A Musical tribute by Michael and Christine O'Dowd to the celebrated 19th-century Brontë family of Yorkshire was hosted by the Banagher Bronte Group last weekend to mark Charlotte Brontë's birthday.The tribute was a melodic cycle of ten original studio-recorded songs. 40 people attended the event in Crank House. James Scully introduced the world premiere programme of nine songs and lyrics.He also requested a minute’s silence to mark the passing of Kieran Keenaghan, his great friend, historical colleague and good friend of Banagher Brontë Group.Michael and Christine delivered the relevant historical Brontë information for each of the songs, thus enhancing and informing the audience’s experience. A stunning projected film complemented the songs and music and raised the show to a very sophisticated level.Thornton, Yorkshire was the birthplace of the Brontës. Queen Camilla visited in 2025 and learned about the famous literary family. The first song was Brontë Birthplace, Maker of Dreams. Next was Maria, the mother of the family, singing a lullaby to Charlotte. Then, We are the Brontës by the youthful Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne. Followed by Emily, I am a woman.Branwell’s Lament, showed him as lovelorn and melancholic. Anne’s Evensong is a nightly prayer. The Reverend Patrick’s Blessing, prays for divine favour. Charlotte and Arthur's Waltz was a prelude to romance. Charlotte's Way represented the happy couple in Banagher. Charlotte died in 1854. Arthur Bell Nicholls lived in Banagher for 66 of his 80 years. In Forever Free, a schooner represents Freedom floating on a friendly sea to the divine underworld.Frances Browner did a workshop on the Brontës for 6th class in the National School. The fruits of that, were readings of their own poems by Caoimhe Teehan, Maddie Mahon and Diarmuid Boylan to the very appreciative adult audience. Well done to them and their teacher Michaela Keenaghan. Adult readers were James Scully, Courtney Caitlin Phillips, Caleb Phillips, Eileen Casey, Francis Browner. Courtney and Caleb from Alabama also duetted and entertained as singer and musician. Jeannenn and Greg Eastway from Australia and Betsy Pearson from Ohio enjoyed the welcome. Well, That Beats Banagher!Thanks to the Banagher Bronte Group committee, James Scully, Maebh O’Regan, Nicola Daly, Sean O’Regan, Sean Corrigan, Donie Hogan, Frances Browner, and Cora Stronge Smith provided a memorable day and thank Amanda Pedlow and Karen Gray for their support, encouragement and direction for the project. Also Maebh O’Reagan for the art on the back cover of the memorable programme by Brosna Press, Nicola Daly for flower bouquets and the yellow Arthur Bell Rose.Finally, Sean Corrigan who mastered the intricate electronics and the film screen donated by the very generous late Kieran Keenaghan. (Eddie Alford)
Ideas of time pervade the arrangement of the exhibition and its title, ‘I Set Out, I Walked Fast’, which is drawn from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847). Re-reading the novel while working in her New Zealand studio, Grosse was struck by Jane’s continuous movement and action as a woman of her time, noting that merely by walking she propels the story forward. Similarly, the exhibition brings together paintings from different periods of Grosse’s practice into a single, interconnected environment, allowing her to traverse swathes of time and register change: an effect that ‘almost repaints’ the works. Across the three spaces of the gallery, each work functions as a ‘plot’ point or ‘node within a spider’s web’ that constantly ‘generates new strands of activity’. In some cases, this process is made literal: canvases painted in previous in-situ installations are brought into the exhibition, carrying ‘the structure and thought of that past show’ with them.
A stormy, emotionally charged literary classic is having a major moment in 2026. According to Goodreads’ latest data on the most-read classics in the last few months, readers have been gravitating toward one famously debated novel above all others so far this year: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.It’s probably no surprise that the 19th-century novel is topping the list. A new film adaptation released in February has reintroduced the story to audiences, sparking fresh discussion around its famously polarizing characters and bleak emotional landscape. (Devon Forward)
La Cadera de Eva (in Spanish) suggests a reading guide to know the Brontës (using a very questionable image without warning or context).
El arco se extenderá hasta que, tres décadas después, Esther dará a luz a un niño, Jimmy, o el auténtico protagonista, siguiendo el modelo de madre subrogada (y tatuada con un extracto de Jane Eyre que sirve de lema existencial) tras un pacto con la mujer asexual para la que antes ha ejercido de au pair (el territorio irvingniano), ya que su proyecto vital estará en la construcción del futuro Estado de Israel. (Antonio Lozano) (Translation)
"When I wrote this book, I was just being all the characters," Micallef says. "To get into their heads, I had to know how they sounded and how they thought."But Micallef did need to change his methods slightly. He couldn't get a laugh with a funny face, voice or act-out — but he could make oblique references to everything from ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. (Hannah Story and Claire Nichols)
“Wuthering Heights”If you love “Running Up That Hill”, it’s likely you’ll also be fond of this song, which Bush wrote when she was just 18. “Wuthering Heights” was Bush’s debut single and made her the first female to reach No. 1 with an entirely self-written song. It’s also sung from the perspective of Catherine Earnshaw, a character in Emily Brontë’s novel.“It was a subject matter that had been going around in my head for a long time,” Bush shared in an interview. “I’d originally seen the end of a TV series in England, and it had really stuck in my head. And, uh, I read the book last year, and after reading that I just had to write [Wuthering Heights].” (Kat Caudill)
Driving Amazing TrainsC4, 8pmPaul Merton goes from Ravenglass to Dalegarth in the Lake District and then, after Windermere and Brontë country visits, travels from Pickering to Whitby. It’s pleasing stuff, and his journey sheds light on an intractable problem of rail travel: leaves on the line. “A classic railway issue,” he says as the train driver uses a mechanical dropper to put sand in front of the wheels to add traction and stop them slipping down the hill. (Helen Stewart)
3. Lakeside Lodge, Damems, West YorkshirePerhaps not suitable for younger children because of its waterside location, this smart lodge nonetheless has real wow factor. Glass doors and a panoramic deck provide views over the water, beckoning you for a spin in the rowing boat or a spot of fishing. Families can enjoy wildlife watching, as well as train spotting — with steam engines passing by on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. It’s handy for the Brontë sisters’ home town of Haworth too, which can be reached from nearby Damems station (a request stop) for an excellent family outing. (Oliver Berry)
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