100 years ago

Skipton Cricket Club celebrated a successful season at its annual dinner at the Ship Hotel. The batting averages had shown a great improvement on the previous year and in total the teams had played 59 matches, winning 24, losing 19 and drawing 16. It had been an excellent season for the club's professional Stephen Doughty, who achieved a record both for himself and the club His aggregate 1,160 runs had never been achieved by another professional or by a member of the club.

Pressure was being put on the local authority to get on with building an infections diseases hospital at Cawder, south of Skipton, following a serious outbreak of diphtheria in the town. Twelve people had already died from the disease with the outbreak getting worse.

50 years ago

THERE'S a lot of talk about global warming these days, but unseasonal weather is nothing new. Half a century ago Craven had just enjoyed three weeks of summer-like weather - followed by an inch of snow.

Choosing a name for the new school being built on Skipton's Horse Close estate was proving difficult. The primary school managers didn't like the name "Horse Close" but couldn't agree on anything else. One member proposed St Leonard's in honour of the Skipton-born Lord St Leonard who had become Lord Chancellor of England 100 years before. Another suggestion was Skipton South as the school was at the southern end of the town. In the end the decision was left to the chairman and vice chairman who presumably came up with Greatwood School, which is how it eventually became known.

Female school-leavers had the world at their feet, speaker Lady Ogilvie told Skipton Girls' High School speech day. Whereas 100 years before there were few occupations open to women, the situation had now come a long way. "It is your privilege to go out and do things which are going to make this world a better place," she told pupils.

25 years ago

IN what was surely a sign of the times, the Craven diary publised an excerpt from a letter to the editor which stated: "My apologies for the standard of typing in the report but in these days of women's lib I managed to persuade my husband to type it up for me."

Skipton's Aireville swimming pool was losing as much as £1,000 a week. Nothing new there then, for the pool is currently losing £105,000 a year. Back in 1976 councillors met in a bid to resolve the problem. Ideas included reducing charges for local people and increasing them for those outside the district. According to one councillor, some people spent "all day" in the pool.

10 years ago

THE Roebuck collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture which had been bequeathed to Skipton in 1988 went on show for the first time. The collection had been in storage for three years while debates continued over where it should be displayed.

It was left to the town on the provision that a permanent home should be found within five years, otherwise it would go elsewhere. The temporary exhibition had been organised by Roebuck Trustee Charles Oldham at his firm Interiors on Skipton's Brougham Street.

Project 6, a Keighley-based organisation which helped people with drug and alcohol problems, announced it would be opening premises in Skipton. The organisation has since been renamed CODA - Craven Organisation for Drugs and Alcohol.

A second public inquiry was to be held into the Gargrave bypass - but parish councillors were assured it would not hold up the scheme. The new inquiry became necessary after a previous inspector recommended part of the route be realigned to avoid houses on Mark House Lane.