Few art clubs will have painted a mural but Keighley Art Club’s achievement appears permanently in the old police station at the Civic Centre.

This unpaid work resulted from an enquiry after our last exhibition in Cliffe Castle Museum.

Myself and Tony Pratt, our president, were given a very short deadline but set on with gusto. We did not wish to tarnish the 100-year-plus reputation of our club, which boasted among other eminent members Jo Pighills, of Haworth, and artist/teacher Arthur Craven, whose studio in North Street was very popular.

We have met at auction rooms and Keighley College, and long-serving secretaries Hazel Holmes, Geoffrey Mitchell and Bryan Miller kept the club going.

We now meet in Keighley Healthy Living on Wednesdays, from 6.45pm to 8.45pm.

Members agreed to the project during an emergency meeting. Tony researched local Victorian scenes, such as the old market, lodgers at Turkey Street, the library, shop fronts, postboxes, an archway and devised master scrolls.

A week after the initial approach, primed plasterboard had been placed over bare brickwork, Tony had made red chalk outlines and had bought basic colours of emulsion from a local family decorators, the only expense created. All the Victorian shadings were skillfully mixed daily to produce muddy or berry shades of yesteryear.

Life-size figures miraculously appeared on the walls as we interpreted draft drawings. Cheeky children, well-to-do folk, poor people, workers and bosses came to life quickly under our decorators’ brushes as we stippled, gave tonality, light and shade to our creations.

Those who worked, and various contractors and town councillors, called in to add moral support to those who gave up their time free. Rita Butterfield, Geoffrey Mitchell, Beth Hamilton, Dawn Sedgwick, Tony Pratt, Lorraine Villiers-Green, Jeanette Bray and myself worked hard for the grand opening by Princess Anne.

Our reward was to exhibit paintings in the cafe. At first, Long Lee and Riddlesden art groups showed. We now have work in Keighley Picture House coffee lounge, Inc Creative featured us and the Smallworld Postcards of Keighley community project includes our club (see The Ticket P2 for details).

We painted postcards for the library Bronte project, held two exhibitions in Alice Street and hope to enter Keighley Show’s craft section in September. Our medieval canvases will also be in Cliffe Castle Cafe for a time.

Call 01535 669914 for club details.