We host a year-round programme of meetings and events – many of which are open to everyone.
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October 2018
Knutsford Meeting at Brook Street Chapel Hall
The Old Nurse's Story The Old Nurse’s Story was Gaskell’s first ghost story, published in 1852, in a special Christmas edition of Household Words. A recent reviewer of the story writes “What a brilliant introduction to Elizabeth Gaskell's writing this was!... a dark and eerie tale everything you could possibly want from a Victorian gothic ghost story", Come along to the next Knutsford meeting and join in a discussion of this tale, led by Diane Duffy or just listen to what others…
Find out more »November 2018
Manchester Meeting at Cross Street Chapel
A great delight? The garden at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House Jackie Tucker, is a member of the garden team at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House and a member of the Research Group. Jackie explains how the practical work in the garden goes hand-in-hand with research. She describes the restoration of the garden and examines the principles, which underpin it. She sets the Gaskells’ garden in its historical context and explores what it meant to William, Elizabeth and their daughters, using the words of…
Find out more »Knutsford Meeting at Brook Street Chapel Rooms
The Grey Woman “I always enjoy a Gaskell gothic novella and this one was no exception - thoroughly enjoyable, gripping and dramatic. I adore her writing style and her characterisation, and just how different everything she writes is.” The Grey Woman is another of Gaskell’s short stories which has elicited an enthusiastic response from a modern-day reader. Come along to the Gaskell Society meeting and join in the discussion led once more by Diane Duffy or just listen to what others…
Find out more »December 2018
Manchester Christmas Meeting at the Portico
Literary Theft? Charles Dickens appropriates one of Elizabeth Gaskell's Favourite Stories. A talk by Professor Michael Slater, past president of the Dickens Fellowship. Elizabeth Gaskell and Charles Dickens reacted to each other with a mixture of admiration and irritation. One moment of tension was in 1852, when Dickens, in his story To Be Read at Dusk, made use of an anecdote, which Elizabeth Gaskell regarded as her own. Michael investigates this incident, which centres on a story of the uncanny-…
Find out more »January 2019
New Year Lunch at Cottons Hotel
We are once again returning to Cottons Hotel, Knutsford for our New Year Lunch. The cost is £26 which covers a 3 course lunch, tea or coffee and entertainment afterwards. We are hoping that this year we will have a special treat-all will be revealed in due course The menu will be available soon, so when it is please make your choices and send them along with any dietary requirements, together with a cheque payable to The Gaskell Society, to :Mrs Carolyn…
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