THE Mikado reflected a period of popular interest in Japanese art and culture, as seen also in this tableau in a Keighley Gala procession a century or more ago.

It is thought to have been put on by the Primitive Methodists, though Devonshire Street Congregational Sunday School entered the same subject in 1909, winning first prize. The parasols held by three of these girls would have been fashionable at the time.

In 1912 they returned to a similar theme with a tableau called Jolly Jack Tars in Japan.

The wagon mounting these tea gardens had been provided by Keighley machine-makers Murton and Varley Ltd, of Anchor Iron Works. Their specialities included washing, wringing and mangling machines, and agricultural equipment like pulpers, slicers, oil-cake breakers and chaff cutters.