Huddersfield Histories 2014
University of Huddersfield, 17th -20th June
(Replaces all previous programme - please note changes)
From the 17th to the 21st of June 2014, the first Huddersfield Histories festival will celebrate the
area's rich history with talks, walks, workshops, and a range of displays, films and presentations
involving community groups, local societies and schools. All are welcome to these events.
Admission free. Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday 17th June 7.30 pm - Huddersfield's Rugby League Icon, Harold Wagstaff - Canalside East
Rm 28, Queensgate Campus, Firth Street.
To celebrate the centenary of Wagstaff's greatest sporting achievement, we've invited Professor
Tony Collins one of the country's leading sports' historians to give a talk on the player's
contribution to the history of rugby league.
Wednesday 18th June 6.30 pm - Commemorate or Celebrate? The Politics of the First World War
Centenary - George Buckley Theatre, Researcher Hub, Queensgate Campus.
Dr Andrey Mycock from Huddersfield University discusses the political complexities of
commemorating or celebrating the centenary of the First World War.
Organised by the Institute for Research in Citizenship and Applied Human Sciences at the
University. Further information and registration at: www.hud.ac/events-calendar
Launch of '6 Million+' - Charitable Trust.
6million+ Charitable Trust aims to create a permanent home on the university campus for the
sculpture, created in Kirklees, using over six million buttons, to raise awareness of the Holocaust
and continuing genocides and persecution. Contact: [email protected]
Display panels and further information will also be available at the Community Showcase in
Student Central Building on Saturday 21st of June.
6.30 pm - Holmfirth Launch of 'The Wagstaff Trail' - a self-guiding trail about Harold Wagstaff
tracing this local sporting hero's connections in the Holme Valley. Begins at 6.30 pm in Holmfirth's
main centre car park. Trail guides available from Holmfirth Tourist Information Centre and local
shops.
Friday 20th June - School Workshops Day
We welcome over 100 children and their teachers from local primary schools to workshops taking
place on the university campus and organised as part of Huddersfield Histories. Workshops will be
run by Colne Valley Musem, Huddersfield Rugby League's 'A Lasting Legacy' Heritage Project and
the University Archives.
PLEASE NOTE: THE VICTOR GRAYSON EVENT LISTED BELOW HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL THE
AUTUMN DUE TO ILLNESS 7.30 pm - The Mystery of Victor Grayson: Independent Socialist MP,
Colne Valley 1907-1910 - Canalside East Rm 28, Queensgate Campus, Firth Street.
Lord David Clark, author of 'Colne Valley: Radicalism to socialism' (Longman,1981) and MP for the
Colne Valley 1970-74, shares thoughts on Grayson's contribution to the political landscape of the
early twentieth century and local radical traditions. He will be joined by University of Huddersfield
historian Professor Keith Laybourn.
Saturday 21st June - Community Showcase at Huddersfield Histories 2014 (All events are on
Queensgate Campus, unless specified otherwise)
10.00 am - St George's Square, Huddersfield
Radical heritage walk through the town centre highlighting places and personalities associated
with Huddersfield's radical past . Led by local historian and writer, Cyril Pearce (Start and finish at
the Harold Wilson Statue in St George's Square, 90 minutes long and accessible to all. Further
details available from Huddersfield Local History Society. See also:
http://www.huddersfieldhistory.org.uk/walks/
11.30 am - St. George's Square, Huddersfield
'White heat of technology' speech delivered at Harold Wilson statue, St. George's Square.
Harold Wilson's famous call for a new Britain to be created in the "white heat" of a technological
and scientific revolution led on to the Labour Party winning the general election of 1964.
To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the election, actor Colin Smith re-enacts the historic speech
beside the statue and Barry Shearman MP will give a talk.
Archive screenings and talks about Wilson, his government and Britain in the 1960s continue on
campus from 12.30 pm.
12.00 noon - Queensgate Campus:
Formal opening by University of Huddersfield VC Peter Slee
12.15 Music: connecting past and present through music and dance - VIRSA Bhangra Cultural
Group and Hade Edge Academy's Accordian and Concertina Group bringing sounds from their new
home, Hope Band Works, on the former site of Hope Bank Pleasure Gardens ,Honley
12.00-4.00 pm - Student Central, The Wilson Videobox - contribute your memories of Wilson, and
the 1964 Election.
12.30 pm onwards - Archive footage of 1964 election being screened in the Researcher Hub foyer
2.00 - 4.00 pm - George Buckley Lecture Theatre, Researcher Hub: Harold Wilson and the 1964
General Election
Talks and open discussion on Wilson, the legacy and significance of the 1964 General Election and
Labour government led by Professor Steven Fielding, University of Notthingham, who has written
extensively on the subject, and Dr Geraint Hughes, King's College London, a specialist on the
foreign and defence policy of the Labour government in that period.
12.00-4.00 pm - Student Central Building: Community Showcase and Exhibition
Find out more about the many and varied local and community histories. Leaflets, displays,
artefacts, laptop presentations and much more - come and share your own histories too or just
enjoy browsing.
1.00 -3.30 pm - The Green Room, Journalism and Media Building - A varied programme of films
that capture themes and atmospheres from different decades of Huddersfield's past including:
1.30-2.30 pm A Look at the Past - with the Huddersfield Filmmakers' Club - an hour of the club's
archive classics and new films capturing the atmosphere of past decades including:
Huddersfield Market (1970s) - as it used to be
Ducks and Skates (1950s) - about a day in the life of a Trolley Bus Crew)
Bailey's Bath (2006) - Holmfirth Lido and the past delights of open air bathing
The Rex at 100 (2013)- Elland's cinema history and the transfer to digital technology
The Foam Sequence (1982) -what happened when the River Colne became a bubble bath
Also featuring during the afternoon:
Films from the archives of the Rugby League Heritage Project A Lasting Legacy.
Sound System Culture (dir. Mandeep Samra 2014) - This important document of
Huddersfield's vibrant sound system and black music heritage combines interviews with some of
the key figures from Huddersfield's pioneering reggae scene with archive footage filmed from the
Yorkshire Film Archive.
The Story of 6 million+ - a chance to find out more about this inspirational Kirklees project
to commemorate victims of the Holocaust and raise awareness about continuing persecutions
and genocides
University Archives - a 'fly through' tour of the new facilities; and other contributions from
independent locally based digital media specialists and visual artists.
4.00 pm - Close of Huddersfield Histories 2014