THE PARSONAGE received another celebrity visitor last week – hot on the heels of Gemma Arterton!

David McCallum – of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. fame – was more than happy to chat to delighted museum assistants, and sign our VIP visitor book.

It’s great fun when a recognisable face walks unannounced through the front door!

We’ve been very busy over the October half-term holiday period, welcoming families who’ve enjoyed our workshops, hands-on history sessions, and free talks, not to mention a great Museums at Night evening with Bradford and Keighley Astronomical Societies, who shared their wealth of knowledge with us.

Our Branwell-themed free Tuesday talks are drawing to a close, with just two left this year.

On November 7 we welcome Calderdale-based poet Simon Zonenblick to talk about Branwell’s time in Halifax.

As a railway clerk at Luddendenfoot station, Branwell became part of a social circle which included the sculptor Joseph Leyland and ‘The Airedale Poet’ John Nicholson.

With the encouragement of Leyland in particular, Branwell became the first of the Brontës to get his work in print, with a poem published in the Halifax Guardian in 1841.

Discover more about this eventful period in Branwell Brontë’s life in this free talk.

We have a very unique Friday night Parsonage Unwrapped on November 24: an evening examining the jewellery in the collection with Sophia Tobin, an expert in antique jewellery, and our own curatorial assistant, Amy Rowbottom.

Amy has spent a considerable amount of time studying the jewellery owned by the Brontës – a previously under-researched area – and will be presenting her findings.

Sophia Tobin is assistant librarian for the Worshipful Company of Goldsmith’s, and a novelist. Her most recent novel, The Vanishing, published earlier this year, has been described as ‘brilliantly Bronte-esque’ in tone and plot.

Sophie will be spending Saturday with us too, staying for a creative writing workshop that uses the Brontë collection for inspiration. There will be a rare opportunity to see some Brontë items up close in the museum’s library, before moving on to write prose or poetry inspired by the Brontë relics.

The workshop is suitable for beginners or more experienced writers.

The weekend of November 24 and 25 will be a busy one, for as well as hosting Sophia, we will be welcoming members of the steampunk community to the museum.

To mark Haworth’s annual steampunk weekend, there will be a drop-in junk-modelling workshop between 11am and 4pm (free with admission to the museum), and reduced admission (£1 discount) for steampunk-attired visitors.

It promises to be an eventful weekend!

When next I write, we’ll be looking ahead to Christmas, and I’ll have news about our January events.

Branwell’s bicentenary year is fast drawing to a close – and what a year it’s been – and we are busy behind the scenes planning an amazing year to celebrate Emily’s bicentenary.

Details of the Sophia Tobin Parsonage Unwrapped evening and Saturday workshop can be found online at bronte.org.uk, or call 01535 640192.