A special day is planned to commemorate the birth of possibly Huddersfield’s most famous son.
And the family of the former Prime Minister Harold Wilson will take a trip down Memory Lane as part of it.
The former Premier, who was born in Huddersfield, was Leader of the Labour Party and was Prime Minister from 1964 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1976.
To commemorate the centenary of Lord Wilson’s birth, on Friday, March 11, the University of Huddersfield has arranged a number of events with the Wilson family to celebrate the day.
Harold Wilson’s son, Robin Wilson is coming to Huddersfield on the day with his wife Joy Crispin-Wilson and their twin daughters Jennifer and Catherine, and will be escorted throughout the day by the University’s Professor of Politics, Prof Brendan Evans.
The day’s events have been organised to coincide with the University’s annual Harold Wilson Lecture, which will be held on the Friday evening and delivered by guest speaker Labour MP Alan Johnson.
Mr Johnson is leading the Labour Party’s ‘Yes’ campaign for the forthcoming EU referendum and his talk for the lecture will consider this alongside the UK’s first EU referendum, which was called by the then Prime Minister, Wilson, in 1975. Mr Johnson’s lecture is entitled Harold Wilson – The Reluctant European.
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But before then the Wilson family will be visiting the places where he spent his childhood.
They will also meet some of the students who have been offered one of the 100 scholarships to people from poorer backgrounds at the statue of Lord Wilson, which stands outside the Huddersfield Railway Station.
The Memory Lane tour begins at Warneford Road, Cowlersley, where the family will visit Wilson’s birthplace.
The family who currently live in the house have agreed to this and are happy to welcome Robin and his family.
The University is now pursuing channels to have a historic memorial plaque erected on the house.
Minutes later the Wilson family will visit the nearby memorial garden in New Street, Cowlersley, which bears Lord Wilson’s name and was the site of the former Prime Minister’s primary school.
They will then move on to Royds Hall Community School, which was a grammar school when Wilson was a pupil. The family will enjoy lunch and a tour of the school, and will be guests at a performance by the shool’s pupils of a play about Harold Wilson, which will take place at 2pm.
At 3.40pm the family will attend a memorial service at the St Peter’s Parish Church in Huddersfield.
