Archive for the ‘Read’ Category

Isabella Banks

Posted on: October 28th, 2025 by Alan Wareham

Isabella Banks née Varley.

Professionally known as Mrs G. Linnæus Banks.

Mancunian Author and Poet

25th March 1821 – 4th May 1897

Introduction

Isabella Banks was a Victorian author and poet. Though not a member of the Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society herself, she was born and bred in Manchester and she sounds like the kind of strong and opinionated woman who would embody the Man Lit & Phil’s value of intellectual curiosity. Known for her most famous book, ‘The Manchester Man’ she wrote twelve novels and three volumes of poetry as well as being a prolific contributor to the Notes and Queries section of the ‘Manchester City News’.  Between 1878 and 1897 (the year of her death) she wrote comments on over 150 Notes and Queries. These included lamenting, after her husband’s death, to having changed her name to that of her husband’s (who was also an author). Replying in a Notes and Queries article in the ‘Manchester City News’ in 1881 she remarked that there was “no reason that a woman should drop her maiden name” and that whoever came up with the new system of a woman keeping her name (in a double barrelled fashion) had done a “good service to her sisterhood, it not only preserves a woman’s individuality but tends to keep alive association with her own kith and kin.”

Early Life and Background

Isabella Banks was born Isabella Varley on the 25th March 1821. Some of the biographical details we know about her are from her very own copy of ‘The Annals of Manchester’, an 1886 record of the history of Manchester by W.E.A. Axon which includes mention of local people of note.

E.L. Burney, a local Didsbury biographer of Isabella Banks, was gifted a copy of the ‘Annals of Manchester’ with her bookplate and inscription, and observed she had added extensive handwritten notes in the book’s margins. On finding her own omission from the chronicles of notable births in 1821, Isabella had annotated the book to add her own biographical information. She wrote in the margins, “I was born on Oldham Street 25th March…” and was “…baptised by Joshua Brookes” – whom she later chronicled in The Manchester Man. We also find out, through her own annotations, that she was born during a “13 week frost.”

Isabella  lived in Manchester from her birth, to Amelia and James Varley, until she was around 27 years old, publishing her first poem, age 16, titled ‘A dying girl to her mother’ in the ‘Manchester Guardian’. From references in E.L. Burney’s book, there is mention of her “commencing” a School for Young Ladies in Cheetham at only 17 years of age. No reference to the exact school can be found, but it seems she ran it until she left both the school and Manchester in 1848. She married fellow author George Linnaeus Banks in December 1846, at Manchester Collegiate Church, subsequently taking his name for her publications.

Key contributions and achievements

Isabella Banks was one of only 36 female members (out of around 1000 in total) of the Manchester Mechanics Institute which had the aim of enabling Mechanics and Artisans to be acquainted with science. Many members were also members of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. She was also a member of the Ladies Committee of the Anti-Corn Law League – which was itself established in Manchester. The Corn Laws imposed tariffs on imported grain to keep prices high to protect British farmers and landowners from cheaper foreign imports following the end of the Napoleonic War. A consequence of this was that bread became more and more expensive and unaffordable – especially to the poor. The law became increasingly unpopular with ordinary people, as well as to employers, who had to pay workers a higher wage to keep pace with price increases. It even contributed to the deaths seen in the Irish Potato Famine as there was a lack of surplus wheat available to help feed people. The law was repealed in 1846 – a victory for the Anti-Corn Law League and advocates of free trade, but led to Sir Robert Peel resigning as Prime Minister the same day due to opposition from his Conservative Party and British landowners.

Isabella was a member of the Sun Inn group of poets, named after the pub on Long Millgate in Manchester (opposite what is now Chetham’s School of Music in Cathedral Gardens) where a, mainly self-taught, group of writers met between 1840 and 1843. The group is attributed to have been started by the pub’s landlord William Earnshaw, (a friend of Isabella’s father), who, when realising he was onto a good thing, is said to have set up a new sign of ‘Poet’s Corner’ on the front of the inn – welcoming men of the literature and the arts to the upstairs snug. ‘Poet’s Corner’ articles were common in most newspapers of the time, allowing aspiring poet’s to submit their works, get published and help with the paper’s sales. This is probably how Isabella got her first poem published aged 16. She was encouraged to write poems to be included in the ‘Oddfellow’s Quarterly’ (where she met her husband) and ‘Bradshaw’s Journal’ by the then editors who were also members of the group. She also has a contribution called ‘Love’s Faith’ in the groups only published anthology, ‘The Festive Wreath’ a collection of original contributions read at a meeting on 24Th March 1842. It was noted by Michael Powell (past chief librarian of Chetham’s library) that Isabella was too shy to actually present any of her poems, instead “hiding behind a velvet curtain at the back of the room” and asked others to read her works. It appears that the Poet’s Corner meetings were often rowdy, male dominated, affairs with much singing and drinking. Not the usual hang out of a Victorian lady!

Isabella Banks’s most famous book is undoubtedly ‘The Manchester Man’ which is a very engaging and highly recommended read even for a 21st century audience. The book was initially published in 1874 as a series of articles in ‘Cassell’s Family Magazine’, a popular general interest periodical. It was then published in book form in 1876, with an updated illustrated version published shortly before Isabella’s death in 1896. It follows orphaned Jabez Clegg through his life and ascent through Manchester society. Guiding the reader through Jabez’s trials and successes plus a love triangle with his nemesis along the way, the book includes the description of a number of historical events. One incident of note being the Peterloo Massacre of 16th August 1819 at St Peter’s Field (now St Peter’s Square, in Manchester) where a peaceful assembly of around 60,000 protestors gathered in favour of political reform, demanding parliamentary representation for the industrial North at a time when less than 3% of the population had the vote. The magistrates of the day became increasingly worried about the (still peaceful) protesters who were waiting for the political orator Henry Hunt to speak, and ordered, initially the amateur yeomanry cavalry, and then the army – on horseback with sabres – to disperse the crowd (events described in Isabella’s book). It is estimated that at least 15 people died from sabre cuts and trampling, and nearly 700 people were injured. The term “Peterloo” was coined to mock the soldiers who killed unarmed civilians as a contrast to the men seen as heroes from the Battle of Waterloo.

The original manuscript of ‘The Manchester Man’ is held at Chetham’s Library, Manchester. Other items that once belonged to Isabella and a marble bust of her in her youth, are held in the E.L. Burney collection in John Ryland’s library.

