Cattle on the streets of Otley

Parties who desire to hear something on the important question of where to emigrate will do well to attend a lecutre which is to be delivered in the Mechanics’ Hall by the Reverend W Bee, of Toronto. The lecturer will speak from personal knowledge and therefore his information will no doubt be both valuable and profitable.

A large number of people from Horsforth appeared at the West Riding Police Court for not having obtained or renewed their dog licences. Five people were each fined 25s.

100 years ago

Most important of the business at the meeting of the Otley Education Sub-Committee was the concluding discussion upon the question of supplying free meals to necessitous school children. It is obvious that here in Otley there is need of some practical consideration of the problem of poverty as it affects the scholars in the elementary schools. There are 33 children attending the various schools in Otley who lack proper and systematic nourishment. A poorly nourished body is, indeed, a bad subject in which to seek to build up a being of real and useful brains.

Frank Wilson, a sturdy, middle-aged man of the tramping labourer class, was charged at Otley Police Court with begging. PC Bemrose said that on Friday afternoon he saw the prisoner begging in Union Street, Otley, and arrested him, and the prisoner then said that “he wanted something warm” before going into the Workhouse. The prisoner stated that he was looking for work but an inspection of his hands showed he had not worked for a considerable time. He said he had walked 30 miles the previous day and had been to Angram reservoir, where he had been employed before Christmas, but nothing was going on there because of snow. “Why should I go on the tops of mountains if I did not want work?” he asked. He was sentenced to 14 days’ imprisonment with hard labour.

A party of Otley and Guiseley bellringers on Saturday afternoon resumed their endeavour to ring a peal of 5,040 Bob majors in the belfry tower of Otley Parish Church. On the previous Saturday they entered upon such a purpose but failed, after ringing for two hours, owing to a rope breaking. On Saturday they were quite successful and completed the challenge in two hours and 58 minutes.

75 years ago

Burley in Wharfedale has this week lost one of its most attractive and familiar landmarks at the hands of a woodman. The old elm tree, which stands in a commanding position in the centre of the village, has had sentence of death passed upon it and yesterday this was put into effect. By the time these words went to print, the giant tree will have been shorn of its great branches and only a guant stump will remain.

An Otley schoolboy had a remarkable escape from serious injury while cycling to school yesterday morning. He is Andrew T Firth, a pupil at Otley Prince Henry’s Grammar School, and on his bicycle was following behind a special bus taking children to the school. When crossing Otley Bridge he apparently pulled out from behind the bus and came into collision with another bus travelling in the opposite direction, which had taken a load of children to the school and was returning empty. Firth was caught by the front mud-guard and thrown clear of the wheels, but his bike went underneath and was wrecked. He was taken to Dr Galloway’s surgery where it was found he had slight abrasions to his foot.

There were dramatic scenes with more than a touch of tragedy to them at Yeadon Dam at the weekend. For quite a long time now Yeadon people have been proud of the fact that they have a pair of swans on the Dam. They are handsome birds and during warmer weather give a pleasant effect on the water. However, the pair had a huge fight at the weekend which resulted in the female being badly injured. The fight intensified when another set of swans tried to settle on the dam and the male birds began to brawl. Park Ranger Mr A Webster was charged with the task of rescuing the injured swan.

50 years ago

A request for more accommodation at Otley Secondary School, where only this term a £40,000 extension was opened, was described as a ‘shock’ when it was referred to at a meeting of Otley Urban Council on Monday. The headmaster of the school has made a request for further accommodation for next September and asked whether the Council would be prepared to consider an extension of the lease of the site of the former nursery day buildings in The Licks, if the County Council could be persuaded to postpone the demolition of the buildings.

Surprise was expressed at a meeting of Otley Urban Council on Monday at a recommendation, which was accepted, that the Council should not press its objection against a proposed five-acre extension to sand and gravel workings at Wharfeside. The recommendation was given on the condition that the company concerned should be prepared to give an assurance that this is their last territorial demand, and that an equivalent acreage would be reclaimed and restored to agriculture.

There is, we have been told, something of a plague of foxes just now on the southern slopes of the Chevin, notably in the Carlton and Bramhope districts. Some of them have made their way over the Chevin into Danefield, where they have been hidden in the old rabbit warrens. The Otley foresters have gone into action against the intruders.

25 years ago

Flooding problems in Ings Lane and Danefield Terrace, Otley, have been highlighted by the recent snow and heavy rain, it was reported at a meeting of Otley Town Council. Coun Mrs Margaret Coles said the water had risen on to Danefield Terace further than it had ever done before. Residents were extremely anxious because every time there was any rainfall their gardens were under water.

The vicar of Rawdon, the Rev Simon Hoare, has been literally sitting on a treasure chest of old documents, all over 100 years old, which give a fascinating insight into the thoughts and activities of the choirboys of that age. Mr Hoare said that what the choirboys of 1883 got up to was revealed during alterations at St Peter’s Parish Church. When the choir stalls were taken out during the alterations, packed into the desktop of the vicar’s stall were service sheets, churchwarden’s accounts and choir papers, all dated 1875 and 1883. On them were the doodles of choir boys, drawings and sketches and lists of names.

One of the most elegant old houses in Otley, the large stone-built Inglewood, in Bradford Road, which has been used in recent years as a children’s home, will be reduced to a pile of rubble, broken glass and shattered timber as the site is cleared to make way for the town’s new by-pass.