125 Years Ago - 1893

Fresh Boiled Ham, 1s 6d per lb., at Dobson’s Confectioner, Kirkgate, Otley.

Steps to Socialism - this was the title of an address which was given in the Labour Club by Mr. Joseph Marshall. There was a good attendance and an interesting discussion followed the address.

100 Years Ago - 1918

Private A. E. Wright, eldest son of Mr. Edward Watson Wright, Minella House, Bridge Lane, Ilkley, has been awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre by His Majesty the King of the Belgians. Private Wright was wounded in the head in August last by shrapnel from a shell which killed eight of his comrades.The act of bravery which has won Private Wright this distinction occurred in Flanders. He was employed as a messenger, and notwithstanding very heavy artillery fire he got through an important message, even after being wounded.

The strike of Municipal workers in Ilkley still continues, and there are no indications of a settlement being arrived at. A restricted gas supply is still being maintained principally by voluntary workers, and the two women continue at work on the roads. One or two of the strikers have interfered with coke supplies, and have also assumed a threatening attitude towards the women.

75 Years Ago - 1943

Some of the lighter side of life in Russia, where he has been serving with the Royal Corps of Signals for the last 17 months, is described by Sergeant Jack Spackman, in a letter to his parents, who live at Rathgowry, Otley Road, Bramhope. At Christmas, he states, a party was held, and every Englishman was able to invite one girl. There was all the usual fare , with a five-course meal. The dinner was followed by a concert and then there were games and dancing. His letter includes a cutting from the “Soviet War News Weekly” giving a report of an Anglo-Soviet football match in which he took part.

Mr. C. D. Fidgett, of Horsforth, a director of Wood Bros. Ltd., tobacconists, has reported to the Horsforth Comforts Fund that his firm have sent parcels of 200 cigarettes, at the request of an anonymous Horsforth donor, to each of the 22 Horsforth men who are prisoners of war.

50 Years Ago - 1968

Otley Town Council has reached a decision on an application from Leeds University zoology department to be allowed to shoot 20 gulls on Otley’s tip, for research purposes. Permission to shoot the gulls was given, subject to supervision. At Monday’s meeting the committee reported that that members were in favour of shooting the gulls for scientific purposes, but could not allow the shootings to take place on the Ings Tip. It was suggested that facilities be made available at the sewage disposal works, providing the surveyor would agree.

Women who have taken their places in the business and professional world are so much in the public eye that we are apt to forget that vaster and more important army of the stay-at-homes. Although no one would wish to discredit the progress made by the former, upon the health and well-being of the latter rest the foundations of the family and the coming generations. Perfect health for the woman at home depends even more upon her mental outlook than upon physical conditions. Depression, causeless worry and mental lethargy are the cause of more vague ill-health among stay-at-home women than any physical factors. This is because so many women do not realise what a complex, difficult and fascinating art real housewifery can be.

25 Years Ago - 1993

Life in Russia before the recent upheavals was the subject of a talk given to members of the Otley and Ilkley Civil Service Retirement Fellowship. Mr Eric Caton said he had been impressed with the strangle- hold of bureaucracy on Russian life, the importance attached to getting foreign currency and the way in which the people were kept in ignorance of conditions in advanced Western countries.

Yorkshire European Airways, the counties newest airline , was officially launched today as a scheduled flights operator from Leeds-Bradford Airport. The company will start a fare-paying early morning flight to Southampton and plans to follow this up with a shuttle service to Southampton.