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[edit] Further Education
Wakefield College is the major provider of further education in the area, with around 3,000 full-time and 10,000 part-time students,[13] and campuses in both the city centre and surrounding towns. The college has a 6th form, and in addition to A-levels also offers GCSE courses and a wide range of vocational qualifications.
The Wakefield district has several other 6th form colleges, including the Outwood Grange College 6th form in Outwood and the NEW College 6th Form in Pontefract.
Wakefield City Council has recently announced that it is planning in co-operation with Wakefield College, to establish the University Centre of Wakefield, which would offer students in the Wakefield district a new local university as an option to the offer by the University of Leeds.
[edit] Prisons
Wakefield is less celebrated, but nevertheless well known, for its prisons. Its combined prison population was 1,657 in 2001[citation needed]. Wakefield Prison is a maximum security prison, one of the most secure in Britain, and has included many notorious inmates including Ian Huntley, Harold Shipman and Charles Bronson. Wakefield was originally built as a house of correction in 1594. The former governor R.S. Duncan has suggested that the well know nursery rhyme Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush finds its origins at the prison. During its days as a female prison, the women convicts would supposedly take their children on exercise with them and sing the now well-known tune. The original tree is claimed to be still there today. The current prison was designated a dispersal prison in 1966 (longest of remaining original group). It is now a lifer main centre with the focus on serious sex offenders. The current governor is David R. Thompson, Director-General elect of Her Majesty's Prison Service.
The nearby HMP New Hall is a multi-use prison for women, young female offenders and girls on Detention and Training Orders (DTOs).
In 2004, Wakefield's council tenants voted to transfer the entire council housing stock to a new registered social landlord, the registered charity Wakefield and District Housing (WDH)[14], although the properties concerned are still often referred to as "council houses". Wakefield itself contains seven ex-council estates. The largest estate is Lupset, in the west; the others are Flanshaw, Plumpton, Peacock, Eastmoor, Portobello [known affectionately as "bella"] and Kettlethorpe.
WDH are working with partners such as Wakefield's Metropolitan District Council, to invest over £700 m regenerating the district and improving the houses. Improvements have been taking place since 2005 and to date over £150 m has been spent improving homes. In August 2007 WDH completed the first in a programme of new Social Housing developments, located at Chiltern Avenue in Whitwood.
WDH is building a reputation for excellent customer care, with the latest survey reporting 83% of tenants satisfied with the service being provided and 79% believing the services provided offer value for money. At its recent Audit Commission inspection WDH was awarded the highest level of award, three stars with excellent prospects for improvement. This was only the third time this award has been granted, and WDH were the first Northern Housing Association to receive it.
[edit] Culture
The indie-punk band The Cribs are from Wakefield. Prior to their emergence, Jane McDonald was the most celebrated Wakefield born contributor to the music industry. Jane regularly mentions Wakefield when acting as a panellist on ITV1's Loose Women, for various reasons, usually when talking about her childhood.
The Wakefield Cathedral Choir consists of boys, girls and men who perform at religious services, concerts and recitals at the cathedral. Choral Evensong with the boys is on Tuesdays and on Thursdays the boys are joined by the men. The girls perform Evensong on Wednesday evenings and Parish Eucharist on Sunday mornings. The boys and men also sing at Choral Eucharist and Evensong on Sundays. The girls, on occasion, sing choral Eucharist or Evensong with the Lay Clerks on Thursday or Friday evenings. Once each term, the boys and the girls swap their Sunday duties.
The choir, directed by Jonathan Bielby and assisted by Thomas Moore, is one of the most successful cathedral choirs in the UK, but paradoxically has also been described by many as 'Wakefield's best kept secret'. The choir have had appearances on BBC 1's 'Songs of Praise' and BBC Radio 3's 'Choral Evensong'.
[edit] Notable songs about Wakefield
[edit] Film and Television
The film, This Sporting Life is set in Wakefield and depicts the hard realities of the mines and Rugby League. It was directed by Lindsay Anderson, written by David Storey and starred Richard Harris. Many of the images of the city centre are very different from how it is today, yet the Belle Vue area, which surrounds the rugby ground, has not changed nearly as much. The film is now something of a relic; it is not closely identified with Wakefield in the way that, say, Kes is with Barnsley, The Full Monty is with Sheffield or Rita, Sue and Bob Too is with Bradford.
