HCS Members’ Update March 2025
Another busy period ahead, especially in terms of activities and events which I hope you will be able to attend.
Forthcoming Events
HCS AGM and Speaker Event, Wednesday, March 26 at 6.30pm, Brian Jackson House, 2 New North Parade, Huddersfield HD1 5JP
6.15 -6.30pm Arrival
6.30-7pm HCS AGM
7-7.30pm Coffee/tea served. Non HCS guests arrive
7.30pm Presentation by Charles Smith.
Our AGM will include a revue of the past year’s activities, challenges and opportunities at a critical time for our town. To help with catering it would help if attendance could be confirmed by contacting Geoff Hughes by email:
The evening’s presentation will be of particular interest to many of our members and friends. Here are the details:
Heritage: Looking to the Future: A Presentation by Charles Smith
Charles is policy director at Historic England, the government’s adviser on the historic environment. Before joining Historic England in 2013, Charles was team leader for conservation and design at Kirklees Council, and remains a Huddersfield resident. His early career included working for the Diocese of London and the Victorian Society.
Charles will talk about Historic England’s functions, its priorities and the opportunities and risks for heritage in the short to medium term. He will highlight successful local initiatives such as the Huddersfield Heritage Action Zone and suggest how civic societies and other amenity groups can continue to be effective in ensuring heritage plays a positive part in delivering great places where people live, work and visit.
There will be no charge for this event but please join us at the AGM (it will only be for 30 minutes) at 6.30pm.
Discover Huddersfield Walks’ Programme 2025
By the time you receive this the 2025 DH Walks’ Programme will be printed and available to view on the Discover Huddersfield website: www.discoverhuddersfield.uk.
Walks cost £5 per person and bookings can be made up to 14 days before each walk. There are 20 walks to choose from. Full booking details can be found via Eventbrite by going to: https://bit.ly/40YAPnj
Bookings can now be made for the first walk of the season:
Sunday, March 9, 2.30pm. Historic Kirkburton Walk and Graveyard Visit. Join members of the Kirkburton History Group on a walk around the oldest part of Kirkburton to discover the history of the buildings and the stories they tell. The walk continues through the graveyard of the beautiful All Hallows’ Church.
Tour of Daphne Steele Building, University Health Innovation Campus, Southgate
Of all the major capital investment projects being developed around the town centre currently, one of the most exiting is the creation of the University Health Innovation Campus. Now we have a chance for a tour of the completed Daphne Steele building, the first building in a project that will help to improve health outcomes and lead innovation in healthcare for the north of England. Depending on demand (there will be a limit of 20 people on each tour) we have two provisional dates – May13 or May 15 commencing at 6.30pm and is expected to take between 90 minutes and 2 hours. The evening (s) will include a short guided tour and talk to outline the vision behind the building and the future Health Campus, the ‘WELL’ standard achievement and time for questions.
Further details and booking arrangements in future bulletin.
A Walk Around Penistone Town Centre. Wednesday, May 21 at 6pm
We were very sorry to have to cancel our walk around Penistone last September because of torrential rain.
The good news is that we have a new date – this time an evening in May.
Marlene Marshall from Penistone History Archive and Friends of St. John Baptist Church will lead the tour, providing a background to the history of this market town and showing how the area has changed over the centuries.
The starting point will be the Grade 1 listed St. John’s the Baptist church, Shrewsbury Road, Penistone, Sheffield, S36 6DY. It’s expected to take between 90 minutes and 2 hours. Please email: to reserve your place (s).
The walk will cost £2.50 per person (£3.50 for non-members) and payment should be made direct to the HCS account as follows: Huddersfield Civic Society, Sort Code: 20-43-04, Acc No: 50525022.
Please add the reference: Pstone + your surname + numbers booked to help our treasurer reconcile those who have paid with bookings received.
Guided Tour of Sunnybank Mills, Farsley. Thursday, June 12 at 10am
Featured in the Mills Transformed Exhibition (see below) this mill has been restored and adapted to exhibit its textile heritage and provide a cultural destination with a contemporary art gallery, growing studio artist community, creative courses and events, plus a tearoom and shop.
Tours last approximately 45 minutes sharing the history of the mill, the mill owners, mill workers and explore the fascinating objects in the collection. It’s a great opportunity to get up close and personal to the stories of a fine worsted textile heritage.
Group tours are limited to 20 people just so everyone has a good experience but, if there is enough interest, there is potential to have two tour groups as there is plenty to explore on site.
It’s worth going to www.sunnybankmills.co.uk to appreciate this exciting venture. Please email: to reserve your place (s).
The charge for the tour will be £7 or £8 for non-members. Payment should be made direct to the HCS account as follows: Huddersfield Civic Society, Sort Code: 20-43-04, Acc No: 50525022.
Please add the reference: Sunnyb + your surname + numbers booked to help our Treasurer reconcile those who have paid with bookings received.
Mills Transformed, Monday, September 15
This is a joint Huddersfield Civic Society and Huddersfield Local History Society event as part of the 2025 Heritage Open Days Festival.
Following a successful exhibition at Bradford Industrial Museum we are delighted to welcome photographer Neil Horsley and John Lambe, Historic Places Advisor for Historic England.
Over the last three years Neil has been documenting the repurposing of derelict textile mills, including Westins in Huddersfield, who have found creative new uses for such buildings. This involved visiting, photographing and interviewing mill renovators at 33 mill conversion across the north of England.
The main picture for this members’ update was taken by Neil and shows the Carding Shed Cafe in Holmfirth while below is an interior view of Westins Mill in Huddersfield.
They are amazing success stories of how large-scale mill complexes have, against all odds, been renovated to accommodate a wide range of uses.
Further details and booking arrangements will be provided in later bulletins.
Planning Issues
Shopfronts, John William Street
It seems ironic that after Kirklees awarded a substantial grant for shopfront improvements on John William Street, former HCS Chair Chris Marsden alerted us to a request he had submitted to Kirklees Enforcement Team regarding the illuminated signs on the adjacent shopfront, the former Botafogo Grill at 37 JW Street that is now Franganos.
The next day Robert Taylor, the HCS Planning Officer, noticed an application on the other side of the road at No.26 JW Street, application number: 2025/9017026.
On viewing this equally dreadful application, it became clear the submitted Heritage Statement related to a completely different building – one in Lion Chambers. On our request the planning officer dealing with this application requested a revised statement. This has now been received but does little to justify such poor signage on a Grade II* listed building.
As I stated in an email to HCS committee colleagues: “The design of the shopfront replicates the low quality design of others along John William Street, a matter about which HCS has campaigned for many years and I had hoped the Conservation Area Appraisal, Management Plan and Shopfront Guidance consultancy work more recently carried out by Purcells, was establishing a better standard for shop fronts along this critical and architecturally important street.”
EPIKS – Environmental Projects in Kirklees
HCS works closely with other organisations in the area including Huddersfield Unlimited, Huddersfield Local History Society and Environmental Projects in Kirklees (EPIKS). I was reminded of the excellent work carried out by EPIKS, whose current Chair is former HCS committee member Chas Ball, on receiving its February newsletter.
It’s worth going to the EPIKS website: https://epiks.org.uk/ to gain an idea of some of the projects currently being developed including work along the River Colne through Huddersfield and active travel initiatives.
David Wyles
Huddersfield Civic Society chair