Eight amazing photos show the innovative ways vans, buses, boats and other forms of transport in Yorkshire were used in the 20th century

The services provided by these mobile vans and buses ranged from cookery classes for school children to giving blood transfusions. There were also portable laundrette vans that were used before the Second World War and were mostly staffed by women and girls as young as 14 who would travel door to door to collect clothes and linen to clean.

The penny-farthing is an early type of bicycle and was mostly popular in the 1870s and 1880s, however, the high wheeler grew in popularity again in the 20th century. Although the bike became obsolete in the late 1880s with the development of modern bicycles, there are still Yorkshire craftsmen who continue to build penny-farthings. The name came from the British penny and farthing coins.

These black and white photos illustrate the creative purposes of vehicles in the 20th century.

Eight photos show the innovative ways vans and buses were used decades ago

Blood transfusion

A mobile blood transfusion van parked at a South Yorkshire colliery, where the miners volunteered to give blood in May 1941. A nurse is shown performing a blood test on the first donor.

Portable cookery van

Schoolchildren at Knayton, near Thirsk, learn to cook in the open air outside a mobile cookery van which travelled from school to school in Yorkshire in July 1935.

Mobile laundrette

A mobile laundrette van in Newtown, Honley, provided a shirt and collar dressing service as well as dyeing and dry-cleaning for West Riding and Yorkshire. Picture dates back to 1925.

Mobile canteens

Two mobile canteens, made from converted buses, were available in Leeds for civil defence workers. The canteens received supplies of hot food and drink from one of the city's public institutions and conveyed them to the required areas. The vehicles were equipped with crockery, hot water containers and washing-up facilities.

Charabanc

An early open topped charabanc taking passengers on a trip over the moors, near Whitby, North Yorkshire in 1913.

Penny Farthing

A motorised Penny Farthing which was customised by Rowland Winn, a garage owner from Leeds. The rear wheel was a normal cycle wheel fitted with a small hub motor and the picture was taken in 1955.

Milkman

A milkman in Yorkshire shown doing his rounds in a horse-drawn cart, pours milk into a customer's jug in March 1930.

Boat office

A garage owner in Doncaster used an old wheel house from a boat as his office in September 1934.