April’s History Society Meeting

The April meeting of the Keighley and District Local History Society’s is next Wednesday evening (8th April 2026). In a change from the usual venue, we will be meeting at St. John’s Church in Ingrow. History Society committee member Steve Bown will be giving his talk ‘Buried at St. John’s’.

Steve says: “The first person to be buried at St. John’s was a Frederick Simpson of Papermill Bridge, who was buried in April 1843, just over a month after the church first opened its doors. Since then the churchyard has become the final resting place for mill owners and town mayors, doctors and soldiers, farmhands and factory workers. There are some tragic cases of suicides and poisonings, and a sobering number of infants buried in the grounds. I will be telling some of their stories – and if the weather is good we might go out and look at some of the gravestones and memorials.”

The meeting will be held in the church on South Street on Wednesday 8th March. Doors will open at 7.15pm, and the meeting starts at around 7.20pm, finishing around 8.30pm. Anyone is welcome to attend the meeting. There is no charge to attend this meeting but there will be a collection in aid of the church. History Society members also have the option of joining the meeting via Zoom.

It is recommended that people coming along to the meeting wear warm clothes and sensible shoes. There are footpaths around most of the churchyard but some gravestones are set back from the paths.

Anyone interested in joining the History Society can do so at this meeting. Membership for the year costs £15 per person or £20 for a couple. As well as getting you free access to all the monthly meetings, membership also gets you the society’s quarterly newsletter plus the chance to attend members-only events.

May Queens at Guard House

We have just created an album on our Flickr site of photographs and newspaper cuttings relating to the May Queens and festivals of Our Lady of Victories Roman Catholic Church in Guard House, in the 1940s and 1950s. The photographs were donated by Eileen Whitley.

Have a look by clicking below and if you have any further information please get in touch.

KHS_P_845_01

Society Visit to Ingrow

Nineteen members of the History Society had a terrific visit to Rail Story at Ingrow Station yesterday (Wednesday 12th March 2026). We’d like to say a massive thank you to Matt from Rail Story, Pete from the Bahamas Locomotive Society, and Alan and Bob from the Vintage Carriages Trust who acted as our guides to the site.

Look out for more exclusive members-only visits later in the year.

Flying High in March’s Meeting

A massive thank you to Olivia Johnston, Photo Archive Assistant at Bradford District Museums and Galleries, who addressed the History Society’s monthly meeting on Wednesday 11th March 2026. The subject of her talk was “C. H. Wood: Photographer & Pioneer”. She shared photographic examples from the archive of over 300,000 images and detailed Wood’s life that included motorcycle test driving, developing infra-red photography that captured incredible detail, taking aerial photographs over incredibly impressive distances, and inventing vital equipment to help train RAF pilots during the Second World War. The C. H. Wood Photography Archive can be found at photos.bradfordmuseums.org

And a big thank you to everyone who came along. The meeting took place in the Main Hall of Keighley Civic Centre and there were 54 visitors in the hall with a further twelve people joining via Zoom. Photographs taken by Tim Neal.

April’s History Society meeting will be on Wednesday 8th April and this time we will be meeting in St. John’s Church in Ingrow. Committee member Steve Bown will be giving a talk on some of the famous and some of the less-well-known people buried in the churchyard.

History Society at Haworth

The History Society is having a stall at the Village Showcase, being held in Haworth Village Hall (on Butt Lane) on Saturday 21st March 2026. The event is an opportunity to let locals know what groups and clubs operate in the area. It will run from 2pm to 4.30pm. It is free to attend, with an opportunity to buy refreshments.

The History Society will be showcasing what the society gets up to and sharing some of the Haworth-related stories. You can also join the History Society on the day. Membership costs £15 for the rest of 2026. Please pay in cash as sadly we don’t have a way of taking electronic payments.

Camera in the Sky

This month’s History Society meeting is taking place next Wednesday (11th March 2026) in the Civic Centre. Olivia Johnston, Photo Archive Assistant at Bradford District Museums and Galleries, will be giving her talk ‘C. H. Wood: Photographer & Pioneer’.

Charles Harold Wood started his photography career in 1922 and he went on to become one of the best known photographers in the region. His client list read like a Who’s Who of Bradford industry as he was employed by most of the big textile, engineering and manufacturing firms. Using his interest in flying he also specialised in aerial photography, producing crystal clear views of the North of England. He set up the firm C.H. Wood (Bradford) Ltd. which was carried on by his sons when Charles retired in the 1970s.

The C. H. Wood photographic archive is available to browse online as part of The Photograph Archive of Bradford District Museums & Galleries.

The meeting will be held upstairs in the main hall of Keighley Civic Centre on North Street on Wednesday 11th March. There is a lift at the front of the building and one inside for anyone who needs it. Doors open at 7.15pm, and the meeting starts at around 7.20pm, finishing around 8.30pm. Anyone is welcome to attend the meeting. Entry costs £3.50 (or free for history society members). History Society members also have the option of joining the meeting via Zoom.

Anyone interested in joining the History Society can do so at this meeting. Membership for the year costs £15 per person or £20 for a couple. As well as getting you free access to all the monthly meetings, membership also gets you the society’s quarterly newsletter plus the chance to attend members-only events.

Crime at Keighley Library

Are you intrigued by detective work, or have you ever wondered where a crime writer gets their plots, then get along to Keighley Library on Saturday 7th March 1.30 – 3.00 pm to celebrate International Women’s Day 2026 and delve into the world of Crime.

Journalist and author Sharon Wright (and friend of the History Society) will be interviewing former Detective Superintendent Vanessa Smith on her groundbreaking career as a police officer with West Yorkshire Police.

Vanessa worked for vice, robbery and drugs squads before becoming the first female West Yorkshire Police murder squad detective. Now after a long and decorated career, Vanessa advises authors and production companies on crime procedurals and appeared as the law-enforcement expert on ‘Killer in My Village’ on Sky TV.

Sharon wrote the bestselling biography of ‘Maria Branwell: Mother of the Brontës’, and ‘The Lost History of the Lady Aeronauts’, and has spoken to the History Society on both topics. She is co-author with Ann Dinsdale of ‘Let Me In: The Brontës in Bricks and Mortar’. Sharon writes for magazines and newspapers including The Guardian, The Times and Woman & Home and has appeared on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour and Today programme. In 2024 Sharon won a correction to the spelling of the Brontë name on the memorial in Westminster Abbey.

The afternoon will conclude with Vanessa taking the audience on an eye-opening journey as they investigate a murder scenario together. There will also be plenty of opportunities to ask questions and enjoy an insider’s guide to solving crime at Keighley Library.

To book please go to the Bradford Libraries ticket source page or call in at the Local Studies Library if in town.
https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/bradfordlibraries/t-gllalaq

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.