Keld Festival Weekend

Keld has celebrated the 60th anniversary of the arrival of mains electricity to the village and the centenary of a remarkable historical dispute when in 1913 dancing was banned in the Literary Institute.



The Lantern Parade took place, at dusk, on Friday 8th November and was widely supported by the children from Reeth & Gunnerside Primary School, The 2 Dales Nursery, parents, grandparents and residents of the upper dale.

The children had tea in the Public Hall followed by a puppet show which they all thoroughly enjoyed.

Then came the moment the children had been waiting for!  They collected the lanterns they had so carefully made in school and a procession of over sixty children, excited to be walking out in the dark, made there way around the village.

The atmosphere was electric.  The children carried their lantern high and sang a German lantern song, learnt in school, during the procession.

The parade ended in the little square outside the church and the Literary Institute, where the children sang 'Swaledale'.

Debbie Allan, professional photographer, from Scenicview Gallery, Reeth came to the Lantern Parade to take photographs.  The Keld Resource Centre are extremely grateful to Debbie for allowing us to use her photographs as without them there would be no record of this event.
Please visit www.scenicview.co.uk or call in at Scenicview Gallery to view more of Debbie's work.

The next evening, to celebrate the 1913 dancing dispute, what else but a evening of dancing! The Centenary Ceilidh, with local Ceilidh Band, Cobbler's Jig, was a stomping success. The Public Hall, decorated with lanterns from the parade, was full and everyone danced the night away.  The hot supper supplied by Keld Lodge was excellent and the usual table-groaning, calorie-busting selection of deserts provided by supporters of the Keld Resource Centre were delicious.
A local person was overheard saying 'Tonight reminds me of how dances in Keld used to be; everyone joining in and being so friendly.'

Remembrance Sunday

Our Remembrance Day Service began beside the War Memorial on the roadside at the top of the village.

Local resident, Adrian France played The Reveille.

Following a three minute silence, 'For the Fallen' and prayers by Reverend Stephen Collinson the service continued in church.

Keld Festival makes full page in Northern Echo

Excitement is brewing as the Keld Festival Weekend approaches. The village is celebrating two important events in its history; the centenary of the 1913 dispute and arrival of mains electricity, a mere 60 years ago,
in 1953.

The Northern Echo devoted a full page report under the headline Dancing with the Devil.

Reporter, Mike Amos, did us proud and wrote a superb article about the goings-on in Keld 100 years ago when the village was in uproar because the trustees of the Literary Institute closed the place down when they discovered dances were taking place into the 'wee hours'.  The article includes interviews with Clive Davies, project manager of the Keld Resource Centre and Ernest Whitehead, the only remaining resident of Keld who remembers mains electricity arriving in the village.
Visit www.northernecho.co.uk to read the full story. Type Dancing with the Devil in the search box.  The article was printed on Tuesday 5th November.

Friday 8th November - Lantern Parade at approx. 4.30 p.m.
Around 70 children from Reeth & Gunnerside School and the 2 Dales Nursery plus a few more will walk in procession with the lanterns they made in school, singing as they go.

Saturday 9th November - Celebration Ceilidh
Keld Public Hall from 7.30 p.m.

COME AND CELEBRATE WITH US - EVERYONE WELCOME