# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Worktown: the Mass Observation Project and the working class
- **Event Start and End Date**: Sat, 30 May, 2026 at 01:00 pm – Sat, 30 May, 2026 at 04:00 pm (+01:00)
- **Event Description**: Our next in-person event is the historical and personal background to a novel set in working class Bolton in the 1930s from the writer.

Bill Hodson is a York based author, originally from Bolton. Bill’s family worked in cotton mills from the 1780s to the end of the Second World War.

His second novel, Worktown, is a fictionalised account of the Mass Observation ‘expedition’ to Bolton in 1937/38. Mass Observation was founded by three former Cambridge students who wanted to assemble information about everyday life in Britain to gain a deeper and richer understanding of society.

One of the founder members, Tom Harrisson, an anthropologist, decided to set up a field study in Bolton to chronicle the detail of working-class living and working conditions. Part of his motivation was to spur the government into action to improve the quality of life in the industrial heartlands. He gave Bolton the name ‘Worktown’ and recruited volunteers to chronicle what they saw and heard dispassionately, as if they were observing a remote tribe from a foreign land.

Although an overwhelming mountain of data was collected, the opinions of local people about the Worktown project were never sought. In his book, Bill gives voice to those opinions through fictional characters and in particular through the character of Molly, a young weaver who begins to fall in love with one of the other recruits, Edward, a former Cambridge student. Through his love for Molly he hopes to find some purpose to his life while, through him, she glimpses another life away from the drudgery of the mill. But can their love bridge the gap between them?

In his talk Bill will talk about the historical background to his book and his family connections to the story.

Admission is free and nibbles will be served!
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/wakefield/worktown-the-mass-observation-project-and-the-working-class/200029987876442
- **Event Categories**: Workshops, Art, literary-art, trips-adventures
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 0

## Ticket Details


## Event venue details

- **city**: Wakefield
- **state**: EN
- **country**: United Kingdom
- **location**: The Red Shed
- **lat**: 53.683861959347
- **long**: -1.4938114499511
- **full address**: The Red Shed, 18 Vicarage Street South, Wakefield, WF1 1, United Kingdom

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: Worktown: the Mass Observation Project and the working class
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events4/banners/ba3683b276c9f88aa487ef676d1e8c32238869c2e012c036d1d4f316c223aab1-rimg-w1200-h1877-dca9bebd-gmir?v=1777212041

## FAQs

- **Q**: When and where is Worktown: the Mass Observation Project and the working class being held?
  - **A:** Worktown: the Mass Observation Project and the working class takes place on Sat, 30 May, 2026 at 01:00 pm to Sat, 30 May, 2026 at 04:00 pm at The Red Shed, 18 Vicarage Street South, Wakefield, WF1 1, United Kingdom.
- **Q**: Who is organizing Worktown: the Mass Observation Project and the working class?
  - **A:** Worktown: the Mass Observation Project and the working class is organized by Adrian Cruden.

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