The End of Cowan Bridge

Russ Rowland/; Courtesy The New York Musical Theatre Festival

The Washington Post reviews The Brontës performances at the New York Musical Theatre Festival:

Inside the sweltering Baldaccino tent at Capital Fringe, “The Brontës” — a loose, loud satire built in aptly unlikely fashion around the lives of the 19th-century sibling novelists — seemed the right kind of tangy refreshment. Presented in a handsome black-box space within the Pershing Square Signature Center on West 42nd Street (home to New York’s Signature Theatre), the show seems to be having a harder time generating the same level of heat.
At least that is how “The Brontës” felt Tuesday night, the first show of a six-performance run, which continues until Tuesday. Maybe it was just opening-night jitters, but some of the cast members were hamming it up so aggressively, underlining the jokes so forcefully, that it pulled focus from what’s richest in “The Brontës”: the rollicking bluegrass and rock score by Steve McWilliams and Debra Buonaccorsi that has Emily, Charlotte, little-known sister Anne and a brother invisible to history singing about their short, fraught lives. (Peter Marks)

Not unexpected but sad news anyway from Casterton School, the former Cowan Bridge. In The Westmoreland Gazette:

Nearly 200 years of education for girls has come to an end with parents, pupils and staff bidding an emotional farewell to Casterton School.
The independent boarding school, near Kirkby Lonsdale, merged with Sedbergh School in March with the amalgamation kicking in from September.
On Saturday, British yachtswoman Dee Caffari was guest speaker at a special assembly, which formed part of the annual speech day and prize-giving ceremony.
There were tears as the occasion marked not only the end of term, but the end of an era – the last full day of the 190-year-old school whose first pupils included the Brontë sisters.

Contrasting with good news from the Bradford Council. In The Telegraph & Argus:

The importance of local tourism has led to Bradford Council refusing a trio of wind turbine applications proposed around the Keighley and Worth Valley areas.
Although acknowledging the potential of all three turbines to produce green energy, planning officers said they would be too harmful to the surrounding countryside and could put off visitors from nearby towns and further afield.
A 30-metre high turbine at Moorside Farm, Broad Head Lane, Oakworth, a 24.6-metre high turbine at Ryecroft Road in Harden and a 24- metre high turbine at Tarn Lane in Laycock were all refused by planning officers within a day of each other last week.
The decisions come shortly after the Government announced councils should give more weight to local objections when deciding whether to allow turbines.
The Oakworth turbine plan, submitted by Geoff Batley, was for a site in the Worth and North Beck Character Area and was refused because of the harm it could do to the landscape, famed for its links with the Brontë sisters.
The decision said: “It would bring about negative visual impact from viewpoints that include publicly accessible moorland associated with the Brontës. This has the potential to adversely affect a landscape that is internationally important in literary heritage terms and which generates a significant amount of tourism.”

South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Teen Ink lists books that changed the life of their readers:

"Jane Eyre" goes beyond the typical rags-to-riches story. Say goodbye to damsels in distress because this book revives the independent spirit in all of us. A woman with no one in the world can grow up to be the happiest of them all. She never gives up her individuality and avoids becoming dependent upon others. Jane's story serves as a reminder of the power within us all to make the right decisions and overcome the greatest obstacles. (Maria Moncaliano, Sagemont School) 

Newsday and a lot of news sources are greatly outraged because of this:

The Hempstead Public Schools has some unique items on its summer reading list this year: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gypsy,” and authors George Ornell and Emily Bonte, to name a few.
The list, for students pre-K to “twelve grade,” has more than 30 mistakes, including misspellings of authors’ names and book titles. (Amy Onorato)

Allison Pearson in The Telegraph is not happy with the recent resolution by the European Court of Human Rights:

In the language of human rights’ lawyers, Lesley Ann, John, Keith and Pauline got a non-reviewable, whole-life tariff that was cruel, inhuman and degrading. Yet they were unable to protest when 75-year-old Brady strutted his arrogant, unrepentant stuff in court, comparing the place of the Moors murders in national mythology to Wuthering Heights, if you please.

The Kelly Marie Memoirs has moor madness; Beautiful Stills from Beautiful Films posts stills from Wuthering Heights 2011.