It has to be said that some of the stories we have carried have not been over complimentary about certain characters and situations in Silsden.

I was therefore filled with trepidation when I agreed to an 11th hour request to officially open Silsden Carnival and crown the queen.

Sunday began with an early morning call telling me that nice weatherman Paul Hudson was quite ill and couldn't perform the duty. Hint, hint would I volunteer to step in.

I agreed. Now I had planned to spend the day out on my bicycle and I wondered if I should go to Silsden on my bike. Then I remembered the comments about certain councillors' views on cycle lanes. Other flashbacks included stories about Christmas lights, various controversies at parish council meetings, the UDP, other incidents and so on.

I duly arrived to be overwhelmed by the reception. No hard feelings were expressed along with a full acceptance that we were only doing our job. I felt pretty good. It was a genuine honour to be there and see so many families enjoying themselves.

As I walked around the field I bumped into someone I hadn't seen for some considerable time. He is currently running a training company specialising in local government affairs.

A part of his course deals with the media and he told me the most common complaint from local politicians is that their local papers are biased against them.

"No matter what their party they all say their paper is biased and in favour of another party," he says. "I tell them that if that is the case the newspaper is doing its job very well indeed."

The Keighley News is thankfully in that position.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.