An old house and a new society

The Yorkshire Post reports that today's Kirklees Council cabinet meeting will consider the possibility of selling the Red House.

Kirklees Council is looking to get rid of four more key buildings as it continues its efforts to dig itself out of a £47m black hole in its budget. [...]

F our major buildings would be impacted by such plans – the former Red House Museum at Gomersal, the DRAM (Dalton, Rawthorpe and Moldgreen) Sport and Community Centre, the HUDAWI Centre on Huddersfield’s Great Northern Street and 1 Beech Street at Paddock. On top of this, the council wants to sell several patches of land.

The former Red House Museum, which closed in 2016, was previously earmarked for a wedding venue and holiday accommodation but after failing to receive any viable Community Asset Transfer (CAT) applications in 2021 the council is looking to sell it. The Grade II*-listed Georgian mansion dates back to the 17th century.

For many years it was the family home of Mary Taylor, a close friend of writer Charlotte Brontë who met her when they were pupils at Roe Head School in Mirfield. Charlotte regularly visited Red House and it was the inspiration for the fictional Briarmains in her novel Shirley. The characters, the Yorke family, were based on the Taylors, who made their money from industry. (Abigail Marlow)

Offaly Independent announces that there will be a new Brontë Society in Ireland.

A decision has been made to form a Brontë Society in Banagher, County Offaly. The objective of the group will be to foster a growing awareness of the association of Charlotte Brontë and her husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls with the town of Banagher.

The inaugural meeting will be held on Saturday, December 2 in Charlotte's Way guest house, (formerly Hill House), at 5pm. and participants will then adjourn to Flynn's restaurant on Main Street for refreshments at 6.30pm. approximately.

Initial objectives of the society will include hosting literary events annually in late April, near to 21st April, Charlotte's birthday and again near to December 2nd, the anniversary of Arthur's death. Also it is hoped to republish 'Dear Martha', letters by Arthur written from Hill House to Martha Brown, a lifelong servant of the Brontë family. This was originally published by The Brontë Society in 2004 and edited by Geoffrey Palmer.

Consideration will also be given to the creation of a triptych mural of Charlotte, Arthur and Mary Anna Bell, Arthur's second wife whom he married on his return from Haworth in 1864 and lived with for forty-two years in Hill House until his death in 1906. Other related initiatives will also be considered.

Fnac France recommends books for giving at Christmas and both Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are among them. Alessandria Today (Italy) has a review of Jane Eyre.