An album of photographs of Keighley taken almost 30 years ago. The History Society is interested in sets of photographs relating to the town that are of any vintage, so please get in touch if you have photographs you would be willing to share.
Parish Church Magazine from 1948
This is a magazine published seventy years ago, in 1948. It is the Keighley Parish Church magazine and is celebrating 100 years of that particular building, with recollections of the history of the parish and various adverts from local businesses at the time. Click to see the full album in our digital archive on Flickr.
Guest-speaker talk this Wednesday
Just a reminder that this Wednesday (9th May) sees David Scrimgeour visit us and give his talk on how Victorian photography evolved through the taking of portraits of asylum inmates. More details by clicking on the event listing to the right.
Tour de Yorkshire Day
The Tour de Yorkshire cycle race passes through Oxenhope, Haworth, Oakworth, Goose Eye, Sutton and other areas of Keighley today. We wish all the riders well and hope for no accidents like the one on this postcard sent from Silsden to Oakworth in 1904.
Local Elections
In Keighley it’s local council elections day today. Here is a canvassing leaflet from the History Society’s digital archive from May 1959.
St John’s Ambulance Parade, 80 years ago
This photograph of the Silsden Ambulance Parade was published in the Craven Herald and Pioneer on the 29th of April 1938 – exactly 80 years ago! It shows members of the Silsden, Keighley, Skipton, Bingley, and Cullingworth and Wilsden Ambulance and Nursing Divisions of the St John’s Ambulance Brigade, who attended a church parade at Silsden. The newspaper cutting is part of the Keighley and District Local History Society digital archive on Flickr and was donated by Jackie McGinnis.
Marks & Spencer’s closes in Keighley this weekend
This weekend, the Marks & Spencer store in Keighley closes its doors for the last time. The company has decided that the 21 April 2018 will be the last day of trading in this branch. The shop moved to its current location on Low Street in the 1930s and was built on the site of the old Fleece Inn. The shop survived the redevelopment of the town centre in the 1960s, the shortening of Low Street when Worth Way was built, and the development of the covered Airedale Shopping Centre in the 1980s. These photographs show the store at various points in its history and have all been taken from the History Society’s digital archive on Flickr.
New history posters unveiled at railway station
Two new posters produced by the Keighley Station Partnership have been hung in the waiting rooms on platforms 1 and 2 at the railway station this week. The posters give details on the history of the railways at Keighley. The posters are aimed at both residents and visitors to the town.
The Keighley Station Partnership (KSP) was formed from an initiative by train operator Northern to involve local volunteers and businesses as a ‘Friends’ group to improve the station. The partnership includes the Aire Valley Rail Users Group, Bronte Country Partnership, Dementia Friendly Keighley, Keighley BID, the Keighley Bus Company, Keighley Town Council, Keighley & Worth Valley Railway and the Men of Worth Project.
The new history posters, created by KSP Team Leader Graham Mitchell, describe the arrival of the Leeds & Bradford Extension Railway in 1847 and its impact upon the town, with the creation of three separate station buildings, and after the 1884 arrival of the Great Northern Railway, the development of enormous railway yards in Cavendish Street and East Parade for the handling of the wide variety of engineering and textile products of Victorian Keighley. Keighley BID paid for the design work and printing of the posters. The text on the posters is taken from the presentation which Graham made to the History Society last year.
A further series of posters giving information on town centre retailing and the local bus network have already been provided by Keighley BID and the Keighley Bus Company in new cases on the exit ramps leading up from the platforms. These are intended to target visitors arriving in Keighley.
Royal Visit – 100 years ago!
On Wednesday 29th May 1918, King George V and Queen Mary visited the Burlington Shed site of Prince Smith and Son in Keighley. A booklet produced at the time that commemorated the visit has recently been scanned and added to the History Society’s Flickr page. Click the image below to see more.
East Riddlesden Hall
A reminder that the History Society’s guest speaker talk in April is about East Riddlesden Hall. The talk will be held upstairs at Keighley Library on Wednesday 11th April. Doors open at 7pm (use the side door on Albert Street) and the talk starts at 7.30pm. There is an admission charge of £3 (£1 for History Society members), which includes a cup of tea/coffee and a biscuit.
