Celebrating 150 Years of Rugby in Leeds, 1864-2014

From 1st April to 20th April 2014 in our newly refurbished Arts Space on the 1st floor we hosted an exhibition celebrating the history of Rugby in Leeds. Panels for each decade displayed information and photographs depicting the sport in Leeds. The 1860s started it off with an advert in the Leeds Mercury for “persons…

Early Theatre in Leeds

We have a lot of fantastic theatres and entertainment on offer in Leeds now but how did it all start? From our playbills collection you can get an idea of some of the earliest theatre entertainment. The first theatre was built in Leeds in 1771 prior to which Leeds had relied on travelling companies of…

Remembering Barnbow during World War 1

This week we saw the return of a special item in our collections which had been out on loan to Lotherton Hall as part of their ‘Duty Calls’ exhibition. ‘Barnbow, No.1 (Leeds) National Filling Factory : a Short History and Record’ was compiled by R.H. Gummer, Chief Engineer in November 1918. The preface of the…