125 Years Ago - 1891

What is locally known as a "rearing" supper was given at the Station Hotel on Thursday evening in last week by Mr George Waite, in celebration of the erection of his new block of stables, &c., in Station Road. The workmen engaged in the erection of the stables and several friends were present.

The annual meeting of the members of the "Star of Liberty" Lodge of the Order of Druids, was held in the lodge room of the Red Lion Hotel, Otley, on Saturday night when Bro. McKay delivered a short address on the principles, objects and benefits of Druidism.

100 Years Ago - 1916

The Wharfedale and Airedale Observer - The necessities of the military situation have again made an inroad into the composition of our staff. Another member - Mr. H. Hanson, a journalist of brilliant promise - who has, on medical re-examination, been attached to the Army Ordnance Corps. This makes the fifth member of our editorial and reporting staff to "join up"within the last six to nine months. We deeply regret, of course, these losses to our literary personnel, but at the same time there is the consoling thought of knowing that recognising the nation's call in the hour of its real need, they have not hesitated or shrunk from placing themselves and their talents at its entire disposal.

For allowing the chimney of his dwelling house to be on fire on November 29th, Ernest Whiteley, Guiseley, was fined 9s.

75 Years Ago - 1941

If Christmas stands for peace on earth, home life, the gaiety of children and universal goodwill, the outlook for Christmas 1941 is not, at first sight, exactly promising. The whole world is engulfed in warfare, countless homes lie shattered, homeless refugees stalk the world. children keep their gas masks near lest they should be choked to death by the grown-ups. We may be tempted to enjoy Christmas as an escape from the hard world of grim reality. To shut ourselves in, behind closed doors to muster up what we can of a Christmas dinner, and lose our cares in a short-lived but diverting orgy of feigned cheerfulness.

Members of Otley Urban Council had something to say at the Council meeting this week about persons who "played the fool" with public air raid shelters. Complaints have been made previously about damage to the shelters, and the misuse of them, and the Council thought they had put a stop to it by putting locks on the entrance gates, and placing the keys in glass covered boxes near at hand. Now it is reported that at least one of the cases has been broken open and the key taken away. It seems unnecessary to draw attention to the plight of people seeking the safety of a shelter in an emergency and finding themselves locked out.

50 Years Ago - 1966

A delightful Christmas present is how Yorkshire Central Girl Guides have received the news of the generous gesture by Mrs J. B. Coulthurst, of Gargrave House, to purchase for them their ten-acre camp site at Robin Hole, Burley Woodhead. A few weeks ago the guides launched an appeal for £3,000 to buy the site and indicated a programme of events being arranged to raise money.

Mr Harry Harper Tomalin, who has died at the age of 97, lived for some years in Ilkley. Born in Hull in 1869, he went to sea in his early teens and had sailed round the world before he was 20. He went on a whaling cruise in the arctic in 1894 and after enlisting in Lord Strathcona's Horse Regiment served throughout the South African War. He served as a frontiersman attached to the 25th Fusiliers during the African campaign in 1914 and was in charge of the firing party at the burial of the renowned big game hunter Capt. Selous, when he fell to a sniper's bullet on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.

25 Years Ago - 1991

Mostafa Hammuri is one of television's top cameramen. When the credits roll at the end of documentaries, at home or abroad, his name appears often. Few people know that his home is in Ilkley, or that he has a special working relationship with Hannah Hauxwell, the First Lady of the Dales.

Members of Otley Peace Action Group were out on the streets of the town on Saturday carrying out an opinion poll on the arms trade. The poll, organised nationally by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, asked people to answer two questions related to arms exports and global defence spending. Out of the 114 members of the public questioned, a massive majority of 86 per cent was in favour of a reduction in arms spending.