Brontë @ NT

History Society committee member Tim Neal took a visit to NT East Riddlesden Hall earlier this week (and the weather was appropriately “wuthering”) to see the property’s newest exhibition ‘Lights, Camera, Bronte: East Riddlesden Hall on Screen’.

It’s well worth a visit! It’s a combination of documenting how the Hall’s exteriors and interiors have been used in three seperate film and TV versions of Emily Bronte’s ‘Wuthering Heights’, with imaginative recreations of how Emily described the novel’s various settings.

The exhibition is spread around the house and is free to visit as part of paid-entry to the Hall and grounds. It’s open until at least the middle of May 2026.

It’s also worth noting that a small but comprehensive display has just opened at the Bronte Parsonage Museum that gives some background on many (all?) of the screen adaptations of ‘Wuthering Heights’ – some well known, some definitely not.

Take a picture – February’s meeting

Next week’s History Society meeting (Wednesday 11th February) is committee member Tim Neal with his talk “Keighley: Through the Lens of Hall & Siggers”. The talk tells the history of the photography studio on Cavendish Street from the early years of the 20th century through to the mid-1950s when it closed, and uses dozens of examples of their photographs to illustrate what life was like in the town in the first half of the last century.

The meeting will take place upstairs in the Civic Centre, on North Street. Doors open at 7.15pm and the meeting will start just before 7.30pm. Entry is free to History Society members, or £3.50 for anyone else who wants to just come along (booking is not required). Members can also choose to join the meeting via Zoom if they wish.

If you are a member and haven’t had the chance to pay your 2026 subs yet, or if you want to join the History Society, membership for the rest of 2026 costs £15 (or £20 for two people at the same address). Please pay in cash on the night. As well as free entry to our monthly meetings, membership also gets you invited to members-only events and you will receive the quarterly newsletter via email.

Happy New Year!

The History Society would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

2026 is shaping up to be very exciting, with a very interesting set of guest-speakers and events lined up.

To start us off we have author Anthony C. Cartwright telling us the story of the anti-vaxxers, starting with objections to Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccine in the early 19th century, a propaganda war waged by the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League and its successor from 1853 to 1972, and then brings things up to date covering the first two decades of the 21st century. In particular, he will talk about the Keighley Guardians who in the 1870s were imprisoned in York for the stand they took. Tony brings a well-informed perspective to the history, having worked as a UK Medicines Agency drug regulator for twenty years, but also having had an adverse reaction to a vaccine in the 1960s.

Tony has written a book on the subject, ‘A History of Vaccines and Anti-Vaxxers’, more details can be found on Tony’s website (https://anthonybooks.co.uk/).

The History Society’s first meeting of 2026 is on Wednesday 14th January at 7.15pm. It is a Zoom-only meeting, open just to History Society members (details on how to join the meeting will be sent out to members via email a few days in advance).

Our Christmas Meeting

The History Society’s Christmas Meeting is on Wednesday 10th December 2025. This is an informal meeting, with the chance to look at some of the items that have been donated this year, plus a picture quiz (how well do you know doors in Keighley District?!?) and a look back at Christmas in the town fifty years ago. All of this accompanied by tea, coffee, mince pies and brownies.

The meeting is being held in Keighley Creative on Cooke Lane (where Argos used to be), doors open at 7.15pm and we finish around 8.30pm. Entry is free to History Society members and £3.50 for visitors (cash only please).

This is also a chance to take out membership for 2026. Membership costs £15 for the year (or £20 for a couple). If you would like to join the History Society at the meeting, please bring along the right money.

Meeting in the Paper

Great coverage in this week’s Keighley News of next week’s History Society meeting (on Wednesday 8th October). The meeting will feature a talk by textile experts Pam Brook and Helen Farrar on the work of various local firms who specialised in silk and artificial silk weaving, and how the output of these firms contributed to the war effort during the Second World War.

The meeting starts at 7.15pm in the Civic Centre on North Street (and will finish around 8.45pm). Anyone is welcome to attend. Entry is £3.50 (free to History Society members – History Society members can also join via Zoom). The meeting is in the main hall on the first floor and there is a lift for those who need it.

If you wish to join the History Society, membership costs £15 for the calendar year, and taking out membership this month gets you the rest of 2025 plus all of 2026.

Butchers in the Library

A massive thank you to Karl-Heinz Wustner who spoke to the History Society at the Local Studies Library yesterday (Wednesday 1st October). His talk was entitled ‘Meeting the Meat Demand’ and told the story of how many German families came over to Keighley and West Yorkshire in the 19th century and successfully set themselves up as pork butchers in the town.

Over forty society members and visitors were present in the Library, several being the descendants of these families. The event was a great success, and our thanks to the staff of the Library who made us so welcome.

The History Society’s next talk is ‘Parachutes, Escape Maps and Wedding Dresses’, on artificial silk weaving in the area, to be given by textile experts Pam Brook and Helen Farrar on Wednesday 8th October at 7.15pm in the Civic Centre on North Street.

October’s Society Meeting

October’s History Society meeting is on Wednesday 8th October 2025 and will include the talk “Parachutes, Escape Maps, and Wedding Dresses: Keighley Weavers’ Contribution to the War Effort”.

Silsden was recognised as a major contributor to the silk and artificial silk industry through companies such as Driver Brothers, John Knox and others. In Keighley, Driver, Hartley & Co. Ltd. were also at the front of experimental weaving with silk and artificial silk. In 1937 they started manufacturing fabrics for parachutes and later, escape maps for commandos. Textile experts Pam Brook and Helen Farrar will discuss the areas’ expertise in the manufacture of silk, in particular artificial silk, and its contribution to the war effort.

The meeting will be held in the Main Hall, upstairs in Keighley Civic Centre. Doors open at 7.15pm. There is a lift to access the first floor. Entry is free to History Society members and is £3.50 to anyone else (pay on the door – cash only) – all are welcome to attend. The meeting is scheduled to finish around 8.45pm. Members of the History Society also have the option of joining the meeting online via Zoom.

Membership of the History Society costs £15 for the calendar year. You can join at any of our meetings in the Library (cash only please) or online via the society’s website. If you join at this meeting you get membership for the remainder of 2025 plus all of 2026.

German Butchers Come to Keighley

The History Society has arranged a bonus talk for October, with a visit from Karl-Heinz Wustner, coming to talk about German immigration to West Yorkshire in the 19th century. The talk is called ‘Meeting the Meat Demand’ and will take place in Keighley Local Studies Library on Wednesday 1st October at 2.30pm. There is a £2 entry charge.

This presentation is a joint event between the History Society and Keighley Local Studies Library.