12:13pm Thursday 14th January 2010
By Jim Jack
DURING the week ended Saturday some excellent skating was obtained on Yeadon Dam. Last Thursday afternoon upwards of 1,000 persons were enjoying this exhilarating pastime. A party of gentlemen from Leeds were also engaged in that thoroughly Scotch game – curling, while on the Friday there were no less than four different sets of gentlemen enjoying themselves in the same way, gathering around them groups of interested spectators. On Saturday afternoon crowds of visitors from the neighbouring towns gathered to the number of nearly three thousand.
A DEPUTATION waited upon the directors of the North-Eastern Railway Company at York on Tuesday and presented a memorial signed by 280 residents asking that extra service of trains should be provided for the convenience of Horsforth residents. The memorial was presented by Mr J S Newstead, solicitor, of Leeds and supported by Messrs J Richardson and T Bentley. The deputation left impressed that their application would be favourably considered.
ON Saturday afternoon last Weston Hall and Otley Fire Brigades met for practice at Messrs Duncan’s mill. The Weston steamer accomplished the distance from the hall to the mill in from eight to ten minutes and steam was got up in eight minutes – so that no time was lost in that direction. The water was drawn from the goit and both the manual and the new steam fire engine worked very satisfactorily. There was a large number of spectators present.
A REMARKABLE meeting was held under the Unionist auspices at the Mechanics’ Institute, Otley on Tuesday evening. The event had been popularly anticipated, and both in talk before the evening and in the actual proceedings there were evidences of organised hostility. The demonstrations were in the nature of booing, whistling, stamping and choruses of "Hello", a la Bradford city paeans, but there was saving virtue in the opposition in that they gave the candidate a fair hearing and a three hours' stress of political feeling ended in peace.
AT the Olympia Skating Rink in Kirk Lane, Yeadon on Tuesday evening a fancy dress carnival was held. Competitors were fairly numerous and there was also a good attendance of spectators to whom ballot papers were supplied for the purpose of adjudicating upon the best characters. Miss Ida Walmsley, as the Orange girl, took the prize amongst the ladies; Mr Norman amongst the gentlemen with an impersonation of The Rajah; and in the comic section Mr George Blackburn was successful with a representation of Charley’s Aunt. The rink continues to be well patronised.
AT the ordinary monthly meeting of the Otley Burial Council Mr Trufit, in accordance with notice given, moved that the cemetery be opened to the public on Sundays, Good Fridays, and Christmas Days from 8am to sunset. His reason for this proposition was that there was a feeling, not only in Otley but outside, that the restriction now in force acted very inconveniently on those who had buried their relations and desired to visit the graves. He saw no reason why people should not be able to do this either before going to religious services on Sundays or after coming out. The motion was carried, unanimously.
A MOTOR driver was fined £1 and 7s. 6d costs for unloading pigs from a vehicle without a proper tailboard. PC Bell said that on the morning of Monday, December 17, he was in the Wharfedale Auction Mart, at Otley, and saw the defendant unloading pigs from a motor van. He was lifting the animals by their tails and ears, and when the witness asked him why he was not using the tailboard or the ramp provided by the auction mart, he replied “The last time I used the ramp it broke.”
A SECRETARY was summoned before Otley Court for leaving a motor car without setting the brake, and also for not having a driving license. PC Allen said on Sunday, December 9, in consequence of a reported incident, he made inquiries and found an unattended car had run down Wells Walk and crashed into the entrance of the Methodist Chapel. The defendant said she thought she had set the brake before leaving the car. A fine of 10s. was imposed for leaving the car without setting the brake, and for not having a driving license she was fined 7s. 6d.
A MECHANIC was summoned for driving a motor car without due care and attention. PC.Germain said that at 11.25am on Monday, December 17, he was on duty in Otley Road, when he saw a large car driven by the defendant swing round to the wrong side of the island. There was nothing in front except a small pony and cart on the proper side of the road. The defendant said he thought it was permissible to do so when there was nothing coming in the opposite direction. A fine of 20s. was imposed.
PROPOSALS for housing development schemes in Old Lane and Kings Road, Bramhope, which if carried through would more than double the number of houses in the village, were described at a parish meeting in the Craven Institute on Friday as “horrible things” which it is said would rob Bramhope of its identity as a village and turn it into a suburb of Leeds.
WINTER took the district in its grip this week. There were some light flurries of snow the first of the year on Monday. On Tuesday night it started to fall in earnest, and Wharfedale and Airedale residents awoke on Wednesday morning to find a covering of three inches. Although this quickly cleared on the main roads, it remained on the side-streets and in the countryside.
THE Sportsman’s Ball held in Otley Mechanics’ Institute on Friday evening by the Weston Lane Junior Sports and Social Club, and to which had been invited well-known personalities from the worlds of sport and entertainment, proved an outstanding success, both socially and financially. Principal guest from the field of entertainment was Ken Dodd, currently appearing in the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk at Bradford Alhambra.
DANCING her way round the Greek Islands is 18-year-old Amanda Grant of Horsforth. Amanda is at present dancing professionally at a night club in Rhodes. She has been away from home for five months and during that time has danced in Corfu and Crete. Her next stop could be Athens, and Rhodes is a possibility again for next summer.
LAST year's Otley show had a surplus of £3,682. This was reported at the annual meeting of the Wharfedale Agricultural Society in Otley Civic Centre last week. The surplus is in contrast to a deficit of £7,662 on the 1993 show which had to be cancelled because the ground was waterlogged.
AFTER sixty years in existence, Horsforth branch of the Royal British Legion may have to close due to lack of support. Over the years the branch has organised the Poppy Appeal collection, the Remembrance Day Parade and Service and looked after the welfare of ex service men, women and dependants. An appeal has been made for new members
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