2:34pm Thursday 21st January 2010
By Jim Jack
AN accident, attended with fatal consequences, happened at the mill on Green Lane, Yeadon, on Monday afternoon. A number of joiners were engaged at the mill removing a hoist. One of their number, twenty-two-years of age, was at the top of a ladder when some waste which the deceased had in the pocket of his woollen jersey caught in the shafting and, after drawing his jersey round, the man himself was ultimately drawn in and carried several times round the shafting, sustaining fearful injuries before the engine could be stopped. Medical assistance was at once obtained, but the injured man only survived about four hours.
A TRAMPING hawker of lead pencils was brought up in custody at Otley Police Court charged with hawking without a licence. The prisoner was in the habit of hawking these pencils, and he was very civil if people bought off him, but if a refusal was given, then he became very abusive and insulting. He also “shammed” a great deal, saying he was wasting away, that he had heart disease and a host of other ailments, and often put himself in an attitude as if he were going to faint, that people gave him coppers to be rid of him. He was committed to Wakefield House of Correction for 14 days.
EXTRAORDINARY vagaries at Horsforth Police Station when a man called in on Christmas Eve and said he wished to give himself up. The prisoner became dangerously violent and seizing handcuffs, got his neck into the chain, and, by pulling at the other end of the chain with his feet, tried to strangle himself. Seizing a chair, he hurled it at the people who were in the room, and then he chased them out of the place with the fender. He then forced his way into the kitchen, locked the door behind him and, procuring a knife, tried to put an end to his life in the coal shed. The prisoner was committed to the assizes for trial.
IT is said to be about a quarter of a century ago since the River Wharfe at Otley so extensively overflowed its banks as was the case last Sunday morning. The high water of Friday submerged many acres of low-lying land but on Sunday the volume of water almost attained to the very tops of the arches of Otley Bridge and spread to such a depth that where the road dips at the far side of the bridge was so flooded that church and chapel goers had to be conveyed across on a milk float. The Burley Road was impassable and more notable than that was the fact that the Pool Road was also under water.
GREAT public interest was manifested at Otley Police Court in a series of cases which had arisen out of the strike in connection with the Yeadon Dyeing Company (at the Old Mills) and the subsequent rioting leading up to baton charges by the police. The courthouse was crowded and many persons were unable to obtain admission. The defendants were 13 in number, all of Yeadon. They were charged in the first instance with rioting and a second preferment against them was one of unlawful assembly. After hearing evidence the court adjourned until today.
WEDNESDAY was polling day at Otley and the recording of votes passed off on much the same lines as at other elections. As soon as the polling booths were opened motors and all sorts of conveyances were quickly brought into use and at times the streets of the town presented quite a gay appearance as the bright colours of the tow parties were displayed at every possible point. Rich and poor alike wore their blue or yellow and the children entered into the spirit of the times, nearly all of them taking sides and sometimes using rather violent means of persuasion when some of the opposite party were about.
THE need for a closed-in swimming bath to serve Yeadon and Guiseley was urged at an open meeting called at Yeadon on Tuesday evening by Yeadon and Guiseley Swimming Club, to sense the feeling of the public on the question. The Club was formed officially a few weeks ago by a body of young men from the two townships who have been attending the baths at Bradford and Shipley. They feel that some provision for swimming should be made in the Yeadon and Guiseley district.
A COAL dealer of Otley was summoned before Otley Police Court for permitting a horse to be worked in an unfit state, and a carter of Otley was summoned for working the horse. Both defendants pleaded not guilty. PC Bell said he saw the carter driving an old bay cart horse attached to the dray. He noticed the horse was lame and travelling badly and with difficulty. On examination he found the animal for be suffering from ring-bone and the tendons were drawn and tightened. The coal dealer was fined 10s and 25s costs and the carter would have to pay 4s costs.
A MINISTRY Ministry of Health inquiry was held at Yeadon Town Hall on Tuesday into an application by Yeadon Council for confirmation of a Clearance Order under the Housing Act, 1930, ordering the demolition of 12 buildings: at Manor Yard, Manor Buildings and North Yard. Many Yeadon people were present at the inquiry. There was spirited opposition on behalf of Mrs Elizabeth Yeadon, the owner of 11 of the houses.
OTLEY General Hospital has been designated as a “supporting hospital” for the Leeds and Bradford areas in the event of a major accident in either of those areas. The new scheme includes the designation in each area of a Senior Medical Officer who would set up a medical report centre at the scene of an accident, and improved communications and liaisons.
MATTERS affecting Otley Mechanics Institute include a question of liability for care of articles of clothing left in the cloakrooms there came before a meeting of the Waterworks and Estates Committee of Otley Council. The committee had before it a letter from a youth who lost articles of clothing whilst attending the Christmas Eve dance at the Mechanics Institute, run by the Otley Rugby Union Football Club. The letter inquired who was responsible for providing adequate cloakroom accommodation on such occasions.
LETTERS and postcards from many parts of the world have been received by a Guiseley couple whose son is hitch-hiking his way across Europe and Asia to Australia, to be best man at a wedding. The young man is Mr Tony Blamire, 23, of Otley Road, who on the spur of the moment decided to undertake this mammoth hike to the other side of the world. He set off on December 9 and in quick time had reached France. From there he went to Italy, where he visited Pisa, Naples and Rome, and on to Istanbul, Turkey, and arrived at Karachi, Pakistan, for Christmas Eve.
MEMBERS of Fewston Church in the Washburn Valley are currently awaiting the outcome of an application for a fifty per cent grant from the Department of the Environment towards the cost of restoration. The tower roof, belfry and the whole of the nave roof have to be renewed and there is rot in the wooden panelling inside the church and bell frame. The cost of the repairs is valued at £50,000.
OTLEY Council is to take immediate steps to try to ease educational problems caused by the partial closure of Prince Henry's Grammar School because of heating difficulties. Following the failure of the heating boiler at the school, many pupils have been told not to attend of various days of the week. The has caused concern to parents about their children's education and a group of them turned up at a meeting of the Council's Finance and General Purposes Committee to ask if anything could be done about it. The council offered a couple of rooms at the civic centre as temporary classrooms.
THE long-running saga of appointing a new headteacher of Otley Prince Henry’s Grammar School has ended. The post has been vacant since the former head, Mr Neville Bousfield, retired at the end of the summer term. The new headmaster will be Mr Michael Franklin, current headmaster at Stainbeck High School, Leeds.
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