Events in February 2023

Here are the events I'm doing in February this year...

The Manchester Mummy
Tuesday 7th February
2.00-3.30pm
Failsworth Townswomen's Guild
I'm giving a local history talk on Hannah Beswick, also known as the Manchester Mummy
Members Event

Booth Hall Before the Hospital
Wednesday 22nd February
1.00-3.00pm
College of the Third Age
I'm giving a local history talk on Booth Hall (the hall, not the hospital) in Blackley, covering its construction and some of the various people who owned it through to when it was demolished in the early twentieth century to make way for the children's hospital
Members and Non-Members Event (£2.50 per session donation) - More Information

Virtual Writing Retreat
Sunday 26th February
10.30-5.00pm
Hannah's Bookshelf
I'm hosting a online writing retreat for creative writers with writing exercises and structured writing sessions
Members Event

Interested in booking me for an event? Click here to find out more.

Midsummer: Day 5

It's our fifth day of Midsummer celebrations today, and it's had a very definite 'Summer Holidays' vibe for me (I even took my parasol when I went out this afternoon).

Summer Holidays Local History Talk

Today I gave a local history talk at the College of the Third Age in Crumpsall, and, in honour of the season, it was all about summer holidays, wakes, rushcarts and fairs. I got to talk about 7th-century missionaries and the Declaration of Sports, as well as sheep-shearing, morris dancers and rush-bearing, and Delaunay's dyeworks, working class respectability movements and the popularity of fortune-telling pigs. And the attendees shared stories of dads who refused to take their ties off on the beach, Yelloway coaches, going to the Isle of Man (because 'it felt like it was abroad') and (from my 90-year-old neighbour) being propositioned by soldiers on Blackpool pier. We also had a brief singalong to Cliff Richard at the beginning, some birthday cake for one of the ladies halfway through, and an inflatable palm tree.

Midsummer Earrings

So today's Midsummer earrings (in honour of my Summer Holidays history talk) were a pair of funky watermelon slices.

Midsummer Tea

Today's Midsummer tea (another of my Whittard selection box) was Mango and Bergamot.