Friday, 17 February 2012

Diary of Events from 22 February to 28 April

To Sunday 4 March. Mirth in the Mill. Exhibition of cartoons of the Lancashire cotton industry in the early 20thC. Features Sam Fitton's weekly cartoons in the union newspaper Cotton Factory Times, which provided a wry and unique commentary on the workplace struggles and everyday lives of the men, women and children who worked in the mills. People's History Museum, Spinningfields, Manchester M3.

To Sunday 6 May. North City Renaissance Exhibition. Centred on Sting’s commissioned painting 'Northern City Renaissance, Newcastle, England' (2004-2008) by American landscapist Stephen Hannock, this exhibition shows scenes from the Newcastle Laing Art Gallery’s collection depicting the Tyne’s sites of industrial shipbuilding and coalmining history. www.newcastlegateshead.com/whats-on/northern-city-renaissance-p618201?cm_mid=1204949&cm_crmid=%7B5C11700A-C12B-E111-93AC-1CC1DE6DBADB%7D&cm_medium=email

Wednesday 22 February. 7pm. From ‘Wot Cheor Geordie ‘& ‘When the boats come in ‘to the Baltic the Sage & the Millenium Bridge. Popular culture in the north east since 1945. Natasha Vall (Teesside University). North East Popular Politics Project talk. Newcastle Lit & Phil, Westgate Road. All welcome. Her Bohemians and ‘Pitmen Painters’ in North East England, 1930-1970 can be seen on www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/uploads/docs/050001.pdf. Details of her  book Cultural Region. North East England, 1945–2000. (Manchester University Press, 2011. ISBN 978-07-1908-228. £60) can be seen on http://us.macmillan.com/culturalregion/NastashaVall. Dave Russell’s review of it is on http://tcbh.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/10/27/tcbh.hwr040.extract

Friday. 24 February. 8pm. The X-Factor in History - and the Story of Wandsworth's Low-Born Meritocrats. Talk by  Penny Corfield (Emeritus Professor of History, University of London). Wandsworth Historical Society. www.wandsworthhistory.org. Friend's Meeting House, Wandsworth High Street, SW18. Free.

Friday 24 February.  7pm.  Concert at St Mary's Church. Jonathan Wilkeley's farewell concert as Music Director before he moves on to pastures new. Jonathan will accompany tenor Greg Tassell on the piano in a varied selection of English song including music by Britten, Coates, Dring, Coward, Flanders and Swann and many others. Greg will also include a song by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. St Mary's Church, Battersea Church Road.

Saturday 25 February. Midday-5pm, History of Riots Conference.  Room 350, Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet Street, London, WC1. The British riots of summer 2011 were a powerful reminder that rioting is still on the agenda even in one of the centres of market capitalism. Rioting has a long history and historical context. While authorities have tended to use the language of criminality historians have often taken a different view. The papers at this conference – the first to look at the history of riots since the events of 2011, and the broader sweep from the Arab Spring to the Occupy movements of that year – are based on original research into a range of aspects of the riot in history.  Speakers include:
·         Keith Flett. The London Crowd and London riots
·         Sean Creighton: From Revolution to New Unionism; the impact of Bloody Sunday on the development of John Burns’s politics
·         Neil Davidson: Riots around the Scottish Union negotiations in 1706 and the Global South today
·         John Newsinger: Memorial Day Massacre, a Chicago Police Riot
12 noon. Registration starts.
12.30pm. Papers and discussion including introduction: 4pm. Round Table discussion: Understanding the history of riots today.
Entry is £10 [£5 unwaged]. We ask people to donate in advance, if possible, to speed registration on the day.
Cheques, payable to ‘ Keith Flett’, to 38 Mitchley Rd, London, N17. Inquiries to:
keith1917@btinternet.com  or call 07803 167266.

Historian Penny Corfield’s reflections on riots can be seen in her September discussion point at www.penelopejcorfield.co.uk/discussion-point_september.html

Sunday 26 February. Clarion Family Cycle Ride event involving members of the Clarion Cycling Club  arriving at the People's History Museum on their penny farthings and vintage cycles, and then riding to the Working Class Movement Library for a Clarion tea. Full details here. If you are planning to join them please email enquiries@wcml.org.uk to let them know.

