Brussels Brontë Group goes to Haworth

Members of the Brussels Brontë Group enjoyed a wonderful trip to Haworth last weekend to visit the Parsonage and the surrounding Brontë Country, including stops at the Brontë Birthplace and Roe Head School. 

 

The excursion, organized by the indomitable Helen MacEwan and Joanne Wilcock, also featured a trek over the moors to Top Withens, as well as visits to Oakwell Hall in Birstall and Shibden Hall in Halifax. Farther afield, there was also an expedition to Scarborough, where Anne Brontë died.  

Tervuren talk on Louise Héger by art historian Eline Sciot

Louise Héger, the daughter of Charlotte Brontë’s influential teacher when she was in Brussels, was the subject of an interesting talk by Belgian art historian Eline Sciot in Tervuren on May 20. 

 

Louise, who Charlotte knew as a toddler when she was in Belgium in 1842-43, went on to become an artist specializing in landscape painting and drawing. 

Charlotte Jones on the Brontës among the Moderns

Dr. Charlotte Jones from the University of Oxford sparked the interest of the Brussels Brontë Group with her talk on May 10 on “The Brontës among the Moderns,” promising to show the influence of the literary sisters on eminent early 20th-century writers. 

 

The topic was rather a new perspective for our group, so the audience was quite curious as to what she would have to say. 

Nick Holland on faith and the Brontë sisters

Time again for another interesting morning of talks organised by the Brussels Brontë Group. The first of these on Saturday May 10 was given by Nick Holland, well known for his books on various members of the Brontë family. 

He is the author of In Search of Anne Brontë, Emily Brontë – A Life in 20 Poems and Aunt Branwell and the Brontë Legacy. He is working on a new book about Charlotte Brontë and her best friend Ellen Nussey. 

BBG member's calligraphy presented to Queen Camilla

In a recent blog post, I recounted my visit (ahead of its official opening) to the Brontë Birthplace, the house in Thornton where Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne were born. 

I mentioned that the souvenirs on sale in the house include a card with a poem by Liliana Pasterska — with the calligraphy and a drawing of the house executed by Brussels Brontë Group member Marina Saegerman.

Opening of Brontë Birthplace in Thornton by Queen Camilla

Retelling the story of the Brontë sisters in Normandy

On a warm evening in early April, over 70 people crowded into the 18th-century court-room of the hôtel de ville, the mairie, of a small village in Haut-Normandie to hear a talk about Les Sœurs Brontë. 

The speaker, Myriam Campinaire, well known to members of the Brussels Brontë Group as its long-standing treasurer and one of its founding members, had been invited by the Friends Association of Lyons la Forêt, which will soon celebrate its centenary.

 

Brontë Birthplace and the Brussels Brontë Group

I was in Haworth over the weekend of 29-30 March, doing a recce for a trip to the Brontë village that I am organising for a small group of Brussels Brontë enthusiasts in June.  

In my travels, I visited the recently opened “Brontë Birthplace” in the village of Thornton. This is the house where Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne were born while Patrick Brontë was curate there, before moving to Haworth. And I'm happy to share a small but special link between the Brontë Birthplace and the Brussels Brontë Group.

Marie Gevers and the Brontës

Author Éléonore Desclée mentioned in her Feb. 15 presentation to the Brussels Brontë Group that one of her assigned books in literature class in high school was a novel by the Belgian author Marie Gevers (1883-1975). 

This writer has a curious Brontë link. 

Éléonore Desclée and her novel 'Charlotte in Love'

Brussels-based author Éléonore Desclée uses Charlotte Brontë and Jane Eyre as the driving force in her novel Charlotte in Love, which sees two teenage students thrown together for a collaborate project that brings discoveries about the book and themselves. 

Éléonore discussed her novel and how she came to write it in a discussion with the Brussels Brontë Group on Saturday, Feb. 15. 

The gothic and supernatural in the Brontë novels

Stavroula Kremmydiotou presented a fascinating talk on the supernatural and gothic elements in the Brontë novels as part of the Brussels Brontë Group’s annual member talks on Saturday, Feb. 15. 

Backed by a visually striking Powerpoint presentation, Stavroula gave a wide-ranging and well-researched exploration of the supernatural in the sisters’ works, tempered by asides about her own journey and perspective as she discovered the Brontës. 

Revamped Hotel Astoria celebrates Brontë connection

Brussels’ link with the Brontës isn’t perhaps acknowledged in the city as much as it could be. There is a planned Brontë Sisters Square in Koekelberg, but the name doesn’t tend to crop up when streets, buildings, etc. are being named. 

 

So what a nice surprise to find that the poshest hotel in town, the recently reopened Grand Hotel Astoria on Rue Royale now rebaptised Corinthia Brussels, has ... a Brontë suite! 

Hotel Cluysenaar, ca. 1840