West Yorkshire Playhouse thought that the world should know of their place of origin, so the Wednesday group decided that they would do something about it. The Wednesday group, or Heydays as it is known, is a group of people over fifty five in age with interests in the creative arts, who meet in the theatre each week. The result was an indoor pageant of all that has happened on the site since the Great Plague of 1645. We had singing, speeches and dance from Heydays members together with students from City of Leeds High School, Notre Dame Catholic 6th Form High School and musicians from Leeds College of Music. The area now houses the Department of Health, the Northern Music School and the British Broadcasting Corporation as well as the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Very different from what had gone on before with slums being pulled down and Austrian influenced flats put in their place, which Hitler wanted to use as his headquarters for his invasion of Britain, but the flats like Hitler were destroyed. Before this it seemed everything had gone on in the properties, from homes for chimney sweep boys to witches hideaways. What we have now is what is wanted for the present, but who knows what the future holds. © BA

“The Phoenix of Leodis” is in Leeds on the 12th July, 2003.