Tuesday 28 February. 9.30-11am. ‘Changing Gear - Is Localism the new Regionalism?’ Seminar organised by Smith Institute with Regional Studies Association. Venue Parliament. The seminar will take an in-depth look at the Government’s recent changes to regional, local and sub-local economic development. It will also see the launch of a collection of essays by leading experts on the regionalism and localism debate which has been edited by Michael Ward (Research Fellow, the Smith Institute) and Sally Hardy (Chief Executive, Regional Studies Association). Speakers: Hilary Benn MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government), David Ward MP (Member, BIS Select Committee), Professor David Bailey (Professor of International Business Strategy and Economics, Coventry University and Chair of the Regional Studies Association) and Michael Ward. To attend email localism@smith-institute.org.uk as soon as possible.

Monday 5 March. 6-8pm. The past in today’s politics: a debate on the state of history-writing as a political act. Panel members :

·         Professor Virginia Berridge (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and co-founder of ‘History & Policy’)

·         Dr Maurice Glasman (Reader in Political Theory at London Metropolitan University and Labour Peer)

·         Dr Mark Levene (University of Southampton)

·         Professor Lynne Segal (Birkbeck College, University of London).

Chair: Gareth Stedman Jones (Director of the Centre for History and Economics, Cambridge, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge University and Professor of the History of Ideas at Queen Mary, University of London). Venue: Eliot Room, British Library Conference Centre, 96 Euston Road, London, NW1. Booking essential as seating is limited: to book please email Katy Pettit - k.pettit@uel.ac.uk.

Friday 9 March. 1.15pm. Hannah Mitchell Foundation – Public. The newly-formed Hannah Mitchell Foundation, ‘an ethical socialist campaign for regional government in the North’ is holding its public launch in Bradford’s City Hall. www.hannahmitchell.org.uk.  See my blog:  Should the North have devolved government? http://historyandsocialaction.blogspot.com.

Friday 9 March. 8pm. Commemoration of George Brown.  George lived most of his life in Harpurhey and was active in fighting for the rights of the Irish working class, through his trade union work and later in the General Strike of 1926. His later involvement with the Communist Party led him to go to Spain to enlist in the International Brigade. He died, summarily shot by Franco's forces, as he lay on the roadside after being wounded at Brunete in 1937. Irish World Heritage Centre, 10 Queens Road, Manchester M8 . The event is part of the Manchester Irish Festival - more information here. Admission is free.

Saturday 10 March. 2pm. No Respecter of Persons – The Impact of Quaker Persecution History on the Radicalism of Thomas Paine. Talk by Sybil Oldfield (Univ. Sussex). Thomas Paine Society Eric Paine Memorial Lecture.  Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1. Free.

Wednesday 14 March. 7pm. "Austerity Isn't Working: What Is The Alternative?". Newcastle Arts Centre (The Black Swan), 67 Westgate Rd (opp Assembly Rooms). Hosted by Coalition of Resistance. Supported by People's Bookshop, Gateshead Unison, Labour Representation Committee, Youth Fight for Jobs, London Progressive Journal. Chair: Councillor Dipu Ahad. Main speaker: Owen Jones, author of 'Chavs: the demonisation of the working class' - http://goo.gl/1aHNH. Plus time for questions and discussion. This is part of a national series of public meetings hosted by Coalition of Resistance: www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/2012/01/coalition-of-resistance-spring-tour

Thursday March 15. Thinking Seriously about...Youth Work and Policy. Youth and Policy Conference. Youth and Policy’s fourth ‘thinking seriously’ conference will explore the implications of Coalition youth policy for the youth work field. Over recent months, many events have taken place with subsequent policy implications for youth work organisation and practice: the implementation of Coalition spending cuts, the Select Committee on Services for Young People, and the riots of summer 2011. Highlights: Paul Oginsky Q&A session;  a reflection on the Select Committee by Ian Maerns (MP), a youth work panel session to be led by Bernard Davies, and workshops on the NCS, teenage pregnancy, the PREVENT agenda, and the role of faith-based and voluntary organisations in the Big Society. For further information contact Naomi Stanton (YMCA) on 020 7540 4921. Venue: YMCA George Williams College, George Williams College, 199 Freemasons Road, Canning Town, London, E16. £90.

