Launch: Discovering Ted Hughes’s Yorkshire literary and heritage trail
Sunday, 13 June 2021
On Saturday 3rd July, 1.00-3.00pm, a launch event for the Hebden Royd dimension of the Discovering Ted Hughes’s Yorkshire literary and heritage trail will take place at Mytholmroyd Community Centre, with poetry readings by acclaimed poets Carola Luther and David Morley, and a short talk by Hughes expert, Dr Steve Ely.
Discovering Ted Hughes’s Yorkshire is a series of six trail maps designed to open - up Hughes’s formative Yorkshire landscapes commissioned by the Ted Hughes Network at Huddersfield University-of which Dr Ely is Director - and designed by Hebden Bridge cartographer Chris Goddard.
The maps were released to the public earlier this year and can be accessed via the Discovering Ted Hugheswebsite and from local libraries and retail outlets. The event is free of charge - all are welcome - no booking is required. In the weeks following the launch, a range of free creative workshops and guided walks will take place to further engage local people and visitors alike with the trails.
Dr Ely explains, "Yorkshire formed Ted Hughes as a poet. He was born in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, grew up in Mexborough, South Yorkshire and completed his national service in Patrington, East Yorkshire. By the time he went to Cambridge University at the age of 21, he was already formed as the poet of his subsequent fame. The Discovering Ted Hughes’s Yorkshire trail maps will provide the means to open-up all Hughes’s Yorkshire landscapes to local people and tourists alike - for the first time."
"Chris Goddard has done a superb job in creating the maps - which are works-of-art in their own right."
Dr Ely continues, ‘The three Hebden Royd maps - focused on Mytholmroyd, Crimsworth Dean and Colden Clough/ Heptonstall - have been made possible by generous support and funding provided by Hebden Royd Town Council. Copies of trail maps will be distributed free at the launch. The other three maps - two based in the Mexborough area and one in Patrington - will also be available.’
The trail maps will allow people to self-guide around Hughes’s Hebden Royd landscapes, but a range of more formal activities are planned to publicise the trails and to encourage people to engage with Hughes’s work and legacy in the area. ‘We have a range of free community creative writing workshops and guided walks planned for the summer,’ Dr Ely added. ‘Details of the walks and workshops are available on the Discovering Ted Hughes’s Yorkshire website, where there is also a link allowing booking by Eventbrite - this is essential - places are limited, so it will have to be ‘first come, first served.’
The walks will be led by local Hughes experts Ruth Crossley and Nick Wilding and the creative writing workshops will be led by poets and Hughes experts, Matthew Clegg & Ed Reiss. Steve will also lead a walk and a workshop.
Participants will not only find out more about Hughes’ life and work and how it relates to the region, but through that work will engage with creativity, local heritage, landscape, ecology and the environment, accruing the benefits to health and well-being that flow from such engagement.
‘I’m looking forward very much to meeting people from Hebden Royd at the launch and at subsequent events,’ Dr Ely added. ‘With public support, ‘Discovering Ted Hughes’s Yorkshire’ has the potential to become a major, Yorkshire-wide tourist and cultural attraction that can enhance the Hebden Royd area’s reputation as a hotbed of creativity and contribute to the development of the tourist economy. It also restores to the county - and to Hebden Royd - one of the English language’s greatest poets.’
See also
Download PDF on the Workshops and Walks
HebWeb News: for the launch last year, subsequently cancelled. 5 March 2020
HebWeb News: Discovering Ted Hughes's Yorkshire Literary & Heritage trail maps 5 March 2021