Because Huddersfield Local History Society has been unable to meet since March, the society has put together a Christmas treat both for its members, and anybody else interested in the district’s history, to enjoy.
Anyone who has ever seen the Society’s annual journal will know that the Huddersfield district has many stories to tell and this is reflected in the variety of its contents.
This special Christmas edition brings together a number of articles that were published in early editions of the Journal republished with a view to 2020.
Annual Contents
In the annual from 1984, John Rumsby looked at recruiting for the ‘Haver-Cake lads’, while in 2000 Angela Griffiths looked at Yorkshire Sings, a musical experience which certainly would have been missing this year.
Other articles look at Huddersfield suffragettes and architects, Lascelles Hall and local historian and ‘activist’, D.F.E. Sykes.
Ernest Beaumont’s account of his own experiences working as a horseman at a local farm in the 1940s provides a fascinating glimpse of a world that has gone.
‘Numerous Retrospectives’
In compiling the Journal, editor Rob Piggott found that because there were so many interesting articles to choose from, it was difficult to know which ones to include.
He believes that ‘numerous retrospectives could still be selected from the work that remains’.
But as this is a special Christmas edition, a number of pieces have seasonal themes unearthed from local historical sources.
‘Dikensian Detail’
Speaking on the special annual, Huddersfield Local History Society Chair, Cyril Pearce, said: “An account in the Huddersfield Chronicle for Christmas 1873 describes in Dickensian detail, the rich variety of meat and poultry on display in the town with only a passing reference to a ‘fruiterer’.”
The account also details ‘Guisers’, ‘Mummers’ and carol singers who appear on these pages alongside seasonal images and postcards.
More information about Huddersfield Local History Society, including its 2020 to 2021 monthly talks programme now being delivered online, can be found on Huddersfield Local History Society’s website.
The Society’s special Christmas Journal is available for £4.00. You can purchase it on their website or by post from HLHS, 24 Sunnybank Rd, Huddersfield HD3 3DE