125 Years Ago - 1892

We are informed that it is the intention of the Guiseley bell-ringers to place a tablet in the ringing-chamber at the Parish Church to perpetuate the memory of the late Sir M. W. Thompson, who was a most generous friend to the ringers, and at whose death a muffled peal was rung.

Through the action of the Rural Sanitary Authority, the Churchyard at Fewston, which is considered full, has been ordered to be closed.

100 Years Ago - 1917

Lieutenant James Gwynne Hutchinson, Royal field Artillery, younger son of Mr. J. G. Hutchinson, the Bradford City Coroner, and Mrs Hutchinson, of Burley-in-Wharfedale, has been killed in action by the bursting of a shell. He was educated at Sedbergh Grammar School, and proceeded from there to Clare College, Cambridge. He gained a commission in December, 1915, and went to the front in January, 1916. His elder brother Lieutenant Leslie G Hutchinson, is at the front and has been wounded once.

The war has proved that women, when properly trained, can do many classes of work equal to men, and besides those working under ordinary conditions at home, thousands have been enrolled for work with the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, many of whom are serving in various capacities at the different military bases in France, doing work which would normally be done by men and thereby releasing many men for the fighting forces. Only one Ilkley young woman, so far as we know, has yet been enrolled in this corps, namely Miss Isobel B. Jardine, who is at present home on a brief furlough. The camp where Miss Jardine finds employment is near a little French fishing village, and not far from a famous seaside resort.

75 Years Ago - 1942

The approved school in the premises formerly known as as the Wells School, Westwood Drive, Ilkley concerning which there has been so much animated controversy in the district has been approved by the Home Secretary. The school has been approved “for the education and training of boys sent there in pursuance of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933, or otherwise.

At a meeting of the Housing Committee of Ilkley Urban District Council Chairman Mr C. L. Briggs said the demand for houses in Ilkley had been reflected in the increased number of applications for Council houses. The national shortage in houses was also reflected in the local situation. He did not think there was a house to let on the council estate more than about once in three months.

50 Years Ago - 1967

Playgrounds where children are allowed to do the things they were often asked not to do are becoming increasingly popular. These adventure playgrounds have been the subject of special articles in magazines and have had television cameras focussed upon them. It is recognised that children enjoy climbing trees, swinging on ropes, sliding down chutes, investigating old tanks, ‘driving’ model engines and so on.

The idea of turning the site of former allotments and piggeries in Ilkley into a playground is a good one.

For the next five weeks beginning tonight BBC 2 are screening a series of programmes on Yugoslavia written and narrated by an Ilkley man, Mr Fred Singleton.

Mr Singleton is a lecturer in Geography in the Social Sciences Department at Bradford University. He spent several weeks in Yugoslavia this summer with the BBC camera teams preparing for the series.

25 Years Ago - 1992

Noted ornithologist Mr T Weston, of York, who has travelled both at home and overseas through his deep interest in birds, visited Ilkley to give a talk on Owls of the World. Mr Weston, told members of the Wharfedale Naturalists Society that the earliest owl fossils were about 12 million years old.

Nearly 1,000 households in Yorkshire had their domestic water supply cut off for non-payment during a six month period from April to September. However, this is 1,441 down on the same period last year, when 2,384 households had their supply cut off.