Dr Lauren Padgett
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drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
Dr Lauren Padgett
@drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
410 followers 610 following 300 posts
Assistant Curator of Collections @ Bradford District Museums and Galleries ⚙🏺🖼 🏛 | PhD 🎓 | Historian 📜 | Proud Bradfordian 💪🐗 | Interested in local heritage; bygone times; people from the past; & dusty old things | 📌 🗺 Bradford, Yorkshire | Views my own.
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drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
After an eventful and stressful week, nice to have the day off work to go christmas shopping at Halifax's Piece Hall and their Christmas Market, followed by food and drink at local restaurant. Their Christmas Market is great with different food, drink and product stalls. 🛍☕️🍷🍽
Photo shows table with three different drinks on it, a mulled wine, a black coffee and a hot chocolate with squirty cream. Photo shows a courtyard full of white tents of christmas market stalls surrounded by a 3 storey square building of the piece hall. Along one of the levels, letters spelt out Christmas. In the distance is a church steeple/spire.
November 21, 2025 at 7:37 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
26) After work with colleagues, I went to @bradford2025.co.uk Loading Bay to see 'Nisbet Road Tailor Shop' exhibition featuring clothing & photos on loan from @bradfordmuseums.bsky.social. Caught 'Sonic Swirl and Silence' sensory experience too. Followed by food and drink at Darley St. Market. 🧵🪡
Photo shows a purple plinth with yellow writing on the side saying Nisbet Road Tailor Shop with clothing arranged on it. Behind it a wall of suit jackets hung on the wall with coat hangers. Photo shows a mock shop front with door. One of the shop front displays shows traditional South Asian outfit with a garland that spells out the letters B r a d f o r d. Photo showsa wide mock shop front with retro orange wooden frame and yellow backdrop with a wide length of fabric hung in it. A sign saying Nisbet Road Tailor Shop. Photo taken into sensory experience tent with draped fabric ceiling and walls projecting light and film footage. On the floor are rugs and seating.
November 20, 2025 at 9:00 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
This week I read Tracy Borman's 'The King's Witch', a historical novel about the #Stuart royal court and, fittingly for this week, the Gunpowder Plot. I hadn't realised it was part of a series so I've requested the next one. Book borrowed from Bradford Libraries. 📚 👑 #SkyBook #BookSky
Book cover shows buildings by river at the bottom with an enlarged image of a woman in period costume tinted green holding a pink rose.
November 9, 2025 at 1:07 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
I know I'm biased but this is a great exhibition showcasing #Japanese objects from ukiyo-e, to arms and armoury, to #netsuke. On display until March at Cliffe Castle Museum #Keighley #Bradford @bradfordmuseums.bsky.social.

#JapaneseArt #ukiyoe #WoodBlockPrints

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Photo shows a display set up as a japanese garden with two mannikins of Japanese armour. Photo shows a wall of framed Japanese woodblock prints.
November 8, 2025 at 8:56 AM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
I've finished reading my Halloween week read. I decided to go with a classic and re-read Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'. I can't help but feel pity for the tormented Monster and less so for arrogant Frankenstein. 🎃📚 #BookSky #SkyBook
Book cover shows a illustration depicting Frankenstein's monster.
October 31, 2025 at 10:01 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
25) I've been off work to spend time with little people. Yesterday I took one to #Bradford Industrial Museum for the Halloween trail. Today, we took two to Bolling Hall for the Halloween event day. I know I'm biased but @bradfordmuseums.bsky.social run great free family events all year round. 🎃💀🪄
Photo shows a child with face covered stood next to a skeleton. Photo shows two children with faces covered drrsses in witch costumes stood next a woman dressed in costume as a witch against a themed backdrop.
October 31, 2025 at 9:11 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
It's been great having 'Woven Through Time' exhibition about Bradford's textile industry at #Bradford Industrial Museum @bradfordmuseums.bsky.social this year, featuring historical costume & photos by Ian Beesley. Last few weeks to see it - catch it while you can. bradfordmuseums.org/event/woven-...
Photo shows exhibition space with a wall of framed photos and mannikins of costume in cases. Photo shows exhibition space with a catwalk of mannikins of costume and two cases behind also showing mannikins of costume.