Isabella was involved with the 1864 tercentennial (300th year) commemorations of the birth of Shakespeare on Primrose Hill in London. She “christened” the oak tree planted by actor Samuel Phelps, on the hill during the ceremony with “water from the River Avon” as “Shakespeare’s Oak.” The poet Eliza Cooke had written a poem and was meant to give the address, but was unwell, so Isabella deputised for her in front of a crowd estimated at around 10,000. According to a newspaper report she gave a “short and exceedingly well-worded speech, the only defect of which, was that, as might have been anticipated, its delivery was marred by the nervousness natural to a lady addressing so large and so public an audience for the first time.”

Some lesser-known facts

  • Jabez Clegg, “The Manchester Man” of her book’s title was also the name of a (now closed) pub near Manchester University.
  • A pub named after Joshua Brooks, the chaplain who baptised Isabella and whom she wrote about in The Manchester Man, has been a well-known City Centre bar for over twenty years.
  • Isabella Banks Street (M15 4RL) runs between Tony Wilson Place and Medlock Street in the centre of Manchester.
  • Isabella was noted to have paralysis of the sixth (cranial) nerve of her left eye -reportedly caused from “inflammation” as a baby due to the use of a “smoky chimney that was impossible to repair…during a 13 week frost”. As a result her left eye would have been unable to look outwards to her left.
  • Though Isabella started writing poetry as a teenager her writing career took a backseat during the first part of her marriage whilst she looked after the surviving three of her eight children. She, however, had to become the main family breadwinner and started writing again – aged 43 – when her husband, suffering from cancer, turned to alcohol to try and relieve his pain.
  • A quotation from her book ‘The Manchester Man’ appears on “Broadcaster and Cultural Catalyst” Tony Wilson’s gravestone in Southern Cemetery, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, South Manchester.

 

“Mutability is the epitaph of worlds

Change alone is changeless

People drop out of the history of a life as of a land

though their work or their influence remains”

 

(The Epitaph is from the start of Chapter The Seventeenth – In the Warehouse)

  • Isabella herself died aged 76 on 4th May 1897 and is buried in Abney Park cemetery Stoke Newington.
  • As well as writing novels and short stories, Isabella was a well-regarded poet and so to finish, here is a favourite, which still resonates today:

 

Deceived!

By Mrs G Linnæus Banks

On the Banks of a tranquil lake

A maiden reclined and dream’d

Of the hearts she would win and break

While that summer sunlight beam’d;

She mused o’er her victories past,

Of her captives yet to be;

And the spells she would round them cast

To bring them down to her knee

 

On the shore of a troubled lake

A maiden wander’d alone,

‘Mong the hearts she had vow’d to break

She had not counted her own;

But a brighter eye than her own,

A tongue as false and as fair,

Won her soul with a look and a tone,

Then left her to love and despair.

 

Lit&Phil Member – Nicola Barnes

Obituary for Marjorie Ainsworth

Posted on: August 21st, 2025 by Alan Wareham

Marjorie Ainsworth joined the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society (Lit & Phil) in 1955 and had been a member ever since – becoming an Honorary Member in 2005 (normally applied after 50 years’ membership). She came to events regularly until 2020 – when Covid and failing eyesight caused her to be unable to attend. However, she kept a lively interest in the Lit & Phil. She also wrote an article for the Memoirs which is well worth reading – and is available to view by members on the website – Volume 152 (2013-14), pages 140-144. Her husband Tom joined with her, and they were apparently very much part of a group of members in the 60s who would often cook stews and hotpots, to feed members after lectures!

Marjorie and Tom (he sadly died in 2007 at the age of 85) were also very keen members of the Manchester and Salford Film Society, Tom joined at the age of 16 and Marjorie at 17. Marjorie remained very active in that group, over the following 86 years, and became President – see the webpage of the Society, which contains a delightful video of Marjorie, detailing her involvement with it over so many decades – https://mandsfilmsociety.org.uk/

Sue Hilton

20 August 2025

Below is the article Marjorie wrote for the Memoirs Volume 152 (2013-14)

The Olden Days at the Lit & Phil

MARJORIE AINSWORTH

My late husband, Tom and I became members of the Lit & Phil in 1955. We had been recruited by a Miss Blackledge, who joined in 1953. We had made her acquaintance through our involvement with the Manchester Area Youth Film Council and her Presidential role with the Girls and Lads Club Association. The registered address at that time was the Portico Library, because the Society’s original Georgian house at 36 George Street had been blown up. It was then completely demolished by the Fire Brigade to provide a much-needed fire-break during one of the air raids in the Manchester Blitz. Council Meetings were held there and the occasional lecture. The first Lit & Phil event we attended was in the Reading Room at the Portico. Although the audience was necessarily small, some of us had to sit on piles of dusty tomes as the Portico itself had not fully recovered from the effects of the Blitz. The talk on ‘Abstract Impressionism’ was given by two members – Marcus and Mitzi Cunliffe. Marcus taught American Studies at the University and Mitzi was a sculptor whose best-known work is the golden BAFTA mask, which is still in use at award ceremonies. It was the first Tom and I had heard about Jackson Pollock et al. We were fascinated and decided there and then that joining the Society was a good move and promised an interesting and intriguing future.

There were about 350 members when we joined. Lectures were mostly arranged by Council, but Special Lectures were organised by the Chemical Section which, after a brief period as the Natural Philosophy Section, became the Science and Technology Section and the already functioning Social Philosophy Section. The Arts Section was not formed until 1970 and the first mention of it is in the Memoirs for that year. Margaret Pilkington was its first Chairman. Lectures were mostly held in the Reynolds Hall at the Manchester College of Technology (later to become UMIST) at the Whitworth Gallery and at various venues at Manchester University. During this time, plans were being made for the construction of a new home on the site of the demolished building in George Street. This was officially opened in September 1960. Tom and I were present at the inaugural address given by the President of the Royal Society, Sir Cyril Hinshelwood, its title being ‘The Arts and the Sciences’, a topic much discussed in intellectual circles at that time. I have a faded photograph of much younger versions of the two of us seated on the second row, on either side of our guest, Jim Whittaker. During the planning stage, discussions were also held about the best location for the Society’s visual aid equipment – an epidiascope and a slide projector. It just so happened that the Manchester & Salford Film Society, of which Tom was the Chairman, was desperately seeking a new home to continue in its attempts to bring art house and world cinema to the people of Manchester. Council’s agreement was obtained for the construction of a proper projection box at the rear of the lecture theatre, which would accommodate the Film Society’s two 16mm projectors. This would kill two birds with one stone; the Film Society would have somewhere to hold its performances, and the Lit & Phil would be able to offer film projection facilities to any organisation hiring the theatre for its meetings. Film Society committee members would act as projectionists when needed. This collaboration worked very well for all the eighteen years of the new building’s existence. Many Manchester Societies held their meetings in the lecture theatre and were very appreciative of the facilities provided. One such was the Scientific Film Society, of which Tom was the Chairman, mainly attended by sixth formers from local schools who were interested in the sciences. I recall sitting through a mind-numbing series of films entitled Corrosion, Parts 1, 2 and 3.

