Calderdale Industrial Museum honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service

The museum beside Halifax’s iconic Piece Hall, was boarded-up in 2000 and reopened officially in 2017, thanks to the strenuous efforts of local volunteers.

They now have an additional cause for celebration, the association having agreed to lease the building from Calderdale Council until at least 2027.

“This national award and local agreement recognises the hard work put in by our members and supporters over many years, for which we are immensely grateful,” said association chairman, Tim Kirker.

“Apart from the security which the lease provides, it will open up more opportunities for fund raising,” he said.

The museum aims to record, preserve and display the story of how Calderdale has developed from the industry of its past.

The museum wishes to thank Roger Harvey, Chairman of Harvey's of Halifax, for his continuing support and nomination for the award.

It had been on course to attract more than 10,000 visitors annually but during the COVID lockdown volunteers have continued to beaver away behind the scenes.

Calderdale Industrial Museum Association was short-listed for the Museum and Heritage Volunteer Team of 2019 and named a 2020 Traveller's Choice Winner by Tripadviser, having maintained for 18 months its position as the best rated attraction in Halifax.

According to the Queen’s Award Team: “The work your group does for the community was very much admired by the independent National Assessment Committee, chaired by Sir Martyn Lewis CBE. The Award in 2021 represents a tremendous achievement for your organisation and we hope that everyone involved, and particularly your volunteers, will feel immensely proud.

Calderdale Council leader, Coun Tim Swift said the energy, commitment and enthusiasm of the volunteers had been exemplary.

“They have worked tirelessly to raise funds, secure support and donations in both cash and direct help, and promote the case for the museum and its wider importance to Calderdale as a visitor attraction and as an important record of the area’s industrial heritage,” he said.

“We handed over the running of the museum to Calderdale Industrial Museum Association in 2016 and we continue to provide support to assist its plans and ambitions, and the museum’s operation. The industrial museum, along with other local cultural organisations, will play a major role in Calderdale’s revitalisation as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Another of the museum’s key backers, Christine Harris, Deputy Lieutenant West Yorkshire said “The museum is led by volunteers with an amazing range of skills who have engaged widely at community level across all age groups. Their stoic determination to rise above adversity is phenomenal complimented by passion, enthusiasm and a determination to succeed.”

The museum in Square Road and the association which runs it provides a safe haven for many retired and often lonely or vulnerable people. Social services and charities refer clients including asylum seekers to help them integrate.

It includes a cafe and a meeting room where lectures are held on industrial history.

A growing number of education modules have been tailored to the National Curriculum.

Sophie Shaw, science leader at Woodhouse Primary School, said: “We feel lucky to have such a fantastic museum in our area. We have been able to use our visits to inspire children, educate them and develop their ‘culture capital.’ The museum has since offered us the use of various resources and discussed the idea of volunteers visiting school to hold workshops such as science experiments.”

Among the machines and artefacts spread over four floors in the museum are some of the only surviving examples in the country

Bernard Wadsworth has been a volunteer at the museum since he attended an open day in 2013. He can now be seen repairing and restoring machinery on two or three days every week.

The former Halifax hosiery worker said he had always been interested in machinery and had become increasingly involved with other museum activities.

“I want visitors to see how these things made Halifax into a wealthy town where, in my life time, you could leave a job one day and start a new one the next,” he said.

Roger Swift and his wife, Pauline, have been actively involved for six years.

The former print engineer has family links to the museum - his father, Raymond, built some of the brick bases beneath many of the heavy machines and Roger has been helping to restore the waterwheel and fulling stocks, as well as doing a variety of other jobs.

“Halifax has such a wealth of industrial industry and I want the next generation to understand how that came about. The friendship and camaraderie here is very important.”

Derek Bird, of Keighley, spends a full day at the museum every week. He brings with him the skills he picked-up during a life time making machinery for the worsted industry.

He has produced plans for the new pre-industrial museum area which will show how raw wool is turned into worsted cloth and other staple goods.

“I like getting my hands on big iron machines and here at the museum you meet some very interesting people,” he said.