A big thank you to Ian Bottomley, former senior curator at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, who came along to the Library last night to deliver his talk on how the gun was introduced to Japan via Portugal and Goa. Over twenty members of the History Society attended in person, with a further half-dozen members on Zoom and several more guest visitors in person. The opportunity to handle some examples of the weaponry and associated equipment after the talk was much appreciated by many attendees. Photographs taken by Tim Neal and John Rodger.
Next month’s meeting is the members-only AGM (held on Zoom) then we are back in the Library on 12th December for the Christmas Meeting, which will be a joint celebration with the fact that the Society will also be holding its 20th anniversary party.
October’s History Society meeting will be a talk from guest speaker Ian Bottomley, former senior curator at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. The talk describes how the Portuguese, who were exploring the East, had trade guns made in Goa that they then spread further East, reaching Japan in 1543 and influencing that country’s history. Ian will be bringing along a couple of antique guns, and some accessories that attendees can handle.
The meeting is on Wednesday 9th October 2024 and will be held in the Local Studies Library, upstairs in Keighley Library. Doors open at 7.15pm (please use the Albert Street entrance if arriving at the Library after 7pm). There is a lift to access the first floor. Entry is free to History Society members and is £3.50 to anyone else – all are welcome to attend. The meeting is scheduled to finish around 8.45pm.
Membership of the History Society costs £15 for the calendar year. You can join at any of our meetings in the Library. If you join at this meeting you will get membership for 2025 with the rest of 2024 thrown in. Cash only please.
A reminder that it’s Eddie Kelly’s talk on The Lost and Forgotten Inns of Keighley tomorrow evening (Wednesday 11th November 2024). This is a members-only meeting held on Zoom. Members should’ve had their email from Anne-Marie by now with details on how to join the meeting (please check your junk mail folders if you can’t find it).
Sunday 1st September – Keighley Bus Museum is having an Open Day at their Dalton Lane site. The History Society has a display.
Saturday 7th September – Keighley Show. The History Society has a stall – hope to see lots of you there. We will have a special offer on History Society membership for new members – pay for 2025 membership and get the rest of 2024 thrown in. Membership is £15 (cash-only please).
Monday 9th September – The History Society is holding a guided walk around Keighley town centre as part of the Keighley Walking Festival. Meet at the Town Hall Square at 1pm (distance is about 1.5 miles, comfortable shows advised).
Wednesday 11th September – September’s History Society meeting is Eddie Kelly talking about the ‘Lost & Forgotten Inns & Public Houses of Keighley’. This meeting is on Zoom (NOT in the library) and is a members-only meeting.
Hope to see as many of you as possible at these different events.
The History Society’s meeting on Wednesday attracted record crowds to hear society member Tim Neal give his talk on ‘120 Years of Keighley Library’. Thank you to everyone who came along and we hope you enjoyed it.
Tim also wants to thank the Local Studies Library, not just for letting us hold the meeting in the Library, but for the invaluable help they gave him in putting the presentation together. And thank you to Sue Hughes and Anne-Marie Dewhirst who took photographs during the evening.
Next month’s talk is Eddie Kelly on ‘Lost and Forgotten Inns and Public Houses of Keighley’. This meeting is a members-only one and will be held on Zoom. We’ll be back in the Library in October.
Great coverage in this week’s Keighley News of the forthcoming History Society meeting. Tim Neal will be telling the 120 years story of Keighley Library by dropping off at twelve key dates during its history and talking about the innovations and key people involved.
The talk is on Wednesday 14th August 2024, upstairs in the local studies library of Keighley Library. The meeting starts about 7.20pm. Please use the entrance on Albert Street.
Anyone is welcome to come along. It is free to History Society members and £3.50 to anyone else, no need to book in advance. History Society members can also join in via Zoom.
A big thank you to Colin Neville, curator of the Not Just Hockney website, who gave his fascinating, well-researched and richly illustrated talk on Keighley School of Art to the History Society last night.
And thank you to everyone who came along (despite the England match!) or who joined us on Zoom.
Next month’s talk will be by Tim Neal, marking 120 years of Keighley Library, on 14th August 2024 at 7.15pm in the Library.
A reminder that July’s monthly meeting will be on Wednesday 10th July 2024. It will be held upstairs in Keighley Library.