Saturday 17 March. 1.30-4.30pm. Labour Heritage Annual General Meeting. After the formal business Barbara Humphries will speak on ‘Thirty Years of Labour Heritage’, and Stan Newens on ‘The Rise of Labour in London: why the delay?. Stefan Dickers will then lead a guided tour of the  Bishopsgate Collections. Bishopsgate Institute, 230 Bishopsgate, London, EC2. For further information and to join Labour Heritage contact Linda Shampan: shampan@btinternet.com .

Saturday 17 March. 2pm. The Clarion Movement and performance by Bolton Clarion Choir. Denis Pye, author of Fellowship is life: the National Clarion Cycling Club, 1895-1995, will speak about the Clarion movement and about some of the exhibition highlights. The choir sings songs of celebration and protest to support people and organisations concerned with democratic change, human rights, peace and environmental issues. Working Class Movement Library, Salford. 

Saturday 17 March. 7pm. Joseph Skipsey – a commemoration. 2012 provides several anniversaries of mining disasters so, to re-balance this a little, the Institute is holding an event celebrating the 180th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Skipsey, the Tyneside Pitman Poet. The event includes Keith Armstrong, Gary Miller(Whisky Priests), Chris Harrison with Skipsey songs, and pipe player Chris Ormston, with readings from Skipsey’s poetry and an account of his life. During the evening, the annual Northern Voices Joseph Skipsey Award will be presented to a deserving local writer.  The North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, Neville Hall, Westgate Rd, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1. 0191 232 2201.

Friday 16 March. North East Popular Politics Project Social. Everyone welcome whether or not they are involved in the Project. See below.

Monday 19 March. 2pm. “A voice of discontent" on 18th.c. women writers. Talk by Jennifer Kelsey. Wandsworth U3A. Earlsfield Library, 276 Magdalen Rd, London, SW18, Near Earlsfield Station.

Wednesday 21 March. 6pm for 6.30pm. The Gardens of William Morris. Talk by Jill, Duchess of Hamilton. On show - a special early copy of Morris’s novel News From Nowhere. Garden Museum, Lambeth Palace Rd/Lambeth Rd, London, SW1. Tickets £15/£10 Museum  Friends. Click here to book a place online.

Friday 23 March, 8pm.  Recital by students from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, including SC-T’s Sonata in D minor, op. 28 for violin & piano, Trio in E minor op. 6 for violin, 'cello & piano and his Nonet, op. 2 for 2 violins, viola, 'cello, bass, clarinet, bassoon, horn & piano. Venue – The Braithwaite Hall (Croydon Town Hall), Katharine Street, CR9. Tickets: £8 from 020 8657 7909. Part of Croydon Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Festival.

Saturday 24 March. West London Local History Conference.  ‘Home Sweet Home: 300 years of West London’s Housing’. This year’s theme focuses on how the growth of London as a city changed the style and pattern of house building in our area. Local interest will be strongly represented by Colin Thom, who will be talking on Victorian and Edwardian housing development in Battersea. Colin is a leading contributor to English Heritage’s eagerly awaited Survey of Battersea. Montague Hall, Hounslow. £8. Further details on http://brentfordandchiswicklhs.org.uk/about-2/west-london-local-history-conference-2012

Saturday 24 March. 10.15am-3.45pm. Women on The Home Front Conference. National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire. Talks  include:
·         The housewife and the politics on food on the First World War home front
·         Challenging Gender Stereotypes on Britain’s Inland Waterways during the Second World War
·         Shifting relationships between women, cats and dogs: challenges to the ‘people’s war’
·         ‘Wartime Day Nurseries in the Midlands
·         The lived experience of women on the Home Front in the Second World War
·         Nationalising hundreds of thousands of women : Domesticity and Evacuation in Staffordshire
·         War’s Forgotten Women : War Widows
Organised by The Midlands Region of the Women’s History Network, The National Memorial Arboretum and The University of Worcester. To book a place contact  janis@staffs111.fsnet.co.uk or maggie.andrews@worc.ac.uk. Conference fee £15 and £7:50 for concessions - Students free, to include lunch and coffee.

