Across The Years

THE gloves were off for a General Election to be held in January 7 and the Craven Herald made no secret of its partiality. Under the heading of "A Skipton Man for Skipton; Not Another Foreigner" it set out the reasons for voting for the Conservative candidate Captain Roundell.

The seat was held by the Liberals, but the MP, Mr Whitley Thompson, was standing down and the new Liberal candidate was William Clough. Whitley Thompson came from Halifax and the Herald said he had "not impressed". It poured scorn on his promise to promote the introduction of litres and kilogrammes to replace pints and pounds and concluded: "For the first year or so he appeared among us but latterly he might as well have represented Halifax so far as he did any political work for the good of the community".

Clough committed the sin of coming from Keighley and was thus not a local man. But he had also not endeared himself to the Herald who found him pompous and "offensive as he can be to those who differ from him". He came from a "narrow-minded school of teetotallers".

A meeting was held in the Globe Coffee House in Skipton to muster opposition to a proposed new school on Brougham Street in Skipton at a public inquiry. Colonel Robinson was leading the opposition to plans to close the British School and Wesleyan Infants School in favour of a new school for 480 pupils. Colonel Robinson said the new school would harm other schools, which could take up the slack. However, there was a strong body which opposed Brougham Street on the grounds that a new school on Broughton Road was needed more. The Broughton Roaders pointed out that there were 210 children from the "colony" who had to walk into town, most of them to Christ Church school.

There was an horrific accident at Austwick where the wife of Mr C Lord was "shockingly burned from head to foot and lies at home in a very critical condition". Her child had knocked a paraffin lamp off the table into her lap, engulfing the poor woman in flames.

50 Years Ago

THREE Skipton grocers were fined for selling goods on a Sunday. Solicitor Jack Mewies, representing one of the three said the law was a mess. His client had sold some rice and peas to someone living nearby to provide a Sunday lunch. Had they been loose, he would not have committed an offence but because they were in packets or tins, then he had broken the law. The three grocers, George Preston, whose shop was on Ermysted Street, Thomas Law (Newmarket Street) and Fred Tyrer (Rowland Street) were each fined 20 shillings.

The death was reported of Fred Manby, aged 73, a partner in the Skipton Sheep Street ironmongers. His other claim to fame was owning "probably" the first car in Skipton. It was built by him and a worker in the Manby foundry, Jack Town in 1900 and every single part, including the engine was made in Skipton. It ran on ordinary carriage wheels and had been a regular sight in Craven in the first decade of the century.

The number of books borrowed from county libraries had reached a new record in 1955, showing that, contrary to some speculation, television was not killing reading. However the county librarian noted that whenever a book or play was shown on television, there was a run on demand and speculated that some liaison with the television authorities could ensure that sufficient stocks of books were brought in in advance.

25 Years Ago

AFTER six months in temporary offices in Caroline House, Skipton Building Society moved back into totally refurbished premises. It was the final phase of renovation work integrating the High Street branch with the new and much unloved administrative offices in Providence Place. A new feature of the branch were the "anti-bandit screens" which created a barrier between customer and cashier. The society said that the screens were "most unwelcome" but now an accepted feature of banking.

John Russell, from Stackhouse, Settle, won the gold medal at the international inventors' exhibition in Geneva, beating off 25 other inventors from all over the world for his air cleaning fan which incorporated brushes rather than blades. The 'Airsweep' had gone into production, made by a Pontefract firm, and 3,000 had been sold with plenty of orders. It was particularly used in hospitals - including Airedale - and pubs where it was effective in removing dust and smoke.

Plans were submitted for Skipton's first "amusement arcade". The Shaw's firm wanted to turn part of Moore's draper's shop in Newmarket Street into an outlet with 25 slot machines.

10 Years Ago

WILF Lawson, from Cononley, got married at Skipton Register Office to Carolyn Williams in his bare feet with his trouser legs rolled up. His bride was standing on a box because frozen pipes had caused a flood in the office. "We weren't going to let a drop of water ruin our big day said the new Mrs Lawson.

Residents of Eastby threatened to withhold their water rates after the village was again left without water on New Year's Day and Boxing Day. The villagers were fed up of dirty water and regular cuts and Mason's Arms landlord Chris Booth was leading protests to Yorkshire Water.