This is the story of three firefighters from Yorkshire, all women all wanting to make a difference, all ahead of their time, all facing challenges beyond fire. From 1939 - 2025.

Join us for a very special evening celebrating the history of our building. To start the evening there will be a blue plaque unveiling. This blue plaque is commemorate the building from fire station to community hub. Followed by the premiere of our new show Trailblazings: Women have always been firefighters.

Join historian Lesley Newnham as she discusses  Burmantofts Pottery, the Leeds Victorian ceramics company which rivalled Doulton and Minton.

Burmantofts Pottery employed some of the leading sculptural and architectural names of the age and invented many new techniques and remains collectable today.

The talk will be accompanied by archives from Burmantofts along side ceramics form the collection held at the Discovery Centre. 

Explore our collection of historic cameras, make a pinhole camera and try to develop your own photograph!

Learn about the development of cameras and photography during this store tour, and then make your very own pinhole camera with our very own professional photographer. 

This event includes a family workshop and tour of the store.

Humphry Repton was the successor to ‘Capability’ Brown as Britain’s pre-eminent landscape gardener. He was renowned for inventing the Red Book. This was an artwork for prospective clients that combined hand-written design proposals with theatrical before-and-after watercolour illustrations. Nine were produced for Yorkshire clients. The talk will include Repton’s commission from Earl Fitzwilliam at Wentworth Woodhouse (1791-1794), which introduced him to patronage in Yorkshire.

Let us take you on a journey through the history of Leeds and highlight treasures from our library collections. Pop along to the 2nd floor of Leeds Central Library to explore collections dating from the 17th century in our Heritage Open Day showcase event. Focusing on this year's Architecture theme, we will transport visitors through the history of Leeds and explore the city's buildings and green spaces. Librarians will handpick their favourite examples, from historic maps to beautiful prints and everything in-between.

Join Friends of Middleton Park member John Newbould for a walk and talk about recusancy in Middleton.