We also conduct research on local individuals on a regular basis and post them to our blog too.
Please take a look!
2024:
Oakworth Gala 6th July.
A one day gala held by Oakworth Village Society. We had our double gazebo with our feather banners and a display about the men and women of Oakworth who served. We also featured the six Canadian Airmen who died in a Wellington Bomber crash, plus D-Day 80 information, Women's Land Army and Nurses in wartime.
Cross Roads blue plaque unveiling at Arctic Street in Cross Roads on 13th April.
An event to unveil the new blue plaque dedicated to Corporal George Feather MM outside his former home. Afterwards a reception was held at Lees Methodist Church main hall.
We provided a display of local men from the Great War who served in the Great War with special attention given to Corporal George Feather MM.
Keighley Community Showcase on Thursday 18th April.
This was an early evening event held at Keighley Civic Centre to showcase some of the groups who had been supported by funding from Keighley Town Council. We brought along an exhibit of our work on our own display panels plus a table and computer to access our database of information to anyone making inquiries.
Our volunteers answered questions from visitors about our research work.
Tewitt Lane Canadian war memorial on Sunday 7th January.
We attended the Tewitt Lane ceremony of remembrance to the six Canadian airmen who were killed when their Wellington Bomber crashed here on 2nd January 1944.
Our display of the research on these men was put up at Holden Hall in Oakworth Community Centre with a great deal of interest from those who attended after the main ceremony at an event hosted by Oakworth Village Society, with funding provided by Oakworth councillors from Keighley Town Council.
Events we have organised or taken part in.
These are arranged by year in reverse order with the most recent events at the top:
2023:
Corporal Herbert Heaton - light and QR Code Remembrance display in November
One of our final 'events' of the year was to install a QR Code sign underneath the illuminated sign of a soldier which is one of Oakworth's Christmas lights but fitted a month before all the others to mark Armistice and Remembrance Days. The QR code for to the page about Corporal Herbert Heaton who is named on Oakworth's war memorial, just across the road in the park.
Oakworth Social Club - Remembrance display in November.
This ran from early November to just after Remembrance Day. We put up a single display panel in the lounge with biography sheets on four individuals from Oakworth. These were one man and one women from the Great War and one man and one woman from World War Two.
Airedale Hospital - Remembrance display in November.
We put up a small display on a board supplied by the hospital, which told the stories of some of the men and women who served in Keighley's War Hospitals during the Great War. This ran for a couple of weeks, from just before Armistice and Remembrance Day to shortly afterwards.
Heritage Open Day 9th September.
We had a table and a couple of small displays in the foyer of Keighley Library. Several people came along and discussed their relatives' serice in wartime.
Keighley Show 2nd September.
A large scale Agricultural Show, which is a one day event held by Keighley Agricultural Society. We brought along our gazebo with a large exhibit about Keighley men and women who had served.
Cross Roads Gala 8th July.
A one day gala held in the grounds of Lees Primary School. We had a single gazebo with our feather banner and a display about the men and some women of Lees, Cross Roads and Bocking.
Oakworth Gala 1st July.
A one day gala held by Oakworth Village Society. We had a single gazebo with our feather banner and a display about the men and some women of Oakworth.
Riddlesden Gala 24th June.
We had a single gazebo with our feather banner and a display about the men and some women of Riddlesden, Morton and the war hospital at Morton Banks.
Keighley Community Showcase on Saturday 24th May.
This was an event held in Keighley Civic Centre to showcase some of the groups who had been supported by funding from Keighley Town Council. We brought along an exhibit of our work on our own display panels plus a table and computer to access our database of information to anyone making inquiries.
Our volunteers answered questions from visitors about our research work.
Haworth 1940s Weekend on 20th and 21st May:
We were supposed to attend this weekend but due to problems with the organisation of our pitch we did not.
Tewitt Lane Canadian war memorial on Sunday 8th January.
We attended the Tewitt Lane ceremony of remembrance to the six Canadian airmen who were killed when their Wellington Bomber crashed here on 2nd January 1944.
Our display of the research on these men was put up at Holden Hall in Oakworth Community Centre with much interest from those who attended after the main ceremony.
2022:
Bradford WW1 Group talk by Andy Wade.
This was a talk about the All Saint's Bible Class men who enlisted as a group in September 1914 and what happened to each of them.
