Mr Philip Jackson

On Thursday, Keighley Library staff received the very sad news that one of their most dedicated Library friends and volunteers, Mr Philip Jackson had passed away.

It was only last year that library staff celebrated Mr Jackson’s 100^th birthday and the work that he had undertaken in the library during his retirement, over an astonishing period of twenty-five years.

Keighley Library has been blessed with a number of volunteers, but Mr Jackson was one of the most dedicated and along with the late Steve Wood, Ian Walkden and David Kirkley kept abreast of developing technology so that their work was doubly valuable to staff and the service that faced such rapidly changing and challenging times in information delivery and storage.

Nothing fazed Mr Jackson who scanned photographs and regularly submitted word processed transcripts and indexes in Excel. Over the years we have bound over 15 volumes of his work that have helped staff and family history researchers at home and abroad. He was also very knowledgeable about the local area, having lived in Keighley most of his life and would happily share that knowledge when asked to do so by staff or customers. Last month we were very honoured to receive his collection of local and family history material which we know will be invaluable to the library and researchers of local and family history of the future.

In his 100^th year, Mr Jackson cut the cake for us to celebrate Keighley Library’s 120^th anniversary year, 2024 and, despite failing eyesight continued to attend events and support us. Staff always enjoyed his visits and his friendship and he will be very sadly missed by us all.

Keighley Library