UK suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst was a trained artist and in 1907 created several watercolours depicting women workers in factories, mills and potteries to highlight working women’s rights, their pay and conditions #WomensArt

We’re appointing a writer-in-residence! Join us to respond to our holdings related to the Bloomsbury Group (including the archives of Leonard and Virginia Woolf’s Hogarth Press) ahead of a major exhibition in 2027. Applications close 19 May. Best of luck! collections.reading.ac.uk/news-and-vie...

Call for Applications: Writer in Residence - Blooming Bloomsbury and the Modernist Archives Publishing Project -Creativity and Community Co-Curation (2026)  | Museums and Collections

The selected writer will spend the summer months (June—September 2026) drawing inspiration from MAPP to develop new creative work. From September to December, they will build on this...

collections.reading.ac.uk

Wigton Choral Society concert tomorrow: 7.30, St Mary's Church, Wigton. 'Cumbrian Minstrels' features works by Romantic period Cumbrian vernacular poets inc. Robert Anderson, Susanna Blamire, John Stagg plus Wordsworth & Burns. Highlight is a setting of Stagg's Gothic masterpiece 'The Vampyre'!

Do try and get to Theatre by the Lake's production of 'Lark Rise to Candleford': a warm hug of a play that's life-affirming, funny, musical and poignant, it will really set you up for Spring. www.theatrebythelake.com/.../lark-ris...

Lark Rise to Candleford | Classic Literature in Keswick. A beautiful stage adaptation of Flora Thompson’s beloved classic, Lark Rise to Candleford comes to Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, Cumbria. Ble...

Experience Lark Rise to Candleford at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, Cumbria, a beautiful stage adaptation of the classic novel with live folk music and storytelling.

theatrebythelake.com

Phew! Virtual lecture for the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library done and dusted - on folk & social dance in Cumbria over past 250 years. Lots of quotes - from folks like Keats, Wordsworth, dialect poets + quotes t Beatrix Potter's & Melvyn Bragg's involvement! Diving into a glass of wine now...

Learn about a little corner of Cumbria’s ‘intangible heritage’: folk dancing over the centuries. And how on earth was Beatrix Potter involved? Book now to find out!

English Folk Dance and Song Society@efdss.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Merry neets, morris and more: social and display dancing in the Lake District and Cumbria Our second online Library Lecture of the year Dr Sue Allan @suecumbria.bsky.social cultural historian, writer and folklorist Tue 10 Feb Online Book now: bit.ly/4ri5k1S Image: Dr Syntax (1813) Rural Sport

This is a bit bonkers… Susie Dent seems to be referencing me here… well, I don’t know anyone else who’s written PhD on Cumbrian songs! But how did she know?!! @susiedent.com

A virtual village square for the Lake District - Hefted newsletter #12: July 2025 is out now. And it could be in your inbox as well as mine if you subscribe! Hefted newsletter #12: July 2025 open.substack.com/pub/hefted/p...

Hefted newsletter #12: July 2025

Despatches from Cumbria and the Lake District, from the team at Countrystride and Inspired by Lakeland

open.substack.com

Looking forward to Forgotten Lands festival next weekend where I'll be giving a presentation (talk with pictures & music) on ballad singers and sellers at fairs in days gone by. Hope to see some friends there... (second pic is me in action two years ago at festival!)

A wonderful talk at Keswick by Jack Ashby about his new book #NaturesMemory Go buy it: you’ll learn a lot!

Jack Ashby@jackdashby.bsky.social · 2y ago

I've made it to the #LakeDistrict and it's the first time I've spotted #NaturesMemory out in the wild (both literally and at Bookends #Keswick bookshop) 🤩 - ready to speak about it publicly for the first time this evening at @tbtlake.bsky.social.

William is quite a literary cat, as well as quite literally a cat, of course. Jumble, meanwhile, is a more philosophical feline.

You might have noticed something looks a little different on our profile... 🛞 That's because, to mark our 100th birthday in 2025, we're refreshing our look! Read more about our brand refresh > media.nls.uk/news/our-bra... #NLS100

Happy Christmas to all my BlueSky friends - and those I’ve yet to meet. A little seasonal Cumbrian podcast for your delectation… www.countrystride.co.uk/single-post/...

