KEIGHLEY and District Local History Society has received an early Christmas present – which it is sharing with the public.

The society's archivist, Tim Neal, came across 50 colour slides of Keighley on eBay late last month.

All the slides were taken, by an unknown photographer, in the 1950s.

Mr Neal is delighted with the find.

"It’s so exciting to come across colour photographs of the town from the 1950s," he said.

"Our perceptions of that time are painted in black-and-white.

"There was no colour television back then, most contemporary British films of that period were made in black-and-white, and the majority of photographs from the 1950s are in black-and-white – because so much of publishing was only in black-and-white. Ordinary newspapers didn’t start publishing in colour until the 1980s.

"But of course for the people at the time, the world was still very much in colour, and colour photographs convey a far more vivid and exciting sense of the town back then."

The collection includes street scenes and events like celebrations for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and various galas.

A small selection of the images, dating from 1951 and 1952, is shown here.

Mr Neal said all the slides had been scanned and would be uploaded to the society’s Flickr site soon.

They will add to thousands of other images held by the society which are already housed on the site and available to view.

The latest discovery comes just months after a 'treasure trove' of images capturing life around Keighley and surrounding communities four decades ago came to light.

Those photographs were from black-and-white negatives that were actually shot by the Keighley News in the early 1980s.

The images are from a two-year period between August 1981 and 1983.

They feature a huge range of topics and events, including sporting fixtures, weddings, shows and galas, theatre productions, political activities and charity functions.

The negatives had been on quite a journey – they were bought by the society from an Oakworth postcard dealer, who himself had acquired them from someone living in Scarborough.

They came in small envelopes and with only basic labelling and a date.

In total, Keighley and District Local History Society has more than 14,000 images of people, places, objects and publications to view on its Flickr site ­– visit flickr.com/keighleyhistory.

For more about the society, go to keighleyhistory.org.uk or its Facebook page, facebook.com/keighleyhistorysociety.