THE SPOTLIGHT turns on Branwell this year as the Brontë Parsonage Museum continues five years of bicentennial celebrations.

The Haworth museum spearheaded last year’s commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth.

The museum, and the Brontë Society which runs it, has now unveiled 12 months of activities celebrating the 200th ‘birthday’ of her brother Branwell.

Rebecca Yorke, the museum’s Head of Communications and Marketing , said the museum team was really proud of its programme to mark Branwell’s year.

She said: “As well as building on some of 2016’s successes, we’ve seized the opportunities offered by Sally Wainwright’s BBC film To Walk Invisible and have planned events that we hope will bring new audiences to Haworth and the museum throughout 2017.”

Grant Montgomery, production designer for To Walk Invisible, will speak about his work on the recent Brontë biopic in West Lane Baptist Centre on January 21 at 2pm.

Branwell steps into the limelight on January 28 for a storytelling walk led by Ursula Holden-Gill, setting off from the Black Bull, Main Street, at noon, 2pm and 4pm.

The Brontë Parsonage Museum reopens on February 1 with two new exhibitions which will run throughout 2017.

Mansions In The Sky, curated by poet Simon Armitage, the Brontë Society’s 2017 creative partner, will take visitors inside the mind, and work of the notorious Brontë brother Branwell.

From Parsonage To Production is a display of costumes, props and stills from the BBC drama To Walk Invisible.

Popular talks will continue on some Tuesdays at 2pm, including: Dispelling The Myth, An Exploration Of Branwell’s Juvenilia (February 7), Mary Taylor – An Exceptional Life (February 26), Bad Beyond Expression (March 7), Branwell And His Chequered Career (May 2) and Branwell The Artist (June 6).

Brontë Treasures will be on display on the last Friday of each month at 2pm, with facts and stories about carefully-selected objects.

There will be family events during the February, Easter and Spring Bank school holidays.

Yorkshire born writer Blake Morrison explores the complex family dynamic of the Brontë family in the annual Brontë Society lecture on June 10.

Parsonage Unwrapped will continue during the year with themed behind-the-scenes tours, including Filming The Brontës (February 24), Branwell And His Travels (March 31), Branwell’s Artistic Circle (April 28) and Playing House Detectives (may 26),

To coincide with the Flying Scotsman’s visit to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, the museum will give repeated presentations of a talk about Branwell Brontë and his time as a railway clerk.

Winston Plowes will visit Main Street and the museum with his random Poetry Generating Bicycle on April 30.

Simon Armitage will read his latest poetry on March 18.

Visit brontë.org.uk/whats-on or call 01535 642323 for further information on all events.