About us

The society is open to all who have an interest in Morley's heritage. There is a yearly membership subscription fee of £20 which is payable at the beginning of September and covers entry to the Society's eight monthly talks. One-off visits to the talks cost £4.00. A free newsletter is published for each meeting and, from time to time, other publications are made which are either free or at a favourable rate for members.

The Society was founded in 1966 after a series of very popular lectures by the father and son team, George and David Atkinson and they were leading lights in the Society for the rest of their lives. We are continuing to follow in their footsteps and many of the society functions, such as meeting format and excursions are based on the original ideas.

George Atkinson was Morley born and bred. Coming from a poor family, he had to obtain work in the Textile industry and this was to be the main means of his employ. However, he was always keen to learn and make contributions to the local society, mainly through the Friends or Quaker movement. The extrovert side of George's nature was very suited to the amateur dramatics side of the group and the presentation of talks on numerous subjects.

When he retired from Textiles he was able to devote a lot of time to Local History and he wrote a weekly series of articles on this for the Morley Advertiser over a period of 2 years. People still remember the lectures he gave on the subject and he had a wide network of friends.
In recognition for his services to the community he was awarded the MBE in 1980.