Heptonstall Parish Website

Heptonstall artists are taking part in the Hebden Bridge Open Studios event between 5 and 7 July.

Nicola Wheeler, of Weavers’ Square, Mike Pemsel, of Northgate, and Alison Grant, of Northfield, are opening their Heptonstall studios, while Debs Paine will be exhibiting work in Northlight, Hebden Bridge.

Mike Pemsel works in linocuts and mixed media, Nicola Wheeler is a costumier, textile and watercolour artist, and Debs Paine explores the natural world using ceramic and oil paint.

Alison Grant’s studio will host  a joint family exhibition including life drawings, felt and textile works from Alison; oils, mixed media and line drawings from Bill Grant, and craftwork from Isla, open on Saturday and Sunday with refreshments available.

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A new food co-operative, Great Rock Co-op, has opened at Staups Lea Farm, beyond Blackshaw Head, selling everything from meat to rhubarb.

Local producers can take their food to the shop, which takes a 20% cut of the proceeds. It is staffed by volunteers and is open on Saturdays between 10am and 2pm.

So far, producers selling through the shop include Bridestones Brewery, Pextenement, Craggs Cakes, Crimsworth Farm, Clare’s Bread and Burnt Edge Farm.

On Saturday it featured in the Yorkshire Post.

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A message from Heptonstall Forward communications group: we were recently contacted by William Turnbull, owner of the Cross, offering information about the Cross pub. As this has been a controversial subject in the village,  we don’t intend to continue the disputes here.  However we believe that people will welcome more information about the pub’s future. Mr Turnbull’s remarks below:

“The pub is open again and there are new tenants in, Simon and Sophie, a young couple from Oldham. I’ve told them I just want it running in the same way, to give the people in the village what they want.

“They are interviewing a new chef on Monday and will be doing food again, the same kind as before. I’ve put in new carpets, new flooring, new tables and chairs, and re-done the beer garden.

“I own half of the barn at the back. I’m negotiating to buy the other half, which is the old toilets. I’m then going to apply for planning permission to turn it into four bedrooms for bed-and-breakfast, to encourage walkers into the village.

“I bought the Cross pub to save it as a pub. I lost the pub in my home village and whenever I’ve got some spare money from my business I buy a pub to save them. I bought the Railway in Hebden Bridge for the same reason.

“ I’ve no interest in turning them into Chinese restaurants or Indian takeaways or anything else. I hope in time people in Heptonstall will be pleased that it’s been saved as a pub.”

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A slideshow and lecture on Dawson City, the 19th Century Navvy community above Heptonstall, will be held at the White Lion pub at 7.30pm on Monday, June 10.

The labourers lived in temporary buildings with their families while building the Walshaw Dean reservoirs. A book on the subject has been written by Ann Kilbey and Corrine McDonald.

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Show us your groovy moves at the Heptonstall Bowling Club on Saturday, April 20, at an event to raise funds for the Heptonstall Festival.  DJ “Tall Paul” will be spinning the platters from the 60s to the noughties, so throw some shapes and help support the event of the summer.

Tickets are £3.50, starts from 8pm to late.

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Do you have memories, photographs or souvenirs of the Heptonstall Methodist Octagonal Chapel or Sunday School?

Did you go on Sunday School picnics, attend weddings or take part in pantomimes or nativities?

Perhaps you went on the Whit Walks and joined in the Methodist teas or Christmas fairs. Maybe you even signed the pledge!

The Chapel will be 250 years old next year, and we are hoping to collect memories and pictures of the Chapel and Sunday School.

Please come along to the Sunday School on Sunday, April 7, between noon and 4pm and tell us your stories. Pictures or other souvenirs will be photographed there and then, so you don’t have to part with them.

If you’d like to join in but can’t come on the day, please call Amy on 01422 843619.

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Jacky Kelly, who witnessed the zombie drama unfold on Townfield Lane, has written this piece exclusively for heptonstall.org. Scroll down for more from the BBC:

The filming took place at the house next door – Friday morning dawned very very cold and windy – and we woke to find an encampment in front of our house. Our neighbour took himself off elsewhere. A few miserable looking, puffa- jacketed, woolly hatted, gloved young men wandered around clearly not enjoying our Heptonstall weather. Blowing their noses and clapping their hands together to keep warm. Their ranks steadily swelled over the next hour, adding a variety of trucks, trolleys and technical equipment.

They proceeded to transform our neighbour’s house into a far more sinister abode, with boarded up windows and a forlorn look. They unloaded a strange assortment of random furniture and carted it all into the house. More and more of them appeared, bringing more and more equipment. And chairs – they made themselves at home, but all looked so very, pointedly, cold.

When scenes were being shot I couldn’t help feeling sorry for the actors – they had to wear ‘normal’ clothing in the bitter cold, but quickly wrapped up in their down gilets once their scene was over.

We tried not to stand staring out of our window, but we did. We were entertained just to watch the numbers of people involved in a drama production.

