#02-22 ALBW Day 1

Day 1 - April 2, 2022

Our first day began with a walk to The Piece Hall where we saw the Anne Lister statue again and had the great fortune to meet & chat with GJ creator & writer, the brilliant Sally Wainwright, multi award winning writer of many British series including "Scott & Bailey", "Happy Valley" (filming series 3 at our hotel!), "Last Tango in Halifax". I gifted her a sticker of Anne Lister's words "ver. fine day", often written in her diaries. When I told her that I had a sticker for her car, she said: "I really want that sticker"! ;o)

The next stop was to wander outside of the Halifax Minster where Anne was baptized, worshipped & buried. With such a beautifully sunny day, we decided to walk in Anne's footsteps up the steep cobbled path to see her 600 year old ancestral home, Shibden Hall & estate where the series is filmed. An artisan market was set up outside so we browsed the booths and made a few purchases.

Rachel Whitbread (daughter of Anne Lister historian Helena Whitbread) led our first official ALBW tour which visited locations in Halifax that Anne frequented, ending inside the Minster. Sally was there so I gave her the sticker for her car and she had already ironed the first sticker on her shirt but it had fallen off! It turns out, the stickers my friend made for me to give out were NOT for t-shirts!!

Julia & I wore our "stripes for Pat" shirts to dinner & toasted our love & support of ALBW organizer Pat Esgate who was not able to attend due to her breast cancer diagnosis.

The first and most magical evening event was at the Minster, featuring Helena Whitbread and Jill Liddington who transcribed Anne's 6 million word diaries and wrote books about her. The evening was capped off by a group photo of everyone wearing their striped shirts. "Flat" Pat made her first appearance, to great cheering & smiles!

Walked: 34,902 steps (23.01 kms)