Bronte Radio speaks to Bronte Parsonage head, Ann Sumner, Here
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Hear about the Tour de France in 2014, consultations over the future of Haworth Fire Station and much more at www.bronteradio.com
A new Europe Calling show every Sunday

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Haworth Contact Point. Haworth. The Old Police Station, 28 Changegate, Haworth. BD22 8DY. Tel 01535 644001 Email - wvcontactpoint@yahoo.co.uk

The Stirrup Restaurant, Main Street, Haworth

Haworth 1940's weekend

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Visit Sheila Murray's World of Wellness

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Let's keep calm and do more for Haworth!
Bronte Media Editorial

So the invasion of Haworth succeeded!
Heaven knows how many thousands of people came for the village's 1940's weekend, we suspect only a few less than at D-Day itself, now we should keep calm and capitalise on the success.
It would be impossible to emulate that weekend more than once a year but surely the organisers have proved that given the theme, co-operation with the community and a bit of good old fighting spirit, Haworth could stage events right through the Spring and Summer to boost trade, credibility and popularity.
We have the Haworth Festival for a week coming along but more needs to be done to appeal to a broader cross section over a longer period. If not we will soon be hearing stories of poor trade in Main Street once again until the Christmas season comes along.
What has happened to the once popular 1960's weekend? It was popular and surely would provide another great event. The bottom of Main Street is often avoided by visitors who think there is nothing there. At that point it is surely wide enough to accommodate regular markets and events which would otherwise clog the top end of the street.
The 40's weekend has proved how popular Central Park is. It's a jewel in its own right and has the new bandstand and plenty of space for traditional village events. Why not a traditional Haworth Gala with a good old fashioned procession?  August is traditionally gala month and gives a boost before the onset of Autumn.
As we have always said there is much more to Haworth than cobbles and the Brontes...the weekend proved it. Our village is a natural for nostalgia themed events and there's a small army of fresh faces out there in the community who could make them happen.
The war years were tougher times than we are seeing now and remembering them just gave us a great shot in the financial arm. Keep calm and carry on doing these events Haworth!

E-mail your comments to us at brontemedia@gmail.com

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Last year for Parish Council chairman

Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury parish council chairman, John Huxley, said he intended that this year would be his last in the chairman’s post.
He told colleagues that this civic year would comprise his sixth term of office since he took over from Councillor Peter Hill.
He said recent health problems and future commitments meant it would be very difficult for him to continue holding a civic office.
Coun Huxley announced his position at the annual parish council meeting.

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Parish councillor resigns

Councillor Steve Illingworth has resigned from the Haworth Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council. He has stepped down because of his personal circumstances.
 Council Chairman, Cllr. John Huxley, has written to Steve expressing the thanks of both the Council and the community for his service.

The Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council Facebook page is HERE

E-mail your news to us at voiceofthevalleys@gmail.com

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Public appeal to buy Bronte manuscript

A public appeal has been launched to bring a recently-discovered and previously unpublished Charlotte Bronte manuscript to the literary family’s Haworth home.
The Bronte Society is seeking help raising funds to buy the work, a homework essay written by Charlotte for the man she loved.
The society was told in December of the previously unknown piece, which is in private ownership.
A single-page document, written in French on both sides, it was assigned as homework by Charlotte’s teacher, Monsieur Constantin Heger, at the Pensionnat Heger school he and his wife ran in Brussels. Heger has added his corrections to the work.
“This exciting discovery sheds light on a formative time in Charlotte’s life and contributes substantially to our understanding of her character,” said Professor Ann Sumner, the Bronte Society’s executive director.
“We strongly believe it belongs here in Haworth at Charlotte’s home, as part of our unparalleled Bronte collection, and as a resource for scholars.”
Charlotte fell in love with Heger, who was married with children, but that affection was never reciprocated.
Several letters she wrote to him, now held by the British Library, were discovered torn to pieces in his waste paper bin.
They had been painstakingly stitched back together by Heger’s wife, Claire, possibly to preserve evidence of Charlotte’s indiscretion.
The Bronte Society declined to say how much it needed to buy the manuscript, entitled L’Amour Filial, but said it had already been “generously supported” by the Victoria & Albert Purchase Fund and the Friends of National Libraries.
Society chairman, Sally McDonald, said: “The fact this work is unpublished adds enormously to its significance. We are delighted to launch this appeal and thank all those who have so far contributed.”

Storm in a media teacup!

