Stan the Musical

The musical ‘Stan’, was first performed at Keighley Playhouse, Devonshire Street, on Monday, 19th July 1976. The musical had been inspired by an exhibition called “1920’s Boy” at Cliffe Castle in 1973. It received coverage on ITV’s ‘Calendar’ local news programme, and the BBC’s lunchtime programme ‘Pebble Mill at One’. After the July run it was revived at the Playhouse in October 1976.

The songs from the musical ‘Stan’ were recorded and an LP was produced by Calrec Audio Ltd. of Hebden Bridge. Copies were available for £3. The recording was engineered by John Trenouth and was mixed by John Butterfield and Tim Whitley. The photograph shows the front and back of the LP sleeve.

The exhibition that inspired the musical was a showcase for the paintings of Keighley artist Stanley R. Boardman. In the late 1960s/early 1970s Boardman began painting depictions of his memories of growing up in Keighley in the 1920s. Encouraged by local historian Ian Dewhirst, the paintings were put on display to much acclaim at Cliffe Castle in 1973.

The musical was written and produced by Michael Ford, with songs by Ford and Allan Greenwood. The show was an HYT (originally Holycroft Youth Theatre) production. HYT started out as Holycroft School’s theatre group, but soon broke away and recruited young people from across Keighley. ‘Stan’ was their first production and the theatre group ran into the 2000s. The group became renowned for staging original productions devised by the young cast in workshops. Musical accompaniment for this show was by Tim Whitley, John Trenouth and friends, Stanley Bishop provided cinema piano music, Pete Hey and Stan Boardman himself devised the props, and Ian Dewhirst acted as historical advisor.

The item belongs to Neville Whittingham. It was brought along to a talk on Stanley R. Boardman given by History Society member Tim Neal at Silsden Local History Group on 26th February 2018. The item was photographed by Tim Neal and permission was given to include the photograph on the History Society’s Flickr account.

The LP release of ‘Stan – The Musical’ by HYT Theatre Group. The musical was inspired by Stanley R. Boardman’s 1920s Boy paintings. Photographed by Tim Neal.

Guest-speaker in July

This month’s guest speaker talk on Zoom will be given by Steve Bown. His talk is entitled “Keighley MPs: Millmen, Offcumdens and Swing” and is happening on Wednesday 14th July. This meeting is exclusively for members who have paid to join the History Society. If you would like to know how to become a member please drop us a line in the comments. Members will receive their invites on how to join the meeting via email a few days before the talk.

The ‘doors’ will open at 7pm but the talk won’t start until around 7.30pm. This is to give people the chance to log in to the meeting and for updates on Society news.

Future talks for the rest of the year include Tish Lawson on “Sideshows, Fairs and Exhibitions in Victorian Times”​, Eddie Kelly on “North Street and beyond as seen through the lens of Wilfred Moore”, and an Ian Dewhirst presentation from the archives.

Keighley MPs John Binns, Sir Swire Smith, Ann Cryer and Sir Robert Clough are just four of the MPs to feature in the talk by guest speaker Steve Bown on 14th July 2021.

New Look Newsletter

Alongside the invite to this week’s Zoom meeting, members should also have received a PDF copy of our relaunched newsletter. Now running to 12 pages, with news, articles, interviews and dates for your diary. If you are a paid-up member, look out for it in your inbox.

If you want to become a paid-up member of the History Society, and to receive the newsletter every three months and get access to our online meetings, click here for details.

Guest-speaker in June

Our next guest speaker meeting on Zoom is scheduled for Wednesday 9th June. This month’s speaker is respected family historian and researcher Sylvia Valentine, giving a talk entitled ‘Vaccination Records for Family History’. Sylvia will cover the records which were created as a result of the compulsory smallpox vaccination legislation from 1840 and will discuss the anti-vaccinators who were able to “take over” the board of guardians in Keighley.

This meeting is exclusively for members who have paid to join the History Society. Members will receive an email invite in the next few days – remember to look out for it. If you would like to become a member please click here.

The ‘doors’ will open at 7pm but the talk won’t start until around 7.30pm. This is to give people the chance to log in to the meeting and for updates on Society news.

Sylvia Valentine’s talk on Vaccination Records for Family History is on the 9th June. The main picture is a photograph from Dean Smith & Grace, held in the History Society’s archive.

