Footsteps of the Brontës in Keighley
Irene Lofthouse
- Region:
- Anywhere
- Notice Period:
- Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
- Type:
- Professional
- Fee:
- Paid: £100
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 19th January 2026
- Tagged:
- Brontë
Join nursemaid to the Brontës, Nancy Garrs, on a virtual walk to see Keighley through Brontë eyes.
Why did the Brontës go to Keighley? How did they get there? Who did they visit? What was the town like at time: the people, the shops, the buildings? When would they make the journey?
Discover where the Brontës shopped, heard and learned about music, found out about electricity, whooped with glee, developed drawing and painting skills, met and mixed with Keighley’s movers and shakers as well as the swelling number of migrants to the town.
Based on Keighley Library’s Local Studies Town Trail booklet ‘In the footsteps of the Brontës’ - Nancy Garrs will add her own comments on the Brontë family she knew at Thornton and Haworth.
With images of places in Keighley, maps and lively narration by Nancy. 45 minutes duration, with 15 minutes for Q&A
Irene has been performing as Nancy at many events, in schools, and at Undercliffe Cemetery (where Nancy is buried) for 10 years.
Views: 20 | Enquiries: 0About Irene Lofthouse
Author, playwright, tutor, storyteller, creative facilitator, actor. Her short stories ‘If That Happens’ and ‘Pomegranate Seeds’ were broadcast on BBC Radio Leeds in 2020. Work appears in The Understory’, ‘Transforming Being’, Armistice 100 Days’, ‘Stories from Stone’, ‘Tyto Alba’, ‘All This’ amongst others. Her children’s collections include ‘Strange Tales in the Dales’, Strange Tales in Bradford Dale, and she’s the editor of ‘Stories from Stone’ anthology, all of which can be found on Amazon.
Irene’s a writer-in-residence with First Story; commissioned by Historic England, The Piece Hall, Freedom Studios and Saltaire Festival creating accessible story videos/resources, and editor of several anthologies. Irene’s taken a one-woman show to Edinburgh (4*), appeared in films, on TV and radio; her one-woman show ‘Words, Women & War: Forgotten Female Voices of the Great War’ has been touring for four years.
Irene’s the author of over thirty plays, a writer/editor on 26 Characters projects and Artistic Director of collaborative collective Fresh Aire Productions; ‘Torrent’, FAP’s hard-hitting verbatim domestic violence audio drama was broadcast on Chapelfm in July 2020. Irene and is currently commissioned to create/edit a poetry/prose anthology for Saltaire Festival 2020.
She co-founded and was writer/editor of an educational publishing company which won several marketing awards and the local/national ‘Age Positive’ award from the Dept of Work & Pensions and a commissioned writer for City & Guilds, Edexcel, Carers UK, Pavilion Publishing amongst others.
Irene uses words to inspire all ages. She’s regularly commissioned by arts/literature festivals, children’s events, schools, museums, libraries, theatres, community groups, NHS, charities for projects and to facilitate bespoke sessions.
She delivers talks and walks, facilitates writing workshops, site-specific performances, and is open for writing commissions, editing, research and all things wordy.
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