100 years ago
THE tender for refurbishing the council chamber in Skipton Town hall had been won by a local firm. Estimates for the work had been obtained from such places as Manchester, Accrington and Darlington, with prices ranging from £352 down to £233 10s. The latter, an estimate from Brassington Bros and Corney, of Settle, was the cheapest so the firm got the job.
Recent frosts had prompted Langcliffe Parish Council to look into ways of stopping the village stand pipes from freezing. When the pipes were iced up solid it meant villagers had to draw their water from the fountain. In the end the council decided it would place casings round the pipes which could removed in summer.
The Scotch Express was stopped in Settle because its rear sleeper carriage was on fire. The blaze had been noticed by an attendant in the carriage who pulled the communication cord, but unfortunately it broke. It was left to signalmen in their cabins along the route to telegraph the stations along the way to try and stop the train. By the time it was halted in Settle it was estimated to have been on fire for the past 14 miles.
50 years ago
THE new Skipton Bus Station at Waller Hill, off Keighley Road, was nearing completion and would be ready within the next five to six weeks. Electric lamp standards had been erected and concreting was well on the way to being completed. However, queue barriers and shelters would not be erected until the station had been used for a trial period.
An additional recreation room was officially opened at the Old Folks Rest Centre on Swadford Street, Skipton, by Mrs F G Winstanley, leader of the Women's Happy Hour. The new second-floor room housed a billiard table and had been "tastefully decorated" so it could be used for social functions and meetings. Many people turned up for the opening ceremony, and one old gentlemen was said to sum up the feelings of all present when he declared the room to be "reight grand". Indeed, Mrs Stanley said Skipton probably had one of the best rest centres in the North of England.
The youngest person to swim the Channel, Philip Mickman, of Ossett, presented the Skipton Players Trophy to Skipton Youth Club on the concluding night of the town's youth drama festival. The club had performed John Donald Kelly's Queer Street, achieving 75 marks out of a possible 100. Coun P Aldersley, of Skipton Urban District Council, said it was a privilege to welcome Mr Mickman, who was a "fine example of post-war youth".
25 years ago
THE Rolls-Royce Sports Ground on Barnoldswick's Skipton Road was offered for sale or lease. The site incorporated football pitches, a cricket pitch and tennis courts, plus extensive grassed areas. The general manager at Rolls-Royce said it was becoming a drain on the company's funds, however. The ground was a huge area used by comparatively few of the firm's employees and it was wanting to rid itself of some of the burden while at the same time ensuring its workers were still able to enjoy it. Pendle Council's leisure services committee agreed to look into acquiring the sports ground. While no funds had been put aside for such a purchase, councillors felt it would be desirable for the authority to own the site.
At the same committee meeting, members approved a new playground on the Kenilworth Drive side of the North Holme estate in Earby. There had been some opposition to the plan, and Coun Tony Riley said the committee was making a "grave mistake". The area had originally been intended for a lorry park and no alternative site had been proposed for that use.
Grassington became the first place in the Skipton and Settle rural area to have its phone system updated to a more modern electronic version. The new phone system meant callers no longer needed to use an area code when ringing Skipton.
10 years ago
A COMMITTEE voted to sell Skipton's 130-acre Tarn Moor estate, which included the Craven Heifer pub, if possible. The entire estate was valued at £1.5 million.
Bradford Metropolitan Council gave Addingham Youth Club £38,000 to help improve the club building. The premises had been built as a canteen in 1943 with an estimated life span of just 15 years.
Skipton and Craven Lions were celebrating their 25th anniversary in 1990 and welcomed Albert Greenough, the only founder member still actively working with the group, to their charter dinner. Fellow guest, district governor Peter Thurlow, made a presentation to Mr Greenough, congratulating him on his long and loyal service.
Silsden textile firm Laxton Crawford announced it was making almost a third of its workforce redundant. The spinners and weavers would be losing their jobs due to the dramatic collapse worldwide in the sales of hand and machine-knit yarns. The company had been set up in Keighley in 1907 and had moved to Cobbydale Mills in Silsden 13 years before.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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