THIS walk is currently my favourite Yorkshire Dales walk, and that's because it has a bit of everything - apart from a sea view. It starts off from Threshfield Quarry, which is magnificent in itself, and heads off across moorland, over and in between
UP TO 30,000 people are expected to attend Britain’s biggest family festival to take part in hundreds of activities and glimpse some of kids’ TV’s biggest stars.Geronimo Festival, dubbed ‘Glastonbury for kids’, made its debut in 2015 and promises to be
Upstagers Ilkley Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour DreamcoatKing's Hall, Ilkley Thursday 21st April 2016Upstagers produced Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's enduring musical under the direction of Gill Jackson twenty three years ago. The role of Joseph's
Opera North's Ring Cycle Das Rheingold Leeds Town Hall Saturday 23rd April 2016 THE eagerly anticipated visits to Leeds Town Hall for each instalment of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle have become an annual pilgrimage. Yorkshire audiences now have the opportunity
A HIT show that uses father and daughter relationships to examine what happens when our childhood heroes let us down is coming to Bradford Theatre in the Mill on May 13 - and one of the stories behind it happened in Ilkley.TheatreState are based in London
Theatre Review: Tom, The Musical at The Alhambra TheatreStopping on its UK tour, new musical Tom brings the Valleys’ crooner to Bradford where LEO OWEN caught the showRiding on the coat-tails of recent hits like Sunny Afternoon and The Jersey Boys in
STOPPING on its UK tour, a new highly inclusive production of Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector comes to The Quarry Theatre where LEO OWEN caught the show.Russian literature has a reputation for being weighty material often exploring depressing
THIS year’s Ilkley Carnival theme is “Best of British”. Appropriately enough, two of our upcoming productions fit the theme well. Noel Coward’s The Vortex (see below) is our next production. Closing this season is Betty Blue Eyes, a musical adaptation
TWO leading lights of comedy and poetry will be entertaining audiences at Otley Courthouse next month.Award-winning performance poet Patience Agbabi will kick off proceedings by bringing her revised and revamped version of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales to
OTLEY’S Chamber Choir, The Chippendale Singers, will be celebrating the Queen’s 90th birthday in style with a concert entitled ‘Gloria’ at St Mary’s Church, Burley-in-Wharfedale on Saturday, May 7 with the proceeds being donated to the Yorkshire Cancer
NORTHERN Ballet has released the first rehearsal images from its new production of Jane Eyre.The celebrated Leeds dance company is staging its adaptation of the novel to mark the 200th anniversary of author Charlotte Brontë’s birth.The production of Jane
THERE'S so many reasons to smile this week at Ilkley Cinema: May Day is on the horizon and the sun is shining, all in time for the opening of our new balcony area. So bring your friends down to the cinema, grab yourself a cheeky drink and enjoy the sunshine
A GIDDY display of theatrical invention comes to Yeadon Town Hall, from May 17 to 21.Brassneck Theatre presents the renowned stage version of Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller The 39 Steps.The fast-moving comedy show mixes the original John Buchan spy novel
TWO men wearing balaclavas smashed the window of an Ilkley jewellers with sledgehammers this morning, stealing a quantity of jewellery. Police were called at 10.59am to Phillips, in Brook Street, while the raid was in progress. Posting on Facebook
SCHOOLS were very different when this photograph was taken in around 1900.The evocative image, which shows the Friends School in Rawdon, is from the archives of Aireborough Historical Society.Archivist Carlo Harrison said: "It is plain to see how
125 Years Ago - 1891The epidemic of influenza - or whatever the ailment should be called that is afflicting thousands of persons - is so widespread and so severe that it is becoming of national importance. In Yorkshire and the North of England it is increasing
LEEDS Bradford Airport (LBA) and Monarch Airlines have announced a renewed partnership with Yorkshire County Cricket Club, which will see supporters and their families benefit from exclusive offers and competitions to win flights.LBA aviation development
A NEW route from Leeds Bradford Airport to Faro in Portugal is being launched for summer 2017.Thomson and First Choice are increasing capacity from the airport with the introduction of the route, along with new holidays to Ibiza. Karen Switzer, director
