The Lord Mayor of Bradford Coun Geoff Reid will attend a production by the Low Moor Local History Group in commemoration of the Low Moor munitions explosion of 1916.
The event will have songs and music from the time and will be held at Aldersgate Methodist Church on Friday 10 June at 7.30pm.
The Low Moor Chemical Company produced Picric Acid to colour carpets and was converted into a munitions factory on the outbreak of World War One and had been expanded to cope with demand.
The explosion on 21 August 1916 killed 40 and injured over 100. The first explosion sent up a huge cloud of smoke and a fireball, and was heard as far away as York.
Further explosions killed six firemen who had rushed to the scene from Bradford and Odsal
The fire from the explosions spread to the nearby Bradford Gas Works where the gasometer exploded. Explosions continued for the rest of the day and the whole fire took three day to put out.
The explosions and subsequent fires completely destroyed the factory and the gas works and a neighbouring factory was badly damaged. Around 50 homes had to be demolished and a further 2,000 were damaged, three schools also had to close. Train lines were damaged, 30 railway carriages were destroyed and a further 100 were damaged.
Due to the war newspapers were not permitted to report the incident. However word of mouth spread news of the explosions and thousands of people came to the funeral procession, to thank the fire fighters who helped and to pay their respect to those who died.
The show by the Low Moor Local History Group follows a year in the life of real people who lived in Low Moor and who were affected by the explosion. The show opens with scenes from the 31 December 1915 (New Year’s Eve) and continues their lives through 1916 building up to the day of the explosion and the aftermath.
The Lord Mayor of Bradford Coun Geoff Reid, said: "The show offers a fascinating insight in to the lives of local Low Moor people at the time of the First World War and looks at how they were affected this horrific explosion at the factory where their families worked.”
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