Every new season in September began with something called a ‘Conversatzione’. I think we dressed up a bit, were formally greeted by the current President and then given a glass of sherry. I don’t remember what happened after that. There was no Young People’s Section at the time, but there was always a Christmas Lecture for the children and grandchildren of members. This was one occasion when the Society’s splendid laboratory bench was called into action. There were many exciting demonstrations, usually involving explosions. The years at George Street were interesting and exciting. Tom and I practically lived on the premises. When we were not arranging the Film Society events, we were often to be found in the projection box operating the slide projector or film projector for an organisation which had hired the premises, as well as attending the Lit & Phil’s own meetings. Of the hundreds of lectures, I must have attended at George Street only a few are still vivid in my mind: Henry Lipson’s lecture about microwaves where he made a cake in a crude prototype oven of his own devising. He passed bits of cake to the members present; it was not very nice. Then there was Sir William Empson sporting a beard that looked like Spanish Moss telling us about ‘Seven Kinds of Ambiguity’. I am afraid it was as incomprehensible to many of us as the most erudite and obscure offerings of the Science and Technology Section. I remember being asked to look after Prof. Eysenck before his talk on ‘Personality Testing’ which was interesting, and one occasion, when I happened to be on the premises, Mrs. Garlick asked me if I would mind nipping over to Lewis’s Food Hall to get a jar of horseradish sauce to accompany the roast dinner which Council members enjoyed before their deliberations. Those were the days! Mr. and Mrs. Garlick were the caretakers and occupied the flat on the top floor. Members could always pop into the House for a cup of coffee or a snack or just nice sit down. The Garlicks usually provided a finger buffet for consumption before lectures. I have no happy memories of these buffets; I can still taste the margarine. The Arts Section buffets were always appreciated as we did our own thing. Molly Booth sourced the quiches; Tom and I raided Makro for the paté and cheese. We provided nice crusty bread and real butter. Wine boxes with red and white plonk enabled us to go on serving until they were well and truly empty, and this proved to be a popular Arts Section feature. The fact that I cannot remember more of the superb lectures at George Street is a pity, but at least I know a little something must have rubbed off as I now know of more unknowns. It was inspiring to walk past John Dalton’s headstone, set in the wall of the porch, which had been rescued from Ardwick Cemetery. I don’t know where it is now. Just inside the front door on the left was a minute office, from which Mary Urell miraculously dealt with all the Society’s administrative tasks.

The opening of the new house had a surprising and totally unexpected galvanising effect on a group of the more forward-looking members. I particularly remember Leonard Cohen who owned Henry’s department store on Market Street. His aim in life was to bring art to the masses. He exhibited Epstein’s Adam in the basement of his store and donated a fountain to Piccadilly Gardens. The new house so inspired him; he conceived the notion that George Street could become the epicentre of artistic activity in Manchester. He actually envisaged a new Opera House could be built between 36 George Street and the Art Gallery. His idea to have an extra storey built on the flat roof of No.36 to house an Arts Workshop accessible from the car park was, as it turned out, a structural impossibility. As a preliminary step toward achieving some of these ambitions, a group of members including Leonard in their own time and on their own initiative set up the Manchester Institute of Contemporary Art, MICA. They were not to be outdone by London where the Institute of Contemporary Arthad just been opened. Most of MICA’s events took place at the Lit& Phil house. Tom was the film officer, and I was a committee member. We played to packed houses when films of an experimental and avant-garde nature were screened. Some of the Lit & Phil members involved in all this activity were, as I hazily recall, Maurice Pariser – who unfortunately died before these dreams could be fulfilled, and Robert Sheldon and Edmund Dell who departed to become Labour Members of Parliament. We had the young Seamus Heaney reading his poetry on two occasions, a whole host of North West poets and many up-and-coming artists of the day. These were heady days expressing the general air of post-war optimism that seemed to promise a life more exciting and interesting than heretofore. It was undoubtedly the presence of the new, modern and accommodating building in the centre of Manchester that triggered these ambitious but finally impossible dreams.

There was only one unfortunate and unforeseen event which cause a temporary blip in relations between Lit& Phil and the Film Society. The North West Group of the British Federation of Film Societies hired the Lit and Phil premises for one of their Annual Viewing Sessions on a Saturday afternoon. These sessions were held for committee members of film societies to preview newly available films which they might want to include in their future programmes. The films came as a package direct from the British Film Institute in London and their content was unknown to the viewing panel assembled in the Lecture Theatre. As luck would have it Canon Saxon had arranged to meet his wife in the car park when she had finished her shopping, and seeing that something was happening in the house, decided to have a look. The film on the screen at that moment happened to be a short subject reel by Kenneth Anger (a famous and well-regarded director) called Fireworks. None of the people present had seen the film before and were oblivious as to its content. They were just as startled as Canon Saxon to find they were looking at a pixellated and impressionistic depiction of a meeting between several gay sailors. The matter was raised at a subsequent Council Meeting by Canon Saxon. After a full explanation had been accepted – cordial relations were resumed and lasted for all the eighteen years of the building’s existence. Unfortunately, it eventually became apparent that something was radically wrong with the fabric of the building. Cracks began to appear in the walls and the flat roof leaked. The fault lay in the use of high alumina cement in its construction. This was a wonder innovation of the 50’s lauded for its quick-drying properties. The firms involved in the building of the house had gone into liquidation and there was no alternative but to sell the site and become peripatetic until new permanent premises could be found. Our exodus after only eighteen years was inevitable, and inflation and rising property prices soon made a permanent home highly unlikely. I remember the admin offices in Brown Street and the Law Library, before MMU came to the rescue. Section meetings were held in Platt Chapel, St. Thomas’s on Ardwick Green, the Withington Girls High School, the Edgar Wood Centre in Victoria Park, the Muriel Stott Centre at Manchester University, and the Portico Library. The Film Society was also again desperately seeking somewhere to live and was saved by the Manchester Amateur Photographic Society which had just purchased Platt Chapel in Fallowfield.

