Month: April 2023

At the entrance to Lund Park in Keighley there is a memorial to firefighter Jeff Naylor who died tragically as a result of trying to save the lives of five children in a fire at Broomhill Walk on Wednesday 27th April 1983. The memorial was erected thanks to the Fire Brigades Union, the Firefighters 100 Lottery, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council and the West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service.

The crew on duty at Keighley Fire Station responded to a call about a fire in a house on Broomhill Walk in Keighley on 27th April 1983. Five children were trapped inside the house. Firefighter Jeff Naylor mounted a rescue, entering the burning house, and managing to find one girl, before blasts knocked him back and set his uniform alight. He had to be helped by the other firefighters out of the building. All five children were rescued but sadly two died later as a result of the fire. Jeff’s burns were treated at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, but sadly he lost the fight to live. Jeff died on 10th July 1983 as a result of his burns injuries, he was just 31 years old.

Roughly 1000 firefighters from around the country attended his funeral service at St. Joseph’s Church and he was buried at Utley Cemetery. His bravery was recognised posthumously with a commendation from the Queen, and the town’s fire engine was named in his honour. What happened to Jeff directly led to improvements in the uniforms worn by firefighters. The memorial to Jeff in Lund Park was unveiled in 2019, with an official dedication ceremony on Sunday 7th July 2019.

Portrait of Jeff Naylor from the History Society’s Keighley News Archive for January 1982. Memorial and plaque photographed by History Society member Tim Neal in 2022. Researched and collated by Tim Neal.

The History Society now has 365 entries in its ‘On This Day…’ album on Flickr. Not every day of the year is covered (yet!) but there is a diverse cross-section of events from across over 300 years of the town and surrounding area to browse through.

The Reverend William Grimshaw, who encouraged the local growth of the Methodist movement in the eighteenth century, died at his home, Sowdens, off Dimples Lane just outside Haworth, on the 7th April 1763.

Brochure and Guide to Haworth, A. H. Preston (John W. Parker, Haworth, 1950): “The ministry of William Grimshaw in the mid-eighteenth century proved another great epoch in church history at Haworth… Although the people had Puritanical tendencies, their code of living embraced a throwback to their Norse ancestors, and their religion did not work downwards into their lives. They drank and gambled, spent their Sundays in frivolous fashion… Such was the Haworth to which, in 1742, the Rev. William Grimshaw came to minister. His earnestness of purpose, combined with stout arm and ready horse-whip, did much to offset the riotous living of the time.

“Although an Anglican, William Grimshaw attended Methodist Conferences, and actually became first Superintendent of the Haworth Circuit… He allowed the large kitchen of his house at Sowdens to be used for Methodist preaching and was instrumental in building the first Methodist Chapel and preacher’s house in West Lane in 1758…

“In the Spring of 1763, Haworth was afflicted by a putrid fever which was highly infectious. Grimshaw caught the infection in visiting his sick parishioners… he succumbed to the epidemic after twenty-one years devoted service at Haworth. He was interred at Luddenden Church, near he remains of his first wife…

“Grimshaw was the means of bringing to Haworth, John and Charles Wesley, George Whitfield, John Fletcher, and many other notable preachers of the day, and these visitors certainly left their mark, for after Grimshaw’s death, Haworth seems to have settled down to a period of quiet, although the sturdy independence of the natives frequently asserted itself.”

Sowdens was occupied by Grimshaw from 1742 to 1763. The house can still be seen today and is now a Grade II listed farmhouse. It includes a reused datestone of 1699. The end gable holds a stone tablet, installed in 1963, that reads: “Sowdens Parsonage, William Grimshaw, 1742-1763. Here stayed John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, John Newton, Henry Venn.”

The Lilywhite Photograph post card was published in the 1930s and is from the personal collection of Tim Neal. The modern photograph was taken by Tim in 2022. Researched and collated by Tim Neal.

April’s History Society meeting is transport expert Graham Mitchell talking about his time as a student conductor on the Keighley buses during the summer holidays of 1962-65. Anyone is welcome to attend. The meeting is upstairs in Keighley Library on 12th April 2023. Doors open at 7pm and the meeting starts at 7.30pm.

We will also have a few copies of the new booklet on the History of Ingrow St. John’s Church available for sale for £3 each (cash only).

Admission is free to paid-up History Society members and £3.50 for non-members. Paid-up members of the History Society also have the option to join this meeting via Zoom. Details are sent out to members a few days before the event is due to take place. You can join the History Society on the night for £15 for the rest of the year.