Their Royal Highnesses visit West and South Yorkshire

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall have spent the day in West and South Yorkshire, visiting a number of local organisations and businesses and meeting members of the local community.

The day started in Halifax where Their Royal Highnesses visited The Piece Hall following its multi-million pound project to transform the former cloth hall into a world class cultural heritage destination.

The Piece Hall has stood proudly at the heart of Halifax since 1779 and gets its name from the 'pieces of cloth' that used to be traded there.

In August 2017, the Hall was re-opened and is now a thriving centre for business and culture, and during today's visit Their Royal Highnesses were able to meet a number of those who have made it a success.

Next The Prince and The Duchess dropped in to Halifax Borough Market, a Victorian Grade II listed building that was originally opened by The Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary) in 1896.

The Prince of Wales then visited Dean Clough Mill, which was once the world's largest carpet factory. It is now a thriving business centre with 150 companies that has employed 4,500 people.

Meanwhile The Duchess of Cornwall travelled to Haworth, to visit the Brontë Museum and Brontë Parsonage, home to the Brontë sisters and the historic collection of their manuscripts, furniture and personal possessions.

2018 is the bicentenary of the birth of Emily Brontë and to mark the occasion throughout 2017, 10,000 visitors have participated in Clare Twomey's 'Wuthering Heights – A Manuscript' project, which is recreating Emily's lost manuscript. Today The Duchess had the honour of writing the very last line.

Her Royal Highness then had the chance to meet museum staff and local school children who recently took part in a creative writing competition organised by the Museum. The Duchess is passionate about promoting the importance of supporting literacy both to children and adults alike.

Find out more about the 500 Words children's writing competition, of which The Duchess is Honorary Judge.

With the use of a vintage bus, Her Royal Highness travelled through the beautiful Yorkshire countryside to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway to celebrate 50 years since it reopened, after its initial closure in 1961.

The heritage line now welcomes over 120,000 tourists and enthusiasts, with volunteers vital to its success. The Duchess met a number of volunteers who have been restoring engines – projects that are being used to help transfer heritage skills to younger trainee engineers.

Her Royal Highness was then treated to a ride on board locomotive 'No.85', travelling inside Saloon 21661 which is best known as the 'Old Gentlemen's Saloon' in the classic film, The Railway Children, which was filmed on this Yorkshire line.

In Rotherham, The Prince of Wales, as President of The Prince's Trust, was able to see first-hand how the Trust's Team Programme is helping disadvantaged young people in the town gain skills and qualifications by working with South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue.

The day finished with at Liberty Speciality Steels, where The Prince officially re-started the large furnace. The steel-works had originally been mothballed in 2015, but has since taken over and production has begun again – which has provided 300 local jobs already.