Tom was an early Chairman of the Arts Section of which I was later Secretary and then Chairman. We were both co-opted to the Arts Section committee for many years, no doubt because of our joint long- term memory stores. My short-term memory is now less than reliable. Tom died in 2007 at the age of 85 but if he could see us now, he would be greatly gratified to see the Literary & Philosophical Society, of which he was very fond, flourishing and growing in spite of its past vicissitudes. I cannot believe that I have achieved doyenneship of the Society in my 94th year and can still remember listening to Marcus and Mitzi in 1955.

Elizabeth Gaskell

Posted on: August 15th, 2025 by Alan Wareham

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810 – 1865): Weaving Stories of Society and Spirit

The celebrated author Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell lived at 84 Plymouth Grove, Manchester with her husband the Reverend William Gaskell and their family from 1850 until her death in 1865. Plymouth Grove is a large house, which at that time was set amongst beautiful rolling fields. It is now open to the public and home to the Elizabeth Gaskell Society.

Born Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson in London in 1810, a year later, on the death of her mother, Elizabeth was taken to live in Knutsford, Cheshire, with her aunt, Hannah Lumb. The arrangement was a happy one – she was to refer to her aunt as ‘my more than mother’ and was to use Knutsford as the inspiration for her fictitious town of Cranford. Knutsford also became ‘Hollingford’ in her novel Wives and Daughters. After leaving school in 1826, the young Elizabeth returned to Chelsea to live with her father and his second wife. Her father died in 1829, and the network of Unitarians provided her with a new base, at the home of the Reverend William Turner in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. In 1831 she met the Reverend William Gaskell, then a junior minister at Cross Street Unitarian Chapel in Manchester and the following year they were married.

So it was that, in 1832, Elizabeth Gaskell found herself newly married and living in the great industrial city of Manchester, also known as ‘Cottonopolis’ after the trade that created its wealth. Like her husband, she was a Unitarian through and through, and her religion was direct, scripture based and, above all, practical. She believed in doing any good that was possible in her immediate environment, and she was possessed of a strong sense of duty. This was one of the common bonds that made her a friend to another famous writer of the period, Charlotte Bronte, whose biography she was to write in 1857, at the request of Charlotte’s father, Patrick.

For the first 16 years of her married life, Elizabeth Gaskell bore several children: while four daughters survived, her first child was still born and her only son, William, died at ten months of scarlet fever. As a distraction from her grief, her husband suggested that she write a novel. It was out of this sorrow that her first novel Mary Barton was born. The novel scandalised much of Victorian society, partly through its unflinching account of the grim realities of life in the newly industrialised cities, but also because its sympathies lay so squarely with the workers in relation to their employers.

Mary Barton, was published anonymously in 1848, as was common for many novels of the time, particularly by women authors. Mary Barton had a great impact on the reading public and was widely reviewed and discussed. The anonymity of the author was not to last however, and once her name was known she found herself courted by London’s literary elite becoming friendly with Carlyle and Dickens – who pressed her into writing for his periodical Household Words – and meeting Charlotte Bronte for the first time. She later published as Mrs Gaskell.

Despite the success of Mary Barton, it was not until 1855 that she produced the companion volume North and South. In between publishing these two novels, she contributed many stories to Household Words, including episodes of one of her best-known novels, Cranford. After the death of Charlotte Bronte in 1855 Elizabeth Gaskell wrote what has been described as the first modern biography, The Life of Charlotte Bronte.

She continued with her stories for Dickens, and other works include Ruth (1853) My Lady Ludlow (1858), Sylvia’s Lovers (1863), Cousin Phillis (1864) and Wives and Daughters (1866).

Elizabeth’s diary and her many wonderful letters, show her as a conscientious mother, deeply concerned about her family. She and her husband worked amongst the poor of Manchester during a period of great social change. They also enjoyed a thriving professional circle of friends. William co-founded the Unitarian College in Manchester, was Chairman of the Portico Library, Manchester and on the committee of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.

She was a prolific writer, a volunteer teacher and charity worker, a traveller at home and abroad (usually with a daughter, but without William) and a very sociable woman. She would mix happily with people of all types, and she used her experiences in her writing. She seems to have been a charming, but independent-minded woman. Her enterprise is shown in the fact that she bought a large house in Hampshire, without William’s knowledge, as a surprise present for him and as security for her daughters.

Elizabeth’s writing is remarkably varied and includes almost forty short stories, ranging from social realism to ghost stories. Her novel Cranford has never been out of print. Her final novel Wives and Daughters was left unfinished when she died suddenly of heart failure on 12th November 1865 aged just 55.

Although described by the press after her death as ‘one of the greatest female novelists of all time’, Elizabeth Gaskell’s literary fame faded in the early twentieth century and for some she still remains in the shadow of her contemporaries, Charlotte Bronte and Charles Dickens.

Over the last 30 years we have thankfully seen a resurgence in her popularity as new readers discover and enjoy her stories. She is now read and studied across the world with her novels and short stories translated into many languages.

Many people have also been introduced to Elizabeth Gaskell via the different television adaptations of her works, which continue to entertain and enthral us!

The John Ryland’s Library in Manchester holds the world’s most important collection of literary manuscripts by Elizabeth Gaskell, including the only complete manuscript of Wives and Daughters and her celebrated biography of her friend Charlotte Brontë.

Debbie Pine, member of Manchester Lit & Phil

Message from our President – April 2025

Posted on: April 2nd, 2025 by mlpEditor

Hello and welcome to our April Newsletter.

For all our readers who have just celebrated Eid, let me wish you a belated Eid Mubarak from everyone at Manchester Lit & Phil.

I start this month by sharing sad news: Cecile Elstein, a member since 1994, passed away suddenly at the beginning of March. I am sure that everyone at Manchester Lit & Phil will take a moment to remember this fantastic lady and send our love to all those touched by her loss. I would also recommend reading the obituary, which Dr Paul Miller very kindly wrote.

