Anne Brontë's car park

A couple of news items from the heart of Brontë Country. The Scarborough Evening News focuses on Anne Brontë's grave and the car park nearby.

A MAN has set up a Facebook group after concerns were raised about cars parking close to Anne Brontë's grave in a former Scarborough churchyard.
David Selby, who is a regular visitor to the town, says he was shocked to see cars parked so close to the gravestones at the top end of the old graveyard next to St Mary's Church.
The 38-year-old logistics manager, of Selby, said: "It was packed and cars were parked in between the gravestones.
"I found this very disrespectful - I don't think gravestones should be used as parking markers."
Mr Selby, who is a member of English Heritage, had been visiting the Wartime Weekend at Scarborough Castle and noticed how full the car park was.
He has now written to Scarborough's MP Robert Goodwill about the issue and is starting a petition to get the land put back to its original use.
The churchyard has been used as a car park for a number of years and is looked after by the church, with fees going back into church funds.
Mr Selby said: "Whilst I appreciate that churches need to diversify, I am dismayed that the church would use consecrated ground for this facility."
Reverend Martin Dunning, who has been at the church for eight years, said: "The car park is for people coming to church services and for visitors and has been used that way for many years.
"People value it enormously and we would struggle hugely without it."
The Rev Dunning explained that he is regularly in touch with the Brontë Society, which is happy with the parking situation.
He said: "It is a compromise, but I think we do it sensitively. If Mr Selby would like to get in touch, I'd be happy to look at the situation with him."

The Facebook group is called Restore Anne Brontë's Grave and its description is,

The graveyard containing Anne Brontë's grave in Scarborough has been converted to a Pay & Display Car Park.
St Mary's Church in Scarborough has seen fit to change this land into a car park for the public, with cars being allowed to park between the gravestones.
Whilst I appreciate that churches need to diversify. I am dismayed that the Church would use consecrated ground for this facility and am even more astounded that the council allowed planning permission for this to go ahead.
I am putting together a petition to present to the Council to revoke this Planning Permission and transfer this land back to it's original purpose or to change the land to parkland.

The Telegraph and Argus has an article on the Bradford area and its current popularity with tourists.

But in the Bradford area tourism is marginally higher than it was in the same period last year.
Jane Glaister, Bradford Council’s strategic director for culture, tourism and sport, said: “Our visitor figures from 2008 to 2009 showed a six per cent increase across the district’s Visitor Information Centres. So far this year, we have seen a slight increase since the same period last year, up from 91,950 in 2009 to 92,878 in 2010.”
Enjoying one of its best years for visitors is East Riddlesden Hall, near Keighley, where numbers at the 17th Century National Trust property so far this year stand at 15,000 – 3,000 more than at the same time last year. It is in line to exceed its average 30,000 visitors a year.
And the second most popular literary shrine in the UK – the Brontë Parsonage Museum at Haworth – has seen a small increase in visitors and in its income.
The museum – a popular destination for Japanese tourists – sees about 75,000 people through its doors in a year. Museum director Andrew McCarthy believed visitor numbers were up by one-and-a-half per cent. He said: “It’s always difficult to be clear at this time but financially we are about two per cent up on last year. It’s not dramatic but we are pleased. I’d rather see a steady increase than anything large which might not truly reflect how things are going.” (Clive White)

We do believe that the rise in visitors to East Riddlesden Hall is also due to the Brontës (and ITV, of course).

Heidi Büchner writes for the Brontë Parsonage blog about Lyndall Gordon's recent talk on 'The Influence of the Brontës on Emily Dickinson' and the Elaine Showalter-Lucasta Miller conference during the Brontë Society AGM weekend.

And Les Brontë à Paris posts about André Téchiné's 1979 film Les soeurs Brontë. Book-a-rama reviews Daphne du Maurier's The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë.

As for art, Wolf Eyebrows displays a Wuthering Heights illustration by Lizzy Stewart, tanamera1 has made a Jane Eyre-inspired 'pixel doll' and Abigail709b has uploaded a 'Jane Eyre lost on the moors shot'.

Finally, an alert from Frazee, Minnesota for tomorrow, June 15th:

FHS English Instructor Olivia Hoff will lead a "2:30 Tuesday Classics" monthly discussion, beginning on June 15 with Emily Brontë's only novel, Wuthering Heights. The group will meet at George & Becky's in Frazee at 2 p.m. There is no fee, but registration is required for planning purposes.

Categories: Alert, Anne Brontë, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Brontë Society, Brontëana, Haworth, Movies-DVD-TV, Talks, Wuthering Heights