CLUB HISTORY The CROPPERS was started in 1985 by the late Mary Fellowes and her niece Fran, and joined by Russ Hughes not long afterwards.  They performed under the name of BLACK VELVET. Russ ran the club on his own from late 2006 until December 2011.

Who were the Croppers? The Croppers were men who worked cloth.  They were highly skilled and quite well paid before new machinery was introduced at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and were then being made redundant because of  the new ‘frames’ in the mills which were water powered machines and could be operated manually by an unskilled worker.  Annoyed at their rapid loss of status and relative wealth, the increasing numbers of unemployed Croppers soon became Luddite protestors.  They became intent on wrecking the frames responsible for their predicament. Soon this method of venting their disapproval had spread into the Northern mill towns and Manchester, Leeds and Bradford found themselves hosting sometimes bloody conflicts between mill owners and the 'Luddites'. The Croppers were led by the mythical general, 'Ned Ludd'.

Venues: 1985 - 1994 Black Bull Inn, Birstall 1994 - 2014 (Dec) The Priory, Cleckheaton 2015 (Jan) - 2016 (Mar) Black Bull Inn, Birstall 2016 (Apr) Star Inn, Roberttown

A plaque on the wall of the Star at Roberttown where the Croppers Club now meets every week. It would have been very different just over 200 years ago when the unemployed Croppers became Luddites. Their reception would not have been as welcoming as it is now at the Star.