The guest speaker will be Colin Neville, curator of the Not Just Hockney website about artists from the local area. His talk is entitled “Keighley School of Art” and will outline the history of the School, from its origins in the Keighley Mechanics Institute, founded in 1825, to its demise as an independent institution in the 1950s. He will also present illustrated profiles of some of the most successful local artists associated with the School, including Silsden artists Jack Clarkson, Dorothy Wade, and Augustus Spencer, as well as artists from Keighley and Haworth, including Joe Pighills, Frances Watson Sunderland, Annie Hugill, Frank Roper, Allan Laycock, George Demaine, and Alex Smith.
Colin says: “For over eighty years, the Keighley School of Art (later renamed Keighley School of Art and Crafts) was regarded as one of the most progressive and successful in the West Riding of Yorkshire. This was largely because of the strong-minded and talented people involved in its history and development. People like Walter Smith, the first Head of the School: one of eleven children from a working class background, Smith was a passionate advocate for the role of art in the lives of ordinary men and women; local mill owner, Sir Swire Smith: art lover and philanthropist; he had a significant influence on securing national funding and recognition for the School; Tom Butterfield: a talented artist himself, as its Head he successfully steered the School through the last years of the 19th and into the 20th century with his progressive and humane leadership; and Alfred Rodway, the School Principal 1927-1939: another committed and determined character who oversaw a big expansion of craft courses at the School during the late 1920s and 1930s.”
As well as speaking, Colin will have a selection of some of his books on local artists available to buy on the night. The books cost £5 each (cash only please). A lot of his books are also available to browse in Keighley Local Studies Library.
Anyone is welcome to attend the meeting. Entry costs £3.50 (free if you are a history society member). The meetings are upstairs in the local studies library of Keighley Library on North Street. Doors open at 7.15 pm, the meeting starts at around 7.20pm and Colin’s presentation will begin at 7.30pm. We finish around 8.30pm. Please use the side entrance to the library on Albert Street if you are arriving after 7pm.
Anyone is welcome to come along and if people wish to join the society they can pay in cash on the night (membership for the rest of 2024 costs £15 or £20 for a couple living at the same address). History Society members also have the option of joining the meeting via Zoom.
A big thank you to Pam Brook who came along to the History Society’s meeting in the Library last night to give her talk on “Material Worth: Textile Innovations in the Aire and Worth Valleys”. She covered the history of cotton and wool weaving in the area from individual hand-looms above cottages, through water and steam powered industrial mills, to the synthetic fibres of modern day, touching upon many local firms along the way.
And a big thank you to everyone who came along. There were around fifty of us in the Library and an additional 15 people joined in on Zoom, so a terrific turnout.
Next month’s talk (on Wednesday 10th July) is Colin Neville talking about some of the fascinating artists who came through Keighley School of Art.
Keighley and District Local History Society’s next meeting will be on Wednesday 12th June 2024. It will be held upstairs in Keighley Library. The guest speaker is textiles expert and enthusiast Pam Brook, giving her talk “Material Worth: Textile innovations in the Aire and Worth Valleys”.
Pam says: “Bradford was always known as ‘Worstedopolis’ but Keighley and District was known for innovative experimentation with fibres such as artificial silk and inventive knitting yarn combinations along with advances in textile engineering. The talk will discuss some of these innovations together with the town’s contribution to the early textile industry, its connections to East Lancashire and the move from handloom to industrial scale weaving.”
Pam was born at Victoria Hospital in Keighley and has lived in the area most of her life. She worked at Hattersley Narrow Fabrics and at Keighley College. Her research sees her using the archives at Cliffe Castle on a regular basis, and she has served on the council of Bradford Textile Society and volunteered at Bradford College’s Textile Archive. She has been an active member of the Keighley and District Local History Society for around four years now.
Anyone is welcome to attend the meeting. Entry costs £3.50 (free if you are a history society member). The meetings are upstairs in the local studies library of Keighley Library on North Street. Doors open at 7pm, the meeting starts at around 7.20pm and Pam’s presentation will begin at 7.30pm. We finish around 8.30pm. Please use the side entrance to the library on Albert Street if you are arriving after 7pm. History Society members also have the option of joining the meeting via Zoom.
