Monday 22 April 2013



Grassington Day, 2013

On Saturday 13th April 4 members of UWHG bravely stood up to give their presentation on the Whitfield Syke Mill project at the Historic Environment Day held in Grassington by the Yorkshire Dales National Park. 
Peter G. helps Pat and Phil put up the Whitfield display

It was a big day for us, the culmination of 3 years of hard graft and research. Three of us – Pat, Jane and Ruth – were new to this business of public speaking, but Alison had done this kind of thing before. It was a nerve-wracking wait through the morning as we watched other speakers go before us. At lunch time we were invited to join the other speakers, the organisers and volunteer helpers at a buffet lunch, but we were too nervous to eat much. Although I managed a bit of chocolate cake after a nibble at savoury offerings!

Roger offers some helpful advice  

Then suddenly, after months of preparation and anxious waiting, we were on.
It all went surprisingly well, despite some microphone problems – and nervous twitching on the remote control which sent our powerpoint slides jumping around all over the place.

We tried to provide a mix of academic research and light-hearted anecdotes, which seemed to go down well. People were very kind about it afterwards, anyway.

Now, if we give any more talks on the subject, they’ll seem like a walk in the park!

Jane Lunnon