The Men of Worth Project have been busy creating a Remembrance Trail in Oakworth and the launch event will be at Oakworth Community Hall on the 30th of October. About 100 A3 boards will be installed by volunteers on lampposts around Oakworth on 28th October 2025 and they will be on display until the end of November.
The boards will be positioned near to the former homes of each man. People who read their brief stories on the boards can visit The Men of Worth Project website and/or use their phones to scan a QR Code on each board to go to the website to read their whole stories. We hope it will give people a sense of where these brave soldiers lived, before going off to war, never to return.
Andy Wade, project director states:
“One hundred A3 boards will be seen on lamp posts around Oakworth from the end of October until the end of November. People who read their brief stories on the boards can use their phones to scan the QR Code on each board to go to the Men of Worth Project website where they can read their whole stories. We hope it will give people a sense of where these brave soldiers lived their lives before going off to war, never to return.”
Keighley Mayor, Councilor Chris Herd, responeded: “Keighley Town Council is proud to support the Oakworth Remembrance Trail, ensuring the bravery and sacrifice of our local service people are remembered where they lived. This project, in partnership with Men of Worth and the Army Cadets, honours their legacy and brings our community together in respect and remembrance.”
For More information on the Men of Worth Project please see the website Men Of Worth
‘Meeting the Meat Demand’ with Karl-Heinz Wüstner.
Over the summer, the History Society was presented with the opportunity for a talk by Karl-Heinz Wüstner on German immigration to West Yorkshire. With all of our regular slots already filled (and the budget pretty much used up), our solution was to book Keighley Local Studies Library for an extra talk on the afternoon of Wednesday 1st October. The talk, entitled ‘Meeting the Meat Demand’ will start at 2.30pm and will finish around 4.30pm (time for the talk plus discussion at the end). There is a charge of £2 per person (fee applies to members and visitors).
Karl-Heinz Wüstner is a retired high school teacher from Ilshofen, Germany. As a local historian he has studied labour migration and conducted research on trade and craftsmanship in the Hohenlohe region of Germany for many years. He is a committee member of the Historical Society for Württemberg-Franconia and chairman of a local museum that exhibits painted furniture. He writes books and articles, and has given talks at numerous conferences and seminars.
Karl-Heinz Wüstner: “The continuing industrialisation of Yorkshire in the 19th century created many additional jobs in wool mills and factories. Industrial centres grew rapidly and the large number of newly arrived workers needed to be fed. German immigrants in particular took advantage of these circumstances. As butchers, they not only offered meat, but also produced a variety of tasty sausages, meatloaf, rissoles and many other products that could be eaten either cold or warm after brief heating. With the introduction of takeaways, also offering hot meals, they broke new ground in food supply and thus established new eating habits.
“Quite a number of such pork butchers settled in the up-and-coming town of Keighley. A whole series of butcher’s shops with more than thirty female and young employees dominated the streetscape. Names such as Andrassy, Pfeiffer, Hofmann and Schneider may still be remembered by some today.
“I will try to explain why the butchers and their families left their homeland and how they were able to succeed as immigrants. I will explore the important role they played in the development of the towns and cities, as well as their personal fates.”
Article and Photos by Tim Neal, Keighley & District Local History Society.
This is a heartwarming autobiography from former professional Keighley Rugby League player, David “Pete” Adamson, now living in Texas, but still following “the passing game”, that has been such an influence on his Keighley youth, career in the armed forces and as a trainer in his retirement years.
Both David’s parents were from Keighley and though he was born in Wath-on-Dearne in 1942, he returned to Keighley with his mother after the early death of his father. His mother, Mary, was one of ten children and had taken work in the local Keighley mill from the age of 11, crawling under the machinery to pick up bobbins that had fallen on the floor. On returning to Keighley, she returned to the textile trade with a job at Knowle Mill (formerly Heaton Mill) to support herself and her son.
David’s father, Sidney, had played rugby in Keighley and his influence led to David’s lifelong passion for the game. This is a story of hard times and good and how the game supported him and brought joy into his life, even during his army service abroad. David writes about his times as a player for Keighley Albion Amateur Rugby League Club and his professional play for Keighley RLFC.
The book is dedicated to his lovely wife, Miriam, who, when they recently lived over here in Haworth for a while, volunteered in Keighley Local Studies Library. Miriam even joined us recording her research into stagecoach travel from Keighley in the 19th century, it’s still available, check it out on this website:
Thanks once again Miriam and David for the generous donation of books to Keighley Library.
The Courage of his Convictions: The Life and Work of George Demaine by Colin Neville (ISBN: 978-1-0682899-0-3)
This fully illustrated book is number eleven in the Not Just Hockney series of books on the work of past artists in the Bradford district. The full list of titles can be found on the Home page of the website at www.notjusthockney.info Keighley Local Studies Library presently has 2 copies available for loan, more to follow soon.
George Frederick Demaine was a committed Methodist, husband and father; a talented painter, sculptor, model-maker, film set designer. He received his initial training at the Keighley School of Art at the Mechanics’ Institute. As a Conscientious Objector during World War One, he was imprisoned.
