I was asked some years ago if I ever gave talks on the history of Parlington, this prompted me to “have a go” and I discovered to my surprise that people enjoyed my topic: “The History of Parlington Hall”. I was doubly surprised to find that I was excited to be giving the talks, so it has become a win win situation. Moreover it has prompted me to look into other topics around my main theme, and last year I did a talk on the Military and Parlington as I had discovered ample evidence of military manoeuvres dating from the mid nineteenth century. Then I decided to branch out further and do a talk based on the Gascoigne mines in Garforth, as well as the Aberford railway. The railway of course was a function of the coal mines, but also provided a passenger service through until the early nineteen twenties. The railway closed in March 1924, it could not compete with the more flexible motor buses that had arrived on the scene, and in any event the mine owners, Garforth Collieries Ltd., following financial difficulties after the General Strike of 1926, they went bankcrupt in 1930!
My talks generally take around one hour plus, and are undertaken with a computer and projector, to demonstrate most of the historical evidence I have uncovered, this includes many obscure photographs not generally in the public domain.
Yorkshire Speakers Directory
I set up Yorkshire Speakers Directory some years ago, it does look a bit jaded these days, I haven’t gotten round to re-designing it, I built it for free and host it for the benefit of the general public and people who give talks in the county of Yorkshire, if you are looking for a speaker take a look!