125 Years Ago - 1893

Guiseley - Up to the present there has been no further outbreak of small-pox, and it is hoped that the prompt measures taken to prevent the disease from spreading will be successful. The patient afflicted is progressing favourably towards convalescence.

At a preliminary meeting of influential and wealthy residents in Ilkley this week, it was decided to constitute a limited company for the purpose of erecting a large and commodious public hall near the centre of Ilkley.

100 Years Ago - 1918

It would appear as if most of the ills attributed to war bread had been mere fancy, for Mr. F. W. Richardson, the county analyst and a gentleman well known in Ilkley, has been telling a Bradford audience that the war flour sold in the West Riding on the average contained more nourishing constituents than pre-war flour. He also sang the praises of margarine, which he said was one of the purest preparations he had ever known.

Private A. Robinson, son of Mrs. Robinson, of Guiseley, and until recently of Leeds Road, Ilkley, died from pneumonia in France on Oct. 23rd. Locally he was best known as “Jack” Robinson. His eldest brother, Bernard, died of wounds on August 27th last.

75 Years Ago - 1943

Mr and Mrs Harry Dawson, 90, Henshaw Avenue, Yeadon, have been notified that their younger son, Pte. Albert Victor Dawson (28), formerly a prisoner of war in Italy, has escaped from captivity and is now in Switzerland. His last letter home, received in August this year, said he was working in a quarry, and that the Italians were good to him and gave him fruit.

Sergt. Alan Rodgers, who until joining the R.A.F. in the spring of 1939 at the age of 17 and three quarters, had lived with his grandmother, Mrs E. Rodgers, in Danefield Terrace, Otley, has been reported killed in action. He was reported missing in April this year and it is now known that he was drowned when his aircraft was shot down off the coast of France, and it is believed that he is buried near Granville in France. Rodgers was a flight engineer and served in France and Belgium with a Hurricane Fighter Squadron, and was evacuated from Boulogne. The youngest airman in his squadron, his courage and devotion to duty were highly praised in a letter from his Commanding Officer.

50 Years Ago - 1968

It is seven years since the 60 foot chimney at the destructor off Cemetery Road was demolished and 28 years have gone by since it was last used. For nearly 60 years the red brick plant and its chimney had been an eyesore against the background of Middleton Woods. Residents and people concerned with the Middleton Hospital complained about the discharge from the chimney. Now there is the suggestion that the same area should provide the site for an incineration plant, with a chimney to it another 20 feet higher than the old one was.

Membership of the newly-completed Otley Social W.M. Club and Institute on the Weston Lane Estate has been mounting steadily since the weekend and now tops the 1,000 mark. The premises were handed over to the committee last week-end, and were opened to members on Wednesday.

25 Years Ago - 1993

Even the Big Breakfast’s normally unflappable host Chris Evans was amazed when Kaye Hasselby phoned in to win a competition. The 23-year-old, of Grange Road, Burley-in-Wharfedale, was the first contestant in the Channel 4 show’s More Tea Vicar? phone-in competition. On only her second attempt she guessed the correct number of tea-cups.

Engineers are investigating where to build a bridge across the River Wharfe - if an Ilkley by-pass gets the go-ahead. Contractors for the Department of Transport are presently testing the strength of the water bed near Low Mill in Addingham. The department’s unfinalised route for the £17m dual carriageway passes this area before joining the completed Addingham by-pass.