The marriage of George Bown (1904-1993) to Alice Ayers (1908-2010) took place at St John’s Church, Ingrow, on 10th October 1936. George and Alice lived at Cliffe Terrace in Ingrow. George was a pattern maker with Walter Denby’s. He was also a founder member of Ingrow St. John’s cricket team when it relaunched in February 1922, captained the team, and, much later, served as its president in the late 1980s/early 1990s.
During the Second World War George was an Air Raid Prevention (ARP) officer and served in the Keighley Civil Defence Ambulance Service. Wounded soldiers were repatriated to Keighley railway station and were then taken up into hospitals in the Yorkshire Dales. As a local agricultural engineer who used to work on farms, George knew the area and the routes to take during the blackouts.
Shown in the main photograph are (L to R) George Bown, Alice Bown, Joan Ayers (niece to Alice), Reuben Clegg, Ethel Ayers, Arthur Ayers, Madge Ayers, Herbert Ayers. George and Alice went on to have two children: Alison and Derek. Alison appeared in some of the 1950s pantomimes performed in the St. John’s Sunday School hall.
The wedding was photographed by Keighley photographer George A. Shore. Shore was a popular Keighley-based freelance photographer who simultaneously ran his photography business alongside running a carpet and linoleum store in Keighley market. Examples of his work exist from the 1930s and 1940s, and included outdoor events such as Keighley Gala, the coronation of King George VI, Victory street parties at the end of the Second World War, theatre productions, weddings, and landscapes. Many of his photographs were commissioned by and printed in the Keighley News. His original prints could be embossed “G. A. Shore” or stamped on the back in a circle “Geo. A. Shore”. In his other lines of business, Shore was an early member of Keighley Road Club and used to deliver rolls of carpet and linoleum via his motorbike and sidecar, aided by assistant Sam Scaife. Shore died in 1946.
The photographs are from the personal collection of Derek and Sonia Bown, loaned to Keighley and District Local History Society in 2017.
