Hughes Festival footage never been seen before

The celebrated Poet Laureate was born and lived in a small end of terrace house in Mytholmroyd which is now looked after by a group of kind and very interesting people known as The Elmet Trust.

The trust, now a charity, was set up to preserve Ted’s House and to celebrate both the man himself and his work.

Mark Hinchcliffe, director and co chair of The Elmet Trust, corresponded with Ted from being at school up to two weeks before he died, and has good relationships with Carol, Frieda, and Olwyn Hughes.

He is also a good friend of Ted’s surviving Cambridge pal Daniel Huws.

Nick Wilding, an ex BBC producer and local film maker is also a director of The Elmet Trust and an expert on Ted Hughes.

Nick will be showing some extracts from his finished films about Ted and some unedited and unseen parts of his valuable film archive as part of the hugely anticipated Mytholmroyd Arts Festival.

These feature interviews with Mytholmroyd’s own Donald Crossley, who sadly passed away last year.

He and Nick explored areas of the locality, referred to in Ted’s poetry.

Nick will also be referring to Donald’s correspondence with Ted’s brother Gerald, which sought to pinpoint the local places, where Ted and he camped, shot and fished in the late 1930s before the family left to go to Mexborough.

Their combined knowledge on Ted Hughes is exceptional.

Mark and Nick will be delivering a talk, and some film, with a Q&A session on Ted Hughes as part of the Festival on Wednesday, October 21 at 7pm at St Michaels Church Hall, Mytholmroyd.

The event is free but donations are welcome.

For more details please go to the festival website www.mytholmroydartsfestival.org.uk.

The Mytholmroyd Arts Festival is a multi-disciplinary event from October 16 to 24, and anyone wishing to join or support it is welcome to contact the organisers.

They can do that by by emailing [email protected], by joining them on Facebook or by going to their website at mytholmroydartsfestival.org.uk.