Tuesday 14 May - Dr Stephen Caunce, 'The Highlight of the Rural Year: The Agricultural Hiring Fairs of East Yorkshire, 1890-1925'
For his annual President's Evening , Nicholas Hildyard is delighted to welcome to Hedon social historian Dr Stephen Caunce - best known to East Riding audiences for his acclaimed Amongst Farm Horses: the Horse Lads of East Yorkshire. In this new talk, based entirely on original research and conveyed primarily through the words of contemporary participants and observers, Dr Caunce will evoke a largely forgotten annual event once eagerly anticipated in towns across northern England and Scotland. Hiring fairs had a highly practical purpose in linking employers with workers, male and female, who were seeking jobs. Yet much more went on besides, provoking opposition in some quarters - opposition which, although very clearly unrepresentative, has dominated the limited notice these fairs have since received from historians. A delicious post-talk buffet supper will be served in the Mayor's Parlour. A prize raffle (£2/ticket) will also...