Zoom Meeting in May

This month’s online Zoom talk is a History of St John’s Church in Ingrow, given by Tim Neal. The talk is happening on Wednesday 12th May from 7pm. Usually our meetings are members-only but this one is open to all.

If you are interested in coming along, please message the Society or add a comment below. The Society’s vice-chairperson, Steve Bown, will be in touch with details on how to join the meeting. Please express your interest before the day itself because we will be busy setting the meeting up on the day. Paid-up members of the Society will receive their email invitations as usual.

‘Doors’ open at 7pm so we can check everything is working, then there is a History Society update at 7.15pm before the presentation starts at 7.30pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

Slide from the Zoom presentation ‘A History of St John’s Church Ingrow’ given by Tim Neal.

KBGS RELOCATES

History Society member Colin Kirkham has recently donated some copies of The Keighlian school magazine from the 1960s. This was the school magazine of Keighley Boys’ Grammar School. One edition donated by Colin covers the school’s transition from its location on North Street to a purpose-built site at Oakbank. This edition from the summer of 1964 included several photos taken or supplied by William Speight which compared the old and new schools. These are those photographs showing the school building, the assembly hall, the workshops and the corridors. Our thanks to Colin for his generosity.

Next Zoom Talk

A reminder that our next Zoom talk is this Wednesday (14th April): ‘Criminal Lunacy – From Dock to Asylum in 19th Century Yorkshire’ to be given by archivologist, genealogist, social historian and author David Scrimgeour. This meeting is exclusively for members who have paid to join the History Society. Members should have already received their invite to the meeting by email.

The ‘doors’ will open at 7pm but the meeting won’t start until around 7.30pm. This is to give people the chance to log in to the meeting and to make sure everything is working ok.

Coming up on Zoom

Following last week’s talk on Zoom given by Graham Mitchell, we have the next few months lined up. On 14th April, David Scrimgeour will be giving us his talk on ‘Criminal Lunacy – From Dock to Asylum in 19th Century Yorkshire’. On 12th May, Tim Neal will be recounting ‘A History of St John’s Church Ingrow’. On 9th June, Sylvia Valentine will be talking about ‘Vaccination Records for Family History’. And on 14th July, Steve Bown will be telling us about ‘Keighley MPs: Millmen, Offcumdens and Swing’.

Details on all the talks can be found on our website or on our Facebook page. All the talks take place online using Zoom. The meeting starts at 7pm so people can ‘settle in’, then there is an update on History Society business, before the talks start at 7.30pm. Most meeting are only open to paid-up members of the History Society (how to join can be found here). Tim Neal’s talk is an open event and anyone can attend but you need to register your interest.

David Scrimgeour will be giving us his talk ‘Criminal Lunacy – From Dock to Asylum in 19th Century Yorkshire’ to the Keighley and District Local History Society via Zoom on 14th April 2021.
Guest speaker Tim Neal’s talk on the history of St John’s Church in Ingrow is on 12th May 2021.
Sylvia Valentine’s talk on Vaccination Records for Family History is on the 9th June. The main picture is a photograph from Dean Smith & Grace, held in the History Society’s archive.
Keighley MPs John Binns, Sir Swire Smith, Ann Cryer and Sir Robert Clough are just four of the MPs to feature in the talk by guest speaker Steve Bown on 14th July 2021.

Full Steam Ahead

While we undertook our first proper Zoom Speaker’s Meeting in February with a little trepidation, unsure of how people would respond, I think after the second we can say they are successful.

We have to thank Graham Mitchell for bravely and very successfully taking on his very first Zoom meeting, where he was in control of the screen.

Graham told us all about the dealings of the early attempts at bringing Train-lines to the District, some successful and some not. Along with his narrative on the wheeler’s and dealer’s , he showed us the step-changes that the Railways brought to the Villages, Towns and people in general. Graham presented the narrative along with many detailed maps and rare old photographs, as part of his very smooth presentation.

We were glad to see so many of our regular’s and pleased to welcome many new faces. There were 24 people attending in all, two of these actually joined the Society during the presentation.

We are now building up the a programme for the Zoom Speaker’s Meetings for the rest of the year, so keep an eye on the calendar for details.

We have been asked if it would be possible to view the meetings at other times? While we are looking into this, it will probably not be possible when we have outside Speaker’s.

Many thanks to all involved.

Joyce Newton – Chair