It was fascinating to see a scene being shot of a solitary person walking up to the house – on the telly she will probably look so alone. But in front of her were about ten people doing all manner of things – camera, sound, big white board being held up to reflect big bright light being held by another, and the girl whose sole purpose appeared to be to work the clapperboard numbering the takes – of which there were many. Several stops for discussions, presumably about the nuances of the scene, then it would be done yet again. In addition another ten or fifteen folk milled about, or sat in their chairs, or huddled together under a large black curtain, viewing the action on a monitor.

Out in the back garden something strange was hanging on the washing line. And there was an intensely bright light shining, and a large white screen. It did make it look as if it were far pleasanter weather…

Our dog had a barking fiesta for much of the day – wonder if they captured his yap…

Then, when ‘wrapping up’, how rapidly everything was packed away, house returned to normal, and off they went, leaving us two welcome bottles of wine for our ‘patience’. It was fun! It’ll be fascinating to see the finished result.

BBC Three reveals more about the drama, starring Ricky Tomlinson, due to screen in the Spring:

In the Flesh, by new writer Dominic Mitchell, is the story of teenager Kieren Walker and his reintegration back into both the local community and the heart of his family. After his death four years ago, his friends and family thought they’d never see Kieren again. But then, shortly after his funeral, thousands of the dead were re-animated in one freak night; and now, after months of re-habilitation and medication, the zombies are gradually being returned to their homes.

With its central themes of redemption, forgiveness, acceptance, denial, and the very essence of what it means to be alive or dead, In The Flesh is a complex but tender look at what happens when families get a second chance at mending their past and working together towards an unpredictable future.

Director Jonny Campbell says: “From the moment I read the opening scene I was hooked.  Dominic is an utterly fearless and instinctive young writer with an uncanny ability to tell a great story full of humour and humanity in a most original way.  An elusive and rare combination in TV drama. What’s most exciting about In the Flesh is that it challenges our pre-conceptions about the standard zombie genre and in so doing almost certainly creates a new one.”

Writer Dominic Mitchell says: “When I took part in the fantastic BBC Writersroom Northern Voices scheme, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that my drama about the medicated undead would be produced, let alone with such an incredibly talented cast and crew attached.”

Actor Luke Newberry says: “I am really excited to be playing Kieren who is an amazingly complex character. He is on an unthinkable rollercoaster of a journey, one in which he has been given a second chance at life and he has to come to terms with how to deal with that. The characters may look like zombies but this is a very human story about people trying to survive.”

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New BBC Three drama “In The Flesh” is being filmed on Friday in Townfield Lane, following the struggles of a “partially deceased” 17-year-old who is returning to a village that rejected him.

Heptonstall’s living residents are asked to park considerately while the undead are amongst us between 7.30am and 6pm on 26 October, though most BBC vehicles will be in the school car park.

Unit manager Kayleigh Cruickshank said one large lorry would be in the school car park, so it would be helpful if residents parked away from the school entrances, to allow it to turn in and out. Residents on Townfield Lane are also asked to park elsewhere for the day.

The filming will be in a private garden on Townfield Lane in the morning, then inside a house in the afternoon. The results are likely to be screened in the Spring.

New writer Dominic Mitchell’s first TV commission was developed by the BBC Drama Production team in Salford and discovered through ‘Northern Voices’, a BBC Writersroom competition.

His script begins after the Zombie Uprising has been quelled by the Human Volunteer Force and life is starting to return to normal. Any surviving zombies have been captured, medicated, held in an NHS holding facility in Norfolk and are being slowly re-integrated back into society, with the help of contact lenses and cover up mousse. The story follows teenager Kieran Walker, who committed suicide after his friend died in Afghanistan.

TV Wise site said the series had booked a slew of guest stars for its first season. Susan Twist, Matthew Walker, Karen Henthorn, Amy-Joyce Hastings, Julien Ball and newcomer Stephen Thompson have all booked guest spots.

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Heptonstall School is saying goodbye to Hamish Heald, pictured in the new library with pupil Rosie Davies. Mr Heald has been assisting Peter Jenel teaching Class Four.

He has got a new job at a Halifax school, but will still be going on the bi-annual school holiday after the half term. You may still see him around the village as he lives in Slack Bottom, and is planning on popping back to see the school’s production of Oliver! later in the term.

And pupils have said hello to Cara Warmby, a newly qualified teacher from Huddersfield. She is teaching Class Three during Laura Robertshaw’s maternity leave.

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A Great British Breakfast event was held at Heptonstall School today (Wednesday 30 May), organised by Heptonstall Out of School Club staff Karen Mills, Becky Dewis and Alan Goldstraw.

This raised more than £100 for club funds. The club has also been running a “Crown Your Bear” art club event every evening this week, where children have turned their teddies into royalty by making their own velvet capes and sparkly crowns. Many thanks to Chrissie from Hat Therapy for her help with this.

Tomorrow the school is holding a Jubilee picnic from 12.30pm. A street party will also be held on Hepton Drive on bank holiday Monday.

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