Tuesday 27 March. Working together: How higher education and charities can deliver social impact. How could your community/voluntary group harness the power of thousands of students who want to make the world a better place? How could you work with local universities and higher education institutions to improve community engagement? NCVO, NUS & Universities UK joint conference to find out more.

Wednesday 28 March 2pm. Robert Blatchford's Journey to Socialism. Deborah Mutch, Senior Lecturer in English, De Montfort University, Leicester, will talk with the founding of The Clarion and then focusing on the literature that made The Clarion famous. Working Class Movement Library, 51 The Crescent, Salford: www.wcml.org.uk

Saturday 31 March. Representations of London in Literature.  Closing date for submissions of papers. Literary London 2012  Interdisciplinary Conference – 18-20 July. (see below).

Tuesday 3 April, 1pm. Lunch time concert by Megan Whiteley, Fred Scott, Cornelius Bruinsma and friends at Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, Croydon, CR9 1DG to include items by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, in aid of SCAT (Skeletal Cancer Action Trust). Presented by Soundpractice Music Ltd. Tickets from 020 8688 9291 or www.fairfieldhalls.co.uk 

Thursday 5 April. The British Society of Sports History Annual Conference. Final date for submisison of papers. Conference 7-8 September 2012. Hosted by the University of Glasgow. The conference will be open-themed. Papers should be a maximum of 20 minutes in length with ten minutes for questions and discussion. Ideas for Specialist Panels will also be strongly encouraged. Abstracts should be no longer than 200 words and should be sent to The Conference Committee (email: bssh2012@gmail.com).

Sunday 15 April. 2pm. Can you keep a secret?: the rise and fall of the Yorkshire Luddites. Play by Mikron Theatre. Riots in our city streets, the worst economic crisis for decades, a long war fought abroad with no sign of progress. Sound familiar? Welcome to England 1812. Whilst the country's elite enjoy lavish balls and chattering salons, textile mill workers fight for their livelihoods by smashing up the machinery designed to replace them. Luddism - a fight for rights or fear of progress? Direct action or mindless vandalism? In the back room of a Yorkshire pub, a young lad is ‘twisted in'. He takes the oath of secrecy and joins the Luddites. But why won't he give his real name, calling himself instead after the movement's mythical founder, Ned Ludd? What is he hiding? And who was Ned Ludd anyway?
In the bicentennial year of the Luddite risings, which took place around Marsden in West Yorkshire, who better to illuminate their story than fellow Marsdeners Mikron - with their unique blend of humour, history and harmonic arrangements. Tickets: £8  book. Working Class Movement Library, 51 The Crescent, Salford.

Saturday 28 April. 10am-1noon. Gernika75: Memories of the International Brigades and the Spanish Civil War. People's History Museum, Left Bank, Spinningfields, Manchester, M3. Speakers will be Paul Preston, Helen Graham and Richard Baxell. Booking is required: please contact the Museum on 0161 838 9190 or info@phm.org.uk. Further details: dom@lancaster.ac.uk. Ending at noon it leaves you time to get across town to:
 
Saturday 28 April. 2pm  Re-envisaging work: British and American women's alternative economic visions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries'. 3rd Annual Frow lecture by Sheila Rowbotham. For Working Class Movement Library. Venue Old Fire Station, Crescent, Salford. Sheila Rowbotham draws on her most recent book, Dreamers of a new day: women who Invented the twentieth century to show the range of ideas and plans women devised for a better society. While some have entered our daily lives many are yet to be realised and are still relevant today. All welcome, admission free. www.wcml.org.uk

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