100 years ago

A HERALD columnist was lamenting the rural exodus. According to the writer, the countryside was being depopulated while the towns were becoming more congested despite dear rents and excessive taxation. Lured by the prospect of money, workers were "taking their chance" in the towns where manufacturing reigned but were treated as little more than machines. The writer called for workers to return to the land, remarking that the plough was now almost a curiosity whilst the spinning wheel and domestic loom had not been seen by the present generation. The Craven Dales had felt the change most severely, with a move away from the time when each village generally had a trade of its own.

The newly formed Embsay Cricket Club held a general meeting, when it was agreed to ask the Duke of Devonshire to be patron. Mr CW Dunlop JP, of Embsay, had already accepted the post of president. A crease had been laid and several games lined up in time for the new season.

Nine plots of land off Skipton's Broughton Road were to be sold at auction. The sites were said to be ideal for worker's dwellings due to their closeness to the new weaving shed on Broughton Road, Belle Vue Mills, the town's largest manufacturing concern, and sheds and works connected with the Midland Railway.

50 years ago

BARNOLDSWICK heavyweight boxer Frank Bell was presented with a special gift to mark his recent victory over Tommy Farr following a second round knock-out. He was presented with a record player on behalf of his friends and supporters by chairman of Barnoldswick Urban District Council Mr J H Edmondson. He said Mr Bell was the only man who could claim to have put the name of Barnoldswick on the sports pages of every daily newspaper in the country by doing what even the great Joe Louis could not do - knock out Farr.

Shoppers in Skipton's Court Lane were intrigued to see the framework of a 32 seater bus being constructed there. The touring bus was being built for Messrs Stephenson and Co by Mr E Petty, of Sutton. Each afternoon, when work had finished, the skeleton bus was driven to the firm's garage behind the Albion Inn.

The Princess Royal was to be invited to open the Barnoldswick Forces Memorial Gardens, which were almost finished. If she could not attend, then it was decided to invite Field Marshal Lord Montgomery of Alamein. Troops would also be asked to perform a march past.

The armament programme was leading to a shortage of materials for metalwork and copperwork classes at local schools. Skipton County Secondary School teacher Mr T Pettit had been taking steps to safeguard supplies but was appealing to pupils and their parents to send in any tin plate, sheet metal, scrap metal and piping.

25 years ago

A special feature was published to celebrate the centenary of the Settle-Carlisle Railway, which opened to passenger traffic on May 1 1876. To mark the event the Post Office issued a special one-day postmark, to be used on May 1 in Settle. This week, we celebrate the railway's 125th anniversary on pages 14 and 15.

Silentnight, the Barnoldswick-based beds firm, announced a record pre-tax profit of £1,800,000. This compared with the £380,207 profit the previous year.

The ladies world coal carrying championship came home to Skipton for the second year running. Rebecca Ingham beat 13 other women to take the title and £20 prize. Contestants had to carry a 28lb bag of coal over the 250-yard course at Gawthorpe, near Ossett. Rebecca had entered the contest for the first time the previous year after going along to watch a friend. She entered at the last minute and finished first. "It seemed only sporting to go back and defend the title," she told the Herald.

10 years ago

RESIDENTS in Addingham were surprised to see two brightly coloured Macaws flying wild around the village. The yellow and blue birds, worth up to £2,000 each and native to South America, were first spotted circling the village centre before turning up at Addingham Middle School. The RSPCA had been contacted and were investigating where the birds could have escaped from.

Hours of debating came to an end when two lime trees at the entrance to Skipton's Holy Trinity churchyard were felled. Plans to axe the trees had proved controversial, although one was diseased and the other was said to be making a nearby wall unsafe. Replacement trees were to be planted in their place.