March was another busy month, featuring five events, one at a new venue. We are eager to cultivate a close relationship with the new Sister development in the Renold building. Follow this link to learn more about this exciting innovation district and ideas hub. I want to thank Rachel Croft for her efforts in identifying this opportunity.

Manchester Town Hall: The Revival of a Gothic Masterpiece proved very popular, with over 250 people reserving tickets. This is one of several events this year that have surpassed the 200-attendee milestone. Our next target is to host at least one 200+ event each term. These events introduce many people to the Society, keep our members engaged, and provide a historic and respected platform for potential speakers.

With over 20 events behind us, we still have much to offer before July. As a taster (I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist), I would highlight the interview with Sam Buckley, Chef Patron at Where The Light Gets In, which is educational and informative, ahead of our event, How Can We Create a Good Food Future? – a talk by Dr Lesley Mitchell.

We received a great response to our request for trustees and volunteers. The process is still moving forward; we have made a couple of appointments and will announce them in a separate communication.

Looking to the future, there is always a moment during a change journey when the signs are positive, and it can feel like the work is complete. The revival of Manchester Lit & Phil began when Sue Hilton and Ian Cameron served as Presidents. My term is ending, and I want to thank everyone for working so hard during the “transitional” phase. There is still much progress to be made. We have always stated that this is a three- to five-year project, and our next President and their team will still have tasks to tackle if we are to become the thriving, diverse organisation that will help educate Manchester.

With that in mind, please promote our events, attend, engage with our social media and most of all, bring a friend and enjoy an event together.

For all of you who will be celebrating Easter, Happy Easter. If not, I hope you have a pleasant time over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Regards & thanks

Peter Wright

Interview with Sam Buckley

Posted on: March 25th, 2025 by mlpEditor

Q: Your approach to cooking has been described as ethically-centred. How do you define ‘ethical food,’ and how has this definition evolved throughout your career?

A: ‘Ethical food’ is perhaps a term I’d avoid using as a description of cooking, just as I might avoid the term ‘sustainable’. The modern-day terms that are invented as a byproduct of the modern-day climate crisis may have in the past been summarised with phrases such as make and “make do”, “grow your own”, “waste not want not”.

The new Green Revolution often feels very dogmatic at the very hands of those that stand to benefit financially.

“For me it boils down to common sense and remembering the values you are raised with. As Where The Light Gets In has progressed, our knowledge of farming and food production has grown and so we have been guided by the expansion of this knowledge with one main intention at the core; to have as low a negative impact on our environment as possible as a business.”

This means a considered approach to all of our decision-making regarding inputs. Sourcing produce from localised market gardens, working with day boat fisheries, as well as taking care in choosing who looks after our pensions. A holistic approach to the everyday operation is really important.

 

Q: What connections do you see between the choices made in professional kitchens and broader food system sustainability?

A: Professional kitchens have certainly become more concerned by the environmental issues surrounding our choices. Many are acting responsibly and championing producers who are in line with a conscious effort to make food systems greener and more equitable for everyone involved.

“There are more initiatives and incentives now, that focus on rewarding sustainable practice in hospitality. These schemes come from the marketing departments of larger companies eager to jump on the ‘green bandwagon’, but they do highlight a greener path to restaurants both wishing to do their bit and to stay relevant.”

 

Q: Our event explores how food might become a force for good. Can you share examples from your work where food has created positive change?

A: Every night we make a connection with at least one table over a story about a farmer or a certain process we utilise. It is satisfying to realise that around any table a good food story is likely to make an impact. So, I would say the ability and privilege to share food each night affects the greatest positive change.

We also run a kitchen garden that is open as a community garden called The Landing. The Landing is a charity that works in the community to highlight positive food systems. One of our projects is led in primary schools and teaches children the journey of grain to loaf. It culminates in our bakery where we pick up the loaves to be baked.

“Being able to teach at this level is incredibly impactful not just on the children but the teachers and the members of the team delivering the course. It is also of note that through food the whole syllabus can be reached, from History, Geography and RE through to Maths, English and Science.”

 

Q: Dr. Lesley Mitchell will be discussing regenerative farming in her talk. How has your relationship with farmers and food producers influenced your cooking philosophy?

A: As our relationships have developed over time, the farmers and food producers we work with have influenced our cooking. We can see the difficulties in farming, rearing or fishing in a natural system – that is to say one without chemicals, pesticides, mass feedlots or deep-sea trawlers.

“We operate on a ‘work with what you’ve got’ policy whereby the farmer or producer leads the conversation. So, rather than demand a certain size of radish or apples in June, we will take what the farmer can provide.”

Often a crop may fail due to weather conditions or other unforeseeable factors. If the seas are rough, the small boats we work with cannot leave the harbour. In these cases, it is important to be adaptable and resourceful. We have come to call this philosophy Responsive Cooking.

By responding pragmatically and with an understanding of the rigours of food production, it’s true that we limit our choices; but this approach boosts creativity. We rely more on our skill as cooks and our resourcefulness as crafts people to create.

 

Q: Many people feel overwhelmed by conflicting food advice. What simple principles guide your personal food choices?

A: It is not easy to live with food now. The different messages we receive as consumers can make us feel overwhelmed and we are coerced by guilt to make the right choice though it is not ever clear what the right choice is.

As a dad I am often in conflict over what to provide for my daughter. I really try to stay out of supermarkets where possible, so I know I am buying whole foods and avoiding UPF (ultra-processed foods) with opaque origins.

We only eat meat once or twice a week, though I am not too strict with this as a good chicken broth on the side, made from a carcass over the weekend, is an useful ally. I try my best not to waste food and to get the most from any one ingredient. We are all juggling so much these days and it is tricky enough without the feeling of guilt. If I can be more playful around food and accept that I will not always get it right at home, then it is easier to approach in the first place.

 

Q: How do you balance making ethical food that’s also accessible and affordable?

A: Making food choices at home ethical, affordable and accessible seems to me the most difficult conundrum within the modern family dilemma.

It is not surprising though that this balance is difficult as we have never been given the tools necessary. To make food accessible and affordable one must have the tools, the knowledge and the confidence. These tools and this knowledge are not available at school. There is nothing in the curriculum to develop the knowledge.

