YOU WILL hopefully have seen the news that on November 18 we successfully bid at an auction in Paris for one of Charlotte Brontë’s Little Books, written when she was just 14 years old.

We had managed to crowdfund a whopping £85,000, thanks to the generosity of over one thousand supporters, and with funds raised through various other organisations, we knew we were going to auction with a competitive bid, but this of course is no guarantee, so as we gathered in the Parsonage staff-room to watch the auction live, it really was a nail-biting experience!

Colleagues spent all day inundated with press enquiries from far and wide, and so it was great that Monday turned out to be a ‘good news’ day, and that this very Yorkshire story garnered interest around the world.

I think the 14-year-old Charlotte, who was once told by the then Poet Laureate, Robert Southey, that ‘Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life’, would have been delighted with the global attention centred on her Little Book!

And I want to say a big thank you to any readers who donated towards the crowdfunding campaign – we couldn’t have done it without you.

As I write this, it is just five weeks until Christmas, and so our thoughts are turning to all things festive, and some final events of the year.

Our final Tuesday talk of the year is on December 3 at 2pm, and is fittingly entitled ‘Patrick’s Afterlife’.

When Elizabeth Gaskell published her biography of Charlotte Brontë in 1857, she depicted Patrick as a distant father who was eccentric and unpredictable, and this image stuck until Juliet Barker’s biography The Brontës was published in the 1990s, and presented a very different image.

This talk examines the eventful journey of Patrick’s afterlife, and how he has been portrayed on page and screen.

We also have our final late-night Thursday of the year – and it’s the one where we crack open the sherry!

Join us on Thursday December 12 for a glass of sherry, some Christmas cheer and the chance to see the Parsonage dressed for the Christmas season.

The museum shop will be open to buy last-minute gifts – and we have some lovely Christmas cards too. As always, after 5pm, entry is free to visitors living in BD22, BD21, BD20 or Thornton. Usual admission prices apply to all other visitors. And last entry is 7pm!

From Thursday December 12 we also have our popular Wreath Making Workshops. We have one on Thursday at 2pm, and further workshops on Saturday December 14 at 2pm, and Sunday December 15 at 10.30am and 2pm.

There are still a few places left, so if you’d like to make a festive wreath for your front door inspired by the traditional Christmas decorations at the museum,, then don’t delay in booking your place.

All materials are provided, and the workshop includes mince pies and mulled wine to get you in the festive mood!Tickets cost £37.50 (and include festive refreshments and museum admission) and are available at bronte.org.uk/whats-on or call 01535 640192.

More from me next time about our plans for January 2020!