How nonsensical some of the comments about the wearing of Nazi uniforms at the Haworth 1940's weekend. It is now a media chestnut trotted out every year that everyone is against any enactor wearing the uniforms. Not so, the Nazis were in the war alongside the Italians and the Japanese and for the purposes of history and remembrance it is right that passive display of the fact is allowed. Are our children to be allowed to forget what their grandparents' adversaries looked like because of the outcrying of a minority faction?
It's a bit like cowboys with no Indians really but those who jump on the bandwaggon are usually the type who wouldn't allow Sooty to have a girlfrfiend and would have banned Looby Loo from The Flowerpot Men.
My father fought in the war and at its end a local postman strutted at the front of a parade as a comic Hitler and caused great amusement. They had the right spirit in those days and were not steeped in political correctness with their heads up their own orifices.
Perhaps the most amusing reference to the whole outcry was a local blogger who ranted about it and then posted a distasteful picture of a German soldier shooting someone in the back of the head to illustrate it.
No doubt they and the barmy media army will be back again! As long as they get the publicity.

Do you have views on this topic? E-mail us at voiceofthevalleys@gmail.com

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Crime prevention cash for Contact Point

Some of the Contact Point team with councillors.

The Oakworth Police & Community Contact Point has secured funding from the Worth Valley Area Initiative Fund of £750. This will be used to provide training in crime prevention for Police volunteers across the Worth Valley who will then visit local groups to inform people of how to improve security and allow them to purchase crime prevention items.
Opened in 2006 the Contact Point at Holden Hall is a focal point for the residents of Oakworth who can report matters to the Police and Councils such as anti-social behaviour or fly tipping.
Training will begin in February and it is hoped the first talks will go ahead before Easter.
Mags Smith, Co-ordinator of the Oakworth & Haworth Contact Points says, “This is an opportunity for Police volunteers to become more involved in the community. Police cannot always make a village group meeting as their time is better served on other, more important, duties.”
Sergeant Chris Watson of the Worth Valley NPT said: "The Contact Point and the Volunteers who give up their time are a valuable extension of the service that police and partners provide. This funding will help to further develop that role and is great news for the local community."
We would like to thank our Ward Councillors, Glen Miller, Rebecca Poulsen and Russell Brown for giving us this opportunity.

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Visit Haworth Online on Facebook

Music of the Valleys exclusively on Bronte Radio

Fiona Katie Roberts

Bronte Country and the surrounding valleys is awash with musical talent and none more so than Oxenhope based harpist, Fiona Katie Roberts, pictured here.
To hear her fascinating story go to Bronte Radio where you can hear this celebrated musician who featured on the highly successful symphony for Yorkshire.
We will be featuring much more talent from the valleys soon, and do let us know of anyone you think we should give a special place to.
E-mail us at voiceofthevalleys@gmail.com or brontemedia@outlook.com

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Bronte Radio

Hear more of Fiona Katie Roberts HERE at Bronte Radio

In the coming weeks we will be interviewing many more local artistes and people with fascinating stories.
In the meantime visit Bronte Radio and hear our regular Sunday Show from Spain covering hot topics of the week in Europe calling and enjoy a direct link to Mike Harding's on line folk show.

Let us have your thoughts on what you want to hear on Bronte Radio via the site

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A fascinating web site here from Haworth based author William Forde

Your Bronte news

Help us to keep Haworth and Bronte Country on line to the world.
We want your news, views and contributions.
Tweet us @brontemedia

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Latest news and links

Wind turbine plans for Haworth Moor
from the Daily Telegraph. Great spelling!

George Medal presented by the Queen to Martin Bell's family

Photographer to chart the decay of Top Withens

Long lost Charlotte Bronte story found

New web site for The Old School Room, Haworth

Long lost Charlotte Bronte manuscript to be published

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Private and business photography available

Bronte Media can provide all your photography needs through their in house and contracted specialists. E-mail brontemedia@outlook.com or call us on 07866 626090 for details. 
Our prices are the keenest, our service the finest.

Your news and views wanted

We want your news and views from across the Worth and Aire Valleys.
Here on our web site you have told us that LOCAL is what counts most.
You reject publications top heavy with 99 per cent advertising at exorbitant rates padded out with low quality press releases and poor features.
Tell us what you want to see in the local media, talk to us about your advertising needs. We will listen and do something about it.

E-mail us on voiceofthevalleys@gmail.com or call 07866 626090. Find out how to become part of a web site that LOCAL people are reading and looking for because it puts the quality back into LOCAL media.

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Feature your business in Voice of the Valleys

The Dog and Gun, Oxenhope

Why not feature your pub or restaurant business here on our web site and in the Voice of the Valleys newspaper?
Our popular editorial based features include a range of pictures, menus, specials and a professionally written piece by  our staff.