What’s more with the necessity of both parents in two parent families needing to work to keep on top of staggering living costs, we have lost a role model at home. In my opinion the role of a parent at home is a full-time job and one that is incredibly important. It is at home where we learn to manage a food budget and to cook meals that are both healthy and appealing.

I am fortunate because my craft has given me the skills that I can transfer into a home environment, but I still find it incredibly difficult. I try to keep things as simple as possible and I try to not give myself a hard time when it goes wrong.

“Giving myself more time around preparation of food – a realistic amount of time – and making the preparation and planning a family activity can help. Conversations around tomorrow night’s meal during tonight’s meal help to make us a food obsessed and informed family!”

We try to grow a little food at home, and although this often ends with stunted parsnips or broccoli that the slugs enjoy more, it does get us closer to food. My family can understand food a little more just through these attempts. And hopefully it can be quite fun too.

 

Q: What role do you think chefs and restaurants play in creating a ‘good food future’?

A: Chefs and restaurant can influence through setting trends. In recent years chefs have enjoyed a stage to express their craft. Platforms like Instagram have made food and cooking sexy. It’s also never been so easy to access ideas and recipes, so really using these mediums to communicate positive choices could play a big part.

 

Q: What food innovations are you most excited about, and which ones concern you?

A: I am most excited by urban growing, greening spaces and utilising public space to learn about growing food. And what scares me the most? Lab meat.

 

Thank you to Sam Buckley from Where The Light Gets In for taking the time to answer our questions.

Our event – How Can We Create a Good Food Future – takes place in Manchester on Monday 12 May.

Cecile Elstein (1938-2025)

Posted on: March 19th, 2025 by mlpEditor

Cecile Elstein (née Hoberman) died suddenly on 2 March 2025. She was born in Cape Town, South Africa and moved to England in 1961 to avoid apartheid, with her husband Max (Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Manchester). In the 1960s, they lived in London and then Southampton until 1977 before moving to Manchester. Cecile and Max joined the Lit and Phil in 1994 and Max is a former vice-president.

Cecile was a prolific Sculptor, Printmaker and Environmental Artist. The studio pupil of Surrealist artist Catherine Yarrow, Cecile’s approach to life and her art practice was influenced by philosopher Martin Buber’s ‘I and Thou’ and Albert Camus’s ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’. Cecile worked for several decades with the Master Printmaker – Kip Gresham originally at Manchester Print Workshop (1980s) to his Cambridge Workshop (2019).

Artworks are held and exhibited in public and private collections globally, nationally and locally including Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; Manchester Cathedral; Alsager Gallery, Crewe; Pitcairn Gallery, Knutsford; Prize winner at 9th British International Print Biennale, Bradford; Singapore Festival of Arts, representing Britain; Manchester Academy of Fine Art; The Portico Library and Gallery, Manchester; Dukes Gallery, Castlefield, Stockport Art Gallery and in 2023 at Salford University Gallery.

Local public artworks include ‘Nir Tamid’, Everlasting Light in Menorah Synagogue in Gatley, bronze portrait of Michael Kennedy, writer and music critic at the Royal Northern College of Music and a sundial in Marie Louise Gardens, Didsbury (with Tam Giles). During 2001- 2021, Cecile, together with textile artist Margaret Crowther, facilitated Didsbury Drawing, a weekly life-drawing group based on the philosophy of non-interference.

Cecile will be greatly missed by her many friends and remembered for her originality and the strength of her opinions, for her enthusiasm, her wide interests and above all for her kindness and empathy. She was predeceased by son Paul in 1998 and will be missed by Max, their daughter Maureen, 3 grandchildren, 3 step grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.

 

Dr Paul Miller, 19 March 2025

Interview with Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu

Posted on: March 5th, 2025 by mlpEditor

Q: What part of your career would have most impressed your teenage self? 

A: The fact that I designed a medicine component from scratch that has now been tested in humans and has the potential to make a difference to healthcare.

 

Q: What has been the most surprising breakthrough in which you have been involved? 

A: The fact that a small chemical change to a protein in our body, changes the way that protein interacts with cells – allowing it to act as a specific drug transporter into cancer cells. This was a surprising finding.

 

Q: What branches of medicine do you think will be most impacted by your team’s work on nanomedicine?

 A: Our focus is now on ophthalmology and so we are hoping to be able to make an impact on eyecare.

 

Q: How hopeful are you that the work of your team will be able to impact global healthcare rather than the healthcare of the most wealthy? 

A: This is something that we are always concerned about and we would hope that our medicines would not be too expensive and thus have an impact on a variety of populations.

 

Q: Your profile shows that you are frequently involved in encouraging diversity in academic study and STEM in particular.  What advice would you have for bright young people who enjoy science but think that academic research might not be for “people like them”?

A: It is always difficult to give advice as an older woman.  I doubt that I would have taken advice from an older academic when I was comparatively young.  Here is the advice I wish I had been given and actually taken: There are no barriers that you cannot break and it would be foolish to assume that barriers do not exist, but we all have one goal – to go out and smash those barriers down by demonstrating our excellence in everything that we do.

 

Thank you to Dame Ijeoma for taking the time to answer our questions.

Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu will be giving her talk – Small Particles, Big Impact: Revolutionising Drug Delivery – at the Renold Building, Manchester, on Thursday 20 March.

Interview with Dr Dean Kirby

Posted on: March 4th, 2025 by mlpEditor

Q: What first drew you to study Engels’s observations of Manchester, and how did discovering your family’s connection to Angel Meadow influence your perspective on his work?

A: I was drawn to study Engels and Angel Meadow by researching my family history, which began as a teenager with my dad back in the 1980s, at a time when genealogy wasn’t as popular or as easy as it is now.

We spent a lot of time visiting Manchester Central Library, sitting side by side on these wooden chairs they used to have, searching for our Irish-Mancunian ancestors on these big old microfilm readers that you rarely see these days.

“Scrolling through the census pages one-by-one felt to me like walking through the streets of the Victorian city. We would go down one street, turn left and down the next one until we eventually, after a lot of hard work, found my three-times-great-grandfather William Kirby, who had come to Manchester from County Mayo on the West Coast of Ireland.”

I can still remember holding a photocopy of that census page in my hand and looking at the word Ireland over and over on the bus home. It was the first time I realised I had a history that stretched beyond Manchester.

Over the decades, we’ve carried on our ancestry search, including making visits to Dublin and Mayo.

