Category: Event

Bus Museum Open Day

The Bus Museum’s second event of the year will be on Sunday July 14th 2019, at Riverside off Dalton Lane, with refreshments, displays and a regular free bus service linking the Museum at Dalton Lane with Keighley Town Centre. Public entry to the Museum is £3.00 on the day. This is a chance to see their restoration projects including Keighley Number 5 the 1924 Straker Clough the world’s oldest double deck trolleybus, together with a selection of other such vehicles in the Museum. The History Society will have a display for people to look at. For more information visit kbmt.org.uk

The History Society at the Keighley Bus Museum, April 2019. Photograph by Tim Neal.

July Guest Speaker

Next Wednesday’s (10th July) guest speaker talk is Cross Roads Parish Councillor Peter Clarke talking to us about the history and traditions of the University of Bradford from being a small technical college to becoming a prestigious institution with Harold Wilson as chancellor. His talk is entitled “McKinlay’s People – History & Academic Traditions of the University of Bradford”. It follows other recent ‘broader’ talks such as those on Richard III and the Bradford sweet poisonings.

Guest speaker events happen upstairs at Keighley Library. Doors open at 7pm and talks start at 7.30pm, usually lasting around one hour. A lift is available for anyone with access concerns. Tea and coffee is served. Everyone is welcome and admission costs £3 (£1 for History Society members).

Photographs provided by Peter Clarke and (c) University Archives, Special Collections, University of Bradford.

Guest speaker Peter Clarke

Thank You Charlie!

Charlie Bhowmick, MBE, delivered an entertaining talk to History Society members on Wednesday evening. He regaled those present with tales of the culture shock of moving to Keighley from Calcutta in the 1950s; of his meeting the Queen to receive his MBE; of running in the London marathon to raise funds for a Keighley disability charity; and of the pride he feels for the town that has been his home for over 60 years. The History Society would like to say an enormous thanks to Charlie for coming along to talk to us.

Details of the next guest speaker meetings have just been added to the event calendar.

Charlie Bhowmick addresses the History Society at the Local Studies Library in Keighley on 12th June 2019.

Upcoming Guestspeaker

A reminder that the guest speaker this upcoming Wednesday (12th June) will be local celebrity Charlie Bhowmick. It’s also your chance to pick up the latest newsletter with details of the monthly meetings for July through to September.

Charlie Bhowmick came to Keighley from Calcutta in 1954 to study mechanical engineering at Keighley College. In 1963 he became the first Asian to work in local government in Keighley Town Hall as a planning officer. In 2005 he was awarded an MBE for his services to race and inter-faith relations in Keighley. Since his retirement he has tirelessly fundraised for charities like Yorkshire Cancer Research. Charlie will be recounting his memories of Keighley over the last 65 years.

Guest speaker events happen upstairs at Keighley Library. Doors open at 7pm and talks start at 7.30pm, usually lasting around one hour. A lift is available for anyone with access concerns. Tea and coffee is served. Everyone is welcome and admission costs £3 (£1 for History Society members). Image courtesy of Keighley News.

Charlie Bhowmick MBE with a copy of his autobiography, ‘From Calcutta to Keighley’. Photograph (c) Keighley News and used with permission.

Guest Speaker Talk This Wednesday

A reminder that this month’s guest speaker is Colin Holt talking about his experiences of National Service in the 1950s. The talk is this Wednesday (8th May), upstairs at Keighley Library, doors open 7pm. Admission costs £3 (£1 for History Society members). Tea and coffee served. All welcome.

Tony Somma, writing home while undertaking his National Service in the mid 1950s. Photograph from the personal collection of History Society chairperson Joyce Newton.

Wyedean Weaving Visit

We had a terrific visit to Wyedean Weaving on Wednesday evening. Eighteen History Society members were given a guided tour around the firm that has operated out of Bridgehouse Mill in Haworth since the 1960s. We were given a history of the company and saw demonstrations of several of the machines. Our sincere thanks to…

We had a terrific visit to Wyedean Weaving on Wednesday evening. Eighteen History Society members were given a guided tour around the firm that has operated out of Bridgehouse Mill in Haworth since the 1960s. We were given a history of the company and saw demonstrations of several of the machines. Our sincere thanks to Robin Wright and his team for hosting us. More photographs and video from the visit will be posted on the Flickr site soon.

Steven Wood: Old Haworth in Photographs Talk

Respected Haworth historian Steven Wood gave a talk to the History Society last evening. He took us on a pictorial journey from the old Police Station on Mill Hey, up Bridgehouse Lane and Main Street, then out along West Lane, with over 50 images. Around 40 members and guests attended.

The programme for the next quarter’s series of talks is out now on our newsletter and will shortly appear in the diary on this website.

Historian Steven Wood gives his talk ‘Haworth in Old Photographs’ to the History Society on 13 March 2019. Photograph by Tim Neal.