Visit The Dog and Gun, Denholme Road, Oxenhope BD22 9SN, Tel 01535 643159. Perfect for your function and a quality dining experience.

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An unbeatable advertising deal

In these tough financial times marketing may often have to take a back seat due to high costs and low return from print media advertising. That high cost and short shelf life is off putting to many as it becomes obvious that on line marketing is the only growth area of marketing and consequently much more effective.

Here at Bronte Media we have put together cost effective packages which are considerably cheaper than print media, reach many more people using popular forms of access to the Internet and social media, and are flexible. You can change or add to your marketing at any time, often without further cost, and you are always dealing with experienced professionals who have successfully made the switch from traditional to on line media.

We have three combined outlets for marketing. Voice of the Valleys,www.votv.co.uk , an on line community magazine which attracts hundreds of unique visitors each day and actually gives the visitor something to read and see rather than just being an advertising giveaway. Bronte Radio is our on line radio station at www.bronteradio.com and in just a few months it too has attracted a large audience because of its unique content and interviews. We plan to do much more there including sound based marketing, something unique to the Aire and Worth Valleys and which will of course have a world-wide audience. Both of these resources are linked with the hugely popular Facebook page Haworth Online which has attracted a great audience since its launch. So you have the best of three worlds with a collective audience of thousands of people each week.

Based in Haworth, we do the words the pictures, the interviews, the recordings, all at no extra cost to advertisers, and our prices start at just £10 a month. The key to advertising is persistence and with Bronte Media you are not thrown away after a brief glance, you become part of the reader's everyday on line experience.

We believe no one else offers our choice, our experience or our effectiveness in local marketing. Certainly no one beats our prices and service. An example of what we can do as a full special page on our web sites is at http://www.voiceofthevalleys.net/pesto-wilsden.html . For web special pages contact us for a fixed price quotation based on a three month package, and until the end of June you'll get a fourth month FREE.

Contact us on brontemedia@hotmail.com , Tel: 01535 959002       
or 07866 626090 , we'll do the rest.

Charlotte Bronte's love letters to be published

Charlotte Bronte's love letters to an older, married man are to be published
 See more on our Bronte page.

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Community News
Send your community news to voiceofthevalleys@gmail.com or call us on 07866 626090.
You can also advertise your forthcoming community event here for just £5. Send your details and we will do the rest. 

The Brontes
Research & resources about the Bronte family, their books and the world famous Haworth village. 

Off the beaten track
Interviews by our Editor, Graham Smith
Ken Dodd
Patricia Kirkwood
More interviews at www.bronteradio.com


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Traditional values, community spirit
The changing world of the media means that most of us now look online for our news, views and information. Here at Voice of the Valleys we aim to bring you the best of all worlds by combining an online magazine with some of the traditional newspaper values. 
We will bring you local news and features, pictures and sounds from an area including Keighley, Haworth, Oakworth, Oxenhope, Cross Roads, Stanbury and beyond. Areas rich in history, tourism and business which attract visitors from all over the world. Our readership will be world-wide meaning that advertisers have an outlet which no single hard copy publication can ever give with a much longer shelf life and at a fraction of the cost charged by low circulation traditional media.
We want everyone to be involved and will accept contributions from across the broad spectrum of our communities to make us a publication "by the people for the people".
E-mail us on voiceofthevalleys@gmail.com or call 07866 626090 so we can hear your voice.

                                            _________________________________

Exclusively from Bronte Media and Voice of the Valleys....
Bronte Radio at www.bronteradio.com 

                                              ________________________________

Ken Dodd, Crown Prince of Laughter

If this man doesn't make you laugh no one can.
Read Graham Smith's feature on Ken Dodd in his Off The Beaten Track column HERE

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Hello Spring in Haworth!

After a long, hard winter, Spring arrived in Haworth. Many more pictures from Bronte Media are on the site.
If you want a sensible quotation for creative photography for your event call us on 07866 626090 or e-mail brontemedia@outlook.com

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The Voice of the Valleys Facebook page is HERE

Tweet us on @voicevalleys or @brontemedia

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This Weather Widget is provided by the Met Office

Is that the Royal wee? The Duke of Kent at Oxenhope Station!

