AIREDALE Writers’ Circle welcomed inspiration to their June meeting in the form of speaker Noel Moroney.

The former sales and marketing professional turned historian shared with members a number of interesting anecdotes from his local history miscellany.

His talk, entitled Past Times of West Yorkshire, took in such diverse chunks of trivia as how Napoleon helped to build the parish church at Brighouse, what became of Titus Salt’s pet dog’s gravestone and the Halifax instrument of execution, the gibbet, that was the forerunner to the guillotine.

Other subjects covered included the watchmaking family from Skipton who manufactured the first FA Cup, the Fattorinis; composer Frederick Delius; the architectural legacy of Bradford’s Little Germany; blacksmith-trained soprano singer Susan Sunderland; and how a textile engineer from Shelf became The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo.

Noel also shared with us several fascinating stories of his professional career, which took in personalities as diverse as James Dyson, Trevor Bayliss and Jeremy Clarkson.

He ended his talk by sharing with us a favourite saying. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is still a mystery, but today is a gift. That’s why they call it the present.

Also in June’s meeting, member John Roberts discussed his new novel Walking Alone. The book tells the story of Jack Richards, a man struggling to decide whether he deserves to live or die while undertaking an epic journey along the Pilgrims’ Way in North Wales.

During the course of his 119-mile pilgrimage, Jack relives the main events of his life, awarding himself marks for how good or bad a human being he has been.

John told the group how he was inspired to write Walking Alone after traversing the Pilgrims’ Way himself.

He stayed on Bardsey Island, which has only three permanent inhabitants and no electricity. In Catholic history this was known as the island of 20,000 saints, with two pilgrimages to Bardsey rumoured to be worth one to Rome.

John has had a number of copies of Walking Alone published, with all profits from sales going to Manorlands. They cost £6 each. Please contact the group via our website at airedalewriters.btck.co.uk if you would be interested in purchasing a copy.

The group is always pleased to welcome aspiring writers into its ranks. We meet on the second Tuesday of each month, so if interested please do come along and find out what it’s all about.

The next meeting, on Tuesday July 12 at 7.30pm at Sight Airedale, Scott Street, Keighley, will be a writing exercise evening.

• Our monthly Write On articles are written by a different member of the Airedale Writers Circle each time, and have covered a variety of subjects including what happens at the long-established club’s monthly gatherings.

These include a wealth of interesting speakers, many of whom are successful writers themselves.

If you’ve missed any of the previous articles, simply visit keighleynews.co.uk, click on What’s On then Out & About, and you’ll find them all available to read.