125 Years Ago - 1892

A meeting of the Otley School Board was held on Tuesday evening, the Rev John Trower presiding. A letter from Miss Raynor was read, stating that the schools required cleaning and whitewashing.After some discussion it was arranged that the proposed cleaning should take place during the midsummer holidays.

The examination of those who have attended the Burley Ambulance Class took place on Sunday last at the Railway Station. Twenty-one sat, and the result will be known shortly.

100 Years Ago - 1917

News has been received of the death in action of Private David Smith, West Yorkshire Regiment, who before joining the army was in business as a plasterer, and resided in Middleton Road, Ilkley. Mrs Smith received a letter yesterday stating that Private Smith was seriously wounded on June 25th, while doing duty in the front line, and died soon after. He was doing dangerous work at the time, and met his death bravely and cheerfully. Private Smith leaves a widow and a little boy, aged one year and seven months, who is dangerously ill.

The Food Production Department report that the outlook for the main crop potatoes is excellent. Many of the crops in Yorkshire are said to bid fair to yield from 20 to 25 tons per acre. This is an high estimate. On thousands of allotments the tubers have hardly started to form. At any rate this was the case in the Ilkley district last weekend, as the unusually severe and protracted winter had resulted in either later planting or retarded growth.

75 Years Ago – 1942

The beautifying after the war of the portion of Ilkley between Church Street and the river and thus adding to the town’s amenities and attractiveness is the basis of a bold proposal being put forward by Mr Percy Dalton, president of the War Savings Committee and Chairman of the Governors of the Ilkley Grammar School. Mr Dalton is also seeking to stimulate in the district the study of architecture and town planning.

Backed with the slogan "Tanks for Attack" a new War Savings campaign is being initiated for the present summer among the Savings Group, and consideration on how to put this into effect was given in Ilkley this week. Mr G. W. Clough presided at the meeting. The sum of £42,000 was mentioned as a target figure for the effort.

50 Years Ago - 1967

"On the whole the idea is good for Britain to join the Common Market. There will, of course, be good and bad effects, short term losses and long term gains. We must consider all these and then decide, because either is going to affect all our lives." This was stated by Col. Sir Malcolm Stoddart-Scott, MP for the Ripon Division, at a meeting in Ilkley last Friday when he spoke about the Common Market. "We should all learn as much as we can about the Common Market - or, as it is more appropriately called, European Economic Community."

The lions have disappeared from the grounds of Heathcote, Grove Road, Ilkley. Made of bronze and weighing two cwts. each they had stood inside the entrance gates since the house was built in 1907. Enquiries about the theft of the lions was sparked off at the beginning of the week when an employee of N. G. Bailey and Co. Ltd., electrical contractors, who have occupied the house since 1958, looked across the lawns and exclaimed “where have the lions gone?”

25 Years Ago - 1992

Action has been taken after an old folk's warden had to walk through blood to get to the town centre. Mrs Ann Walker, warden at Lea Croft in Otley, said there were puddles of blood on the land which leads past the town's abattoir on to Bondgate. But this week a spokesman at the slaughterhouse said the problem had been sorted out.

The future of Wharfedale General Hospital is to be looked at once again by Leeds Health Authority. As part of a public consultation on the future of acute health services, which includes those for the elderly, local people will be asked what they see as the needs of their local community.