Watercolours at Ponden Hall and more

Brontë alerts for today, October 4

October Creative Workshops
At the beautiful historic house of Ponden Hall
Showing:
October 04th 2014  - October 25th 2014
This autumn the Brontë Parsonage Museum is excited to be offering two creative workshops at the beautiful historic house of Ponden Hall.
Ponden Hall
The land-owning Heaton family built Ponden Hall in 1634, although parts of the building date from the 1500s. The Brontë children sheltered here from the great Crow Hill Bog Explosion in 1824 and Emily and Branwell read Gothic romances, local history and Shakespeare First Folio in the library which was considered the finest in the West Riding. Ponden Hall is now a private family home which is also a B&B and arts venue.
Wuthering Heights connection
Ponden Hall traditionally resembles the Lintons' home Thrushcross Grange, although in size and style the house is more similar to Wuthering Heights. According to local tradition, a tiny single paned window at the east gable is where Cathy’s ghost begged to be let in. In the novel, the window opens onto a box bed and we know there was an actual bed of that description in the bedroom until the 1930s. A local joiner has faithfully recreated this to great atmospheric effect! A plaque above the main entrance dates the rebuilt house to1801, the date that begins Wuthering Heights.
Join us for two day workshops which will use the atmospheric Ponden Hall and the surrounding autumnal landscape as inspiration. Both workshops are suitable for the more experienced or beginners interested in writing or botanical illustration. Each workshop will include homemade lunch, a tour of Ponden Hall, a short walk (and cake)! Please bring suitable footwear.

The first workshop is today, October 4:

A Day of Botanical Watercolour Painting at Ponden Hall with Imogen Collins Thomas
Saturday 4 October 2014, 10.30am - 3.30pm
Following last year's successful watercolour painting workshop inspired by Charlotte Brontë's botanical illustrations, this workshop will encourage you to make your own illustrations from nature. We will forage the gardens and hedgerows around the hall to find berries, branches and other samples of autumnal plant life to create our own watercolours. All materials will be provided.

Imogen Collins Thomas is a visual arts Adult Education tutor and botanical artist. She draws her inspiration from natural and man-made landscapes.

And at the Ilkley Literature Festival, a masterclass by Lyndall Gordon, author of Charlotte Brontë. A Passionate Life:

Lyndall Gordon Masterclass
St Margaret’s Hall 11am–1pm

Distinguished biographer, Lyndall Gordon, invites anyone intrigued by the possibilities and challenges of life writing to join this masterclass. You’ll discuss choosing a subject; research and gaps; beginnings; chronology and emphasis; the claims of the inner and outward life; documentary versus imaginative truth (and the current vogue for fictional treatments); the question where a life ends; or any other question members of the class might wish to air.