#141: A Cumbrian Christmas Cracker

...in which we congregate at the Armitt, Ambleside for a night of readings, historic press reports, dialect poems and music that celebrate a distinctly Cumbrian Christmas. In the company of Alan Cleav...

countrystride.co.uk

'Made in Manchester: A People's History of the City That Shaped the Modern World' out now, available from bookshops and websites. Bestselling 'Northerners: A History' available in hardback and paperback. Publisher: @harpernorth.bsky.social

My 2024 calendar is all Herdwick! From some of my favourite images across the Lakes enjoy this charming breed every day of the year. Not many left but get free postage through my website, if you use code freedel24 at checkout. amybatemanphotography.com/store/herdwi... Seasons greetings! Amy x

Final presentation of the year – and it's a nicely seasonal one –to do for a lovely WI group in Cumbria's Eden Valley tomorrow (Monday)...

Friends, fellow Cumbrians and Lake District lovers! Get yourselves signed up to the ‘Hefted’ email newsletter asap - you won’t regret it. In the meantime here’s the latest issue: hefted.substack.com/p/hefted-newsl…

To top off a most Christmassy day… BBC 4 is showing the first two episodes of splendiferous Box of Delights: 40th anniversary of TV adaptation of John Masefield’s more than magical classic tale. #TheBoxofDelights

🎶 It’s beginning to look a lot like… 🎄🎅

Surprise sing in Lidl when I went shopping this morning: Wigton Choral were doing their annual charity carol sing. Was inveigled to join them, so had a good sing before stopping to take some pics… 😂 🎶

Lovely festive event at The Armitt in Ambleside last night. I did readings (both English & dialect!) alongside Alan Cleaver & Lesley Park, with music from The Cumbrian Duo, and produced & compèred by Dave Felton - who recorded it for Countrystride podcast next week. Father Christmas came too!

The wolves are running! It’s the 40th anniversary of the BBC TV adaptation of the John Masefield’s splendiferous ‘The Box of Delights’ - and they’re showing it again, starting this Sunday at 7.10pm. I’ll be there, Master Harker, I’ll be there… www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...

BBC One - The Box of Delights, When the Wolves Were Running

Something strange is about to happen to Kay Harker while he travels home for Christmas.

bbc.co.uk

Tonight folks: 7pm at Brampton Community Centre!

Lovely Cumbria Arts & Culture Network Zoom this morning: astonishingly our 200th Friday meet-up. Well done Tom Speight, Kate Parry & Amy Story for keeping networking Zooms going since 2020. cacn.co.uk Today featured John & Sue Gill and TV's Helen Skelton Keep up the good work guys!

Absolute fury at this: United Utilities refusing to disclose data about sewage it's releasing into Windermere, because it's "not in the public interest." Ditto data on ammonia checks from a UU Cunsey Beck plant; site of a 2022 mass fish-kill from pollution. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

United Utilities refuses to hand over data on sewage discharges into Windermere

Water company claims information is not in the public interest despite widespread pollution of UK waters

theguardian.com

Next Friday: lovely festive event at Brampton Community Centre! Such a privilege to be reading a couple of little seasonal dialect poems alongside folk legends Mossy Christian, Megan Wisdom and Taffy Thomas.🎄 😊 #Christmas #Folk #Trad

Anyone see see the lovely Susan Calman’ Grand Day Out’ on Channel 5 on Friday night? Great piece showcasing the Cumbria & Lake District. Included visit to John & Elaine Parkinson’s wonderful Upfront century, near Penrith, amazing puppet theatre, art gallery & cafe. up-front.com

Upfront Gallery and Arts Venue Near Penrith, Cumbria

Established in 1997 - Art Gallery, Vegetarian Restaurant, Coffee Shop, Puppet Theatre, Music Venue and Event Space near Penrith - Cumbria An accessible and award winning attraction for all ages.

up-front.com

The wolves are running! Ridiculously excited that the BBC’s 40 year old series The Box of Delights is showing on telly this Year: go swift or go small, I shall be there… www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/b...

The Box of Delights 40th anniversary airing confirmed by BBC Four

The wolves are running again this Christmas.

radiotimes.com

Ffs how to get Amazon to stop delivering neighbour’s parcels to me? Pile of them on doorstep today, after I’d nearly run into their van coming out of my drive… too late to stop him tho. Drivers say their system says up my (long) drive is to neighbour: it is not! And my house name is by gate. Grrr….