KEIGHLEY & DISTRICT LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY
WE PRESERVE AND SHARE
On the 10th April 2019, the History Society organised a visit for members to Wyedean Weaving in Haworth. We had the chance to look around the old mill and see various weaving machines in action (see the videos at the end of the album).
Next week’s History Society meeting (Wednesday 11th March) is about the forthcoming Transport Festival at the end of May. Festival co-ordinator Graham Mitchell will give an overview of the whole Festival, then History Society committee member Steve Bown will talk about the ‘Ten Tales of Transport’ the History Society is planning to tell in its exhibition in the Civic Centre. We are also inviting people to come along and share their own transport-related stories and bring along any photographs that we could scan and perhaps use in the exhibition. We are particularly interested in photographs relating to the various cycling clubs that operated in and around Keighley in the 50s/60s, and any trips organised by firms or church groups or the like that took people to places like the coast or the countryside. If you have anything you are willing to share, please bring it down.
The meeting will happen in Keighley Library. Doors open at 7pm with the meeting starting at 7.30pm. Tea and coffee will be served. It costs £3 to attend (to help cover our costs) or £1 for History Society members.
The History Society is appealing for photographs relating to daytrips organised by local firms or church groups or the like, from the 1930s to the 1970s. We would like to include as many as we can in the exhibition we are putting on in the Civic Centre as part of the Keighley Transport Festival at the end of May. These can be coach trips, train trips, or even mass-cycle-rides – any sort of transport qualifies.
We’d like to know which business / church / group organised the trip, who went on it, what transport was used, where it was to and (at least roughly) when it happened.
If you can help, please comment below or come along to our next meeting in Keighley Library from 7pm on the 11th of March, where we will have a scanner to take copies of photographs and where we will take notes to go along with the photographs.
Keighley Transport Festival, ‘In Motion’, is happening on the 24th and 25th May 2020.
As part of the Festival, the History Society is putting on an exhibition called ‘Ten Tales of Transport’ in the Civic Centre. One of the tales we would like to tell is that of the various cycling clubs that were active in or around the town in the 1940s/50s/60s – clubs such as Keighley Road Club, St Christopher’s Cycling Club, Keighley Clarion Cycling Club, Aireworth Cycling Club, Keighley Velo Cycling Club, and Bronte Wheelers Cycling Club.
We are looking for people who can help us tell this particular tale with information and photographs about one or more of the clubs. If you can help, please comment below or come along to the special History Society meeting on 11th March (upstairs in Keighley Library from 7pm to 8.30pm where we shall have a scanner to take copies of documents or photographs).
Keep an eye on Facebook or our website as we make requests for help on other tales we wish to tell.
The History Society was at Keighley Bus Museum earlier today to photograph forthcoming guest-speaker Gerald Newton with the Straker Clough trackless trolleybus Keighley No.5, currently being refurbished at the museum.
Gerald will be giving a talk on Wednesday 12th February on the history of the bus and the refurbishment project. The talk will be upstairs in Keighley Library (there is a lift for those who need it). Doors open at 7pm and the talk will start at 7.30pm. Everyone is welcome and it costs £3 to attend (£1 to History Society members). You can also join the History Society at any of our meetings. Membership costs £10 for the year.
Our first History Society meeting of 2020 is this Wednesday (8th January). Retired university lecturer and curator of the website NotJustHockney.info, Colin Neville will present his talk on seven locally-based but nationally-acclaimed artists. He will also be selling copies of his tie-in book (£5 each, all proceeds to the upkeep of Silsden Town Hall).
History Society guest speaker talks take place upstairs at Keighley Library. Doors open at 7pm and the meetings start at 7.30pm. There is a lift available for those who need it. Tea and coffee is served. Admission is open to all and it costs £3 (£1 for History Society members).
You can support the work done by the History Society by becoming a member at one of our meetings. Membership costs £10 (£15 for a couple) and goes to supporting the work that we do plus gives reduced admission to our meetings and the opportunity to take part in members-only activities.
The latest History Society newsletter is now available. It covers the monthly meetings for January to March and reveals some of the plans for the History Society in the year ahead. If anyone wants to join the History Society and support what we do plus have access to members-only events please come along to any monthly meeting or see the support-us section of this website.
The History Society would like to offer an apology for the sound difficulties in tonight’s talk (Ian Dewhirst: Keighley Christmases in the Past). It didn’t do Ian justice (although, as someone pointed out, he didn’t have a very high opinion of IT himself so would possibly have been amused by the shenanigans). Anyone who attended the talk is welcome to attend any one of 2020’s talks free of charge. Just let Sarah on the desk know on the evening. We hope those who stayed and huddled around the projector finally got to enjoy the talk. We will post the talk on our Flickr page this weekend for those who could not stay. Our apologies again, and we hope you have an enjoyable time over the Christmas period.
It’s the last History Society meeting of the year next Wednesday (11th December) and we are marking Christmas with something special. Firstly there will be (quite literally) a pub quiz – identifying pubs past and present from the area. Then we have a recording of the late Ian Dewhirst talking about Christmases past that we will play accompanied by postcards and images of old Keighley. We will also be serving mince pies alongside the usual tea and coffee.
The meeting is upstairs in Keighley Library on Wednesday 11th December. There is a lift for those who need it. Doors open at 7pm and the evening kicks off at 7.30pm, usually ending around 8.30pm. It costs £3 to attend (£1 for History Society members).
Anyone wanting to join for 2020 can do so on the evening. Membership costs £10 for an individual (£15 for a couple), which goes to supporting the work we do and gives you reduced entry to the monthly meetings and access to the members-only events.
The History Society has arranged a visit to St John’s Church in Ingrow next Wednesday (14th August). All are welcome.
There will be a talk about the history of the church, the opportunity to explore the graveyard, and a guided look around some behind-the-scenes parts of the church. There will also be the chance to look through some of the archive albums of photographs of the church and its role in the community.
Entry costs £3 (or £1 if you are a History Society member). There will be tea and coffee served. Please note the main presentation, access to the graveyard and seeing the albums are on the level (there are a couple of steps to get into the church), but steps and stairs are involved in most of the tour so please wear sensible shoes.
Doors open at 7pm. No advance booking is required.
