125 Years Ago - 1892

Mr Mawson, of Leathley, has kindly handed us an ancient memorandum, written by his mother's great-great-grandfather, which may be interesting to our agricultural readers. It runs as follows: -"In the year 1339, wheat sold for 8s 8d per quarter and continued at that price for upwards of four months. It was at 10s per quarter in the course of the ensuing four years, after which it sunk down to 4s 6d.

The Leeds Corporation have declined to accede to the request of the Horsforth people not to place their proposed sewage works in the Newlay district, and nothing now remains but for the battle to be fought out before a committee of the House of Commons.

100 Years Ago - 1917

We have received a letter from Private E. M. Ingle, Army Service Corps, dated Bagdad, March 30th, 1917, in which he asks us to express his thanks to the secretary and members of the Ilkley and Ben Rhydding Christmas Gifts Committee for the magnificent parcel he had just received; He says- "the country is full of interest, especially to a Bible student or historian. The climate is really wonderful. We scarcely ever see a cloud, and the heat is terrible. Active service is rough, but I can say with perfect truth, I wouldn't have missed all this for any money. We were doubly fortunate in coming out, as we made the long sea route, thus having been three-quarters round the world before settling down to business."

Mrs Hartley, Lilac House, Storriths, Bolton Abbey, has received official information of the death from wounds of her husband, Pioneer Sylvester Hartley. Pte. Norman Nelson, third son of the late Mr. Tom Nelson and Mrs. Nelson, Summerscales, Beamsley, is in hospital suffering from wounds. Nelson has previously been wounded twice and once gassed.

75 Years Ago - 1942

At Yeadon Picture House Laurel and Hardy were picking up the laughs in Great Guns. At the nearby Yeadon Temperance Hall John Wayne and Betty Field were seen in, Shepherd of the Hills.

At the beginning of the year it was announced that a scheme for the establishment in Ilkley premises of a Junior Approved School had been approved by the Bradford Elementary Education Sub-Committee. Now it has been announced that Wells House, formerly known as Heathfield, Westwood Drive, is in the process of being acquired for that purpose. In a letter to the Ilkley Gazette a resident writes: "Ilkley, Beware of ruinous developments, arterial roads, Borstal institutions and Sanatoriums. The introduction of such developments will have the inevitable effect of destroying the assessment value of a considerable neighbourhood.

50 Years Ago - 1967

Soldiers on a goodwill tour of Yorkshire - some of them from Otley and Ilkley - are to be allowed to drive home in their armoured cars so their relatives can see the kind of vehicles and equipment on which they work. In addition to the "take your vehicle home" tour, they are presenting a display.

Most young people leave school at 15. The ordered life of schooldays ends. The teenagers then want freedom. they want to be independent people in their own right. They are pitchforked into a highly complicated world where people do not live as individuals alone. And these young people have not had the careful instruction in the art of growing up which their more fortunate contemporaries have received in public schools and universities. Society is recognising this - and the Youth Clubs, Youth Houses and Youth Centres which are springing up all over the country are the answer.

25 Years Ago - 1992

Customers at Aireborough Leisure Centre are literally taking steps to improve their fitness. "Steps aerobics" is the latest fashion in exercise. A series of three low platforms are used in keep-fit routines, and within an hour of them being introduced at the leisure centre, people were queuing up to join courses.

Burley-in-Wharfedale could be targeted for quarrying to rescue West Yorkshire from a sand and gravel crisis. Prime sites in the village have already been earmarked for extraction as the county faces a future struggle to meet national production targets laid down by the Government.