200 Years On: Remembering The Luddite Rebellion

http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/community/nostalgia/200-years-on-remembering-the-luddite-rebellion-1-4499441

Huddersfield Festival

Many thanks for the recent email from David at the Luddites 200 website, who has given me further details on forthcoming Bicentenary celebrations, and in particular the Huddersfield Luddites200 Festival which will be held between 27th - 29th April this year. 

There will be two plays, films screenings, choir performances and a folk music session, a poetry slam, exhibitions, speakers including Alice Mahon and Dave Douglas, history talks, a guided walk in the Spen Valley, plus debates on current technology issues, such as digital technology, genetic engineering and how we can make the transition to a sustainable and economically just society. There will also be a frame breaking re-enactment, hands-on demonstrations of weaving and spinning, stalls and children's events, plus a chance to have your picture taken with an Enoch Hammer. 

The programme will be finalised shortly, visit  their Facebook page for ongoing updates.

As part of the festival there is also a poetry competition, the details of which can be found  here. The competition is open to under 16s as well as adults and the deadline for submission is 14th April. Poems will be publishing poems on the Luddites200 website, so to ensure your chance for literary immortality, don’t miss it!

Luddite Website

Check out the following for more news about the Luddite Bicentenary celebrations:

www.luddites200.org.uk

C

Don't Forget

I understand that today is an important anniversary.

"The first incident during the years of the most intense Luddite activity, 1811-13, was the 11 March 1811 attack upon wide knitting frames in a shop in the Nottinghamshire village of Arnold, following a peaceful gathering of framework knitters near the Exchange Hall at Nottingham. In the preceding month, framework knitters, also called stockingers, had broken into shops and removed jack wires from wide knitting frames, rendering them useless without inflicting great violence upon the owners or incurring risk to the stockingers themselves; the 11 March attack was the first in which frames were actually smashed and the name 'Ludd' was used. The grievances consisted, first, of the use of wide stocking frames to produce large amounts of cheap, shoddy stocking material that was cut and sewn into stockings rather than completely fashioned (knit in one piece without seams) and, second, of the employment of 'colts', workers who had not completed the seven-year apprenticeship required by law."

Lest we forget...

The Luddite Bicentenary

Some interesting dates to remember when it comes to the Luddite Bicentenary celebrations:

Northern Voices: The Luddite Bicentenary: why history has a short memory

Bicentenary Commemoration

As I mentioned last time, we are soon approaching the 200th anniversary of the Luddite uprisings, and I understand firm plans are already being made to celebrate the occasion in Huddersfield. More events throughout England are doubtless to follow. My growing interest in this topic is probably a sign that I need to plan a trip to the area too, to see some history! More later...

Can tha' keep a Secret?

Here's a good blog to refer to, concerning the forthcoming 200th anniversary of the Luddite uprisings:

http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.com/2010/04/can-tha-keep-secret.html