KEIGHLEY youth club members from the 1950s and 1960s are being invited to a reunion.

The February 13 event at the Octagon club in Sandbeds will raise money to take people with learning disabilities on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.

The night, which features a Billy Fury tribute act and 1960s music, will be this year’s main fundraiser for the annual Lourdes trip organised by Keighley’s Faith and Light Group.

The group, made up of members of several churches in Keighley, have been running the trips for several decades.

Keighley East ward councillor Doreen Lee, one of the organisers of the reunion, said the fundraiser would be special this year not only because it was a reunion.

It will honour Keighley couple Peter and Janice Hellens, who have organised the Faith and Light pilgrimage for the past 20 years.

She said: “They are retiring in September, so this is the last time they will be running a trip to Lourdes.”

Both Cllr Lee and Mrs Hellens, whose maiden names were Bugler and Williamson, regularly attended several Keighley youth clubs when they were teenagers, such as the Parkwood, Central Hall and Crotona.

The Crotona club met opposite the Keighley News office, in North Street, in rooms below what is now Mango’s restaurant and takeaway.

Cllr Lee “This will be our last reunion. We decided we’re all either 70 or coming up to 70, so we’ll need zimmer frames next time!

“We got quite a lot of people to the last reunion about 10 years ago, so we want to get at least two or three hundred people this time”

Tickets for the reunion are available from the Octagon club by phoning Cllr Lee on 01535 667772.

Faith and Light was set up in 1980 to integrate people with learning disabilities into the Christian community.