• Wednesday 5 March, 4-6pm – Pontefract Library 

• Saturday 8 March, 10:30am-12:30pm – Wakefield Kirkgate Station

• Wednesday 19 March, 6:30-8:30pm  – Online Session

• Thursday 27 March, 10am-12 noon – Queen's Mill, Castleford 

• Thursday 3 April, 10am-12 noon  – South Elmsall Library

Wakefield Council has announced that it needs to find significant savings in 2025-26 to meet growing budget pressures caused by inflation, changes in central government funding and growing costs and demand for services. As part of its budget proposals, the council are considering reducing the opening hours of its libraries and museums, and Pontefract Castle. There is a public consultation which runs until March 14 and can be completed online or on paper. Libraries and museums opening hours consultation - Wakefield Council

Launch of West Yorkshire Heritage Toolbox

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority have commissioned an exciting new ‘Heritage Toolbox’ pilot project that will be delivered by the Heritage Network and Locality.

Heritage Toolbox aims to help build resilience and capacity in the community and grass-roots heritage sector in West Yorkshire, delivering training sessions on topics such as writing funding bids, governance, volunteer development and equality, diversity and inclusion. Heritage organisations from across West Yorkshire are invited to attend one of two free events to find out more about the programme.

• In-person event 13th February, 11:30am - 3pm at Kala Sangam in Bradford (link to book: Heritage Toolbox: Discovery Event Tickets, Thu 13 Feb 2025 at 11:30 | Eventbrite)
• Online event 27th February 6 - 7:30pm on Zoom (link to book: Heritage Toolbox: Online Discovery Event Tickets, Thu 27 Feb 2025 at 18:00 | Eventbrite)

An historic shop front in Ossett has been repaired using traditional methods thanks to a town centre grant. Skilled local carpenters recreated much of the old frontage, which was in a poor state of repair. Traditional building methods were used, including using breathable paints and lime mortar for the repointing. New modern glazing was added to the frontage, to help regulate the temperature inside the shop during the summer and winter months, but this was designed to be in-keeping with the historic shopfront.

The results show how – with the right approach - historic shopfronts can be sensitively repaired and updated and continue to play an important role in our district’s important historic high streets.

Find out more about the shop front grant scheme here: Shop Improvement Grant Scheme (Please note that the scheme is currently closed to new applications).

Sandal Castle has recently been featured as number 1 in a new list of the top castles in Yorkshire. Topping the list above Ripley, Richmond and Scarborough Castles, Sandal Castle is one of Wakefield’s historic jewels. Known for its links to Richard Duke of York and the War of the Roses, it’s also a great place for a picnic with amazing views across to Pugneys Country Park and beyond.

Castleford archaeological dig on Digging For Britain

An exciting archaeological find near Castleford has featured in the latest series of Digging for Britain on BBC2. The excavation, by Archaeological Services West Yorkshire Archaeology Service (ASWYAS) was in advance of a housing development at Ackworth Pastures and uncovered a large number of Roman coin moulds. The interesting thing about the moulds is that they were for forging coins, a crime that was punishable by death in the Roman period. Official coins were made (or minted) by hammering a cast blank against a pair of dies or patterns, not by casting copies.

Other similar coin moulds have been found at Lingwell and Wakefield Museums and Castles have a number of forged Roman coins in their collection, mainly from Castleford, suggesting this illicit activity was taking place in the district throughout the Roman period.

Castleford Civic Society are hosting a public talk about the Ackworth Pastures dig in February (see event listings later in this newsletter).

The Digging for Britain episode is available to watch again on the BBC iplayer (see Castleford in Episode 4 of Series 12):

With the support of a Culture Grant by Wakefield Council as part of Our Year – Wakefield District 2024, writer and historian Alfie Norris has created ‘Culture of Coal: Wakefield Stories’, a new podcast that aims to dig beneath the surface and explore how mining influenced and continues to influence, the arts, politics, heritage, and sport across Wakefield district.

The podcast centres on Alfie's fascinating conversations and stories shared, from striking miners and Women Against Pit Closures to artists, musicians, authors, and Rugby League historians.

To find out more, read Alfie's new blog article on his project: