Each September up and down the country, some 40,000 volunteers organise over 5,000 events to celebrate England’s fantastic history and culture. It’s your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences – all of which are FREE.
Here in Leeds, Heritage Open Days is a unique opportunity to discover, explore, and visit all sorts of exciting and diverse events that tell the great story of our city and its people.
Head over to Holbeck for a host of events. It all kicks-off at this year’s launch event on Thursday 12 September, where a special blue plaque will be unveiled to commemorate the Holbeck Working Men’s Club. We’ll have a shindig with the Commoners Choir, and the bar will be open from 6pm to raise a glass to HODs 25th Anniversary.
Saturday 14 sees ‘The Great Leeds Pub Quiz’! Think you know everything there is to know about this great city? Well, this could be your chance to shine – join as a team, or come down by yourself, and we’ll find a team for you. From general knowledge to trivia, and picture rounds, there’ll be plenty to keep your brain busy!
Sunday 15 sees you invited to Jury Duty at The Holbeck as we put our Blue Plaques in the dock. With over 170 blue plaques in the city, we challenge the audience to look at our plaques from a different perspective. Find out which ‘terrorist’ has a plaque, and decide on the fate of a new plaque proposal. The courtroom opens at 5pm.
Other South Leeds events include a chance to see inside the 15th century Stank Hall Barn; explore the history of Beeston Wood in Middleton Park; guided museum tours at Middleton Railway; open day at Skelton Grange Environment Centre; a guided tour of the Tetley’s brewery site; or delve into the archives of the Royal Armouries. There will also be a talk about the 1890 gas workers strike, much of the action of which took place in Holbeck and Hunslet.
And then it’s back to Holbeck, as we wrap up this year’s Heritage Open Days on Sunday 22 September at The Northern Monk at Marshall’s Mill. Sooth your soul after a busy week of events as the hauntingly beautiful Meanwood Ensemble performs in this stunning industrial setting. We can’t think of a better way to round off this year’s HODs.
Tickets are required for some of these events. Booking details as well as more information can be found on www.heritageopendays.org.uk.
This post was written by Mel Roberts
We encourage anyone living or working in South Leeds to use this website to tell their news. You can either use the Create an article for South Leeds Life page, or email us at: info@southleedslife.com
We also have a 15th century reenactment group at stank Hall, doing displays and activities