General information

We hope you enjoy your Brontë Society membership and will want to continue your valuable support for another year. 

Four to six weeks before your membership is due to expire, we’ll contact you and explain how to renew your membership. This can be done in person at the Museum shop or by phoning 01535 642323 and asking to speak with our Membership Officer. 

Alternatively, you can complete and return the renewal form found at the bottom of this page.

Our events programme is one of our highlights. We offer something for everyone, from author talks and writing workshops to opportunities to explore our collection. 

Readers and writers should look out for our annual Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing. If your interest is in the collection or the Brontë family, then give Parsonage Unwrapped or Brontë Treasures a try. Our online Brontë Lounge and Thursday Talks series are brilliant for those of you who can’t get to Haworth.

Explore what’s on here, and look out for members’ concessionary prices on selected events.

There are groups of Brontë Society members throughout the world and in the UK. These groups are self-organised, meet regularly, and run their own Brontë-related events.

For details on getting in touch with a group near you, download the members' groups contact sheet at the bottom of this page.

A brief summary of the Brontë Society’s 130th Annual General Meeting

held on Saturday 4 October, 2025 @ 3.00pm

St James Church, Thornton and online

Helen Meller, as Vice Chair, opened the meeting and welcomed both those members in attendance at St James including my fellow trustee Shahidha Bari, who has served as a trustee for the last four years, Clare O’Callaghan, Editor of Brontë Studies and other invited guests, including Chris Beaumont from our auditors Clive Owen. Also in attendance were members of the senior leadership team as well as a number of supporting museum staff.

Apologies were noted from the President Dame Judy Dench, Stephen May our Relationship Manager with Arts Council England, Isobel Stirk, Laura Potts, Elaine Simpson, Catherine Rayner, Akiko Higuchi, Patricia Goodwin, and Erin Adams, as well as trustees Lauren Watson and Ciara Gallgher.

Membership currently stands at 1682 and the meeting was quorate with 100 members having registered to attend and 272 members have participated by voting.  This equates to a turnout of 16.7% which is in line with last year’s turnout of 17.5%.

In regards to the voting for the returning trustee candidates it can be confirmed that both candidates received more votes in favour than against.  So, congratulations go to Lucy Powrie and Andy Midgley on their reappointment for a further term as trustees on the Brontë Society Board.

Thanks were extended to outgoing trustees, Shahidha Bari for her hard work and commitment serving as a trustee for the last four years, and also to Julian Sladdin for his commitment to the Board since 2021. Julian has unfortunately had to step down as a trustee very recently.

Following her re-election, Lucy Powrie took the Chair of the meeting and announced the result of the general resolution to accept the minutes of the previous meeting – there were 248 votes cast in favour of accepting the minutes with 24 abstentions. Therefore, the Minutes of the 2024 AGM minutes were formally accepted.

Andrew Midgley, as Chair of the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee, presented and spoke to the Society’s annual accounts, ending 31 March, 2025, and was also answered a number of AOB questions that had been raised. 

In regards to voting for the general resolution to re-appoint Clive Owen LLP as the Society’s auditors, it was advised that 248 people had voted in favour with 21 abstentions and 3 against. So, the general resolution to reappointment Clive Owen LLP was passed.

There were several items of ‘any other business’ submitted and the discussion, of these items, will be formally recorded in the full version of the minutes.

Following the conclusion of the informal Q&A session the meeting closed at 4pm.

For more information on the most recent and upcoming AGMs, please check the members' area noticeboard here. 

Our Brontë Parsonage Museum newsletter keeps you up to date with our exciting events and Museum news. This is sent out quarterly, with the occasional extra mailing in between when we have big events lined up!

You may have signed up to receive our newsletter when you joined the Society, but if not, click here to sign up now.

The Brontë Society is a company limited by guarantee (number 73855), having been incorporated in 1902, and is registered as a charity (number 529952). 

Membership is open to all and details of all members are held on the Society's database (the Register of Members). The liability of members in the event of the Society being wound up is limited to a sum not exceeding £1 each. 

Holders of all categories of membership (including Young Brontë Friend, Brontë Friend, and Brontë Champion) are full members of the Society and hold full voting/membership rights in line with Company Law. 

For more information on the Society and its governance, click here.

We only collect information about you that we need to provide the service you’ve requested. This may include: membership, event bookings, online purchases, e-newsletter sign-up etc. We don’t share your personal information with any third party or external organisations for any purpose, other than those listed in our Privacy Policy to enable us to provide your service. 

Where we do share information, we only share what is absolutely necessary to fulfil that contract. We’ll never sell or pass your personal data to a third party for marketing purposes.  We’ll only use your data ourselves for marketing if you’ve given us permission.

Download our Society Privacy Policy at the bottom of this page.