The Keighley Division of the Liberal Association held a Bazaar in the Municipal Hall (Mechanics’ Institute) from Wednesday 17th to Saturday 20th October 1928. The purposes of the Bazaar were “1. To free the Association from debt, 2. To provide the means of conducting Active Political Work throughout the (Keighley) Division, 3. To combine the workers throughout the Division in one common object for the benefit of the Party”.
Stalls within the Bazaar included plain and fancy needlework stalls, a fruit, flower and basket stall, a fancy stall, a sweet stall, a mystery parcels stall, a china and glass stall, a home produce and pound stall, a perfumery and toilet requisites stall, a men’s miscellaneous stall, and a cigarettes and tobacco stall.
On the first day, the Bazaar was officially opened by Lady Carey Evans at 2.30pm. Thursday was opened by Lady Bain, Friday by Lady Fisher Smith and Saturday by Sir Charles Starmer. Music across all four days was provided by G. S. Sugden’s Orchestra. Refreshments were supplied by Mr W. Day (who had a confectionary shop on North Street).
Entertainment and events went on well into the evening on each day. These included The Trocadero Dance Band, a Cabaret Show by members of the Keighley Amateur Operatic Society, picture shows, Knuts Komedy Koncert Party, performances by the Clifton, Devonshire and Orpheus Quartettes, Andrew Beaver giving dramatic and humorous recitals, and even ‘Baby Cinema’ organised by local photographer W. Bruce Johnston.
The cover of the souvenir programme included a design by Miss Mary Haggas of Park Lane, Keighley. It showed “the gracious figure of Liberalism giving the Bread of Sustenance to the old and the Torch of Knowledge to the young”. It was chosen in a competition by the Bazaar Publicity Committee.
The President of the Keighley Division at this time was H. S. Clough and the Chairman was Councillor David Rhodes. Keighley first elected its own MP in 1885. For over thirty years, between 1885 and 1918, it had elected Members from the Liberal Party (Sir Isaac Holden, Sir John Brigg, Stanley O. Buckmaster, Sir Swire Smith, and William H. Somervell). The most recent election by 1928 had been in 1924 when the Liberals came third in Keighley. The next general election was to be held in May 1929 for which David Rhodes had already been selected as the Liberal candidate (in the event he came second).
The Keighley Liberal Club at this time was situated at the junction of Devonshire Street with Scott Street (having originally been on High Street). Members had access to a newspaper reading room, a billiard room and private members rooms. The building included Devonshire Hall, available to hire for wedding parties, luncheons, dances and so on. (This hall was later converted to a theatre space and became Keighley Little Theatre.)
The souvenir booklet was donated and scanned by Tim Neal in 2019 and is held in the Keighley and District Local History Society physical archive. The image was created by Tim Neal in 2022. The full booklet is available to view on the History Society’s Flickr site.