Colin Neville goes on to say,
“For those men that enlisted or were conscripted into the armed services, their courage came, not so much in their enlistment or acceptance of conscription into the services, but how they responded later. Their courage came from standing alongside their comrades once the real bloody horror of this war was exposed to them. Millions paid the ultimate price for this.
For George Demaine, the nature of his courage was to stand firm to his principals; principals that shunned participation – in any way, shape or form – that served this particular and pointless war. This was a courage in the face of open, bitter and sustained hostility from all sides.
But unlike the Fallen of the Great War, George lived. He lived to become a creative member of society in general, and in particular during World War Two, when he used his artistic talents to save lives and property from enemy bombing. Commitment, courage and talent of the type displayed by George Demaine always deserves recognition and its place in history.”
As usual, for Not Just Hockney publications, the book is beautifully illustrated, this time with kind permission from John Demaine, grandson of George Frederick Demaine.
The History Society held another of their research sessions at Keighley Local Studies Library on the morning of Saturday 31st May 2025. Around twenty members attended, with Angela, Gina and Janet from the library staff opening up various photographic archives and maps of the area for people to peruse.
The session started with History Society committee member Tim Neal talking to attendees about 3D or stereoscopic photography. Many of those there could remember the phenomenon of View-Masters that were around from the 1950s to the 1980s. These handheld viewers used to be loaded with a cardboard circular disc holding seven different colour stereoscopic photos. When looking through the viewer these images appeared in 3D. Tim had brought along half-a-dozen View-Master viewers and a selection of geographical and event-based discs covering subjects as varied as Princess Margaret’s wedding in 1960 to a mid-century of Ottawa in Canada. Members were able to peruse these at their leisure.
Mel Whitaker, writing after the event: “Tim’s collection of ‘View Masters’ brought back many happy memories for all of us who had owned one – and really impressed those who had never seen one before!”
People were then introduced to a collection of card-backed slides from the library’s collection. These were stereoscope images of Keighley in the Victorian era. Local historian Eddie Kelly had already studied the cards and had been able to conclude that they must have been produced around 1895, judging by some of the businesses depicted and the development of some of the buildings in some of the pictures. Using either the vintage wooden viewer or modern plastic equivalents, attendees were able to see Victorian Keighley brought back to life in 3D.
Accompanying these stereoscopic images were selections of photographs, organised by area of town, from a variety of the library’s archive collections, showing the town from the 1900s to the 1960s. It was a period that saw enormous changes in the landscape of the town.
Andy Wade, writing after the event: “Had an excellent session in Keighley Library’s Local Studies room looking at stereoscopic photographs and some of the old photo archives and in particular, the chance to talk about what we were looking at, as there were some unique views of Keighley which I’ve never seen before.”
Finally, bringing us right up to date, the staff had set up the library’s virtual reality equipment, enabling members to view 3D recreations of a 1970s living room, and to explore potential habitats fifty years in the future.
Several members also brought their own items to add to collections, and could also explore their own research lines of query with the staff and the amazing resources that the library has to offer. The session was summed up by society member Jean McClennon: “An excellent and interesting session, thanks very much to all involved.”
The History Society will be holding another similar session on Saturday 18th October, focusing in how to use the library’s resources to research the history of your own home.
Tim Neal Keighley & District Local History Society 1st June 2025
On Saturday, 8th March, it’s International Women’s Day and to celebrate it, Keighley Local Studies Library, first floor of Keighley Library, is hosting a day of talks by popular women speakers. All talks are free as part of Keighley Library’s 120 Years’ anniversary celebrations and there is no need to book, so please come along and help us to celebrate women, women’s work and achievements.
At 10am, Diane Park is going to talk about her strong women book shop in Haworth, Wave of Nostalgia, that is as popular as ever and has certainly raised awareness of women writers and artists. Sharon Wright, author, journalist and playwright will speak at 11.30am. Sharon is no stranger to highlighting the lives of women in history who have been neglected and has written about the unique and daring lives of women balloonists and shone a light at last on the life of the mother of the Brontë children, Maria Branwell, with Maria’s very first biography. Sharon will be talking about an increasingly popular genre in book shops and libraries alike, narrative
non-fiction. In the afternoon at 2.15pm, Jude Rhodes, local historian and genealogist, a speaker very much in demand in Yorkshire as well as Keighley Library will address the question – who were the women nurses? As a former practising nurse herself, now nurse tutor, we can look forward to Jude’s professional incite along the way. The day will continue its high note with the multi-talented local historian, actress, author and raconteur, Irene Lofthouse, who will speak about those women in Keighley who few might have heard of in their life time or since but who entered politics, ran businesses and generally helped to put Keighley on the map during a period when hearth and home was regarded as a woman’s only natural sphere outside a few caring professions.
There will be accompanying displays of archive records, a sale of authors’ publications and a display by the Men of Worth about women serving as nurses and as land army personnel. Refreshments will be served mid- morning and mid- afternoon between speakers.