Heritage Open Day at Keighley Library on 10th September.
We had a small display and a table set up with our computer database. Visitors came along and we discussed their relatives' war service.
Keighley Show 3rd September.
A large scale Agricultural Show, which is a one day event held by Keighley Agricultural Society. We brought along our gazebo with a large exhibit about Keighley men and women who had served.
Keighley's Yorkshire Day 31st July.
A one day event held by Keighley Town Council on Town Hall Square, to celebrate Yorkshire Day. We brought our gazebo with a display of Keighley men and women who had served.
Cross Roads Gala 9th July.
A one day gala held in the grounds of Lees Primary School. We had a single gazebo with our feather banner and a display about the men and some women of Lees, Cross Roads and Bocking.
Oakworth Gala 2nd July.
A one day gala held by Oakworth Village Society. We had a single gazebo with our feather banner and a display about the men and some women of Oakworth.
Riddlesden Gala 18th June.
A one day gala held in the grounds of Riddlesden Primary School. We brought our gazebo with exhibits and information which we displayed about people from Riddlesden, Morton and some
Hutchinson and Walmsley ceremony at Haworth Cemetery on 30th May.
Some of our members attended a special ceremony organised by Councillor Tito Arana (and others) to dedicate the graves of Private Hutchinson and Private Walmsley ceremony who are buried in family graves at Haworth Cemetery on Penistone Hill. These two men were finally recognised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission after research work, which we had assisted with.
Buckingham Palace Garden Party on Wednesday 25th May 25th:
Project Directors Andy Wade and Ian Walkden attended the Buckingham Palace Garden Party on Wednesday 25th May. This was an invitation extended to us because of the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service which we received in June 2021.
Haworth 1940s Weekend on 21st and 22nd May:
We brought our stand with exhibits and information which we displayed about people predominantly from Haworth and the surrounding villages, to inform visitors about our research work. This was a two day event and we were very busy with lots of interest in the displays.
Keighley Community Showcase on Saturday 19th March.
We brought along an exhibit of our work on our own display panels plus a table and computer to access our database of information to anyone making inquiries.
Our volunteers answered questions from visitors about our research work.
2021:
We made a decision during this year that as we wouldn't be able to bring our research to the public in a physical fashion as all events, shows or galas had been cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions and national lockdowns, that we would begin the task of adding as much information as we could to our website. The sections particularly affected by these additions are:
Please take a look at these links to see what we've been doing for the past year! The blog has had over eighty posts made in the past year up to May 2021, which is more than one post every week, each requiring a full set of research and writing up.
You can also see a chronological record of the new website material here: Archives
September:
For the first time in two years we have been able to attend an outdoor event for the Haworth 1940s Day, which was a one off day to raise funds for the future Haworth 1940s Weekend, which should be held in May 2022. You can see details and a galley of the September 2021 event on our online blog here.
2020:
26th February 2020 - Talk given to Bradford WW1 Group about our work on gaining recognition for uncommemorated men from the Great War.
All the outdoor events, galas, history days and shows for 2020 have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis.
27th June 2020 - Attended a very much reduced Armed Forces Day ceremony at Haworth War Memorial. Just three people attended (due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions) and I read out a piece on the Bell brothers of Haworth, four out of these five brothers were killed in the Great War and a wreath was laid to remember those members of our armed forces who served in wartime.
2019:
6th January 2019 - 75th anniversary of the crash at Tewitt Lane - display of the six men's biographies at Holden Hall in Oakworth.
14th March 2019 - Talk given at Bingley and District Local History Society, on 'One Street in Parkwood' about the street in Keighley which was possibly the hardest hit for war dead in the Great War.
17th-19th May 2019 - Haworth 1940's weekend - displays of local men from WW1 and WW2 including displaying local man Sergeant George Peacock's newly identified photograph.
14th July 2019 - We organised and held a Dedication ceremony for the unveiling of Gunner Gilbert Hardy Midgley's new CWGC headstone at Utley Cemetery. This was followed by a reception at Keighley Rugby Clubhouse.
Spring and Summer 2019 - Helped to identify five local war memorials on family gravestones in the overgrown Dockroyd Graveyard in Oakworth and helped with their clean up.
7th September 2019 - We had a stand at the annual Keighley Show to showcase our research work.