In June 2005 Wakefield was the scene of the television programme Most Haunted, who hosted a summer solstice special in various locations around the city, including Wakefield Opera House. During the course of the show they attempted to contact the spirit of James Ellison, a former city councilman.
[edit] Museums and the arts
Wakefield city-centre is host to a small art gallery and a city museum. These will be added to by a Barbara Hepworth gallery is being built as part of the rejuvenation of the city centre's waterfront.
The National Coal Mining Museum for England (an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage) and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, one of Europe's foremost sculpture parks, are with the metropolitan area.
The Wakefield Theatre Royal hosts a variety of performing arts. Wakefield is also known for the Wakefield Cycle, a collection of 32 mystery plays, dating from the 14th century, which were performed as part of the summertime religious festival of Corpus Christi and revived in recent times.
[edit] Parks and historical sites
[edit] Festivals
Wakefield hosts an annual Rhubarb Festival to celebrate its historical association as a grower of the plant and consists of various themed tours, talks, exhibitions and markets.
Clarence Park Festival is held annually in Thornes Park, playing free live music for the 16th time in 2008.
[edit] Night Life
The area of Westgate was historically held to have the largest number of adjacent pubs in England. The Westgate Run attracts drinkers from across the region.
Wakefield is known for its rugby league club, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. Formed in 1873, the club has had a chequered history, with their glory period in the 1960s with Neil Fox, Derek 'Rocky' Turner, Keith Holliday and Harold Poynton under coach Ken Traill. They now play in the elite Super League division of the sport. Playing as the Wildcats, Wakefield's best season was in 2004 when they reached the Super League playoffs defeating Hull F.C and narrowly losing to Wigan Warriors. However with a Challenge Cup Semi Final appearance on the 26th of July, the clubs first since 1979, bigger, brighter things could be just around the corner for "the Wildcats" in 2008!
Wakefield RFC was the city's rugby union club from 1901 to 2004 when the club ceased playing after relegation and lack of funding. Sandal RFC are now the area's largest rugby union club.
Wakefield F.C. play their football in the Unibond League First Division after their merger and move from the village of Emley in 2001. They played at Belle Vue as tenants of Trinity until the end of the 2005/6 season following their relegation. They have moved to College Grove for the start of the 2006/7 season, Wakefield RFC's former ground.
Wakefield is the largest town in England without a team in the Football league.
Wakefield Harriers A.C. is the athletics club located at Thornes Park Athletics Stadium and is home to international athletes including Martyn Bernard, Emily Freeman and Charlene Thomas.
There are a number of Cricket and amateur rugby league teams that play in many of the villages around the city. One other notable team was skater hockey's Wakefield Warriors, which during their short life, were crowned British and European Champions.
Wakefield has two successful current senior international swimmers (Ian Perrell and Rachel Jack).
West Yorkshire Canoe Club is a canoe club bases in Wakefield, they have sessions in Wakefield, Batley & Pontefract throughout the week. The club is well known in the kayaking world because of 2 of there members; Joe Morley, GB Slalom paddler & 5th In Premier Division , and Russell Johnson, GB U23 Slalom Paddler Hopefull & 27th in Division 2.
Wakefield has its own newspapers, The Wakefield Express [16], the Wakefield Guardian, and radio station Ridings FM. It also has a number of free magazines including Excelle, Solo and The Wakefield Review
[edit] Development
Wakefield is currently undergoing major development and re-development projects, aiming to bring new life into the city.
[edit] City Centre
- Trinity Walk - A £175 m development to the south-east of Wakefield city centre that will see original market hall and surrounding area demolished and replaced with a new indoor market, retail units and library. Work began in autumn 2007,[17] with the entire project scheduled for completion in 2010.[18]
- Marsh Way - Part of the Trinity Walk development, the Wakefield By-Pass, or Marsh Way, is being re-routed to accommodate Trinity Walk, phase one due to start late September 2007.
- ABC Cinema Flats - The original ABC cinema, which closed in 1997, has been given a new lease of life and a £13.5 m redevelopment converting the cinema into flats.[19]
- Ings Road - Plans to demolish most of the current Ings road shopping park and redevelop into a "city centre like" shopping plaza, also to re-route the "motorway like" Ings road to leave a un-congested street.
