IN 1905 General William Booth of the Salvation Army made a "great northward motor car tour" including a weekend at Keighley in his itinerary.

On Saturday morning, August 12, six motor cars bearing the general and his staff drove into town, where crowds waited to cheer him despite his being late through having stopped to give an impromptu address to the inmates of the Halifax Workhouse Hospital.

Here the general stands up in his motor car as it passes down High Street. He looks exactly as the Keighley Herald described him – a "bare-headed veteran, clad in a long green coat, and with the wind playing in his snowy locks and flowing beard".

For the next two days Keighley was involved in Salvation Army activities, the "familiar 'blood and fire' uniform being met with everywhere." The general was given a civic reception, and the Queen's Theatre was placed at his disposal for two "densely crowded" meetings. On Sunday evening he preached to 2,500, while an overflow of another 1.500 listened outside to Commissioner Cadman and Major Gregory, known as Red Hot Tom. There were fifty converts.