100 years ago

PLANS were drawn up to extend the Yorkshire Dales Railway from Grassington to Kettlewell. The announcement came as a bit of a surprise as it was not expected so soon after the opening of the Skipton to Grassington line. But the route had proved such a phenomenal success that it was thought prudent to strike while the iron was hot.

Avoiding the long climb up to the Skipton platform at Elslack station proved fatal for a village farmer, who was hit by a train when crossing the line. It seems trespassing through a goods yard and crossing the tracks had become common practice to avoid the 30 steps leading to the platform, but it was ill-advised as the accident demonstrated, the Herald commented.

The fathers of a group of Earby schoolboys were ordered to deal out six strokes from a birch rod to their sons, who had broken into a shop and stolen the till. Magistrates said they had taken a lenient approach to the boys, who had brought disgrace on their families and school.

The excessively rainy weather was troubling lambing in Wigglesworth. The ewes had been harassed by the weather, but the Herald reported they had come through it with just small losses. The plus side was there was an abundance of grass to share around the survivors.

Fears were expressed over the fall in the number of plovers in the Settle district. Ten years previously plovers had been seen in large flocks, but now they were just observed in pairs, or at the most half a dozen. Pressure was put on Parliamentarians to create a protection act for the birds.

50 years ago

Barnoldswick's Victory Park was due to open after years of hard work. The land had been bought after the First World War with thoughts of providing some memorial to those who had lost their lives. For the next 30 years it remained a wilderness, until a fund was started to create a memorial garden. The park was finally developed and due to open on May 30.

Employment in the area had seen a dramatic boom, with unemployment figures falling from 604 to 56 in just a year. The textile industry was looking good and all the industries in the district seemed to be enjoying a period of prosperity.

Five young women, members of Coniston Cold Young Farmer's Club, travelled to Norway to study farming methods and hygiene and stay with Norwegian farming families. A return visit was expected later in the year.

25 years ago

THE new Jubilee pavilion was opened in Sutton park. The pavilion had been funded by the efforts of local people - including the children, who held a sponsored walk around the park and raised over £1,500. The men in the community had also given their time free of charge to help build the pavilion, which is currently being expanded and modernised as part of the Sutton Park Restoration Project.

Hopes of an early improvement to the poor access at the junction of Shortbank Road and Brougham Street with Otley Road, in Skipton, had faded. The suggestion of a new junction some distance to the east of the railway bridge was not deemed viable. It was stated that the only real improvement to the junction would be in the form of a mini-roundabout.

A Barden Tower artist, 21-year-old Mark Thompson, had his etching chosen out of 12,000 entries to be exhibited in the 210th summer exhibition of the Royal Academy in London. Mark, a student at Leeds Polytechnic, had enjoyed recent success in other national exhibitions and held his first show aged 19 in Settle.

10 years ago

SKIPTON bade farewell to an historic landmark - the 200-feet-high Dewhirst Mill chimney. The chimney, built in the late 1800s, was due to be demolished by dismantling it brick by brick. The owners of the chimney, Kingsley Cards, said it had become too dangerous and expensive to maintain.

Residents of Embsay were being terrorised by two escapee peacocks. The peacocks had been frightening toddlers and pensioners, leaving piles of excrement on doorsteps, squawking in the early hours of the morning and destroying flower beds. A-level student Clare Benjamin was one of the residents struggling to cope with the 'dinosaur birds' as they were distracting her from revising for her exams.

A 38-ton meat wagon smashed through a wall and destroyed a Cowling garden in the early hours of the morning. The articulated lorry had come off the road shortly after negotiating a bend on the Keighley Road as it travelled towards Glusburn. Residents said it was fortunate it happened so early as the route was used by parents taking their children to school.

Residents of Greatwood Avenue, Skipton said they were being plagued by a hateful vendetta which had resulted in six cars being torched in the past year.