Back to winding the clock

The Yorkshire Post has great news from Haworth:

It had been a landmark that had helped mark the passing of time for more than a century.
But a health and safety ban put paid to the winding up of a Victorian clock which had been used by people in Brontë Country to set their watches since 1871.
However, worshippers at Patrick Brontë’s former church of St Michael and All Angels are celebrating after enough money has now been raised to bring the building up to the 21 century’s stringent safety regulations.
The congregation had been angered after the clock-winder was banned from the bell tower nearly a year ago. Retired police officer Jens Hislop was among the volunteers who kept the timepiece – which is older than most of the church - ticking.
The pensioner had been making the journey up the tower in Haworth in West Yorkshire two or three times a week for 23 years. But insurers ruled the step ladder the winders had used for decades was too risky for the 10ft ascent up to the winding platform.
Despite there being no accidents, Mr Hislop was ordered to down tools and left unwound, the clock hands ground to a halt at twenty past five in February last year. The parish was told £700 would have to be found from donations to make the platform safe before anyone could venture up there again.
Now a plea by the church’s congregation, who completed a £237,000 renovation of the building’s south roof in 2012, has resulted in a £700 windfall. The Haworth-based Brunswick Chapter of Freemasons obtained the cash from the First Grand Principal of Yorkshire West Riding’s Charitable Fund.
Reverend Peter Mayo-Smith, the Priest in Charge at Haworth, said: “The reason we could not wind the clock was nothing to do with the clock itself. It was wear and tear on the landing. The work has been done by a local joiner and the clock is keeping perfect time.
“We would have had to make an appeal. But because they came and very kindly gave us the donation they saved us the hassle of the fundraising. Local people are delighted it is back up and running and so am I. It is a significant landmark and it is nice to hear the chimes again.
“It is very hard to explain to visitors that this was a classic case of part of the building had become slightly unsafe. We had to bring it up to modern standards and it was money well spent. The access ladder was well beyond its sell-by date.
“The rails were broken and there was broken glass in the doors which protect the mechanism so we had to get it done. Our clock has been keeping the time for Haworth for many years and we wanted to make sure that people who volunteer to wind-up the clock are kept as safe as possible.
“Now we can look forward to seeing the historic clock tick on for many years. We thank Brunswick Chapter for coming to our aid.”
Chapter First Principal John Barnes added: “Some of our members noticed that the church clock had stopped and discovered why it was not being wound. We’ve been delighted to get a great public service re-started and that people in Haworth will always know the time again.”
Mr Hislop, 73, had branded the ban “barmy and crazy” and said things “had been going like clockwork until health and safety kicked in”.
He said: “The platform is only 10ft off the floor and the wooden step ladder was here when I started 23 years ago and is no different now to what it was then.”
The clock mechanism runs down in eight days if not kept fully wound. He was not aware there had been an accident in the tower since it was built in 1871. The winders had maintained the clock by going up the tower by a spiral staircase to the first floor where the bell chamber is.
They then placed the step ladder on the floor of the bell chamber and climbed up to the wooden winding platform with a crank handle to wind the chimes and the clock. Church officials were advised the ladder was too rickety and the worn-out platform bannisters needed replacing and extending from just over 2ft to more than 3.5ft. There were also gaps which people could slip through so a second rail was needed to avoid any mishaps.

Still locally, ITV News has further info on the events surrounding this year's Tour de France passing through Yorkshire.

The name of the cultural festival to be staged in the run up to the start of the Tour de France from our region has been revealed.
It's to be called the Yorkshire Festival and to mark the event a huge banner was unveiled on a reservoir dam in Brontë country near Haworth today.
But organisers say they won't reveal the full line of the festival until the end of January.