- Ridings Shopping Centre - Owners of the centre (Moorfield Real Estate Fund) have announced they are spending several million on revamping the ageing city centre shopping mall by replacing the current doors with a glass front.[20]
- Community Stadium - Still in the planning stages, the new stadium is the replacement to the old Belle Vue ground the home of the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. The stadium is planned to be built in place of the current Thornes College in Thornes Park. The design is somewhat similar to that of Doncaster's new Keepmoat Stadium.[21]
[edit] Waterfront
- Waterfront Wakefield - £150 m Development of the Old Fernandes brewery in Kirkgate. The development will see new retail and industrial units built alongside the Hepworth Gallery, an art gallery built to honour the designs of Barbara Hepworth
- Chantry Waters - Adjacent to the development at Wakefield Waterside, Chanty Waters is a regeneration of Calder Island alongside Vauxhall. Phase one is completed and Chantry Waters Flats were completed in February 2007. Phase Two includes office blocks and begins in 2008.
[edit] Westgate
- Westgate Station - A regeneration of the station by the city council and the English Cities Fund, moving the station down the railway line, extending the platform and building a new hotel.[22]
- Wakefield Theatre Royal - The theatre is to be extended for the inclusion of new facilities including studio space, bar/restaurant and an education suite.[23]
[edit] Notable people born in or near Wakefield
- Chris Greenacre-Footballer for Tranmere Rovers FC
- Tim Booth - Lead singer for the alternative rock band James
- Lee Briscoe - Footballer Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
- Andrew Burt - Actor
- John Carr - Architect
- Claire Cooper - Actress
- Janet Davies - Actress
- Reece Dinsdale - Actor, Home to Roost, Ahead of the Class
- Jordan Ellison - Historian, Author of "The Xenephobes Guide to Yorkshire"
- Jean Fergusson - Actress
- Helen Fielding - Author, best known for "Bridget Jones's Diary" and sequel "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason"
- Emily Freeman - British female athlete, 100 m & 200 m.
- Martin Frobisher - Explorer, found the North-west Passage
- Noel Gay - Popular composer
- George Gissing - Novelist and misanthrope
- John George Haigh - 1940s serial killer known as the Acid Bath Murderer
- John Harrison - Clockmaker, the genius who solved the longitudinal problem, leading to Sea Power & GMT
- Chanelle Hayes - Contestant on Big Brother 2007
- John Healey - Politician and the present Financial Secretary to the Treasury
- Barbara Hepworth - Sculptor
- Reenie Hollis, bassist in indie band The Long Blondes
- David Hope - Former Archbishop of York
- Ryan Jarman, Gary Jarman and Ross Jarman - Indie band The Cribs
- Kenneth Leighton - Composer
- Johnny Longden - Champion jockey, founder of Jockey's Guild
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[edit] Sister cities
[edit] Trivia
[edit] Location Grid
[edit] References
- , Map of Historical Boundaries
- , Reaney, P.H. (1964). The origin of English place-names (corrected 3rd pr.). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, pp. 161. ISBN 0-7100-2010-4.
- , Mills, A.D. (1998). A dictionary of English place-names (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 361. ISBN 0-19-280074-4.
- , The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 1886
- , The Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, New York, 1911
- , Lupset, The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 1882
- , Dodsworth's Yorkshire notes, the wapentake of Agbrigg, Roger Dodsworth, 1884
- , Bridge Chapels - Edward Green
- , Current Listed Building Files. Listed Buildings 26th April 2005, Wakefield District Council 40 - Listed buildings in Central Wakefield
- , Shock as pub becomes den for junkies and squatters - Wakefield Express article on deteriation of The Wakefield Arms pub
- , Wakefield FreeCityBus due for April 2007. West Yorkshire Metro.
- , Four hundred and fifty passengers used Wakefield FreeCityBus on first day. West Yorkshire Metro.
- , Wakefield College Information
- , Wakefield and District Housing - About WDH
- , The story of Wakefield Prison & the origin of a nursery rhyme
- , The Wakefield Express
- , "Work begins on major city centre development", Wakefield Express City, Johnston Press, 2007-09-07. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
- , Marsh Way Area (Trinity Walk). Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
- , "Cinema takes on a new role", Wakefield Express City, Johnston Press Digital, 2007-08-31. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
- , "Ridings' £25 m expansion plan", Wakefield Express City, Johnston Press, 2007-08-24. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
- , "Stadium Moves Closer", Wakefield Express City, Johnston Press, 2007-03-02. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
- , City Gateway in £10 m
- , Planning permission granted for the extension!. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
[edit] External links
(Source: Wikipedia) |
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