AN AMBULANCE competition is taking place beside an inflating balloon at a 1920s Keighley Gala in Victoria Park.
The gala committee had struck up an early rapport with the St John Ambulance Brigade, whose Keighley Division, formed in 1897, was seen as "a necessary adjunct to every large gathering in the town". These ambulance competitions attracted contestant s from neighbouring communities.
Balloon ascents had provided a spectacular feature of many galas since 1886, when Mademoiselle De Vasco had floated away to Ilkley. In 1908 Captain Frederick Bidmead had landed at Shipley Glen. The following year Auguste Gaudron took three intrepid Keighley passengers as far as Selby.
This snapshot may date from 1924, when the balloon ascent was coupled with a double parachute descent, with Captain Henry Spencer coming down in the River Aire near Sandbeds and his 15-year-old son Perceval at the sewage farm. An irate householder claimed 25 shillings for damage to his garden by the balloon, plus "other damage to garden by people viewing same"!
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