On Saturday 13 July, over two hundred local people will help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the gift made by Lord Savile on the 19th May 1951 of Hardcastle Crags to the National Trust.
Procession
At 1.15 pm a magnificently decorated procession of masked youngsters from Central Street and Stubbings schools will lead the way from the car park at Hardcastle Crags to Gibson Mill. On route, the young people will perform three dramatic tableaux based upon some of the stories of the valley. Once at the mill, they will perform music and dance. Poet John Hegley will be writing, rehearsing and reciting a piece with youngsters from Hebden Bridge Youth Club and Woodcraft Folk. A video produced by volunteers and staff will be shown and other displays will depict life at the Crags past and present. The afternoon will end around 4 pm with tea served by Wadsworth WI to the accompaniment of music from Hebden Bridge Junior Brass Band.
They wanted to flood the Crags
Calder High School Debating Society
On 13th July 2002 Lord Savile will return to watch Calder High School Debating Society reenact the donation he made over 50 years ago, safeguarding the Crags for future generations to enjoy. Lord Savile will also be participating by adding a few words of his own, before watching the many presentations by the local community.
Riverside School will perform their adaptation of the immense opposition that local people presented to Halifax Corporation who were seeking to drown the valley and its woodland inhabitants. Old Town School have based their dramatic piece upon an audio archive they produced of local folk and their memories of the Crags. Calderdale Theatre School are relating other comings and goings in the woodlands. The Re-Cycle Cycle dance piece will be performed by students from Calder High School, inspired by the ideas of a sustainable future and the plans for Gibson Mill. The finale "A Musical Medley" created by youngsters from Wood Bank, Ravenscliffe, Old Town, Riverside and Calder High Schools will round off performances before tea is served by the Wadsworth Women's Institute accompanied by Hebden Bridge Junior Brass Band.
on the Sculpture Trail in the Crags
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