Circus frontman Bobby Roberts thought he recognised some of the landmarks as he made his way to the site at Silsden.

And as he drove past Kildwick roundabout on the Aire Valley Trunk he remembered that he used to go to the village school.

Bobby, 55, has been in the circus all his life. His father and uncle ran the great Roberts Bros circus and they 'wintered' in the Kildwick area. He went to the local primary school when he was five-years-old and stayed for five years.

"I remember we lived close to Airedale House at Kildwick," he says. "My family were great friends with the Windle family. We called one of them 'Uncle Charlie' and another was called Walter."

The family eventually got their own property at Gargrave.

Bobby, whose grandchildren are the tenth generation to be born into the circus, was just four years old when he first performed.

"I stepped in at the last moment to join the clowns," he says. His act is now with three performing Indian elephants, which he has done for many years.

The circus spends 37 weeks a year on the road, performing all over the country. His wife Moira, who organises the day to day running of the show, says there would not be a circus without Bobby. "He is the man they all come to see," she says.

Pictured left is a Kildwick School photo taken around 1948. Bobby is third from the right on the front row.

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