Help Haworth Parish Church

In the purest Christmas tradition, we should make an appeal to help the repair plans of the Haworth Parish Church that are in serious trouble. The Telegraph & Argus informs:

A major project to repair one of the most visited churches in England could be scrapped unless its supporters can raise £37,000 before the middle of January.
Haworth Parish Church, the burial place of the Brontë sisters, needs to raise £1.25 million to repair its badly leaking roof, restore water-damaged wall paintings and make the building fit for the 21st century.
English Heritage has agreed to fund part of the work, but requires the church to pay £65,000 in match funding before it will release almost £100,000 for the first stage of the project to repair the south roof.
But so far the church has only raised £28,000 after an application for a large grant fell through, meaning they have to raise £37,000 in a matter of weeks.
Haworth Parish Council chairman John Huxley, who is also chairman of the church’s Future Group and secretary of the Parochial Church Council, said: “If we don’t raise the money we must then go into negotiation with English Heritage. There is a danger that if we don’t come to some agreement we will lose the grant altogether, but at this stage we are not thinking in those terms and we are trying to remain optimistic.”
The project was dealt a blow last week when fundraisers were told an application for a grant, which would have helped reach the £65,000 target and provided money towards the second stage of the work, had been unsuccessful.
The church, which has been repeatedly targeted by lead thieves, launched its appeal a year ago. Fundraising in the community has raised £18,000 and a further £10,000 in grants has already been secured.
Coun Huxley said: “It is a difficult time. A lot of trusts don’t have the money they had three years ago. However, we have been extremely touched by the support we have received from the local community. We are just hoping the Christmas spirit will strike and our prayers will be answered. Whatever the outcome the church will still go on. It just means the church roof will still be in a bad state.”

Visit haworthchurch.co.uk to donate to the restoration fund.

The Telegraph & Argus also alerts of a different threat to the very essence of what Haworth is today:

The “jewel in Bradford’s tourism crown” will turn from “gold to tin” if draft plans for hundreds of homes in the Worth Valley are approved, a councillor has warned.
The chairman of Haworth Parish Council, John Huxley, is urging residents and ward councillors to fight proposals for up to 986 homes in the Pennine village, best known as the home of the Brontë sisters and which attracts thousands of tourists every year.
Bradford Council has earmarked 14 sites in Haworth as suitable for development in the first stage of producing its Local Development Framework (LDF).
Coun Huxley said: “People in Haworth have been shocked at the number of houses they want to build here. We have understood for some time that developers want to put houses here because it is a nice place to live but a some point we will reach a level where we change the nature of Haworth from a Pennine settlement to a small town that is a suburb of Keighley.
“One of the main ways people earn a living in Haworth is in the tourist industry. In the LDF it says the Council wants to protect the landscape and tourism but that isn’t consistent with building hundreds of houses. The Council has said Haworth is the jewel in its tourism crown but are they prepared to turn it from gold to tin? That is basically what the choice is.
“This is a very sensitive area. English Heritage has identified it as a special area which is already under threat from inappropriate tourist signs. There is a lot of work to do if we are going to create jobs. Putting more than 900 houses in Haworth is the quickest way of killing that.” (Kathryn Bradley)

The Telegraph interviews Gillian Anderson, now in a new adaptation of Great Expectations:

She enjoyed playing Miss Havisham more than Lady Dedlock “because she’s slightly mischievous and naughty and her dialogue is more poetic. And also, Miss Havisham seems a lot more eccentric.” We talk a bit about Dickens – she says she isn’t more of a fan of him than, say, Emily Brontë or Edith Wharton – and her love of London. (Bryony Gordon)

Best Book Adaptations of the year in FemaleFirst. Jane Eyre 2011 is one of them:

It’s a very measured and controlled performance from Wasikowska, once again showed that she is a real talent, while there is just something incredibly alluring about Fassbender’s Rochester.
The sweeping cinematography and speedy pacing give this movie a very modern feel - bringing this classic to a whole new generation.

The DC Movie Reviews Examiner makes a list of list putting together top tens of many critics and aggregate score websites. Jane Eyre 2011 is number 64.

Shirley Sinclair (The Northern Star) is making a luxury cruise from Brisbane around New Zealand's northern and southern islands and was able to catch Jane Eyre 2006, aired by the Australian channel STVDIO:

So by midnight, we were more than ready to retire to our balcony state room to catch the last bit of Jane Eyre on an in-house movie channel.

sarahtales posts a dialogued story: Jane Eyre, Or: The Bride of Edward 'Crazypants' Rochester; Vip Cinema (in Spanish) reviews Jane Eyre 2011; Shoujo Café (in Portuguese) reviews Jane Eyre 1944; how she flowers posts about Wuthering Heights.