Author: Roger Cunliffe

The Friends were treated to a talk by Roger Cunliffe on Friday, May 9, 2025 in the gallery.

Roger’s talk was interesting, amusing and informative with a lot of interaction from the audience. Twelve Friends came along and were regaled by stories, legends and funny quips, while Roger walked us through transport from pack horse trails, old walkways, stagecoach travel, trams, canals and buses with an emphasis mainly on Baxenden and Accrington. As well as illustrating his talk with projected images, he also brought along many models of packhorses, stagecoaches, trams, buses and books.

The gallery staff are hoping to arrange with Roger to do his talk again in the gallery, this time for the general public. Something to look forward to, as I am sure many of us would like to listen to his talk again.

A walk in Haworth Park is a must this spring. The birds are singing, the trees are now showing their fresh-green leaves and the wild flowers are so beautiful. On the banking, a carpet of forget-me-nots delights the eye. Bluebells, especially near the quarry, scent the air. Elsewhere in the park, there are swathes of pink purslane and large clusters of ransoms. Cow parsley, buttercups, daises and dandelions are in profusion, while the tiny germander speedwell can be found in the grass. In the rose garden, the cherry tree is full of pink blossom. Round the park, the horse chestnut trees are sporting their large white cone flowers. Below the house, the rhododendrons are flowering. The large areas of bistort are now in leaf, so the flowers won’t be far behind. Butterflies are starting to appear and the mining bees are back under the hedge. The squirrels can still be seen, even though the trees are no longer bare. It’s a special place.

If anyone has a copy of these images before they became water damaged, please contact The Haworth Friends or the Haworth staff. We want to restore them to their full glory, especially the top one!

The day saw several of the Friends in the gallery early, as we had a load of items to get out on display for our Art Deco Viewing Day. For this event, all the items we used belonged to the various Friends of Haworth Art Gallery.

Our Art Deco included items of Davidson glass, many dressing table items, decanter, brush and dustpan sets, condiment sets, tea set, bon-bon dishes, grape scissors with tray, kitchen items and lots more. We amazed ourselves with the variety.

  We also set up a “Curiosities” table with lots of weird and mysterious things, many of which we asked visitors to guess their use. There was a shove ha’penny board, rune stones, old hair curlers, worry doll, peg dolls, ogham stones, roman lamps, old coins, slide rule and first calculator, leather punch, pack horse bells, rickers and lots more. Visitors were fascinated by the collection of things. And a lot of strange guesses too.

There was also the opportunity to have a go at making a rag rug, something a lot of our visitors hadn’t seen or done before. Several visitors tried their hand at the rug.

We also had documents giving information on the luxurious and opulent Art Deco era for the rich, as well as documents detailing life for the ordinary worker, which was hard. The General Strike, the Wall Street Crash, the miners strike, the reduction in workers wages while they were forced to work longer hours, the workhouse system and paupers graves also featured.

   There were around 60 visitors who came into our displays and who stayed for a long time viewing artefacts, asking questions and telling us their recollections.

It was a great day. Well done to all those who offered their precious things, came along on the day to help and also thanks to those who made our super poster and publicised our event.

 

Saturday February 8 2025 in the gallery. Today the artist, Becky Atherton, whose exhibition on Anne Haworth is currently displayed, gave a talk on her paintings. She gave an entertaining insight into the inspiration for each picture, which featured many aspects of Anne’s life. Talking about Anne’s social conscience and her generosity, she showed a picture which featured Anne with her two housemaids, who were both unmarried mothers. Anne employed both of them even though, in her social circle, unmarried mothers were considered the lowest of the low and were never employed. Anne made her own decisions and wasn’t bound by convention in this respect. Her generosity was also shown by two hands cascading coins, as well as a depiction of her house which she gave to Accrington to be used as an art gallery. (Now Haworth Art Gallery)

Another picture featured the car Anne had converted to an ambulance for Accrington. Others showed her with her brother, William, and her companion, Ellen Priestley, and denoted their travels in Europe and Egypt. Several paintings also included cameos of items from the house, which Anne and William had had built. They had chosen all the fixtures and fittings, the house reflecting their love of the arts and crafts movement.

As Anne had loved ceramics, Becky had taken some vases and made sculptural pieces from them on which she had painted aspects relating to Anne’s life.

On view, we had several of Anne’s belongings on display: vases, incense burner, ivory card case and ivory fan as well as her miniature of her brother

William. We also had on display photographs of William, Anne and Ellen together with our books on their lives and those of their staff.

The exhibition was an amazing tribute to Anne. The people who came to the talk were really interested, viewed Anne’s items from the gallery collection and then tried to find them depicted on the paintings.

A most enjoyable and interesting afternoon. Thanks to the Friends of Haworth Art Gallery who helped with the display and looked after the items on show, as well as talking to visitors and answering their questions.

On Saturday February 8th at 1pm, Becky Atherton will talk about her current exhibition of portraits of Anne Haworth here in the gallery. There will also be a display of some of Anne’s possessions held by the gallery.

The Friends of the Haworth are putting on a display inspired by Art Deco design (think Poirot the detective). That date is Sunday March 9th from 12:30. There will also be a Wierd & Wonderful  stall for visitors to guess what each was used for!!!      (This glass ornament is an R. Lalique Car bonnet design)

 

 

 

 

It was a happy, cheerful, warm and friendly day when Santa came to the gallery on December 15. Santa (alias Harry) and the elves (alias Liz, Dom and Roger) created a   wonderful time for the children. Each child was greeted individually and had a few minutes with Santa and the elves. Each child got a small gift courtesy of the gallery, who also provided popular Christmas crafts.