CBC News features the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre Jane Eyre:

The tale of Jane Eyre is a compelling one that has thrilled readers for more than a century with its poetic writing. But how does one turn such a beloved novel into a theatre piece?
Julie Beckman is the playwright who took on the challenge and adapted it for the stage at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre.
She says she did it primarily because she loves the novel. "It was something I was looking forward to spending a lot of time with," she explained. "Because as an adapter you really have to go deep into the story and into the characters and into the writing of Charlotte Brontë."
Beckman believes the appeal of Brontë's novels has to do with universal experiences of a young person. "There's a lot of self-questioning, self-examination and concern about how you're going to make your path in the world," she said. "That's one of the reasons it's appealing to young people and a wide audience because everyone can relate to it."
Her approach is a method sometimes called 'chamber theatre'. According to Beckman, "that just means incorporating the narrative voice as dialogue so it's shared among the characters."
"Some of the most beautiful and witty and moving writing is in the description and the narration of the novel," she continued.
She hopes that this approach allows people to use their imagination and fill in the details, or step inside the book somehow.
"It's really for everyone because it's just a great story. I think that is the core of theatre and when you have a great story it can appeal to everyone."
In the end, Beckman is proud of this Jane Eyre production because they have managed to keep true to the original. "But there's also a sense of drive in this story," she underlined. "Of moving forward,so that you hopefully get pulled in, carried off and ultimately forget where you are." (Sandra Thacker)

The production is also reviewed on Sarah Zaharia 204.

TVLine quotes producer Brannon Braga describing the new TV show Salem:

Braga likened the project to “Wuthering Heights meets The Exorcist,” in that Janet Montgomery’s (Human Target) character, Mary Sibley, has made a deal with the devil and her only salvation is the prospect of finding true love with John Alden (Nikita‘s Shane West, who sees his alter ego as “in this world, the first American hero”). (Matt Webb Mitovich)

Cate Blanchett talks about some of her favourite things with Vogue UK.

Blanchett's cerebral wit and sophistication have long made her a favourite with casting directors, but her enthusiasm for difficult roles is borne of her long-time love of literary anti-heroes and a desire to transport audiences as she herself has been inspired. She counts Roald Dahl and Ogden Nash among her favourites, as well as To Kill A Mockingbird and Jane Eyre, "and a lot of Westerns because my father was a huge John Wayne fan". (Dolly Jones)

The Irish Times features Samatha Ellis's How to Be a Heroine.

Part memoir, part literary criticism, part loving homage, this perceptive, funny, moving and enormously likeable book examines how our relationships with fictional girls – from LM Montgomery’s Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables to Emily Brontë’s Cathy Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights – can shape and inspire the women bookish girls later become.
“I wouldn’t have become a writer if it wasn’t for Anne of Green Gables,” says Ellis. “She showed me that that was a thing you could do if you had an overactive imagination, which my parents always said I had. Franny Glass [from JD Salinger’s Franny and Zooey] massively consoled me when I was losing my faith, and helped me learn that I could find meaning in the wider world rather than just in faith and religion. I learned a lot from Scarlett O’Hara about the toughness I could bring to my life. She really helped me with that. And a lot of my romantic decisions come from Cathy Earnshaw. So she’s been quite significant though not always for the good.” (Anna Carey)

Cubanet discusses Karl Marx as a journalist:

Según [el ensayista cubano Iván] de la Nuez:
“Este Marx periodista se sitúa entre el lenguaje urgente del Manifiesto comunista y la densidad teórica de El capital. Al mismo tiempo, sus artículos —brillantes y sarcásticos, documentados y punzantes— aparecen en la cuerda estilística de Dickens o Brontë, dedicados a cultivar una ficción que el filósofo consideraba mejor dotada para representar el patetismo de la clase media inglesa que todos los moralistas de su tiempo. En todo caso, la obra de Marx arrastra una serie de metáforas propias de la transformación industrial —la revolución como “locomotora de la historia”—, muy próximas a la literatura futurista del siglo XIX”. (Miguel Iturria Savón) (Translation)

A columnist from the Santa Rosa Press Gazette is a fan of Charlotte Brontë. Both The Misfortune Of Knowing and Lorilyn Roberts  post about Wuthering Heights. The Glasgow Geek Girl reviews Black Spring; Bristol Old Vic posts a video where

Bristol Old Vic's Artistic Director Tom Morris talks with Madeleine Worrall (Jane Eyre) and Felix Hayes (Rochester) about the process of devising Jane Eyre for the stage.