The annual conference is a friendly four day event held at various locations in Great Britain and Ireland in September. It includes papers by Society members and eminent guest lecturers and study excursions to local sites of interest. The conference provides an unique opportunity for the exchange of ideas and information on an informal basis.

The Society for Folk Life Studies

ANNUAL CONFERENCE, 2012 

MANCHESTEREngland, 13th to 16th September 

Every City is unique.  Our 2012 conference is intended to explore Manchester’s uniqueness.  Its rise and wealth in the Victorian period was largely based on cotton.  It is still possible to see some of the late eighteenth century mills on which Manchester’s commercial richness was based.  However, cotton manufacturing was soon decanted to the more suitable towns and villages of south Lancashire.  Manchester was to become the trading centre for the industry, ‘Cottonopolis’.  One day of the conference will be given over to an exploration of this industry and will include a visit to Styal Mill, Cheshire, now owned by the National Trust.

The cultural richness of any city is enhanced by contributions made by incomers.  This is certainly true of Manchester where life has been enriched by the involvement of communities from Germany; from the Ashkenazi Jews of central Europe and the Sephardic Jews of the south; by the Irish; the Italians; and by the Eastern European immigrants from countries such as Poland and the Ukraine who settled here in the years up to and including the Second World War.  The period after the war brought commonwealth immigrants from the Caribbean and the Asian communities from both the Indian sub-continent and some parts of Africa.  This period also saw the enlargement of the Chinese communities who had begun to settle here earlier in the century.  The first full day of the conference will consist of a study of some of these communities.

Our conference venue will be the recently refurbished People’s History Museum.  There will be the usual trip out, a tour of the city and some local entertainment at the conference dinner on the Saturday evening.  We are sure that delegates will come away from the conference with an enriched understanding of what made – and continues to make Manchester the city it is.

Due to the wide range of hotels and guest houses available within Manchester, the conference fee this year will comprise three rates:

 If you wish to attend this year’s conference, please complete the application form overleaf and send it, with a non-returnable deposit of £75, to the Conference Secretary (Steph Mastoris) at:

National Waterfront Museum, Maritime Quarter, Oystermouth Road, Swansea, SA1 3RD, Wales.

 As usual, in addition to an opportunity to learn about and experience the distinctive culture of Manchester, we hope also to have contributions on this theme from the rest of the British Isles and beyond. Please contact the conference secretary, if you wish offer a paper. (steph.mastoris@museumwales.ac.uk)

 

The Society for Folk Life Studies

Annual Conference 

Manchester, England:  13th to 16th September 2012

**The city: its industry, its ethnic groups and its culture**

The conference hotel is Macdonald Townhouse Hotel 101 Portland Street, Manchester city centre, Greater Manchester M1 6DF (Tel: 0844 855 9136), Website: http://www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk/our-hotels/manchester-townhouse-hotel/

PROGRAMME

(DRAFT as at 9-2-2012)

THURSDAY, 13th  September

 

17.15-18.00            Registration at People’s History Museum, Left Bank, Spinningfields, Manchester, England, M3 3ER (Tel/Fax: +44 (0)161 838 9190), Website: http://www.phm.org.uk/

18.00-18.05            Eddie Cass (SFLS President)

Welcome

18.30-19.30            Professor Alan Kidd (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Keynote address: 'Manchester: the first industrial city'

19.45-21.00            Dinner at The People’s History Museum

FRIDAY, 14th  September

Urban Minorities and their role in the growth of the city

 

09.05 Assemble at People’s History Museum

09.00-09.05           Eddie Cass  

                                Introductory remarks.

