Macclesfield's Barnaby Festival is a biennial ten day festival of arts, culture and fun. This year’s theme is ROOTS/ROUTES, giving rise to several events relating to family history, migration and travel, some of which are listed below. (
https://barnabyfestival.org.uk/)
Family History research helpdesks will be provided in several locations during the festival by the Macclesfield Group of the Family History Society of Cheshire (
www.fhsc.org.uk).
15 - 24 JuneMACCLESFIELD LIBRARY, SK10 1EE
Website: www.fhsc.org.ukExplore the Routes of MacclesfieldAn exhibition explaining the origins of some Macclesfield street names and the lives of the people they were named after.
16 – 17 JuneMACCLESFIELD TOWN HALL, SK10 1EA
Website: http://macclesfieldreflects.org.uk/2018/06/16/2018-macclesfield-barnaby/Testament of Youth: Edward Brittain’s PerspectiveThe first day of the 2018 Barnaby Festival will be the centenary of the death of Captain Edward Brittain, M.C., brother of Vera Brittain (author of
Testament of Youth). The exhibition covers Edward’s ‘route through life', from his birth in Macclesfield, through his commission into the Sherwood Foresters, injury at the Battle of the Somme and Military Cross award, to his controversial death, or possible suicide, on 15th June 1918 in Italy.
From Macclesfield to Muddy Fields: the Route of the 7th Cheshire Regiment through the Great WarAn exhibition exploring the journey through England, the Mediterranean, Turkey, Egypt, Mesopotamia, France and Belgium, made by men of the local 7th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment during the Great War. The exhibition will include information about local men from the battalion who lost their lives in the war.
9 June – 22 SeptemberMACCLESFIELD SILK MUSEUM, Park Lane
Website: https://macclesfieldmuseums.co.uk/events/paterson‘The Macclesfield of America’ – Paterson, New JerseyIn the 19th century, many men and women of Macclesfield emigrated to Paterson, New Jersey to work in the burgeoning silk industry there. The city became known as ‘the Macclesfield of America’. One hundred years ago, in May 1918, Macclesfield received an American flag from the Mayor of Paterson in exchange for a Union Jack sent by Macclesfield’s Mayor “to mark the good feeling existing between the inhabitants of Paterson and Macclesfield, as allies in the Great War with Germany”. To commemorate this event, we explore the close connections between these two communities.