Voice of the Valleys and 
Bronte Radio
The sight and the sound from Bronte Media

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Search is on for new Brow Post Office

No replacement is yet on the horizon for the Haworth Brow Post Office, which closed in August 2011..
Parish council chairman, Councillor John Huxley, said the Post Office had told him it was advertising for someone to run a postal facility in this part of the village, but so far no one had come forward.
He noted that the Post Office was describing the closure as “temporary” and that it still wanted to restore its services to the Brow, members of the Haworth, Cross Roads, and Stanbury Parish Council heard The Mill Hey premises shut after its postmaster was unable to sell the business as a post office. Following the closure the post box outside the property was also removed. Coun Huxley said the lack of a post office in the area was causing distress, especially for older residents.
Parish council clerk, Glyn Broomhead, said the Post Office had informed him the original post box would be reinstalled. He said it would be sited in the Haworth Railway Station forecourt - not far from its previous location. However, he added the Post Office said it was waiting for a contractor to carry out the work and could not confirm when the installation would take place.

 NEWS

Marketing Haworth to the world

Can Haworth become an international tourist destination on a global scale? More on our NEWS pages.

Grants to make Haworth "more authentic"!

A major new scheme offering grants to Haworth businesses to make the village more authentic is announced by English Heritage and Bradford Council. Full story HERE

Restoration of Top Withens

An interesting piece about the proposed restoration of Top Withens. HERE

Amazing find in Pendle

Just over the hill from us in Pendle, birthplace of our Editor, an ancient cottage has been unearthed.
Hear the story from the BBC HERE

A web site which is read again and again

With Voice of the Valleys you have a long shelf life in front of real readers, not a long life on a shelf!
Is your advertising proving its worth to you? Or is it not worth the money? Our advertising rates will not be beaten, our editorial quality will not be matched.

Welcome to Voice of the Valleys on line
.
Voice of the Valleys is a free, honest to goodness, old fashioned on line newspaper covering local issues, history, trade and the views of the community. 

Graham Smith - Editor and Publisher

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Keighley Kicks, all your local football news

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War, what is it good for?

