A hundred years ago there were two societies in Keighley presenting musicals.
The older one was known as the Operatic and the younger one was a spin off, the Lyric.
They were at each others throats and no doubt many harsh words
had been spoken at the time of the split and thereafter.
The Operatic continued to perform at The Queen's Theatre,
otherwise known as the Hippodrome and the Lyric strutted their stuff at the Municipal Hall.
By the year 1912 both societies had accumulated yearly losses
and were financially and artistically on their beam ends.
A wise old bird named Frank Mahoney, then the Mayor of Keighley,called
together representatives of the two squabbling groups.
The meeting took place at the Town Hall. At the meeting it
was agreed to disband the warring factions and by way of armistice take steps to form one new society to present musicals
at the local theatre.
KAODS presented its first production in 1913 and with the
exception of two World Wars when, according to subsequent yearly souvenir programmes " Activities were temporary suspended"
the society has been going from strength to strength ever since.
