Tag: Speakers Meeting

History Added To…

Andy Wade, from the Men of Worth Project, gave an excellent talk to History Society members and guests at the Civic Centre on Wednesday evening. His talk was entitled “Keighley’s Roll of Honour Centenary” and covered the origin of the War Memorial in Town Hall Square, and the town’s original Roll of Honour book containing almost 1,000 names of the men from Keighley killed during the First World War, and brought the story up to date with how over 100 additional names have been uncovered and are recorded in a new additional book. Huge thanks to Andy.

Next month’s talk will be Colin Neville on Keighley-born artist George Demaine, on 14th May 2025.

Photographs taken by Tim Neal.

Roll of Honour Talk

April’s History Society meeting will be The Men of Worth Project’s Andy Wade explaining how it was found that several people were missing from the original roll, leading to the submission of over 100 candidates who were approved by a review panel of local people and added to the second roll of honour book. He’ll also talk about the associated centenary events surrounding this work.

The meeting is on Wednesday 9th April 2025 and will be held in the Main Hall, upstairs in Keighley Civic Centre. Doors open at 7.15pm. 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. Members of the History Society also have the option of joining the meeting online via Zoom.

Membership of the History Society costs £15 for the calendar year. You can join at any of our meetings in the Library (cash only please) or online via the society’s website.

Civil War at Next Society Meeting

March’s History Society meeting will be guest speaker Thomas Zugic looking at the causes of the Civil War and the significance of places such as Adwalton Moor, Tadcaster, Bradford, Selby and Marston Moor. He’ll also be exploring some of the tactics employed and the weapons used, including bringing along some reproduction weapons and armour, and a diorama of a typical Civil War army. [Background image is a detail from The Battle of Adwalton Moor by Jean Moust.]

The meeting is on Wednesday 12th March 2025 and will be held in the main hall, upstairs in Keighley Civic Centre (PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A CHANGE OF VENUE). Doors open at 7.15pm. 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. Members of the History Society also have the option of joining the meeting online via Zoom.

Membership of the History Society costs £15 for the calendar year. You can join at any of our face-to-face meetings (cash only please) or online via the society’s website.

Change of Venue for Next Meeting

The History Society has been informed that we can’t hold our monthly meetings on Wednesday evenings in the Library for the foreseeable future. Because all of our speakers have been booked for this year, we are looking at an alternative venue.

For March’s meeting (guest speaker Thomas Zugic: The Importance of Yorkshire to the Civil War), the meeting will be held in the Main Hall, upstairs in the Civic Centre. The Civic Centre (for those who don’t know) is very close to the Library – on the same side of North Street but further up the road towards the Parish Church. There is stair-free access via a lift at the front of the building and a second lift indoors. The Main Hall is located on the first floor. Doors will open at 7.00pm and the meeting starts around 7.20pm (finishing around 8.30pm).

We are arranging venues for the remainder of the meetings for this year – keep an eye on society emails, the newsletter, social media and our website to keep up-to-date.

February’s History Society Meeting

February’s History Society meeting is next Wednesday (12th February 2025) . The guest speaker is History Society member Graham Mitchell examining the new evidence that both Boys from the Tower were alive after the death of their uncle, King Richard III. [The background image is a detail from ‘The Princes in the Tower’ by John Everett Millais (1878), courtesy of the Royal Holloway Picture Gallery.]

The meeting 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. Members of the History Society also have the option of joining the meeting online via Zoom.

Membership of the History Society costs £15 for the calendar year. You can join at any of our meetings in the Library (cash only please) or online via the society’s website.

First Meeting of 2025

Happy New Year, everyone!

Our first History Society meeting of 2025 will be family and local historian Jude Rhodes looking at back-to-back housing as a solution to the rapid population growth during the Industrial Revolution which led to disease in poor social classes, but were all back-to-back housing areas of slums?

This is a HISTORY SOCIETY MEMBERS ONLY meeting, which will be held on Zoom (not in the Library). Details on how to join in on Zoom will be sent out via email a few days in advance of the meeting.

Christmas & Birthday Meeting

Terrific spread in the Keighley News for our upcoming Christmas meeting, upstairs in the Library on Wednesday 11th December 2024. This year we are not just marking the festive season but we will also be celebrating our 20th birthday.

There is the chance to look through some of the donations made throughout the year, a look back at Christmas in Keighley in 1964, a quiz, and of course cake and tea and coffee. There is also the chance to take out society membership for 2025.

The meeting is open to all. We meet upstairs in the Local Studies Library from 7.15pm (please use the Albert Street entrance if arriving after 7pm). Entry is free to History Society members or £3.50 for anyone else. The meeting finishes around 8.45pm.

Weaponry and Japan

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

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.

Lost & Forgotten Inns & Pubs

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).