100 Years Ago

A SCHEME to supply Skipton's poor children with a daily hot meal at lunchtime came to an end. It had been running from the end of November, started by the landlady at the Ship Hotel, a Mrs Ackernley. During the period around 40 children a day had been fed so that in total 8,733 meals had been served, thanks to the generosity of subscribers.

Attendance at schools was well down, the education committee heard. The reason was the high incidence of measles and whooping cough in Skipton with attendance at or below 90 per cent.

More money was being spent on roads but despite this they were in a poor condition. The surface was generally soft and slithery in the rain causing pedestrians actual physical discomfort.

Gisburn Auction Mart was opened, with 210 cattle offered for sale at its first auction.

50 Years Ago

FOR the first time in 52 years there was to be no Skipton Music Festival. Only 14 people turned up for the committee's annual meeting but the president said they were not attending the funeral of the Skipton Music Festival. The festival had lost money, albeit small sums, in each of the last five years. The secretary RW Oldfield said the people of Skipton did not support the festival, which was hardly surprising as many of the local school music teachers did not either. The organising committee voted not to hold a festival in 1955, to concentrate on clearing off the debt and returning the next year.

Skipton Rural District Council voted by 17-13 to raise no objection to a planning application from Halton East Quarry to quarry at Butterhaw, near Thorpe. The future of 40 employees was cited by those who backed the proposal. But others, such as Lt Col GWK Butcher were aghast and pointed to a petition with 1,000 signatures from Grassington. Meanwhile the doors had to be closed on a protest meeting in Grassington. Eric Lodge, from Burnsall said it was balderdash to say 40 men from Halton East Quarry would be made redundant if the Butterhaw plan was rejected as there were quarrying jobs advertised in that week's Craven Herald.

A caravan site was approved for Bolton Abbey. The Trustees of the Chatsworth Estate were granted the permission for no more than 40 caravans as a temporary measure for five years.

25 Years Ago

BUS drivers came up with their own solution to rowdy behaviour on the last bus from Skipton to Cononley - they announced they were "boycotting" the service for a whole month. Cononley Parish Council said the whole village was being penalised for the actions of a few.

No fewer than 16 internationals from a wide variety of sports attended an "International Sportsnight" organised by Roger Ingham in aid of the Richard Hirst Memorial Fund. Among the sporting legends in attendance at the Black Horse was Richard Dunn, who had just fought Muhammad Ali, rugby league legends Lewis Jones and Neil Fox, Burnley keeper Alan Stevenson, ex world mile record holder Derek Ibbotson and former British Empire boxing champion Kit Pompey. More than £500 was raised for the fund.

Skipton Music Festival, in trouble 25 years previously, was still going but again asking for support. There were fewer adult choirs and the brass band category had to be scrapped due to a lack of support.

Grassington shopkeepers were "cutting their own throats" said some members of the village's Chamber of Trade. They and their employees were parking up on the village square from 9am to 5.30pm and deterring local residents from doing their shopping in the village.

10 Years Ago

STEVE Woods of Brook Street, Skipton, was rewarded for 68 years of claim free motoring insurance. He took out his policy with Eagle Star in 1927, when insurance for cars became compulsory and had renewed it every year, without a single claim. Eagle Star rewarded his loyalty with a year's free insurance.

Glen Chapple, the 21-year-old cricketer, was shivering back home in Earby after returning as the star of England under-21s tour of India. He was touted as a new generation who would be pressing for a full England cap.

Mary Parker, head of Ingleton Middle School, rounded up 22 sheep which emerged from the hills and took up residence in the school playing field. If no-one claimed them after a week they were hers, but the owner came forward a couple of days before the deadline.