In around 2010, I had an idea to start looking at old maps and the poor rate books to see if I could find out more about where William was living in Manchester.

I discovered that, after he arrived, he was living underground with his family in a cellar off Hanover Street in Shudehill, in what would have been terrible conditions. He then moved to Charter Street, which I found was in the heart of a notorious slum district called Angel Meadow.

It turned out that William’s house was demolished in slum clearances after the Second World War and that the remains of it were still locked away under what was until recently a car park.

When the old Victorian houses were knocked down in Manchester, the rubble was mostly back-filled into the cellar holes and concrete poured over the top, leaving the remains of the houses sealed down there like Egyptian tombs waiting to be rediscovered.

I used to park my car in this car park because it was cheap and close to the Arndale Centre. I even got into the habit of trying to park over where I knew the house was – to claim the land back for a short while.

But one night I was going with my wife to a Noel Gallagher gig at Manchester Arena and we found the car park locked up. There was a sign saying Archaeologists at Work. To be honest I lost a bit of interest in the gig and just wanted to spend the night peering through the fence in the darkness to try to see what the archaeologists had been doing.

The next morning, I dashed back and spoke to the archaeologists. They were digging up the houses there to find out more about the living conditions in Victorian Manchester – the world’s first industrial city.

When they had finished the dig, they invited me and my dad to come back and we were able to climb down a metal ladder into the cellar holes and, almost like time travellers, touch the walls and stand on the flagstones.

It was an incredible moment, which really spurred me into finding out everything I could about the history of the area, including investigating what Friedrich Engels had written about it.

I went on to write a bestselling book about Angel Meadow and in 2023 I completed a PhD thesis re-evaluating what Engels had said about Angel Meadow in The Condition of the Working Class in England.

Today, I lead walking tours around the area for people including Mancunians whose ancestors also lived in Angel Meadow.

 

Q: How accurate do you think Engels’s portrayal of Angel Meadow was, based on your research into both your family history and the broader historical record? 

A: Engels offers a really powerful account of Angel Meadow and Manchester as a whole that to a large extent matches what other writers were saying about it at the time.

He was one of a handful of outsiders who were brave enough to step foot in the courtyards and alleyways where he said people were living in “Hell upon Earth”.

His descriptions of that small area of the city are so important not just because they are first-hand but because The Condition went on to have a huge impact on the development of the modern world.

“One thing Engels got right was his discovery that builders were laying bricks end to end to create walls that were just half-a-brick thick. This was evidenced by archaeologists, although they felt this was part of the vernacular style in Manchester rather than an attempt to scrimp on materials in workers’ homes as Engels suggested.”

It is also clear that Engels was highly selective in the streets and courts he chose to visit to emphasise the lowest quality housing and that he missed or misinterpreted the reality of living conditions in an area that was dominated by what had once been larger Georgian housing designed for artisan weavers, sometimes with porticoed doorways.

It’s not that the conditions were better but the causes of them were much more nuanced than he described.

Engels was also wrong about the Irish, who he appears to have felt were the cause of their own poor living conditions. My research has shown that they were more likely to be found at the top of Angel Meadow in the larger housing rather than the worst courts Engels found near the River Irk.

 

Q: Have you found any interesting discrepancies between Engels’s written accounts and other historical sources from the period? 

A: Being a journalist, I admire the work of a Victorian investigative reporter named Angus Bethune Reach who visited Angel Meadow just a couple of years after Engels.

He was a better writer than Engels and he did something that Engels appears not to have done – he went inside the houses and spoke to the people living in them.

In Reach’s writing, we get to follow him down the cellar steps into the “subterranean holes, utterly without light” where Irish-Mancunians were living as he discovers “beds huddled in every corner”.

His descriptions are ever more visceral than Engels’s because you start to witness something of the human tragedy that was happening to families behind closed doors.

At the lowest level of one network of cellars he finds an old man asleep in a coffin-shaped hole that extends out of the wall into the bare earth.

“I turned away,” Reach writes, “and was glad when I found myself breathing such comparatively fresh air as can be found in Angel Meadow, Manchester.”

 

Q: As both a journalist and a descendant of Angel Meadow residents, how do you balance your professional objectivity with your personal connection to this history? 

A: As an academic historian and journalist, you are taught to carefully assess the evidence and to analyse it in a dispassionate and objective way, which clearly makes sense if you are writing a news story or researching an article for an academic journal.

In that light, my personal connection to Angel Meadow can be seen as bringing just another set of, albeit quite personal, sources and experiences to the table to be studied and analysed.

But my interest in history is really to find out what it was like for ordinary people who went through it – something that a US social historian named Stephan Thernstrom described back in 1964 as “history from the bottom up”.

What was it like, for example, for our Mancunians forebears living in one of those courtyards visited by Engels?

To try to properly understand that you have to leave your objectivity at the front door and tell their story with a huge amount of personal empathy. That’s something that Reach did and is something I always try to do in my books and on my walking tours.

“Walking tours are obviously different environments from the world of academia but I think that helping people to understand and get to grips with the street-level history of Manchester is in many ways much more important. And being in the place where your ancestors lived really helps you connect with them in a way you cannot learn about in books.”

 

Q: Could you tell us about a specific discovery about your ancestors that changed your understanding of life in Victorian Manchester? 

A: I have two objects at home that are precious in their own way, and which tell a story about my ancestors’ lives in Angel Meadow, in a way that books by Engels and other contemporary writers never could.

One of these is our family Bible which was found in a relative’s attic and given to my dad some years ago. It’s a huge book with a decaying brown leather cover with the date 1866 handwritten inside in a shaky hand.

But whereas the Bibles of wealthier families perhaps have lists of names and birthdays inside, our Bible only has the word “dead” written over and over – a single word that tells you so much about the conditions in which they were living.

“The other object I have is a brick from William’s fireplace that was given to me by the archaeologists during the dig. When they pulled it out of the wall and turned it over, it was still covered in a thick layer of soot from the fire that would have kept William and his children warm on a cold winter’s day.”

The fireplace was very important to Irish families and when people left Ireland, they would give a piece of the still-burning peat to a neighbour to “keep the home fire burning” until they returned. So, in some ways, by keeping that brick I am keeping up the family tradition.

A few years ago, we had the kitchen done and the builders found the brick in the garage and threw it in the skip, but I climbed in and managed to rescue it. I’ve carried it across town on the bus to do a talk about it at the university.

