Postcard collection takes viewers back into Pennine town's history

Visitors could view a private collection of postcards, many dating from before the First World War, focusing on Sowerby Bridge and the Ryburn Valley.

The collection, which has been built up over a period of 30 years, includes over 200 postcards produced by the former local firm of Lilywhite Ltd, which had a national reputation for quality photographic postcards.

In 1910 the firm operated from Dunkirk Mills, West End, Halifax, but in about 1921 it transferred to Lumb Mills, Mill Bank, where 200 people were employed until the premises were destroyed by fire in 1931, with the loss of thousands of photographic plates.

A relocation to Mearclough, Sowerby Bridge, followed before the company's final move to Brighouse.

Thousands of cards were issued, covering the whole country, in most cases the numbers prefixed by letters standing for the town or local area concerned, such as SB (later SBG) for Sowerby Bridge.

The collection featured views of Sowerby Bridge , Triangle, Ripponden, Rishworth, Sowerby, Norland and Luddenden Foot. Other items of local historical interest were also on display.