BBC’s Songs of Praise to feature UCLan Temperance expert
Dr Annemarie McAllister showcases Livesey Collection in this week’s episode – Temperance and Temptation
A Temperance Movement historian from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) will lend her expertise to the BBC’s Songs of Praise as it looks at abstinence ahead of Alcohol Awareness Week.
Senior Research Fellow Dr Annemarie McAllister specialises in the history of the teetotal Temperance Movement, which was founded in Preston by Joseph Livesey in 1832 and grew to become a UK social movement that encouraged people to refrain from drinking alcohol in order to curtail issues such as poverty and neglect.
Annemarie has worked extensively with community groups to curate a variety of exhibitions and re-create key events to bring the Temperance Movement to life for a modern audience, as well as producing many academic publications.
She uses UCLan’s internationally significant archive, the Livesey Collection, in her many research projects. Located on the University’s Preston Campus, it is the largest of its kind in the country and represents temperance societies and culture from the 19th century onwards.
Annemarie took Songs of Praise presenter Reverend Canon Kate Bottley to see the collection for herself. She said: “Kate and I had a great time exploring some of the many temperance-related objects such a pledges, hymnbooks, and medals in the Livesey Collection, and discussing how important they were to people’s lives and beliefs.”
In the episode, Kate will also visit successors to an original children’s temperance society, meet a local pastor in Burnley with her own journey to sobriety story to tell and try out alcohol-free cocktails at Lancashire’s oldest surviving temperance bar, Mr Fitzpatrick’s in Rawtenstall.
Songs of Praise – Temperance and Temptation will air this Sunday, 2 July, at 1.15pm on BBC One. It will also be available to watch again on BBC iPlayer.