October 24, 2025 at 6:35 AM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
This week I read 'Actually I'm A Murderer' by Terry Deary, clever and witty murder mystery set in Sunderland in the 1970s. Book borrowed from Bradford Libraries. 📚 #BookSky #SkyBook
Book cover has round glasses with one lens cracked and both covered in blood.
October 24, 2025 at 6:20 AM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
24) For our work team away day, my colleagues & I explored what's on our doorstep in #Bradford, visiting @mediamuseum.bsky.social to see their fab new galleries & visiting @impressions-gallery.com to see their current exhibition 'Make Yourself at Home'. Plus lunch at Darley St. Market. 🏛 📺 📻 📸
Photo shows a wall that says Sound + Vision. This is at the Science and Media Museum in the sound and vision gallery. Photo shows a museum case containing objects linked to Jacquard weaving with a model of a Jacquard loom, punch cards, design tickets and photos of Mill workers. This is in the sound and vision gallery. Photo shows an animation of a red-y, pink-y and purple-y earth depicting the carbon cycle. This is in the You:Matter experience. Photo shows the back of a sofa and arm chair facing a wall with lots of framed photos on it. All the frames are different styles, colours and sizes creating a collage effect. This is at Impressions Gallery.
October 22, 2025 at 6:01 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
23) This evening I had pre-show drinks in Sunbridgewells tunnels, #Bradford, before watching the theatre show #Uncanny Fear of the Dark @dannyrobins.bsky.social at Bradford Alhambra. Great staging and paranormal cases. 😱🛸👻
Photo shows the theatre stage set with shelving with objects on, twqo chairs with orange cushions, and three large screens behind. Two say Uncanny.
October 18, 2025 at 10:12 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
This fortnight I have read two historical fiction books. Michael Crummey's 'The Adversary' set in 19th century Newfoundland and 'Cordelia' by Winston Graham - this should be dramatised, it has everything from a mysterious 1st wife, unhappy marriages, secret lovers and séances. 📚 #BookSky #SkyBook
Book cover for The Adversary shows a coast line with buildings, trees and the ocean with the clouds into the shape of deer antlers above. Book cover for Cordelia shows the back of a woman in a dress stood in front of a three storey house with an upper window lit and a town with smokey chimneys in the background, under moonlight.
October 15, 2025 at 8:26 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
I decided to treat myself so I booked 2 days off work & booked myself into Wood Hall Spa and Hotel, Wetherby, for an overnight solo spa break. Tied in a visit to Harewood House to see 'Austen and Turner' exhibition. So glad I did it, relaxed & refreshed but don't want to return to work. #SelfCare 💆‍♀️🧖‍♀️
Photo shows a glass-top table with a kindle showing an e-book, a bowl of olives and glass of prosecco on it. Photo shows on mannikins displaying period costume, Regency dresses and a man's outfit, from Jane Susten movie and TV adaptations.
October 7, 2025 at 6:41 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
There's lots of ways to interpret place-meanings and origins. Ivegate could mean steep, or even refer to ivy. This is where one interpretation refers to St. Ives.
Photo shows page from book with place meanings for Bradford.
October 6, 2025 at 1:40 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
This morning I went for walk around Low Moor and Wyke, #Bradford, which included a part of the Spen Valley Greenway. Very lucky to have some nice walking routes and green spaces in my local area. 🥾🍂
Photo shows a paved path under an old railway bridge with trees and hedges along the sides of the path. There is a pole with blue signs about the route and directions. Photo shows a paved path with trees and green hedges along the side and a white-painted metal bench to the side. The sky is clear blue.
September 28, 2025 at 12:17 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
Over the last few months, and inbetween other books, I've read 'The Redemption of Althalus' by David and Leigh Eddings. I don't often read fantasy books but enjoyed dipping in and out of this longer read. #BookSky #SkyBook #FantasyBook
Book cover shows a man wearing a clock with the hood up and a black cat on his shoulder. He is carrying a knife and there are mountains in the distance behind him.
