Sad Passing of a Library Friend and Volunteer, Mr Philip Jackson

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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 100th 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 100th year, Mr Jackson cut the cake for us to celebrate Keighley Library’s 120th 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

‘Rivers in the Sky’

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A talk by Alan Pearson, Thursday September 27th 2026. 11:30-12:30 at Bradford Local Studies Library, Margaret McMillan Tower.

“Starting here on Steeton Moor, on the edge of a sea of ice that stretched all the way to the North Pole, we are going to follow a string of lakes and the overflow channels that connected them. At the end of the Ice Age, huge volumes of meltwater cascaded across the hills high above the Aire Valley. This river ran for 50 kilometres alongside the ice and passed through places in Bradford where I grew up. Over the last five years I have walked along all these ancient riverbeds and recorded in photographs the retreat of the glacier, detailing each new channel as the ice melted back. Join me for a walk in a barren, frozen landscape when a glacier filled the Aire Valley.”

Booking is essential – contact Bradford Local Studies at local.studies@bradford.gov.uk or tel. 01274 433688 to reserve a place.

Sad Passing of a Library Friend and Volunteer, Steven Wood

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It was with great sadness that Keighley Library staff heard of the death of Steven Wood early Monday morning, 13th July.

Steve, as he was known to us, was a great friend of the library and of its staff. As a well-known local historian and authority on the history of the Haworth area, he often visited the library for research purposes. He gave freely of his time and expertise when we had any particularly challenging enquiries and helped not only staff but many other researchers and even appeared on television programmes about the Brontës in Haworth.

Steven Wood with his 2014 book, Haworth, Oxenhope & Stanbury From Old Maps. (image from the Keighley News)

 

Only recently, Steve helped library staff in the production of the Brontë trail booklet around Keighley, when we tried to work out the different routes the Brontës walked from Haworth to Keighley.  Some staff can also fondly recall a legendary winter ramble with him years ago and being thoroughly informed by him about the history and topography of the Haworth area, including water courses, so that by the end of the walk, it wasn’t just a drink that we hurried to the pub for on such a cold day.

Steve became a regular library volunteer, his work digitising the library’s archive collections on the Haworth area are of immense value. Always happy to share his research with us, his copies of databases, images and information were regularly deposited with the library as he kept abreast of developing digital technology from hard copy transcriptions of Haworth Parish registers to image indexes and maps and plans on CD.

Steve’s published works continue to be an invaluable source of information on Haworth and its locality and it’s a relief to note that he managed to complete his history of Haworth Parish Church that was a project he had set his heart on and his scholarship as an historian will be well showcased on publication. We look forward to adding this history to our library and to his collection of many other fine works here.

We shall miss our friend and chats with him about his other passion – books and book fairs that he used to visit. Steve was a regular bibliophile and knew such a lot on this subject that, again, he was happy to share with us. On a lighter note, he had a lovely sense of humour and would send us the occasional funny cartoon about having too many books in the house (like one or two staff here) and about libraries generally. At Christmas, he would shop for chocolate goodies and never fail to bring some in for a tea break. Steve was a lovely and very accomplished gentleman, generous with his time and knowledge, and we shall continue to miss him very much.

Keighley Local Studies Team

‘A Brush with Batley’

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A talk by author Bill Broady on his new book and the why’s, where’s and what abouts of writing.

Join us at Bradford Local Studies Library on Thursday 23rd July 11:30-12:30.

Booking is essential.

Community Cookbook Launch

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Join us on Wednesday 15th July 4-6:30pm, to celebrate the launch of the Bradford Local Studies Library Community Cookbook. Created with recipes sent in by members of Bradford’s many communities.

Including a talk by the Cinderella Club, on the 130th anniversary of them starting to feed Bradford’s children, which led to the 1904 report which eventually became the Education (Provision of Meals) Act 1906.

Booking is essential and you will have the opportunity to purchase a copy of the book at £5.99 (cash only).