While the children were waiting, Jean, Frances and Sandy had Santa letters for them to fill in and post in Santa’s post box. We also had a tree with baubles that people could either write on their name or a Christmas wish which they then stuck on the tree. People thought this was a lovely idea, with parents and older siblings joining in enthusiastically. Roger entertained the children with a mouse and robin finger puppets.

In the hall, Ann and Marilyn had a bottle stall to raise funds towards the restoration of the icons. This was so well patronised that we ran out of bottles! £92 was raised. A brilliant result.

Thanks to Harry, Roger, Jean, Frances, Sandy, Ann and Marilyn from the Friends and to all the gallery staff. A really lovely event for families in our community.

Many thanks also to all those who supported us with bottles and best wishes.

The Friends of Haworth Art Gallery hosted a visit to the gallery on November 21 by volunteers and Friends of the Harris Museum, Preston. 20 visitors came and were greeted by six of the Friends. After their lunch, Amelia from the gallery welcomed our visitors and gave short talk about the Haworth’s Tiffany Glass collection and Joseph Briggs, explaining how he sent a large number of specimen pieces to Accrington. These formed the majority of the collection we see in the gallery today.

Jean then talked about the house, which was built in 1908/1909, and its Arts and Crafts features, illustrating the talk with pictures of the interior of the house taken in 1921, though up to the present day, the house is little changed. The plaster ceilings, carvings, windows, window seating, fireplaces, electroliers and the lattice windows were featured and are all original.

 

 

 

Dining room with ornate plaster ceiling with central dropped pillar holding the electrolier.

 

 

 

Drawing room with barrel vaulted plaster ceiling, lattice windows, window seating, original electroliers and fireplace – all arts & crafts features.

 

 

Billiard Room showing smoking dais. China cabinets, carvings, arches and fireplace are typical arts and crafts features. Carvings around cabinets are all different and depict local animals, birds and flowers. Note the arches. Similar ones are in the hall and corridors. There was a fitted carpet in these 3 rooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Haworth                                                                            Anne Haworth

The talk then covered the lives of William and Anne Haworth and the staff they employed at the house. William and Anne had the house built as their retirement home, though William still supervised his mills, and Anne was involved in local charities, the Baptist church and school. Their philanthropic nature, the Baptist church and their liberal party values coloured the whole of their lives and they gave their time and money for the benefit of the local people. Anne employed two unmarried mothers as housemaids which just wasn’t done in their social circles, which showed Anne’s belief in socialist values. Anne’s bequest of the house and grounds to Accrington to be used for an art gallery, museum and public park has resulted in our magnificent building and the gallery we have today. An incredible gift which gave back to Accrington a lot of the riches that they had made.

It was a good day today at the Haworth. We started with a tour lead by Anne Alston, one of the gallery volunteers, who showed off all the arts & crafts features of the building. She explained how the decorated plaster ceilings were made in London and brought up in pieces to be erected on site. We looked at the panelling and carvings and the significance of some eg the acorns representing Accrington. We saw the wooden pegs in the staircase which the carpenters had used to erect it in the Arts & Crafts tradition of craftsmanship. The huge staircase window was viewed. This featured the coats of arms of Accrington and Lancashire together with William Haworth’s Initials. The significance of the roundels was explained – the cotton trade represented by the spinning wheel, cotton plant. ship etc.

A Jacob’s Join lunch was then enjoyed by us all and some of the gallery staff joined us in sharing the meal.

After the meal, we had a talk by Jean about William and Anne Haworth and the staff who worked for them from when the house was finished in 1909 to the death of Anne in 1920. Details of Anne’s will looked at how every member of staff was remembered by her and the gift of the house and grounds to Accrington.

Finally we viewed the Russian Icons that we are fundraising to restore, along with the miniature of William Haworth, William & Anne’s music albums as well as some items from WWl which also need conserving.

A really good day.

Thanks to all who came and provided the lunch. Thanks to Anne and Jean for the tour and talk.

On Sunday September 15, the Friends of Haworth Art Gallery took part in this event. It was part of the National Heritage Week events across the country. The theme was Routes, Networks, Connections.

We had some artefacts out of the gallery stores which had come from Russia, China, Ireland and Vienna. Guests to the gallery were invited to place a dot on maps of the UK and the world showing where they or their family originated. There were quite a few stories of family members uprooting, with many settling in Lancashire. The Russian icons amazed visitors and we used the occasion to fundraise to have these conserved. Also on display was the 1921 photograph album of the gallery – again many people were interested and surprised how little the house had changed. We had out the replica album that one of our members had done, so the photographs could all be viewed without having to touch the original.

Our usual heritage games were well used, as was the puppet theatre. The tombola and the bottle stall attracted lots of people, as did the Guess the Name of the Teddy. The ukulele lessons in the Billiard room proved popular as did the picnic lunches served by the gallery kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

A most enjoyable day and there was lots of positive feedback from visitors. It was int1resting that quite a few visitors were new to the gallery and, along with the good comments, people said they would be coming again so when was the next event? It was the last day of the current exhibition too, so it was another opportunity to view the paintings.