Helen Nugent

Moon

Freelance Reporter at Freelance

Editor and Founder at Northern Soul

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Articles

An extraordinary survivor: Clarion House in Nelson, Lancashire

1 week ago | northernsoul.me.uk | Helen Nugent

Up beyond the old Lancashire mill towns of Nelson and Barrowford is a simple single-storey clubhouse. It is an extraordinary survivor, the last Clarion House of its kind in Britain, part of an important social movement which swept the North of England (and particularly Lancashire and Yorkshire) at the end of the 19th century. This was a time when working people had a new opportunity to escape their densely-packed towns and cities at weekends and get out to the countryside.
Where do we get inspiration from? Adam Frost on gardening and music

2 weeks ago | northernsoul.me.uk | Helen Nugent

When I told my aunt that I was interviewing Adam Frost, she was very excited. “Ask him if he’ll come and live in my garden shed,” she said. This wasn’t on my list of questions but I understood her enthusiasm. The BBC Gardeners’ World presenter has a large and devoted fan base who admire his award-winning show gardens, books, and ability to convey a passion for horticulture to amateurs and professionals alike. Add in Frost’s easy demeanour and cheeky-chappie grin, and, well, you heard my aunt.
Gardening: a new beginning

3 weeks ago | northernsoul.me.uk | Helen Nugent

Moving house is a bag of mixed emotions. There’s the anticipation of a fresh start, the lure of unfamiliar surroundings, and a chance to make your mark on a new home. But if you loved your previous place and, like me, spent time and money shaping and nurturing it, moving is a bittersweet experience. And while you can pack up your belongings, taking the garden with you is not so easy. In many ways, I’m a victim of my own success.
Short Stories and Poems from Manchester's Emerging Writers

1 month ago | northernsoul.me.uk | Helen Nugent

The act of writing is by nature a solitary one. It’s also – and here I must ask for your forgiveness for what follows- an endeavour all too ripe for metaphor.In many ways, the writer is a perennial single parent. The practice of literary birthing (the agony and ecstasy) seldom takes place in company, and the nurturing of a vulnerable creative spark often occurs unsupported, behind closed doors.
The Great Leeds Novel? Author Neil Hunter writes for Northern Soul

1 month ago | northernsoul.me.uk | Helen Nugent

I have written the Great Leeds Novel. Somebody had to. You may have noticed that Leeds doesn’t have the richest literary tradition. We’ve had no major literary school, no defining scene. We have produced a few household names, but they seemed disinclined to write the Great Leeds Novel. Alan Bennett left for Oxford seven decades ago and likes writing about George III and Elizabeth II.
The Rise, Fall and Disappearance of Victor Grayson

1 month ago | northernsoul.me.uk | Helen Nugent

A world recovering from war and a global pandemic. A roguish Prime Minister who takes political advice from his young mistress. A secret service out of control. A real-life murder mystery. All the elements for a novel were right there in front of me. How could I resist? Imagine this. It’s 1907 and a 26-year-old Leftist troublemaker name of Victor Grayson is selected to fight a by-election in a West Yorkshire constituency for Labour.
Picture Gallery - Winnifred Nicholson: Cumbrian Rag Rugs

1 month ago | northernsoul.me.uk | Helen Nugent |Robert Martin

She was lauded as an exceptional painter. Now a new exhibition highlights something entirely different: rag rugs. Tullie House in Carlisle is hosting Winifred Nicholson: Cumbrian Rag Rugs. Revealing another side to Nicholson’s artistic practice, this show focuses on tufted rag rugs (also known as hooky rugs or proggy mats). Made from fabric scraps and old clothing, rag rugs were once commonplace, a solution to heating chilly stone floors.
Landscapes, land, and the need for a political debate on how we use our countryside

1 month ago | northernsoul.me.uk | Helen Nugent |Robert Martin

Last time I looked they were still there, rusting metal posts beside a quiet country road near Boulsworth Hill, the summit in the south Pennine chain on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border. Once upon a time, the posts had a purpose. They carried peremptory ‘keep out, private’ signs, just in case any passing walkers were eyeing up the wild but beautiful moorlands beyond as territory to explore. The posts remain but the signs are no more.
'the self-care getaway I needed' Marriott Manchester Piccadilly Hotel

2 months ago | northernsoul.me.uk | Megan E. Bond |Helen Nugent

I’ve been a bit under the weather of late (who wouldn’t be in the year’s darkest, greyest months?). So a self-care retreat in the heart of Manchester was just the ticket. From the moment I arrived at the Marriott Manchester Piccadilly Hotel, I was met with warmth and professionalism from the polite and welcoming staff at reception, the mezzanine and the lounge. Their attentiveness set the tone for a truly relaxing visit.
'a call to the light of imagination' Figures In Extinction, Aviva Studios, Manchester

2 months ago | northernsoul.me.uk | Desmond Bullen |Helen Nugent

Words have their own particular architecture. A scaffolding of syntax and a skeleton of grammar that both shapes and constrains the sayable. Dance, by way of contrast, has the facility to slip beyond these rigidities, to convey emotion in motion, to hold a kaleidoscope of positions in rapid succession. Figures in Extinction, a four-year, three-part project premiering in its complete form at Manchester’s Aviva Studios, illuminates the truth of this proposition in quite extraordinary fashion.