A recent "Down Memory Lane" photograph of local Volunteers returning from the Boer War in 1901 has prompted Mrs Elsie Steele, of Fairway Crescent, Haworth, to seek out these family heirlooms in the shape of a menu and invitation to a banquet the following year.

This -- the second of its kind -- held in the Mechanics' Hall on September 24, 1902, was to celebrate peace and entertain local Regulars, Reservists and Volunteers who had returned from South Africa since May the previous year.

Wives and lady friends were also invited, as were members of a Keighley Patriotic Committee which had raised £5,200 to help support servicemen's dependents, as well as sending out comforts to the front. Some 320 were present.

Mrs Steele's grandfather was a soldier and her grandmother was at the time in service. Both were invited.

The Mayor and Mayoress, Mr and Mrs H C Longsdon, presided over a top table of local dignitaries.

The seven-course meal included such delicacies as oyster sauce, jugged hare and a topical Alexandra pudding, while Bannister's String Band played suitable items like "Sons of the Motherland" and "The Homeland Welcome".

The Mayor's toast to "Our Guests" was followed by a hearty rendition of "For They Are Jolly Good Fellows".