RED, white and blue will be very much in evidence this June as Ben Rhydding Community Fete marks both The Queen’s 90th birthday and its tenth anniversary.The annual fete will be held on the Valley Drive field, off Wheatley Lane, from 2pm to 4pm on June
OTLEY Cycle Club have helped mark the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë's birth.Six riders took flowers from Thornton, where the writer was born on April 21, 1816, to Haworth, where she and her gifted family lived for most of their lives.The symbolic
SHE works in Dubai and grew up in Yeadon but in August Rebecca Garnett will be returning to her Irish roots in a bid to become the Rose of Tralee.Rebecca will be one of a number of women of Irish descent from across the globe descending on County Kerry
A SERIES of Friday evening walks for the spring and summer is being launched this week by Aireborough Civic Society.The walks will take place every fortnight until September 2. The first, around the countryside next to the former High Royds Hospital,
THREE organisations are working together on a project to give people with dementia and their careers the opportunity to take part in activities in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.Ilkley and District U3A is working in partnership with The Yorkshire Dales
A FORMER Menston man who now works in the city has won a place in the Ironman World Championships.Duncan Bullock, 30, who attended Ermysted's Grammar School, will compete in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, in the autumn after being placed second in his age group
A TEACHER from Guiseley is to run a massive 106km in support of her brave nephew on Saturday.Julia Llewellyn will be running the Isle of Wight ultra-marathon 'The Challenge' – the equivalent to two-and-a-half marathons – for her two-year-old nephew, Dylan
ILKLEY Town Crier Isabel Ashman was crowned 'best dressed' at the inaugural Town Crier Championships in Newcastle-under-Lyme.The event was hosted by the market town's resident town crier Gordon Brayford on April 16. Isabel, who has been Ilkley's town
A GROUP of Scandinavian Leeds United fans have enjoyed a pubs-focused trip to Otley.Jone Moen and six of his friends from Stavanger, in Norway, were in the area last week to see the football club in action twice at Elland Road.They had decided to spend
AN ANNUAL 10k race launched by a village school three years ago has become a firm favourite with fans of trail running.Over the Odda was launched in 2013 to raise money for Hawksworth C of E Primary School, and since then it has become a hugely popular
MORE messages of support have been coming in for the Wharfedale Observer's Justice for War Widows campaign.MP Greg Mulholland (Lib Dem, Leeds North West), with backing from the paper, is pushing for the Government to treat everyone who is claiming a war
A WHARFEDALE MP has been discussing some of the issues facing Armed Forces veterans with The Royal British Legion.Greg Mulholland (Lib Dem, Leeds North West) also discussed this year's First World War commemorations when he met the charity's area manager
LEEDS Trinity University has donated £250 towards the Horsforth Cenotaph project to remember 46 local men who lost their lives in the First World War.The town's cenotaph was put in place in 1922, with plaques containing the names of 211 men and one woman
THE DONKEY Sanctuary is celebrating an 'amazing' first year for its Otley fundraising shop.For The Love Of... in Boroughgate was officially opened last May, and its mixture of products, information about the charity and a cafe has proven a hit with customers.The
AN ILKLEY woman is to take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks carrying ten litres of water to highlight difficulties faced by people who live without access to water and sanitation.Alison Peel also hopes to raise £800 for the charity Raleigh International by
CAMPAIGNERS seeking a ban on grouse shoot on Ilkley Moor are to stage a protest in Bradford ahead of council elections on May 5.They will gather outside City Hall at noon on Saturday holding signs that read 'Be a symbol of hope: ban grouse shooting' and
ILKLEY women inspired by the heroic effort of participants at the Virgin Money London Marathon are being urged to take their own steps to fitness by entering Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life.Unlike the Virgin Money London Marathon, women signing up
THE ROLE of Ilkley Moor in managing flooding was in the spotlight at the eighth Friends of Ilkley Moor annual meeting on Friday.Natural England lead advisor for Yorkshire on the restoration, regeneration and resilience of moorlands, Andrew Clarke, described
AN HISTORIC village landmark has been given a new lease of life under a renovation project by Burley-in-Wharfedale Community Trust.The Victorian-built Fountain of Life has been renovated by the organisation as it seeks to revitalise the area at the corner