September 27, 2025 at 7:23 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
This weekend I read 'The Lost Passenger' by Frances Quinn, an endearing historical fiction novel about a woman who tries to turn a tragedy into an opportunity for a better life. Book borrowed from Bradford Libraries. #BookSky #SkyBook #BookRecommendation
Book cover shows an illustration of the ship Titanic with other illustrations around it showing the silhouettes of the New York skyline, a female figure with a child, a female figure with a man under a lamppost, and foliage and flowers.
September 21, 2025 at 6:05 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
22) This evening I attended the launch of the exhibition 'Our Turn: Practice Bradford' at Loading Bay @bradford2025.co.uk. Part of the new visual arts festival, 'Our Turn', for #Bradford. Loved Saba Siddiqui's installation. 🫖☕️

bradford2025.co.uk/event/our-tu...
Photo shows a table and chairs. The table is covered in a tablecloth with words on it. On the table are teapots and teacups covered in fabrics. Suspended above the table is this oversized fabric covered teapot.
September 17, 2025 at 7:54 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
At Bolling Hall Museum, #Bradford, @bradfordmuseums.bsky.social today we celebrated its 110 year anniversary of being a museum with new displays, story-telling sessions, astronomy themed talks and play, a speech reenactment and historical music. 🏰🎉
September 14, 2025 at 3:18 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
This morning I went for a hour walk around Low Moor, #Bradford, including through Raw Nook Reserve Nature. Very lucky to have this on my doorstep. 🌳🐦🥾
Photo shows the entrance to Raw Nook Nature Reserve with a notice board, fencing and gate. Photo shows a dirt path through a wooded area. Photo shows a field in the distance with three horses in it. Photo taken from the path of a railway bridge towards a field and wooded area at one side.
September 13, 2025 at 3:43 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
This week I read 'Human Remains' by Jo Callaghan, the third in the Kat and Lock detective series. Another gripping page-turner. Cannot wait for book 4. #BookSky #SkyBook #BookRecommendation #CrimeFiction
Book cover has a large hand print.
September 13, 2025 at 7:43 AM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
I was planning on saving it as my Halloween read but this weekend I read 'Whistle' by Linwood Barclay. I couldn't put it down - really sinister and creepy 😱. (Wouldn't recommend to train modellers though). 📚 🛤 🚂 #SkyBook #BookSky #HorrorBook #BookRecommendation
Book cover shows a box covered in cobwebs with parts of a toy train, carriages and train tracks in front of it. The train's headlights are shining yellow.
September 7, 2025 at 6:21 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
Today I took the day off work to spend time with 6yr old niece & 6wk old nephew. We went to Darlington's
Theatre Hullabaloo, a charity theatre for kids, where we played in a pirate themed and fairytale forest themed playrooms. Lovely way to round off the summer holidays. www.theatrehullabaloo.org.uk
Photo shows a child's size wooden house in a room which has been decorated with green carpet as the grass floor, fabric suspended from the ceilings with coloured lighting. There are play props on the floor, baskets and puppets. There is a prop bridge over a pretend river in the background.
September 1, 2025 at 8:04 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
21) When your birthday coincides with the annual North Parade Street Party and Darley St. Market's inaugural Great Northern Day celebration, it would be rude not to attend. Music and atmosphere at North Parade was nice and introduced some family members to Darley St. Market who hadn't been yet. 🎵🍻
Photo shows a street with buildings at either side. On the street there are crowds of people, and tables under parasols. Photo shows a pint of beer in a 'great northern day 2025' plastic pint cup.
August 24, 2025 at 6:19 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
I was working at Bolling Hall Museum #Bradford yesterday and today. I had my lunches outside. The museum grounds looked lovely in the sunshine, maintained by the fab volunteer gardeners. 🏰🌳☀️
Photo shows an old building, Bolling Hall, with a large garden in front of it with lawns, hedges, trees and flowers. The sky is blue.
August 15, 2025 at 3:30 PM
drlaurenpadgett.bsky.social
This weekend, I read 'Bright I Burn' by Molly Aitken. Set in Medieval Ireland and inspired by true events, it follows the life of a woman fighting against patriarchy and for power. #SkyBook #BookSky #BookRecommendation
Book cover shows the outline of a woman's head with red long flowing hair and green leaves and red sparks coming from it.
August 10, 2025 at 4:21 PM