SIR – Readers will be aware that, currently, debts make it necessary for Bradford Metropolitan District Council to cut its costs.

Among them is the maintenance of Ilkley’s Manor House. It will come as no surprise that this deeply concerns the Friends of the Manor House, a voluntary group supportive of the building and its environs.

This newspaper has already drawn the attention of readers to the possible threat of closure and we hope that it will continue to do so.

There is much about the Manor House that may be unknown to many readers: its history; its disreputable reputation at one time; its being a gift to the town of an eminent resident, Percy Dalton; its being partitioned into small dwellings a century ago. It is about the last use of the Manor House I am writing to this newspaper.

We know that there are people in Ilkley who remember or have been told about the time when the building was home to a small number of families and we should like to contact them.

We should be very grateful if readers would help us in our search.

June Oldham, on behalf of Friends of the Manor House