BY WAY of contrast, these happy rag-tag-and-bobtail boys were members of the Ingrow Crotona Cubs, from which were raised the 8th Keighley Scouts.

Crotona Clubs for boys and youths, popular between the wars, were rather idealistically named after the city where the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras founded a school for his disciples. The Ingrow branch had opened in 1925 in a former weaving shed off Halifax Road, providing a gymnasium, billiards, a library and games like chess and draughts, later moving to wooden premises in Ingram Street.

This photograph was supplied by the late Geoffrey Rundle, well-known in local amateur dramatic circles, who thought its date may have been 1937. He stands on the far left.

Twenty-two members from this group spent Whitsuntide of 1939 camping at Kettlewell, but a few weeks later were collecting waste-paper for the war effort.