KEIGHLEY & DISTRICT LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY
WE PRESERVE AND SHARE
The History Society held its first face-to-face event since March last year this afternoon, when several members gathered for a guided history tour around the town centre. The tour was led by Tim with welcome input from Joyce and Graham. Thanks to Steve for taking the photographs. We hope everyone who came along enjoyed it, and if there is interest we will look at rerunning it in the future.
The History Society has acquired 1,000s of black and white negatives of photographs taken by the Keighley News in the early 1980s. They cover all sorts of topics such as local sporting fixtures, weddings, shows and galas, theatre productions, politics and charity events. The History Society will spend the next few months scanning the negatives and releasing them on Flickr on a month-by-month basis.
The negatives came in small envelopes with some basic labelling and a date, but the History Society is hoping people will get in touch and tell us more about the stories behind the pictures.
The first proper album is available to browse now and has photographs from forty years ago – taken in August 1981.
This month’s guest speaker talk on Zoom is a Virtual Walk around Keighley Town Centre, illustrated by photographs, maps and vintage images of the town. It is happening on Wednesday 11th August.
The event is for History Society members only but you can join the History Society by going to our website. Members should already have received their email with details on how to join the meeting on Zoom.
‘Doors’ open at 7pm, with the usual History Society update at 7.15pm and the talk itself starts at 7.30pm.
The History Society has recently procured a lot of ex-Keighley News negatives (and we mean a LOT!) from the early 1980s. This photograph of Ingrow St John’s Junior Cricket Team was taken forty years ago on 2nd August 1981. It will take us quite a while to scan and label all the negatives but keep an eye on our Flickr page for more.
The History Society Zoom meetings have been announced for the rest of this year. They are:
11th August – A Virtual Walk Round Keighley. We will be recreating a guided-tour around the town centre through maps, photographs and archive images.
8th September – Sideshows, Fairs and Exhibitions in Victorian Times, a presentation given by regular guest-speaker Tish Lawson.
13th October – North Street and beyond as seen through the lens of Wilfred Moore, a presentation by local historian Eddie Kelly. Some of you will know that Wilfred Moore was the father of Captain Sir Tom Moore as well as being a keen photographer around Keighley.
10th November – Annual General Meeting.8th December – Christmas Meeting, including an archive talk from the late Ian Dewhirst on the theme of Keighley Christmases past.
The meetings are free to paid-up History Society members and take place on Zoom on Wednesday evenings from 7pm. If you would like to join the History Society please comment below or visit our website.
We have already started lining up guest-speakers for 2022 and we are hoping to resume our meetings in the Library as well as continuing to use Zoom. If you are interested in giving a talk to the History Society please get in touch.
This month’s guest speaker talk on Zoom will be given by Steve Bown. His talk is entitled “Keighley MPs: Millmen, Offcumdens and Swing” and is happening on Wednesday 14th July. This meeting is exclusively for members who have paid to join the History Society. If you would like to know how to become a member please drop us a line in the comments. Members will receive their invites on how to join the meeting via email a few days before the talk.
The ‘doors’ will open at 7pm but the talk won’t start until around 7.30pm. This is to give people the chance to log in to the meeting and for updates on Society news.
Future talks for the rest of the year include Tish Lawson on “Sideshows, Fairs and Exhibitions in Victorian Times”, Eddie Kelly on “North Street and beyond as seen through the lens of Wilfred Moore”, and an Ian Dewhirst presentation from the archives.
Alongside the invite to this week’s Zoom meeting, members should also have received a PDF copy of our relaunched newsletter. Now running to 12 pages, with news, articles, interviews and dates for your diary. If you are a paid-up member, look out for it in your inbox.
If you want to become a paid-up member of the History Society, and to receive the newsletter every three months and get access to our online meetings, click here for details.
Our next guest speaker meeting on Zoom is scheduled for Wednesday 9th June. This month’s speaker is respected family historian and researcher Sylvia Valentine, giving a talk entitled ‘Vaccination Records for Family History’. Sylvia will cover the records which were created as a result of the compulsory smallpox vaccination legislation from 1840 and will discuss the anti-vaccinators who were able to “take over” the board of guardians in Keighley.
This meeting is exclusively for members who have paid to join the History Society. Members will receive an email invite in the next few days – remember to look out for it. If you would like to become a member please click here.
The ‘doors’ will open at 7pm but the talk won’t start until around 7.30pm. This is to give people the chance to log in to the meeting and for updates on Society news.
This month’s online Zoom talk is a History of St John’s Church in Ingrow, given by Tim Neal. The talk is happening on Wednesday 12th May from 7pm. Usually our meetings are members-only but this one is open to all.
If you are interested in coming along, please message the Society or add a comment below. The Society’s vice-chairperson, Steve Bown, will be in touch with details on how to join the meeting. Please express your interest before the day itself because we will be busy setting the meeting up on the day. Paid-up members of the Society will receive their email invitations as usual.
‘Doors’ open at 7pm so we can check everything is working, then there is a History Society update at 7.15pm before the presentation starts at 7.30pm. We look forward to seeing you there.
A reminder that our next Zoom talk is this Wednesday (14th April): ‘Criminal Lunacy – From Dock to Asylum in 19th Century Yorkshire’ to be given by archivologist, genealogist, social historian and author David Scrimgeour. This meeting is exclusively for members who have paid to join the History Society. Members should have already received their invite to the meeting by email.
The ‘doors’ will open at 7pm but the meeting won’t start until around 7.30pm. This is to give people the chance to log in to the meeting and to make sure everything is working ok.
