For immediate release: Monday 1 October 2007
Panel announced for Any Questions?
BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions? will be broadcast from the New Earswick Folk Hall on Friday (5 October). The names of three of the four panellists for Friday’s live broadcast have been announced by the BBC. They are: Yvette Cooper, Minister of State for Housing and Planning; William Hague, Shadow Foreign Secretary; and Simon Jenkins, journalist and author. A fourth panellist will be announced nearer the time of broadcast.
People from York greeted the news that Any Questions? was coming to the Folk Hall with great enthusiasm and all the tickets were snapped up within three weeks of being released.
The broadcast will take place on a very significant day for the Folk Hall –marking exactly 100 years to the day since the hall was officially opened by the Quaker philanthropist Joseph Rowntree.
When Joseph Rowntree built New Earswick he wanted to create a community in which people on modest incomes could afford to rent decent homes and live in a healthy and attractive environment. He also wanted to create a lively, thriving community, in which the residents played an active part. In October 1907 he opened the Folk Hall, his gift to the village. He said: “If a Village is to have a united life and a common interest in things affecting its welfare, it is almost necessary that it should have a place for meeting.”
Julia Unwin, Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “The broadcast of Any Questions? is a very fitting way to mark 100 years since Joseph Rowntree opened the Folk Hall. He would have been proud to see that the meeting place he built for the community is now being used for national debate as well as local activity.”
Notes to Editors:
- There are a small number of tickets available for local journalists. If you wish to attend please contact Charlotte Morris in the press office on 01904 615950.
- Press photographers will have the opportunity to take photos before (and usually after) the event, but the BBC insists that no photographs are taken during the event.
- Joseph Rowntree established the Village Trust to ensure the upkeep of The Folk Hall and New Earswick Village. In 1959 the Trust widened its objectives to cover research and development, and became the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust by a private Act of Parliament (renamed the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 1990). The Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust was established in 1968 specifically to take over responsibility for the housing operations.
- New Earswick Folk Hall is managed by the New Earswick Community Association (NECA). Activities held there regularly include: yoga; tae kwon do; bridge, indoor bowls; tea dancing; and aerobics. Groups that meet there include: New Earswick Musical Society; York Family History Society; Churches Together; and Mencap.
Issued by Charlotte Morris, JRF Senior Media Relations Manager: 01904 615 950 / 020 7278 9665 / charlotte.morris@jrf.org.uk