THIS was what the Keighley News of the time called a "striking scene on the Town Hall Square" when 5,000 Keighley schoolchildren celebrated Empire Day in 1909, a day later than planned because of rain. The numbers were 3,000 up on the previous year – which had been held two days late because of rain!
Empire Day used to be officially celebrated on May 24, the late Queen Victoria's birthday. Children carried flags, sang "patriotic melodies" and listened to appropriate addresses before trekking down to the football field for games, tea and buns. In later years, however, the event tended to centre on individual schools, with parents invited to plays and concerts and visiting notabilities emphasising "personal service and devotion to duty".
Though Empire Day may sound jingoistic to modern ears, there can surely be no quibbling with its aims to foster "the duties of citizenship, responsibility, unselfishness and obedience to all lawful government."
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