There was a smart turnout for the Ilkley Grammar School Sixth Form party in 1965.

125 years ago

We understand that the grouse prospects on Ilkley Moor are very disheartening. As many as 20 well-grown birds have been picked up dead in one day, and there has been a less average of eggs in the nests. Two birds have been packed up and sent to the Field newspaper for examination. It is believed that the mortality has been caused by scarcity of food and intense cold.

A slight panic was caused at Ilkley Railway Station by the sudden bolting of a horse from the cabstand. The 'noble steed' which had only recently made its entry into cab life was quietly munching its food from the nose bag when that article came loose and slipped over the animal's head, causing it to take fright.

A goodly number of friends gathered together in the Lecture Hall, Riddings Road, to witness a Flower Festival, held in connection with the Band of Hope. The hall was nicely decorated, plants and flowers being placed in the windows; in front of the platform was placed a kind of wire netting which was soon filled with flowers of all directions.

100 years ago

Suffragette is a term that most people think applies to a set of women who to some extent are freaks of nature. But those who expected to see anything resembling freaks on the plat-form at a suffragette meeting at Ilkley Town Hall must have been surprised to behold only three young, distinctly attractive and ladylike individuals in their right minds and with every outward and visible sign of womanhood. Their arguments were logical and directed with a force of eloquence that carried conviction.

The new Council Chamber was used for the first time and though the occasion was neither marked by ceremonial or anything of a festal character, it was an event that indicated a very decided step in the town's transition from urban to municipal dignity.

At Ilkley Town Hall there was an inquest on a 43-year-old woman from Durham who died after falling from a window at the Craiglands Hydro. The inquest was told that the woman had been depressed and suffering from poor health. Doctor Dobson said he hardly thought she could have fallen from the window accidentally. She was taken from the grounds of the hydro to the Coronation Hospital where she died from her in-juries.

75 years ago

Residents in the Bridge Lane district of Ilkley had an alarming experience during the heavy thunderstorm on Saturday evening. Indeed, it was an ex-perience which alarmed residents in the greater part of Ilkley. Nearly a hundred windows were broken through the explo-sion caused by lightning striking at the base of a tall poplar tree in the grounds of Bridge House. The force of the concussion radiated from the base of the poplar tree and also smashed windows in Oakroyd Terrace, Middleton Road, Lyndhurst Crescent, Mayland Terrace and even as far as Al-exandra Crescent.

The Public Health and Highways Committee instructed the clerk to call to the attention of the county council to the grave risk of injury to persons, especially children, by reason of the narrowness of the road passing under the railway bridge at Ben Rhydding Station, and suggesting that the railway company should be approached with a view to widening the bridge.

Two Denton brothers were charged with entering the village schoolhouse and stealing £2 5s. cash, a Service revolver, and several rounds of ammuni-tion, the property of Mrs Amy Mabel Brooks, the schoolmistress. PC Smith said the boys had been firing the revolver in Denton Woods, and subse-quently a lamb was found shot in the grounds of Denton Hall. Both boys were bound over for 12 months.

50 years ago

A woman was admitted to Bradford Royal Infirmary suffering from lacerations of the head, a broken arm and a dislocated spine after being con-cerned in a collision with a wall whilst riding her bicycle on Saturday afternoon. The accident occurred at the junction of Wells Road and Whitton Croft Road, Ilkley.

Addingham is to have a village hall. The Primitive Methodist Chapel, in Main Street, is to be purchased by the Memorial Hall Fund Committee for £1,000 and is to be converted into a hall. The decision was made by nearly 100 people at a public meeting held at the High Council School, Addingham, after the suggested scheme had been put forward to them by the committee.

Dry rot in the south-western portion of the roof of the Ilkley Parish Church above the baptistry has been investigated this week and it has been found that a few beams are affected. These beams will be replaced by new ones and it is expected that the work will be completed next week. Fortunately the dis-covery has been in time to prevent a spread through greater portion of the roof timbers.

25 years ago

A plaque marking Ilkley's efforts in Warship Week during the Second World War has just been received by the Parish Council, 40 years after it was commissioned by the Admiralty. The plaque, showing the badge HMS Osiris, a submarine adopted by the town, was last reported by the Admiralty in 1943 as 'missing' and apparently had been missing until it showed up at auction the other month.

Doctor Keith Hampson MP has backed an appeal by Burley Community Council to Mrs Lynda Chalker, Transport Under Secretary, for early and firm dates for the Burley-in-Wharfedale bypass. The Community Council is right that without a bypass of its own Burley could be a victim of the long overdue completion of a by-pass at Otley, said Dr Hampson. Burley Main Street is a bottleneck," he added.

Addingham residents have won a temporary victory in halting plans to alter bus routes from the old road on to the A65 trunk road. Addingham parish councillors opposed the plans on grounds it would be dangerous for passengers to have to cross the busy A65, and a petition was organised by a resident.

3:11pm Thursday 8th May 2008

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