IN 1943 the 1st Haworth Guide Company, inspired by an appeal in The Guide magazine, raised the wherewithal for 100 sycamore trees which they handed over to Keighley Corporation.
This was the ceremony that March at the Sladen Valley Reservoir, where the trees were planted at “one end of a green belt visualised to cover the bank”.
Freelance photographer William Speight gathered everybody into this group. He probably supplied a print to the Keighley News, though owing to wartime restrictions it was not used.
Included are the Rev JC Hirst, rector of Haworth; Alderman T Duerden and Alderman J Denby, chairman and vice-chairman of the Keighley Waterworks Committee; Miss E Thorne, Guide captain of the 1st Haworth Company, and Guides, Scouts and representatives of various Haworth organisations.
“It is a happy gesture to plant trees,” said Alderman Duerden, “for they are the symbol of young life.” – a reassuring comment at the time, in the wake of some controversial tree-felling at Steeton to support “the country’s need for timber”.
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