Caption: A ventriloquist's puppet and an image of the gymnastics group from 3rd Leeds North East St. Wilfrid's Boy Scouts who won first 1st prize at the Imperial Scoutcraft Exhibition, Birmingham, 1913 are two of the items on display in the exhibition (both images courtesy of Leeds Museums and Galleries)
A celebration of Leeds sporting success and highlight performances from the stage down the ages provide the themes of a new exhibition opening at Abbey House Museum this weekend.
Entitled ‘Performance: Tales from platform, pitch and podium’, the exhibition which begins at the Kirkstall visitor attraction managed by Leeds City Council on Saturday 21 January features objects and memorabilia from the recent past to those over 100 years old.
Among the items on show will be medals and trophies won by Leeds-born swimmer Doris Storey, who competed at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games and set a new world record in 1938 for the women’s 200-metre breaststroke.
Other notable sporting items on display include a Leeds Rhinos shirt from the 2010 season signed by homegrown star and England international Lee Smith while the rugby league theme continues with rare footage from the Yorkshire Film Archive of the New Zealand All Blacks team playing at Headingley during their UK tour of 1947.
The sporting element is completed with a set of golf clubs produced in the 1970s by the famous Pudsey-based Bronty Golf Co.Ltd.
Further memorable archive film footage comes from the Rolling Stones’ concert at Roundhay Park in 1982 and the 1963 film ‘Billy Liar’ starring Tom Courteney and Julie Christie which features a famous scene shot on the steps of Leeds Town Hall.
The exhibition has been designed by Leeds Metropolitan University second-year design students Leigh Durham, Lucy Dunks, Jessica Hellawell, Molly Waterhouse and Dennis Chu, who won a competition to work alongside Leeds Museums and Galleries curators managing the displays from the council collections.
Among those collections which will be on display as part of the exhibition are a set of Punch and Judy puppets from circa 1900 and a dress designed in 1898 for the great Shakespearian actress Ellen Terry who performed many times at the Leeds Grand Theatre with her stage partner Henry Irving.
In addition to these items, other objects on who include two gold medals given to members of the Leeds Festival Chorus in 1922 and 1925 as well as theatrical costumes used by the Kirkstall Players around 1910 plus two ventriloquist’s dummies and an advertisement for Padtoeski “The Marvellous Toe Piano Player” from the Music Hall-era of Leeds City Varieties.
A section of the exhibition is devoted to dance with costumes borrowed from RJC Dance artistic director De-Napoli Clarke, the Joyce O'Donnell School of Irish Dancing, the Briggate Morris Dancers and Debbie Fleming owner of ATTITUDE FITNESS Worldwide.
The music scene is also catered for, with memorabilia from the choral tradition which started with the first Leeds Musical Festival in 1858. Other elements include classical symphonic and instrumental music, featuring the short-lived Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, as well as the career of Leeds-born pianist Frederick Dawson and the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition.
The exhibition is brought up to date with a look at popular music, in particular items collected at the Leeds Festival from 2009-2011 such as broken drumsticks, guitar strings and piano keys as well as ear plugs and wellies.
Leeds City Council curator of Leeds history and social history Kitty Ross said:
“This exhibition is a real celebration of the strong history of success in Leeds in the fields of sport and the performing arts. With 2012 being the year of the Olympic Games in London the two themes of sport and performing excellence are going to be really prominent, so this is a great way to start such a special year looking back at some of the most memorable moments and memorabilia from the history of Leeds in these areas.”
‘Performance: Tales from platform, pitch and podium’ will run until 30 December 2012, with admission charged at normal rates for Abbey House Museum, which is located off Abbey Walk in Kirkstall, LS5 3EH.
For more information visit http://www.leeds.gov.uk/abbeyhouse/
Notes to editors:
The items on display in the exhibition related to Doris Storey have been kindly loaned by the Storey family, while the film clips are courtesy of the Yorkshire Film Archive.
ENDS
For media enquiries please contact:
Roger Boyde, Senior communications officer,
Leeds City Council, Tel 0113 247 5472
Email: roger.boyde@leeds.gov.uk
