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Lunch date with Leeds history
Rather than munch on a sandwich in your lunch hour feed your mind with a lecture on Leeds's architectural history.
A fascinating insight into Leeds's history is on offer in an annual series of lunch-time lectures by the city's best-known historian.
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In 2007 Kevin Grady, director of Leeds Civic Trust – the guardian of the city's architectural heritage – launched his lecture series in the hope of winning the interest of office workers and shoppers.
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The talks, in Holy Trinity Church in Board Lane, were an immediate success attended by hundreds of people keen to learn more about the history of Leeds.
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New lectures were devised by Dr Grady and presented in succeeding years.
The subject of this year's lectures range from the "Aladdin's Cave" of Leeds Kirkgate Market to "The Grandest Space" which is Leeds City Square, and a history of Leeds General Infirmary and its surgeons, to the city's celebrations in 1926 of its 300th anniversary of gaining its municipal charter.
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Dr Grady said: "This was the era of the 'Do it all Corporation' when Leeds City Council was the most powerful it has ever been, running everything from schools and trams, to power stations and gasworks. In 1926 the whole of Leeds was on put on show."
The lectures will take place on four Wednesdays from 1.15 pm-1.45 pm, starting on February 3.
Dr Grady said: "My lectures aim to tempt city centre workers to nip out of their offices to Holy Trinity Church at lunchtime to enjoy half an hour of the fascinating history of Leeds. The attendances at the lectures in the last three years have been truly astonishing, so while people clearly are still enjoying them, I will keep giving them.
"This year two of my lectures focus on truly iconic places, Kirkgate Market and City Square. Happily City Square has been wonderfully renovated in recent years, but the future of Kirkgate Market is a real worry.
"Kirkgate Market is one of the city's greatest institutions and it should be flourishing but clearly it is ailing at the moment. The lecture will remind people just how important and historic it is.
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"In contrast medical care continues to be one of the cornerstones of the success and growth of Leeds. My lecture will trace how this all came about.
"Finally, when it puts its mind to it, Leeds really knows how to party – think of Party in the Park and Opera in the Park at Temple Newsam, and the great events in Roundhay Park and Millennium Square. Well in the 1926 tercentenary celebrations the city had the greatest party of them all. It was a remarkable 10 days of celebrations in which the whole city was on show and which was so well supported that trams carried over one million extra passengers."
The lectures are free.
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Weather for Leeds
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 0 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
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Wind direction: North west
