{"id":3743,"date":"2025-12-06T21:06:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T21:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hds-online.co.uk\/?page_id=3743"},"modified":"2026-03-03T14:33:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:33:06","slug":"barnbow-canaries","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.hds-online.co.uk\/?page_id=3743","title":{"rendered":"Barnbow Canaries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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  • Playwright – Alice Nutter<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Location – West Park United Reform Church<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Director – Tony Fennerty<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    • Agnes – Carol Weilding<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Edith – Isabelle Ghosh<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Swifty – Carmen Ronda Perez<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Florence – Lucy Gradwell<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Victor – Mark Nicholls<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Parkin – Matt Snowden<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Sparrow – Susannah Todd<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Bertie\/Doctor – Matt Weilding<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Ensemble<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Zopito Di Domenico, Stuart Kellett, Jane Luty, Julie O’Brien<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      The story of the Barnbow Canaries is based on a true incident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The shortage of shells in World War One had reached crisis point by 1915. Shell production was nationalised and overseen by the new Ministry of Munitions. A series of huge factories were built across the country and one of the biggest of these was in Barnbow, Leeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The factories were mostly staffed by women – the Munitionettes – and around one million had been recruited by 1918. The work was tough, unrelenting and dangerous. The munitionettes were known as canaries because the explosives they handled turned their skin yellow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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