OUR Lady of Victories owes its origins to a converted coach-house where mass was first celebrated in 1939. Here three years later, on Sunday October 25, 1942, the Keighley St Anne’s Girls’ Training Corps and Boys’ Cadet Corps parade near the new Roman Catholic chapel at Guard House.
St Anne’s Girls’ Training Corps was the first such company to be formed in the Keighley district. In addition to pre-service training for the women’s wartime forces, girls could also prepare for the Land Army, nursing and Civil Defence.
A St Anne’s Evening Institute offered instruction in such useful subjects as shorthand and typing, book-keeping, cookery, needlework and first aid. By October of 1942 there were 97 girls in the Training Corps and 76 boys in the Cadet Corps.
After a service at Guard House, this parade was inspected by the Right Rev Monsignor Russell, seen here on the left, who then took the salute at a march-past down Braithwaite Avenue.
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