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The Manchester Histories Festival was held at Gorton Monastery in June. The theme of Brook Street Chapel's Heritage Days in September was 'Unitarian Inventors' so we decided to feature Elizabeth Gaskell as an inventor of stories which was an interesting interpretation. The last Manchester meeting of the year was an in-depth talk by Frank Galvin on his involvement in sourcing items for the restoration of Elizabeth Gaskell's House, turning it into the magnificent house that we see today.

Libby Tempest, Diane Duffy and Anthony Burton all gave talks which proved to be popular with a worldwide audience and raised our profile. After the service, delicious food was available as well as fun entertainment, rounding off a memorable event which was most welcome. Knutsford Town Council held a 'Refresh Knutsford' event in September and two committee members, Jane Wilkshire and Pam Griffiths, represented the Society, promoting and raising awareness of Elizabeth Gaskell.

The Cross Street meetings commenced in February with Anthony Burton asking 'Can we devise a Gaskell brand which could compete with the Austen, Brontě and Dickens brands in literary heritage?' Anthony, a Gaskell Society committee member and former trustee of Elizabeth Gaskell's House, is a retired museum curator and now is active as a lecturer on art, literature and local history. In December, our Christmas meeting was held at The Portico Library, where Margaret Beetham, retired lecturer from Manchester Metropolitan University, delighted us with 'The Agony and the Recipe: The Victorian Invention of the Woman's Magazine. A local theatre group, the Green Room Society, staged a production of 'Gaskell Voices', a number of readings about Elizabeth Gaskell's life, for which in the previous year the Society had been asked to provide some ideas.

The group then drove on to the Parsonage Museum in Haworth for a most informative talk and slide show, followed by a self-guided tour of the museum. In October, we organised a joint study trip with The Friends ofElizabeth Gaskell's House to Gawthorpe Hall, the home of Sir James and Lady Kay-Shuttleworth, to visit the 'Literary Lions' exhibition, featuring Elizabeth Gaskell and Charlotte Brontě. Gaskell representatives are always invited to Mayoral events such as the Mayor-making, the Mayor's Ball and, this year, a special fund-raising event related to the King Canute Millennium celebrations, an important part of Knutsford's heritage.