A massive thank you to author Martin Greenwood who came up from Warwick to deliver his talk on local artist and entertainer Percy Monkman last night. As well as being shown many beautiful examples of Percy’s watercolour paintings and sketches, we learned how he was a good friend to J. B. Priestley, mainly through his work with Bradford Playhouse as well as living close to each other and playing on the same football team as young boys (!), and how Percy served as an entertainer to the troops during both world wars. All this while holding down a job as a bank clerk in the same branch for forty years!
Martin’s book on Percy is available from thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk – highly recommended! There is also a copy available to read in the Keighley Local Studies Library.
