SIR Bracewell Smith stands beside Lady Smith talking to prominent Old Keighlians at a cocktail party he gave them at the Mansion House during his term as Lord Mayor of London in 1946-1947.

In 1946, former pupils and staff of the Keighley Boys’ Grammar School had founded an Old Boys’ branch for members living in and near London. These included Frank Whitaker, editor of Country Life, Wilson Midgley, editor of John o’ London’s Weekly, and Norman Robson, London editor of Westminster Press Provincial Newspapers Ltd.

Sir Bracewell is talking to retired structural engineer FE Drury and Colonel GE Rhodes, senior engineering inspector to the Ministry of Health. A young bespectacled Asa Briggs sips his cocktail to the left of Lady Smith.