Recipes Across the Years

A talk from archives staff at 12.30 and 3.30 on the workhouse and prison diets

A talk from the Conservation Team at 10.30 and 2.00 on how they made iron gall ink from an old recipe, and how they have conserved an 18th century recipe book.

The baking and sampling of biscuits and cakes on site taken from early - mid 20th century recipes.

A kids’ corner where children can ice buns made from the recipes, and draw a picture of their favourite food

The opportunity to enter your ‘family heirloom’ recipe into a competition which will lead to each entry being bound by the conservation team and turned into an archive in October. Every family has a [not-so] secret recipe handed down through the generations and this is a fantastic opportunity to capture these recipes for future generations to treasure!

If you would like to help make history and have the chance to get your heirloom recipe into the archive, join in and send them your recipe.

Do please come along and listen to staff talk about the workhouse and prison diets [and how horrid they were!], how to make iron gall ink from an old recipe and how our Conservation Team actually work to preserve our unique historical records - all this while you enjoy some free samples of the buns, biscuits and cakes made from the recipes taken from our archives!

Graham Hebblethwaite, Chief Officer of West Yorkshire Joint Services, which oversees the work of the Archive Service, said ‘This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about recipes from the past in a fun and interactive way’.

Councillor Neil Taggart, Chair of West Yorkshire Joint Services Committee which oversees the work of the Archive Service, said ‘The Archive Service is providing an excellent opportunity for the general public to not only learn about recipes from the past but also have their own recipe turned into an archive’.