 "Remember the past and you're blind in one eye; forget the past and you're blind in both."
 - OLD POLISH SAYING. 
The other night as I was tucking my fictitious son up in bed, he looked up at me and asked rather poignantly, "What did you do in the Forties Weekend
Daddy?"     
I knew this moment would come one day but still, I was quite unprepared
for his astonishing frankness. "Well son, "I replied, "I don’t want to talk about it. But I'm going to anyway." 
Fighting back the tears, I carried on as best I could. "It was horrible son, just horrible. Nothing like in the films - especially that Yanks with Richard Gere in it."  He stared at me, mesmerized.  "We had it hard that weekend son - three pound fifty for a burger, four quid for a pint and half an hour to get served at the bar. I watched grown men crying son. Crying. Oh the hardship."     
"Was it really that bad, Daddy?"     
"Worse, son - we couldn't afford to go out at all that weekend.  We had to make our own entertainment, me and your poor old mother, huddled round the wide screen telly watching Britain's' Got Talent' with our SPAR rations; 10 Sterling Superkings, a 3 Litre Bottle of SPAR'S Own Cider and a past its sell-by cheese and onion butty between us. We didn't have much but still - we were happy, we all looked out for each other that weekend, the real Blitz Spirit. Not like these days."      
He looked at me inquisitively. 
"Where is mummy?" he asked.    
"She ran off with a steward, son," I told him with a heavy heart. "She always did go for a man in uniform."     
"Did you get wounded Daddy?" he went on.     
"Yes son," I confessed. Gulping hard I told him something I had been holding back lest I should terrify the poor tyke. "Someone stood on my toe outside Cobbles &  Clay."     
"Did it hurt?"     
"You don't want to know, son. But yes - it stung like mad. Went all blue. The pain - never felt anything like it." 
Looking down and seeing him yawn in sympathy like that, I prayed that his generation might never live through anything such as we did that weekend.  But the brave little soldier wasn't finished yet.  
"What did you dress up as Daddy?"     
"I went as a conscientious objector son."  Then of course I had to explain to him what that meant.  "It was someone who objected to the whole weekend on strong moral  grounds."     
"Like what Daddy?"     
"Well, it was too bloody expensive for a start," I told him.   
"Then there was all this kerfuffle about the Nazis showing up and everyone saying 'oh it's just a bit of fun' - well if that's the case let's have even more fun next year with a Hiroshima Victims Parade up Main Street or a Japanese Prisoner of War Tea Dance with a slide show about the construction of the Burma Railway -free tea and biscuits for anyone under 7 stone!"  
I paused for breath, the sweat dripping off me.  
"And those rose tinted spectacles made your eyes go all funny as
well."  I was exhausted by now but felt I owed it to my son to explain the complexities of smalltown politics.His face lit up again.     
"Do go on Daddy - tell me more. What was it like in the Forties Weekend?     
"Packed," I told him, shaking my head.  "Those tourists - thousands and
thousands of the poor souls, starving and bewildered. Trapped on the cobbles and forced at imitation gunpoint to listen to Vera Lynn and George Formby all bloody day before being herded onto the vintage double-decker buses and driven off to the Concentration Cafes - three quid for a cup of coffee.  Don't let anyone tell you the Forties Weekend never happened son.  I know - I was there. 
I tell you this so that future generations might learn from our mistakes.
We must remember the fallen…and the badly bruised. We must make sure that this never happens again. Until next year." By this point, he had fallen fast asleep.     
But despite the appalling pricing structure and inhuman shopping conditions, surely the highlight of the entire weekend was the Annual Flyover featuring The Invisible Lancaster Bomber. It was precisely  due to advanced technology such as this that we were able to stick it to Jerry during The Battle of Britain - the same kind of astute military thinking which
continues to this day when millions of pounds can be made to simply disappear from the defence budget at the flick of a pen.   There's never been a better time to be British.      
Once my son had drifted off I crept back downstairs whereupon a thought
occurred to me; let's have another badly organized event! 
At first I thought an 1860's Weekend might work or a Tripe Festival but
then it hit me; we've done the Forties and Sixties - why not pick on another
decade for a change?   Let's milk another dodgy era, re-package and sell it to even more coach loads of gullible tourists with more money then sense.   But which decade? Why not go for the absolute worst in recent history, how about The Awful Eighties? And so, in conjunction with no help whatsoever from The Haworth Committees Steering Committee, I have single-handedly organized an Eighties Weekend for August Bank Holiday Weekend.     
Attractions will include a Yuppie Hunt across the moors (using
Rottweillers instead of Bloodhounds); a Margaret Thatcher lookalike in the
stocks at the top of Main Street, (five quid a brick); a mock AIDS Hospice in
Bronte Parsonage; and a Duran Duran tribute act on the church steps.  
An UNEMPLOYMATHON will also be held at Hall Green Methodist Centre, which will be converted into a mock dole office where we will aim to break the Tories unemployment record.  All we need is 3 million-plus signatures and we've cracked it.  Each new 'claimant' will also be obliged to make a donation to the HELP FOR PUBLICANS fund.  The whole weekend will be rounded off with a 'Naff Eighties Disco' at The Parkside, hosted by Timmy Mallet with a Widest Shoulder Pads Competition to be judged by Sarah
Greene.  
Tourists and locals alike will be able to parade up and down the cobbles
with impunity all weekend in their 'FRANKIE SAYS' t-shirts and woolly leggings while shouting into mobile phones the size of microwave ovens. 
And those of you old enough to remember, can re-live your wasted youth by
getting smashed out of your faces on Thunderbird Wine, listening to bad house music on implausibly large ghetto blasters in Central Park.     
For the more discerning listener, Oxenhope Operatic Society will be flown
in to perform a specially commissioned new show, 'Falklands: The Musical.' while culture lovers can thrill to the Miner's Strike Day where a full-scale Battle of Orgreave re-enactment will be held on Penistone Hill refereed by Arthur Scargill himself, refreshments at half time. 
(Who can forget those enduring images of our brave boys in blue at their
patriotic best, waving overtime forms at starving pit-workers or raining blows
indiscriminately on woman and pensioners alike from atop their sturdy
stallions?)    
So come on people of Haworth - support your newest, most vibrant event
and let's remember the words of The Official Unconvincing Winston Churchill lookalike; "Never in the field of human retail has so much been paid by so many to so few." 
(P.S. On a related note - a brief mention for the Irish Cultural Exchange programme which ran throughout the Best Exotic Haworth Festival, June 29th - July 8th. To make our Fenian brothers and sisters welcome, a Potato Famine Evening was being held on July 6th at The Old Hall.  A generous
admission fee entitled you to a special 'Starvation Supper' of Stale Spuds &
Pond Water with entertainment provided by The Birmingham Six Ceilidh Quartet.
 Your host for the evening was former funnyman Jimmy Cricket.Tickets cost £50, concs. for the unenlightened. 
"CEAD MILE FAILTE."


 Sadly, my new band NAT KING  KONG did not appear anywhere during the festival due to the fact that nobody on the committee seems to have noticed that I was present at the launch meeting last November where I not only offered my services, but also provided a contact telephone number - a method of communication employed by primitive peoples before the advent of the e-mail. 
Perhaps I should start wearing louder shirts.

By Steve "Boy" Doolan.
Ed's note. We are happy to consider all submitted articles for publication. Publication does not mean we endorse all content but we had a chuckle at the above!

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