By 'eck! Huddersfield Throng...

Our recent event held in Lockwood, Huddersfield was quite the success! During the course of a very rainy afternoon, over 170 people from across different areas and community backgrounds attended the Unity Centre.

The audience heard about the history of Lockwood - once a glorious Victorian spa town - from Ian Stevenson of the Huddersfield and District Family History Society (the local ice cream shop is now housed in what was once the Town Hall!)

Following this came the story of Robert Stanley, the working-class, self-educated grocer of Stalybridge who became its mayor and then it was over to historian Yahya Birt, who told the tale of the Somalian Village in Edwardian Bradford, a sad but strangely uplifting tale of people who took back as much power as they could in very difficult circumstances for them.

Finally, Rod Dimbleby of the Yorkshire Dialect Society tested the audience's knowledge on the differences between accent and dialect - and asked them to decipher some of the old dialect of the area which bemusing phrases such as 'Shoo weren't a bad bottomed woman' (meaning 'she was a woman with a good soul').

The Unity Centre was buzzing with activity and with stalls from Huddersfield Local History Society and the Yorkshire Dialect Society - as well as some delicious curries and sweet treats organised by the fantastic volunteers and friends of the Unity Centre - there was truly something for everyone.

The Mayor of Kirklees, Councillor Liz Smaje, who attended the event, wrote to thank Past Truisms afterwards, saying "I thoroughly enjoyed the talks, which offered some fascinating insights into different areas of local history ... I'm very interested in local history, so would love to have spent more time ... I really enjoyed being part of such an engaging event."