09.05-09.50          Bill Williams (Manchester University)

An acceptable minority? Manchester's Jewish community

9.50-10.30           Tony Rea (Independent scholar)

The Italian Contribution to Manchester from the 19th Century to the Present (http://www.ancoatslittleitaly.com/tony_rea_ice_cream.htm)

10.30 – 11.00       Tea & coffee

11.00-11.45            Gerry Yeung (Yang Sing)

The Chinese in Manchester: 1960- 2010

11.45 – 12.30        Mervyn Busteed (Manchester University) 

Being Irish in Nineteenth Century Manchester

12.30 – 13.30 Lunch at People’s History Museum

13.30 – 14.30          Short papers:

  13.30-13.50                        TBA

                              13.50-14.10                        TBA

                              14.10-14.30                        TBA

14.45-17.45         Canals and Cotton

                        A walking tour of the city’s Northern Quarter. Led by Terry Wyke

19.15                  Wine Reception at the Yang Sing Restaurant

                              Sponsored by The Folklore Society

20.00               Dinner – Chinese Banquet at the Yang Sing restaurant

 

SATURDAY, 15th September

  The cotton industry

09.00 Assemble at People’s History Museum

09.00-09.45        Terry Wyke (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Picturing the cotton industry.

09.45-10.30           Ian Gibson (Lancashire County Museum Service)

Turning the Screw - The Nuts & Bolts of Cotton Production

10.30-11.00           Tea & coffee

11.00-11.45           Alan Fowler (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Working-class Autobiography and the Lancashire Cotton Industry

11.45-12.30           Speaker TBA.

12.30-13.30         Lunch at People’s History Museum

13.30            Coach excursion to Styal Mill & Country Park

(To include talk on the mill and tour of the mill buildings)

17.30            Return to hotel

19.00            Dinner at the People’s History Museum

(To include a Lancashire entertainment by One Accord and Sid & Liz Calderbank)

 

Sunday, 16th September

  Information regarding church services will be available for those wishing to attend

 

0900 Assemble at People’s History Museum

09.00-09.45            Annual General Meeting of the Society for Folk Life Studies.

09.45-10.30            Nick Mansfield (University of Central Lancashire)

Trade union and political banners - Folk art or mass production?

10.30-11.00            Tea & Coffee

11.00-12.30            Katy Archer. (Director, People’s History Museum)

The People’s History Museum and our collections, followed by guided tour of the museum

12.30-13.00            Brian Loughbrough (SFLS)

Concluding remarks

13.00-14.00            Lunch at the museum

  End of conference


 

BOOKING FORM

The Society for Folk Life Studies

 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Manchester, England: 13th to 16th September 2012

 I/We wish to attend the 2012 annual conference:

 

 

Name/s: ............................................................................................................................

Address: ...........................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................

Telephone: ...................................................... E-mail: ....................................................

 I/We understand that the total cost of the conference will be:

WITHOUT ACCOMMODATION:    £295 per person

WITH ACCOMMODATION:            £495 for single occupancy,

£445 per person for two people sharing a room.

 

Please book ................... place/s and for me/us with / without accommodation and I/we enclose a non-returnable deposit of £……………….

I understand that the remainder of the conference fee will be due for payment by 5th August.

 Day rates for the conference (with lunch and dinner, but NO accommodation) are available at £100 EACH DAY for the 14th, and 15th and £60 for the 16th September.

Dietary requirements: .......................................................................................................

Access requirements: ..................................................................................................... 

Please return this form with payment to:

Steph Mastoris

National Waterfront Museum,

Oystermouth Road, Maritime Quarter, Swansea SA1 3RD

 

 Please make cheques payable to The Society for Folk Life Studies

 

 

 

 

 

Past Conferences (under construction) :

Details of the 2011 conference - 'Links: Geographical, Economic, Social and Cultural'
Details of the 2010 conference - 
Details of the 2009 conference - 'Selling the Folk'
Details of the 2008 conference - 'Lakeland Culture and Recording Change' 
Details of the 2007 Conference - 'Humanising Industrial History' 

Details of the 2006 Conference - 'Upland Landscapes'

Details of the 2005 Conference - 'Frontiers'

Details of the 2004 Conference - 'Shaping the Future'

Details of the 2003 Conference - 'Ethnicity and Identity'