The Keighley & District Local History Society was formed in late 2004. It was created to focus on the history of the town and the surrounding area, looking at the industries and mills, the shops and streets, the parks and buildings, key players such as business people, mayors and politicians, and was designed to complement the Keighley and District Family History Society which already existed (and which continues today as Airedale and Wharfedale Family History Society).

The history of the History Society is inextricably linked with that of Keighley Library, although there are no official or formal bonds. The need for the existence of the History Society emerged from discussions around how to celebrate the centenary of the Public Library, which was 100 years old in 2004. One of the key players in those discussions was Pauline Barfield, who was Senior Information Manager in the Local Studies Library at the time. Pauline was also the guest-speaker at the very first open meeting of the society, held in the Local Studies Library on Wednesday 15th December 2004, and was later made Honorary President of the society.

Another important crossover figure is the late Ian Dewhirst, who was Reference Librarian at the Library from 1967 to 1991. As well as being a driving force behind building the invaluable collection of locally focussed documents, photographs and paraphernalia that now form the backbone of the Local Studies Library’s collections, Ian also wrote over twenty books focussed on the history of the town and the wider Yorkshire area that brought awareness and knowledge to a broad and grateful readership. It was only natural that Ian was supportive of the idea of a local history society for the town. Although never formally involved in its running, Ian gave at least half-a-dozen talks to the Society before his untimely death in January 2019.

With very few exceptions, the History Society has held open meetings on the second Wednesday of each month ever since it started. These have mainly been held in the Local Studies Library (and we are extremely grateful to the Library for facilitating this) – which is a very natural fit, committed as we both are to “preserving and sharing” the stories of the town and surrounding area. For various reasons (including when the Library was undergoing a major facelift for most of 2007) we held our meetings in other local venues. These have included the Swire Smith Hall of Keighley College (when it was on the other side of North Street to the Library), the service room of The Knowle funeral home, the Civic Centre, and St. John’s Church in Ingrow. Of course, along with the rest of the world, we had to move our meetings in 2021 onto Zoom as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, and we continue to offer this ‘innovation’ today as we broadcast the majority of meetings over Zoom live from the Library for those members unable to join us in person.

But the Library has always been our main home, and we have held around 200 hundred monthly meetings and other events there. Guest speakers over the years have included former town mayor Graham Mitchell, Haworth historian Steven Wood, principal curator of the Bronte Parsonage Museum Ann Dinsdale, Ian Walkden and Andy Wade from the Men of Worth Project, former Keighley News journalist Sharon Wright, postcard collector Kevin Seaton, textiles expert Pam Brook, art historian Colin Neville, local stalwart Charlie Bhowmick, Bradford historian Kathryn Hughes, and many many others. And the range of topics is way too expansive to even start listing.

The success of the History Society is stronger now than it has been at any point in its twenty year history. We continue to meet on the second Wednesday of each month, mostly still upstairs in the Library. We have over 75 members who live both locally but also come from further afield – people keen to maintain links with a town that was important to them in their past. We try and spread the word about the fascinating history of the town at events like Keighley Show, the Heritage Open Days, Yorkshire Day celebrations, and other history-related celebrations.

Our single objective remains “to preserve and share” the history of the town and the surrounding area. People continue to be extremely generous and continue to loan or donate items that enable us to do this. We record and catalogue these items, from personal photographs, postcards, leaflets, publications – all sorts of items! – which we then seek to share via our digital archive on Flickr. Our Flickr site currently has over 25,000 items available to view by anyone, and continues to grow.

If you’d like to find out more about the History Society, please look us up on our website or our Facebook page – or better still drop into one of our meetings on the second Wednesday of the month in Keighley Library!

Tim Neal
Keighley & District Local History Society
keighleyhistory.org.uk
facebook.com/keighleyhistorysociety
flickr.com/keighleyhistory

All the photographs are “courtesy of the Keighley & District Local History Society”. The one of Tim Neal on his own at his desk is by “Cath Muldowney Photography”