The latest school history day in Keighley will concentrate on the town’s Boys’ and Girls’ grammar schools.
Pictures of the schools and pupils from the 1920s to the 1960s will be on show this Saturday upstairs in Keighley Library.
The event, part of this year’s national Heritage Day, follows several popular events at the Local Studies Library devoted to schools in days gone by.
David Kirkley, one of the organisers, suggested people could take along their own pictures on Saturday so they could be scanned and added to a digital database.
He said: “From its original site on College Street off Cooke Lane, John Drake’s endowed Grammar School moved to the empty Mechanics’ Institute building in North Street.
“After the disastrous fire of 1962 moves were made for a new site and in 1964 the school moved to its present Oakbank building.
“The original Drake & Tonson Girls’ Grammar was situated on Strawberry Street before moving to a new purpose-built school at Greenhead in 1934.
“This building on Greenhead Road was demolished last year.”
More than a dozen groups are taking part in Saturday’s event including history societies, community groups and local cadets.
The free drop-in event – between 10.30am and 4pm – will be opened by local historian Ian Dewhirst, who compiles the popular Memory Lane column in the Keighley News.
Expert advice will be available from the local studies library helpdesk and from many local and family history societies in the district including Keighley Local History Society, Keighley Family History Society, Bingley History Society, Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society, Bangladeshi Community Association, Keighley’s Sangat Centre and Oakworth History Society.
Visitors will also be able to meet local authors including Rob Grillo and Malcolm Hanson, and local and family history societies will be selling a range of goods to help with research.
Also present will be Cottingley Village History Society, which will feature new material connected with the fairy girls, and the Men of Worth project, which will commemorate the men and women of Keighley and the Worth Valley who served the country in times of war.
Coun Susan Hinchcliffe, Bradford Council’s executive member for culture, said: “The Heritage Open Day at Keighley Library will provide lots of exciting opportunities for people to discover something new about the local area.
“It’s free to all and I would encourage as many people as possible to come along and get involved.”
l Keighley Shared Church will also be open to visitors as part of Heritage Day activities in Keighley this Saturday from 10am to 6pm. People will be able to look around the 18th-Century church and see a display of old registers and other memorabilia.
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