Month: June 2024

Talking Textiles

A big thank you to Pam Brook who came along to the History Society’s meeting in the Library last night to give her talk on “Material Worth: Textile Innovations in the Aire and Worth Valleys”. She covered the history of cotton and wool weaving in the area from individual hand-looms above cottages, through water and steam powered industrial mills, to the synthetic fibres of modern day, touching upon many local firms along the way.

And a big thank you to everyone who came along. There were around fifty of us in the Library and an additional 15 people joined in on Zoom, so a terrific turnout.

Next month’s talk (on Wednesday 10th July) is Colin Neville talking about some of the fascinating artists who came through Keighley School of Art.

June 6th 1944 – D-Day

We should never forget…..

but apparently we are doing!!!

In amongst all the recent publicity, TV programmes and Commemoration Events it has come out that 50% of 16-24 in UK had little or no idea what D-Day was and why it was important. Even with all that is going on in the media they may still not know, as they get their news from “Socials” and the algorithms will probably not point them in the direction of D-Day information.

KDLHS Preserve and Share in order that people can learn from history. So if you see this can you please explain to your young adults and make them understand.

D-Day is not a story. It is not an old film. It is not a Xbox game.

It was real. It happened. Over 100,000, mostly under 24, people no longer existed after the Normandy Landings and that was only on the Allies side.

Without D-Day and the Normandy Landings the UK would, almost certainly, be under Nazi control today with all that it would have entailed. Get them to think of the effect this would have on their lives today.

D-Day was the start of stopping the horror, (the same horror that is going on today in some countries), in France, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Greece, Spain, Austria, Poland, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Albania – To name but a few. Full list on:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German-occupied_Europe

and the UK was meant to be next…..

This Month’s Meeting…

Keighley and District Local History Society’s next meeting will be on Wednesday 12th June 2024. It will be held upstairs in Keighley Library. The guest speaker is textiles expert and enthusiast Pam Brook, giving her talk “Material Worth: Textile innovations in the Aire and Worth Valleys”.

Pam says: “Bradford was always known as ‘Worstedopolis’ but Keighley and District was known for innovative experimentation with fibres such as artificial silk and inventive knitting yarn combinations along with advances in textile engineering. The talk will discuss some of these innovations together with the town’s contribution to the early textile industry, its connections to East Lancashire and the move from handloom to industrial scale weaving.”

Pam was born at Victoria Hospital in Keighley and has lived in the area most of her life. She worked at Hattersley Narrow Fabrics and at Keighley College. Her research sees her using the archives at Cliffe Castle on a regular basis, and she has served on the council of Bradford Textile Society and volunteered at Bradford College’s Textile Archive. She has been an active member of the Keighley and District Local History Society for around four years now.

Anyone is welcome to attend the meeting. Entry costs £3.50 (free if you are a history society member). The meetings are upstairs in the local studies library of Keighley Library on North Street. Doors open at 7pm, the meeting starts at around 7.20pm and Pam’s presentation will begin at 7.30pm. We finish around 8.30pm. Please use the side entrance to the library on Albert Street if you are arriving after 7pm. History Society members also have the option of joining the meeting via Zoom.