 

Q: How do you think Engels would view Manchester today? Are there parallels between the social issues he observed and challenges we face in modern cities? 

A: In 2024 when the story broke that a £2.5m penthouse flat in Manchester was to be named The Engels, I was asked what I thought about it by the BBC.

I said at the time that Engels was a man of huge contradictions – the frock-coated communist who enjoyed lobster salad and fox hunting as well as wandering through the slums of Victorian Manchester. So, he may have enjoyed the lifestyle of modern high-rise living while writing about the deprivation still prevalent in modern cities.

But he would not have been surprised to discover that cities around the world, not just Manchester, are still trying to find ways of coping with the challenges of urbanisation that he identified 180 years ago.

 

Q: How has your research into Engels’s work and Angel Meadow’s history influenced your understanding of Manchester’s development as a city? 

A: History is important because it helps to define who you are and what you will do in the future – and that applies to cities as much as it does individual people.

It’s only when you start reading about the history of Manchester that you realise the huge role it has played in the development of the modern world.

It was the world’s first modern city and is often described as the place where the modern world began. It was also the first to have to deal with the acute social problems that Engels wrote about.

Growing up in the 1980s, we weren’t taught about any of that in school and I only hope children are being taught about it today.

It’s also important to know what families in Angel Meadow and other parts of the city went through. Many of them came from other places to live and work in Manchester, and faced a fight for survival while building the city we call home.

“As Mancunians, we need to keep talking about and be proud of our story – and take ownership too of it so that it isn’t left just to outsiders like Engels to tell it. We need to pass that story on to future generations too.”

 

Thank you to Dean for taking the time to answer our questions.

Dr Dean Kirby will be giving his talk – Engles in Manchester: Past Meets Present – at Friends’ Meeting House, Manchester, on Wednesday 21 May.

Message from our President – March 2025

Posted on: February 27th, 2025 by mlpEditor

Welcome to the March Newsletter

Our programme for 2025 continues to evolve, and inspiring events are being added regularly. We are receiving positive feedback, and attendance and revenues are increasing. Many of the events are selling out. Please book early; if circumstances change, please remember to cancel your tickets.

The three Manchester Lit & Phil Sections — Arts, Science & Technology, and Social Philosophy — generate the core of our events. The volunteers on these committees work tirelessly, identifying speakers, managing the events, and hosting our guests. They often get overlooked, but I wanted to mention them and invite anyone with a passion who would like to know more about the work of the Sections to contact our three Section Heads.

Please email info@manlitphil.ac.uk. Your message will be forwarded to the appropriate Sections, who will contact you directly.

As we start work on the Autumn program, Ian Cameron is leading a team that will examine increasing the scope of subjects we present and look at improving the event experience.

Our marketing and promotional efforts, led by Alan Wareham and Rachel Croft, are having a real impact. These initiatives take many forms, from the posts and mailings you all see regularly to modest investments in advertising to enhance the visibility of the Society and its events.

Starting to stabilise our financial position has made investing in marketing and promoting our events possible. Alison Carey and Peter Carstensen have led this complex piece of work. Our investment strategy is being managed against a revised plan in a volatile world.

Our costs are actively managed, and our expenditure on venues, marketing, and promotional materials is monitored for its impact. With this enhanced level of control, we are also reserving funds for events to increase our visibility by collaborating with high-profile speakers and local organisations.

As part of this month’s call to action, we are increasing our social media activity. To help drive our visibility, please follow us on your preferred channels, engage with the content, post about upcoming events, tell people about the events you have attended, reply to comments, and start conversations. Growing our online community is crucial.

To close, thank you all for your support.

February 28th was our 244th anniversary; as we approach our 250th year, we are already discussing how to celebrate our history while creating a new future.

I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming event.

Regards,

Peter Wright

Message from our President – January 2025

Posted on: January 15th, 2025 by mlpEditor

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2025.

I wish you all a Happy New Year; I hope you are happy, healthy and successful over the next 12 months and beyond.

The Manchester Lit & Phil team is back and refreshed from the break. This month’s focus is on Autumn programme planning and finalising the rest of the 2024/25 season. We are examining how to develop the program. Susan Hilton and Ian Cameron have taken joint leadership of the Program Planning Group. Together, they are investigating what we can change to further develop the program’s appeal.

Looking at the attendance numbers, Manchester-themed events are very popular, as are popular science topics, historical events and the ever-oversubscribed Philosophy Forum.

We have two exciting terms ahead and tickets are selling well. Please look at the upcoming events and book early.

As we drive awareness of our events, we see the popular events selling out quickly. This is a nice problem, but we need help – especially from our members – to ensure as many people as possible who want to attend are offered a place.

When an event sells out, we always talk to the venue to see if we can increase the available seating. We also send out nudges to cancel tickets in case an attendee’s plans have changed since booking their ticket, and we manage the waiting lists too. We aim to accommodate as many attendees as possible to our most popular events, so it is very disappointing when the room is only 80% full on the day. We have reviewed the numbers from last year and the previous term and our no-show rate amongst members is more than 25%.

We all know that life can throw up last minute challenges, meaning we need to change our plans unexpectedly. Cancelling your ticket in advance, if you are no longer able to attend, will really help us maximise the success of our events.

To help Manchester Lit & Phil, we ask all our members to manage their bookings.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to cancelling tickets –

If you have an Eventbrite account:

  1. Log in to your Eventbrite account using the email address that you booked the tickets with
  2. Click ‘Tickets’ in the top right corner of the screen
  3. Click the event that you would like to cancel for
  4. Click the ‘Cancel Order’ button and confirm your cancellation
  5. Your booking will then be cancelled and Eventbrite will inform us by email

If you don’t have an Eventbrite account:

  1. Open the Eventbrite confirmation email for the event
  2. Find the event title and click on it
  3. Click View Your Order in the top left corner
  4. Find the order details and select Cancel Order
  5. Follow the instructions to complete the cancellation

 

Thanks in advance for your help with this.

Please send us feedback on events or ideas for future events and themes.  Also, remember, bring a friend, talk about us, and interact with our social media posts; all these small things are making a difference.

Thank you for your continuing support and let’s make this a great year for Manchester Lit & Phil.

Peter Wright, President

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

Sign up to our e-newsletter to receive exclusive content and all the latest Lit & Phil news

* indicates required