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.'