Talks
I give talks to groups and these are just a few of my talks:
- Starting family history. Family history is a fascinating journey, but where to start? This talk explores how to use the information you already have about your family to find out more using census returns and birth, marriage and death records. It provides some tips and tricks to approach your family history research like a professional genealogist!
- Starting house history. Our homes have seen many previous occupants come and go and have a fascinating story to tell. Who lived there? What did they do? Was the house always a house or was it a chapel or maybe a mill? Who built it and who did they sell it to? What did it look like in the past? This talk can help you find the answers to some of these questions.
- Scandal! Cases before the bawdy courts 1516-1848: The cases reveal some of the more scandalous aspects of life in our community in past centuries as well as details of people’s lives, relationships and the things they argued about
- Life and death in Todmorden 1851-1901: this talk uses census records to explore who was living in Todmorden in the second half of the 19th century, where they came from and what they were doing there. It uses examples of families and individuals as well as statistics to gain an insight into the people of Todmorden over a 50 year period.
- The Fieldens and their legacy in Todmorden. There’s hardly any aspect of life in 19th century Todmorden that the Fieldens didn’t influence in some way. This talk explores the colourful characters that built up the Fielden enterprise from small scale weaving, through radical politics and an unhappy marriage to untold wealth and success.
- Not just cotton magnates: the Fieldens’ property portfolio
Even from an early stage in the development of Fielden Brothers, property holding brought in a substantial part of their income, both individually and as part of the business. This talk looks at the extent of their property holdings which goes well beyond the homes they lived in and the iconic buildings we associate with them. - Did he leave me anything? This talk explores the history of will making from mediaeval to more recent times, some of the customs and the process of making and proving a will. It looks at how people ensured their loved ones received their inheritance and those out of favour didn’t, using examples of loving and not so loving families.
- Life on the stage: the story of Sam Ranson and Blanche Slater. Michael Connor, an apprentice sawyer from Leeds, left it all behind and as Sam Ranson toured the country as a music hall artiste with his wife Blanche Slater. This talk is about their careers, the theatres they performed in and what life was like as a music hall artiste in the 1870s and 1880s.
Walks
As a guide with Calderdale Heritage Walks I plan and lead walks in the Todmorden area covering many aspects of the town’s past such as:
- First World War in Todmorden
- Death, disease and disaster
- Transport and industry and the development of Todmorden
- Fielden Town
- Dobroyd Castle tour
- Churches and chapels of Todmorden
- Cornholme Cornucopia
- Walsden walk
- Todmorden Folk
- Tod-murder-n