Keighley's legendary historian Ian Dewhirst has collected his MBE from Buckingham Palace.

Mr Dewhirst, who compiles the popular Down Memory Lane weekly column for the Keighley News, received the award from the Queen.

"She chatted briefly with all the 130-or-so recipients," he told us. We only had a few seconds but she had clearly been well briefed. She knew I had worked at the library.

"I was a bit worried before the day, thinking about things which could go wrong, but everything went so smoothly. It was a marvellous occasion, one I will always remember."

He travelled to the palace with his sister Pamela Stringer, niece Annette Seyboth and friend Susan Hepworth.

Mr Dewhirst, of Raglan Avenue, was awarded the MBE for his services to local history. He has been probing the town's past for 40 years. He has written millions of words and given thousands of talks on his favourite subject.

He is also a Mills and Boon author with his part-fact part-fiction book The Story of Nobody. Another of his most recent publications is the Keighley News' pictorial collection Images of Keighley.

Mr Dewhirst, a former pupil of the old Keighley Boys' Grammar School, retired in 1991 after 24 years as reference librarian.

Down Memory Lane, page 10

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.