10th November 2019 - After the Remembrance Day service in Holden Park, Oakworth, Oakworth Gala Queen Hannah Morris unveiled the new Oakworth Great War Roll of Honour at Holden Hall. The result of almost twenty years of research, on Oakworth people who served in the war. 475 names are on the list.
18th November 2019 - Talk given to Oakworth History Group about the new Oakworth roll of honour.
2018:
8th July 2018 - Lees and Cross Roads Gala - Great War displays of local men.
1st September 2018 - Keighley Show - Great War displays of local men - We won the Keighley Town Mayor's trophy for best local stand along with Keighley Local History Society.
12th October 2018 - Oakworth Heritage weekend - display and poppy pebble painting.
May to November 2018 - Cliffe Castle Museum exhibition: Keighley's War - We supplied biographies of sixty men on local war memorials display by the museum.
August to November - Keighley library display for the end of the fighting and the armistice we featured extracts from our exhibitions in the library throughout the centenary period.
3rd November 2018 - Keighley Old Contemptibles' Association Standard fully conserved and reinstalled in Keighley's Shared Church.
11th November 2018 - Hundreds of names of local men who died in the Great War were supplied by us for reading out at Cross Roads, Haworth, Oakworth, Stanbury and Keighley.
14th November 2018 - We attended the Oddfellows war memorial unveiling at Wyedean Weaving in Haworth, who are the new custodians.
18th November 2018 - Talk given to Oakworth History Group about local men named on the new Oakworth roll of honour.
2017:
9th January - Re-creation of new Cross Roads Primitive Methodist Sunday School memorial.
11th February - Unveiling ceremony at Cross Roads for new Primitive Methodist Sunday School memorial.
8th April 2017 - The Arras Offensive exhibition Keighley Library (until end of May).
August to November 2017 - Exhibition of nine banners in Keighley Library detailing the events leading up to and including the Battle of Passchendaele and the part played by several local men in it.
2016:
13th to 15th May 2016 - Haworth 1940's Weekend, and reading out names of WW2 fallen.
28th May 2016 - Jutland 100 display in Keighley Library.
21st June 2016 - Armed Forces Day.
2nd July 2016 - 'Somme 100 - Keighley's Men' exhibition Keighley Library & Somme Film.
3rd September 2016 - Keighley Show.
10th September 2016 - Library - Heritage Open Day.
11th September 2016 - Somme Film at The Picture House.
22nd October 2016 - Showing of the film: The Battle of the Somme in Keighley Library.
19th November 2016 - Showing of the film: The Battle of the Somme in Keighley Library.
22nd November 2016 - Dedication of Private Herbert Moore's Headstone.
2015:
21st June 2015 - Armed Forces Day.
4th July 2015 - Oakworth Gala.
5th September 2015 - Keighley Show.
12th September 2015 - Library - Heritage Open Day.
10th October 2015 - Great War Poetry Day.
1st November 2015 - Airedale Centre display.
2014:
21st June 2014 - Great War displays - Herbert France archive.
21st June 2014 - Great War Open Day Library 21st June.
8th July 2014 - Keighley Festival Riddlesden Hall.
3rd August 2014 - Sutton War Memorial - new plaque unveiling.
4th August 2014 - Hollywood Sign - Oxenhope Displaying Old Contemptibles' standard, with Lord Mayor of Bradford.
4th August 2014 - Marking the start of the Great War Centenary, & the Old Contemptibles.
4th August 2014 - Keighley's Old Contemptibles and the start of the Great War Centenary.
26th October 2014 - Old Contemptibles display at Airedale Shopping Centre Oct-Nov.
28th June 2014 - Armed Forces Day.
6th September 2014 - Keighley Show.
13th September 2014 - Library - Heritage Open Day.
26th September 2014 - Keighley Beer Festival - Central Hall.
11th October 2014 - Keighley Riots talk for Keighley Local History Society.
9th November 214 - Remembrance Day - names supplied for reading out at Keighley, Haworth and Oakworth.
9th November 2014 Parading of the Old Contemptibles' Association standard in Keighley.
2013:
14th September - Library - Heritage Open Day.
2012:
7th September - Library - Heritage Open Day.
2011:
3rd September - Keighley Show.
2010:
11th September 2010 - Library - Heritage Open Day.
