On Thursday 26 February we unveiled our 207th blue plaque to celebrate Armley literary icon, Barbara Taylor Bradford OBE.
Barbara was an internationally best-selling author, perhaps most famous for her debut novel, ‘A Woman of Substance’, which sold over 30 million copies. Barbara’s novels often told rags to riches stories of tenacious women from working-class backgrounds who gain success.
In 1985, ‘A Woman of Substance’ was made into a Channel 4 television series and was their most successful show ever at the time, attracting an audience of 14 million. The plaque unveiling was timed to coincide with the premiere of Channel 4’s reimagining of ‘A Woman of Substance’, starring Brenda Blethyn and Jessica Reynolds as Emma. The new series airs on 11 March.
The first stop on this momentous day was Barbara’s old school, Christ Church Upper Armley CE Primary School. Here we were greeted by Headteacher Ms Collier (who provided a great spread!) and saw old school register books that listed the then Barbara Taylor as a student. Turning a few pages in the book, we found Alan Bennett’s name, he attended the same school and was a school year below Barbara. We hope to see more local literary legends produced by this school in years to come!
We hosted a mini-unveiling at the school during an assembly, where trustees of the Barbara Taylor Bradford Trust, H.E. Vicki Downey and W. Randall Jones, who had flown in from the USA, spoke to the children about who Barbara was and her childhood in Armley.
Thank you so much to Ms Collier, Andy the caretaker, and everyone at the school who welcomed us in with open arms and looked after us so well, on a day when Ofsted were visiting no less!
The plaque was then transported down the road to Armley Library for its second unveiling. Barbara was a prolific reader and frequented Armley library. She famously carried two library cards so she could borrow double the number of books! We heard from Trustees of the Barbara Taylor Bradford Trust, H.E. Vicki Downey and W. Randall Jones, the Lord Mayor of Leeds Cllr Dan Cohen, Interim Head of Drama at Channel 4 Gwawr Lloyd and award-winning actress Brenda Blethyn.
W. Randall Jones spoke of how much Barbara would have loved this celebration of her life in her hometown and joked that she would have coveted the Lord Mayor’s jewellery! We heard from all speakers about how much of an impact Barbara’s writing has had on many generations of readers and viewers, and how the new Channel 4 series will bring Barbara’s thrilling works to a new generation.
No rest for the plaque yet! After the unveiling at Armley Library, it was rushed off to the Everyman cinema at Leeds Trinity Centre for the premiere of the new ‘A Woman of Substance’ series. The plaque was proudly displayed at the front entrance and was very popular with the attendees, many of whom had their picture taken with the plaque.
The plaque was whisked to the red carpet to be photographed with the cast and writers of the new series. It could be our most papped plaque to date!
Leeds Civic Trust would like to thank the Barbara Taylor Bradford Trust and Channel 4 for supporting the production of this plaque.
The plaque will be displayed at Armley Library, 2 Stocks Hill, Armley, Leeds LS12 1UQ. We will inform members when the plaque has been erected.
