THE BRONTE sisters and their family will be the subject of a September talk at Otley Courthouse.

Ann Dinsdale, the Principal Curator at the Bronte Parsonage Museum, will discuss the whole Bronte clan when she visits on Friday, September 13.

The Brontës may be best remembered for the three gifted sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne, and their literary output, but Ann’s illustrated talk will focus on the wider family too.

She will be giving special attention to the patriarch, Patrick Brontë, whose time as Minister in Haworth (from 1820) included much work on trying to improve the health of the residents - who at that time had an average life expectancy of 25 years.

Ann will draw on her experience as curator and share information about the lives of all the family, bringing in some of the details that people may not be as familiar with and using images of items from the museum’s collection as illustrations.

Born in Thornton, Emily, Anne and Charlotte Brontë are famous for the literary works they had published - often under male pseudonyms - during their short lives. It was Charlotte’s Jane Eyre that first enjoyed popular success but Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Emily’s Wuthering Heights both went on to be hailed as literary masterpieces.

Living with the Brontës start at 7.30pm and tickets cost £8 or £7 for Courthouse Friends. The Courthouse Bar will be open from 6.45pm.

The Courthouse’s summer holiday activities programme for children, meanwhile, is now up and running.

The fun kicked off with a kite and puppet making workshop on August 1 and will continue with Musical Moments: Franz Schubert on Monday, August 19.

Running from 3pm to 3.45pm, the event will see friendly Teddy Bear Franz Schubaer giving a talk about the famous composer’s life and works.

Some of Schubert’s most famous compositions will also be performed. Suitable for ages four and over, the session costs £5 for adults - which includes tea, coffee or juice and biscuits - and is free for children and Teddy bears. Bringing your own picnic is optional.

Two Stop Motion Animation workshops will follow on Friday, August 23. Running from 10am to 12.30pm and then from 1.30pm to 3pm, they will show children aged seven and over how to create their own short film and sessions cost £6 each, with all materials provided

For tickets for all forthcoming events visit www.otleycourthouse.org.uk, call (01943) 467466 or visit the venue on Courthouse Street.