More local history talks planned in Burton
Following the success of our first afternoon tea and a local history talk event at Langan's Tea Rooms in Burton upon Trent, we're meeting with the venue to choose dates for two similar events.
Because Rebel Women sold out in less than a week, we are hoping to re-run that talk between now and Christmas. It will again include afternoon tea.
But, we're also planning a morning local history talk about Burton's fairground ride and entertainment entrepreneurs Orton and Spooner early in the new year. That will include breakfast with the price.
Dates and more details on how to book will be published on this website and on our Facebook Pages for Forgotten Burton Stories and Orton & Spooner.
Elaine Pritchard said: "I was delighted with the reception for my first Forgotten Burton Stories collaboration with Langan's. Feedback from the people who attended was incredibly positive. It's wonderful to be working with Langan's which is itself a social enterprise owned by the O'Connor Gateway Charitable Trust. Also, Burton House on George Street, which is home to Langan's, was built in 1894 as the town's Liberal Club and retains many original period features. It has witnessed many historical events and is an inspiring place to speak."
Profit from any events Elaine holds with Langan's will got towards the three charities supported by Forgotten Burton Stories: YMCA Burton and SARAC for Rebel Women and Burton & District Mind for Orton & Spooner.
Feedback from Rebel Women local history talk
The comments from those who attended the first event on September 27th, included:
· Very enjoyable – interesting and informative
· I was hanging on every word
· Lovely ladies who served afternoon tea.
· Thoroughly enjoyed. Talk was very interesting and time flew by.
· What I enjoyed most was all the wonderful information so easily and well explained
· What I enjoyed least was the fact that it ended!
· Well done – a brilliant event and I love your passion for this amazing town.
· Found the talk very interesting with the speaker very knowledgeable.
Who are the Rebel Women?
Elaine explained: "There are many local women who became pioneers in business and campaigned for change in society. Many people may think of the suffragettes as typical 'rebel' women, and my talk does include information about how the campaign to win the right for women to vote went in the Burton area. It also looks at the national events that influenced how local women reacted. But there are also some powerful examples of women who refused to be constrained in how they lived their lives by the way society expected them to behave in the late 19th and early 20th century. They were pioneers who laid the foundations for women who followed them and proved to be capable and talented in the jobs they did."
Who are Orton & Spooner?
George Orton and Charles Spooner were two entrepreneurs who put Burton on the global map for more than just beer. Between the 1890s and 1970s the businesses they created would employ and upskill hundreds - probably thousands - of local people and boost the reputation and the local economy of Burton upon Trent. Elaine said: "I've been giving talks about the work of Orton & Spooner since 2022, but usually for local history societies and private groups. So, this will be a chance for anyone to buy a ticket and come along to hear about these two great men who devoted their lives to making people happy. They created lavish living wagons for showmens and designed and built sideshows and innovative rides in the heyday of the travelling fairs between 1890 and the 1930s. They also pioneered High Street cinemas in Burton. At one point they ran three of the four cinemas in the town. The jewel in their crown, and the only one left standing - although no longer a cinema - is The Ritz, just across the road from Langan's."
Other local history talks
Elaine currently offers four local history talks, with all speaker fees going to charity.
As well as Orton & Spooner and Rebel Women, Elaine offers talks on Lily Thomas and also Vale Rawlings.
Lily Thomas was a widowed mother-of-one living in Stapenhil when the First World War broke out. She decided to make it her 'little bit of war work' to send parcels of food and other essential supplies to Burton men held prisoner in Germany. By the end of the war, she had been responsible for sending out 27,750 parcels - and 90% had safely arrived. Along the way she faced prejudice and ridicule from people who objected to what she was doing. But the men who came home told her she had saved lives and 'Burton would never forget what she had done'.
Vale Rawlings had a strong social conscience and believed that working men and women deserved fair pay, reasonable hours and safe working conditions. In 1911 he helped to found the first Burton branch of the Workers' Union. His day job was working for an ethical, co-operative insurance company that helped protect ordinary families from total financial ruin in the sadly all too common situation of ill-health, lost jobs or bereavement. In 1914 he made national headlines when he was jailed after supporting strike teenage factory girsl in Burton. When war broke out he was jailed again for being a conscientious objector. But at just 4ft 11ins tall, and suffering from a congenital heart condition, shoude he have ever been called up?
If you know an organisation interested in booking Elaine to give a talk, contact her here.
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