Preston history: UCLan historian to go on BBC's Songs of Praise to share significance of the city's past

Why is Preston getting a mention?

Dr Annemarie McAllister, a Temperance Movement historian will be lending her expertise to the Songs of Praise as it looks at abstinence ahead of Alcohol Awareness Week (July 3-July 9).

The Senior Research Fellow at UCLan 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.

Preston was recognised in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as ‘the birthplace of teetotalism’ and ‘the Jerusalem of temperance’ across the country, with the North West as one of the strongholds of the teetotal pledge.

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 modern audiences, as well as producing many academic publications.

She has previously spoken about Preston’s importance to the temperance movement on BBC Radio 4’s ‘In Our Time‘ back in February 2022.

What will Annemarie by sharing on Songs of Praise?

Annemarie uses UCLan’s internationally significant archive, the Livesey Collection, in her many research projects, and she took took Songs of Praise presenter Reverend Canon Kate Bottley to see the collection for herself.

Located on the Preston Campus, the Livesey Collection is the largest of its kind in the country and represents temperance societies and culture from the 19th century onwards.

Annemarie 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.

When will the show air?

Songs of Praise - Temperance and Temptation will air this Sunday, July 2, at 1.15pm on BBC One.

It will also be available to watch again on BBC iPlayer.