Annual 4th July lecture - Joseph Priestley and the American Dream

News » Annual 4th July lecture - Joseph Priestley and the American Dream

The Society is pleased to announce that its 4 July lecture for 2009 is entitled Joseph Priestley and the American Dream and will be given by Keith Baker. Keith’s book Joseph Priestley; Friends and Foes is to be published by the Society later this month (read details here).

The event will take place at the Leeds Library, Commercial Street, Leeds, at 11.00 am on Saturday 4 July, and will be followed by a discussion and light refreshments at 12.15. Please contact us with any queries. All are welcome.

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Joseph Priestley College of Morley-Rothwell & Beeston

News » Joseph Priestley College of Morley-Rothwell & Beeston

Joseph Priestley College once again held their celebration and award evening at the Leeds Town Hall on Friday 30th January 2009. The Priestley Society donated funds towards the college award night. Unlike previous years, the funds were put together and no individual award was identified from any sponsor.

Special guest speaker was Mr Mike Tomlinson, the husband of the late Jane Tomlinson CBE. Mike told of how Jane was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and how she was determined to do what she could, to raise funds for children’s and cancer charities.

Jane undertook challengers that most healthy and fit people wouldn’t even consider, she took on a series of apparently impossible challenges, for someone suffering from cancer and undergoing chemotherapy treatment, including a full Ironman (4km Swim, 180Km bike ride and full marathon – completed inside 17 hours), two half Ironmans, the London Marathon three times, the New York Marathon, three London Triathlons and three long distance bike rides – John O Groats to Lands End, Rome to Home and her final huge challenge a 6781.8 km ride across America.

Jane and her family founded a charity (Registration number 1113894) this is accessible on www.janesappeal.com. To date they have raised almost £2 million.

Sunday 21st June 2009 will see the 3rd annual Jane Tomlinson 12K Leeds Run, anyone wanting to take part can enter on line at www.runforall.com

Carolyn Wright, Principle, introduced the function and along with Mike Tomlinson presented all the awards. They are pictured here.

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Priestley Day and AGM

News » Priestley Day and AGM

The Society will be holding its PRIESTLEY DAY and AGM on Friday 13th March 2009 at the Mill Hill Chapel, Leeds City Square, at 7.00-9.00 pm.

The Society are pleased to announce that its keynote speaker at the event Dr Norman Beale who will be speaking about Joseph Priestley’s life and work whilst he and his family were at Calne and Bowood in Wiltshire. These were seven of the most important years of Priestley’s eventful life.

Keith Baker, a Priestley Society member, will also say a few words about his forthcoming book on the Friends and Foes of Joseph Priestley which will be published in June by the Society.

The event is free. All are welcome and refreshments will be available. Please join us for what should be a most interesting evening.

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Friends and Foes - New Priestley Society Publication

News » Friends and Foes - New Priestley Society Publication

The Priestley Society is proud to announce that a new publication will be available in June 2009. It is entitled 'Joseph Priestley: Friends and Foes' and is written by Keith Baker, a Society member.

“Yours is one of the few lives precious to mankind”, said President Jefferson to his friend Joseph Priestley. Yet others took a more jaundiced view of Priestley. The radical conservative William Cobbett condemned him as a “hoary old traitor”, and in print and the press he was satirised as Gunpowder Joe - a dangerous enemy of Church and State. The truth of the matter is that in the twists and turns of Priestley’s momentous life, he made as many powerful enemies as he did intimate friends. This book will tell the story of a remarkable group of people, both friends and foes, whose lives became entwined with Priestley’s during the Revolutionary era of the late eighteenth century. Drawing widely on a number of sources, the book will include portraits of Benjamin Franklin, John Wilkinson, Anna Barbauld, Antoine Lavoisier, William Pitt, the Presidents Adams and Jefferson, and several other remarkable characters.

The book will include a Foreword by Professor J.D. Bowers of Northern Illinois University and will be illustrated in colour.

The book will be published in June 2009 and in this pre-publication period subscribers are invited to order it from the Society. The names of all subscribers and their affiliations will be listed in the Acknowledgement pages of the book.

The cost of the book will be £12.50, paperback, plus £2.00 p.p. Cheques should be made out to The Joseph Priestley Society

Please do not hesitate to contact either of the addresses below with any queries.

The book can be pre-ordered from:

• Stuart Martin, Secretary Joseph Priestley Society
  37 Brown Hill Drive
  Birkenshaw
  Bradford BD11 2AZ
  
  e-mail: john@martin1364.fsbusiness.co.uk
• Keith Baker
  75 Hillcote Close
  Sheffield S10 3PT
  
  e-mail: keith.baker3@virgin.net

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