Right now we can’t visit the house at Cliffe Castle (but the grounds are still open for fresh air and exercise – just stay a safe distance away from each other).
If anyone needs a reminder of how lucky we are to have this museum in our town, take a look at this album the History Society has just uploaded to the Flickr site.
Following the recent advice from the Government and Health Officials, the History Society committee held an Extraordinary Meeting and voted to suspend all face-to-face History Society events with immediate effect and until at least the start of June.
This covers guest speaker meetings, archive sessions, face-to-face committee meetings and involvement in events. This is so that we play our part in minimising the chance of spreading the Covid-19 virus and in protecting the most vulnerable members of society.
Guidance on practical steps we should all be taking can be found here:
We felt this decision was the most responsible course of action we could take. We know that it will disappoint some people but will reassure others. We will continue to publish photographs and news stories about Keighley’s rich history on our website, Facebook pages and Flickr site, so please stay in touch with us on there. Please pass this message on to people who may not otherwise see it.
We will review the situation at the start of June and will again look to official guidance on best practice at that time.
Right now we are living through a moment that will be written about in the history books of tomorrow. Let us all play our part in making sure it is recorded as a time when we showed extraordinary kindness towards each other and were considerate to the needs of everyone in our society.
Joyce Newton, Chairperson KDLHS 16 March 2020
Next week’s History Society meeting (Wednesday 11th March) is about the forthcoming Transport Festival at the end of May. Festival co-ordinator Graham Mitchell will give an overview of the whole Festival, then History Society committee member Steve Bown will talk about the ‘Ten Tales of Transport’ the History Society is planning to tell in its exhibition in the Civic Centre. We are also inviting people to come along and share their own transport-related stories and bring along any photographs that we could scan and perhaps use in the exhibition. We are particularly interested in photographs relating to the various cycling clubs that operated in and around Keighley in the 50s/60s, and any trips organised by firms or church groups or the like that took people to places like the coast or the countryside. If you have anything you are willing to share, please bring it down.
The meeting will happen in Keighley Library. Doors open at 7pm with the meeting starting at 7.30pm. Tea and coffee will be served. It costs £3 to attend (to help cover our costs) or £1 for History Society members.
The History Society is appealing for photographs relating to daytrips organised by local firms or church groups or the like, from the 1930s to the 1970s. We would like to include as many as we can in the exhibition we are putting on in the Civic Centre as part of the Keighley Transport Festival at the end of May. These can be coach trips, train trips, or even mass-cycle-rides – any sort of transport qualifies.
We’d like to know which business / church / group organised the trip, who went on it, what transport was used, where it was to and (at least roughly) when it happened.
If you can help, please comment below or come along to our next meeting in Keighley Library from 7pm on the 11th of March, where we will have a scanner to take copies of photographs and where we will take notes to go along with the photographs.
Keighley Transport Festival, ‘In Motion’, is happening on the 24th and 25th May 2020.
As part of the Festival, the History Society is putting on an exhibition called ‘Ten Tales of Transport’ in the Civic Centre. One of the tales we would like to tell is that of the various cycling clubs that were active in or around the town in the 1940s/50s/60s – clubs such as Keighley Road Club, St Christopher’s Cycling Club, Keighley Clarion Cycling Club, Aireworth Cycling Club, Keighley Velo Cycling Club, and Bronte Wheelers Cycling Club.
We are looking for people who can help us tell this particular tale with information and photographs about one or more of the clubs. If you can help, please comment below or come along to the special History Society meeting on 11th March (upstairs in Keighley Library from 7pm to 8.30pm where we shall have a scanner to take copies of documents or photographs).
Keep an eye on Facebook or our website as we make requests for help on other tales we wish to tell.
Just added to our Flickr archive are these scans of the pages of a Keighley Handbook from 1960. It features a history of the town and dozens of adverts from local businesses of the time. The handbook was loaned to the History Society for scanning by Joyce Newton. Click below to take a look.
Last weekend, Haworth Youth Hostel in Cross Roads with Lees threw open its door for local residents to have a look around. The Hostel occupies Longlands Hall, built for mill-owning family the Merralls in the early 1880s. Many of the original features of the house survive to this day. This is an album of images from that rather damp Sunday taken by History Society committee member Tim Neal. #
The History Society was at Keighley Bus Museum earlier today to photograph forthcoming guest-speaker Gerald Newton with the Straker Clough trackless trolleybus Keighley No.5, currently being refurbished at the museum.
Gerald will be giving a talk on Wednesday 12th February on the history of the bus and the refurbishment project. The talk will be upstairs in Keighley Library (there is a lift for those who need it). Doors open at 7pm and the talk will start at 7.30pm. Everyone is welcome and it costs £3 to attend (£1 to History Society members). You can also join the History Society at any of our meetings. Membership costs £10 for the year.
We now have over 10,000 images available to view on our Flickr website. This album is the most recent addition, featuring adverts from a 1915 edition of the Wool Year Book. The book belonged to Willie Pickles of Malsis Road who used to work at Robert Clough’s. It was donated to the History Society by his daughter Janet Bastow in January this year.
Our first History Society meeting of 2020 is this Wednesday (8th January). Retired university lecturer and curator of the website NotJustHockney.info, Colin Neville will present his talk on seven locally-based but nationally-acclaimed artists. He will also be selling copies of his tie-in book (£5 each, all proceeds to the upkeep of Silsden Town Hall).
History Society guest speaker talks take place upstairs at Keighley Library. Doors open at 7pm and the meetings start at 7.30pm. There is a lift available for those who need it. Tea and coffee is served. Admission is open to all and it costs £3 (£1 for History Society members).
You can support the work done by the History Society by becoming a member at one of our meetings. Membership costs £10 (£15 for a couple) and goes to supporting the work that we do plus gives reduced admission to our meetings and the opportunity to take part in members-only activities.
