Bridge, an experience that inspired early chapters in Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre.

Dramatist Rachel Joyce will lead a writing workshop on May 12 at Ponden Hall, Stanbury, entitled Adapting Character for Radio.

Participants are invited to take along an idea of their preferred protagonist so she can help them find clues to their character’s history and recreate them through dialogue. Rachel will also help the fledgling writers flesh out their minor characters..

Rachel has written bestselling novels The Music Shop and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, as well as writing more than 20 plays for BBC Radio 4, including adaptations of all seven Bronte novels.

The Parsonage Museum will host hands-on history during this year’s Museums at Night, on May 16, showcasing domestic objects. Admission will be free to visitors providing proof of residence in the BD22, BD21 or BD20 postcodes.

As part of the Haworth 1940s weekend, the museum will screen Devotion, the classic movie about the Brontes’ life, on May 18 and 19 at 2pm. The Spring Bank holiday will see a Wild Wednesday! family session (11am-4pm) where children can create little books similar to the tiny books written by the Bronte siblings, and decorate them.

They can also take part in a free children’s trail written and illustrated by Mick Manning and Brita Grantstrom, who recently published a children’s book about the Bronte family. The school holidays will also feature short guided walks and ‘hands on history’ sessions for all visitors. All activities are free with admission to the museum.

The May 31 Parsonage Unwrapped is entitled Playing House Detectives, and will be a guided tour with a curator to uncover clues hidden in the historic parts of the house, revealing what it would have been like in the Brontes’ time.

Patrick as Father is the title of a free talk on June 4 (11.30am & 2pm). A museum spokesman said: “The Bronte children’s loss of her mother at such an early age meant that their father’s role in their lives took on a vital importance.

“History has sometimes viewed Patrick’s paternal skills harshly, but 200 years on, how do we now judge him as a father? His approach can sometimes seem ‘hands off’ by today’s standards; should we see this is an obstacle for his children to overcome in the development of their creative talent, or was the freedom he afforded them just what they needed?”

The Bronte Society Summer Festival Weekend will be held on June 7 and 8. The weekend begins on June 7 at 3pm with a talk by the Rev Peter Mullins, the current rector of Haworth and Cross Roads, serving in the royal taken by Patrick Bronte 200 years ago.

The insightful talk. entitled ‘Better and more scriptural – Patrick Bronte’s ministry in the context of its time’, will be at West Lane Baptist Centre in Haworth. The talk will explore the context of Patrick’s life as perpetual curate of Haworth in an age of reform and dispute in church and state.

Also on June 7, at 7.30pm, will be a talk about Shakespeare’s role in the work of the Brontes, given by Paul Edmondson.

A spokesman said: “Shakespeare’s impact on the work of the Brontes is pervasive, and sometimes surprising. Shirley contains a chapter entitled ‘Coriolanus’ which presents a political reading of Shakespeare’s play. Wuthering Heights fully digests Shakespeare. Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall demonstrate a careful reading of his work.

“In this enlightening talk Shakespeare scholar Paul Edmondson will show how the Brontes were inspired by Shakespeare, and present an overview of his influence on their genius.”

On Saturday, June 8, Stephen Whitehead will give a talk about Arthur Bell Nicholls, entitled “the best of the comforts that ever woman had”. This year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of of Arthur Bell Nicholls, eventual husband of Charlotte Bronte.

The spokesman said: “Mr Nicholls’ story is often overshadowed by the biographies of the parsonage’s more famous inhabitants. In this interesting talk, Stephen Whitehead shares the story of the most intimate witness to the triumphs and tragedies of the Brontes’ adult lives.”

Also on June 8 will be a talk by Angela Clare entitled Interpreting Anne Lister of Shibden Hall in Museums and the Media. In 1820, when Patrick Bronte and his family moved into the Parsonage, globe-trotting pioneer Anne Lister was resident at Shibden Hall near Halifax.

Sally Wainwright, writer of acclaimed Bronte biopic To Walk Invisible, has written a new BBC drama about Lister, who recorded everything in minute detail in her five-million-word diaries.

Visit bronte.org.uk/whats-on for further information about all the events.