125 Years Ago - 1893

At the Otley Police Court John Barlow, labourer, was fined 5s. and costs for being drunk at the Station Hotel on the the 18th of November.

On Friday last, at the Otley Police Court, William Marston, of Yeadon, and Barker Wood, of Guiseley, both boot-finishers, were summoned for playing football on the highway at Guiseley on the 13th of November. P.C. Lister proved the case, and said a lady who was passing at the time, was struck in the chest with the football.

100 Years Ago - 1918

What are to be the fruits of victory? The results of all we have sacrificed and suffered at the hands of the “brutal and bestial hell hounds of Germany,” to quote the strong language of one well-known writer. There are those who tell us that the Germans will never pay, and that as a result we are likely to be saddled with heavy war taxes for a long time to come. There are many we know who for business reasons are anxious to make friends with the Hun and “carry on” as before, but “never again” should be our motto; and to make the Germans pay, and to pay to the uttermost, should be the inflexible determination of all the Allies.

All sorts of projects are on foot to serve as war memorials, and some places are giving very serious attention to certain schemes. In Ilkley we shall certainly have a war memorial of some kind, but what it is likely to be has yet to be settled. The matter, however, is under consideration, and also the character of the welcome to be accorded “Our Boys” on their return home.

75 Years Ago - 1943

An Ilkley officer was the second man to go on board the Italian flagship when the Italian Fleet surrendered. He was Lieutenant K. M. C. Denby, R.N.V.R., a native of Burley, and only son of Mr. and Mrs. R. Coventry Denby, of Crimpledene, Margerison Road, Ben Rhydding. “We did not have much warning that the Italian Fleet was coming across,” said Lieutenant Denby, in telling how he went on board the battleship Caio Duilio as it steamed to Malta with other battleships. “We didn’t know exactly of what it would be composed. A party for boarding the ships and supervising the carrying out of the conditions of the armistice was hastily organised. We went out in a tug. It was a brilliant day and late in the afternoon two battleships, and several indistinct shapes which turned out to be two cruisers and one destroyer, appeared over the horizon. It really was a magnificent sight to see these ships streaming towards us. We felt very insignificant, and a trifle uncertain in our little tug, as we sailed under the battleship’s big guns.”

50 Years Ago - 1968

The Old School in Addingham is believed to have been in existence before 1747, and the building itself bears the date 1668. When there was an inquiry on behalf of the Charity Commissioners in 1894 the ownership of the property was the subject of questions. A book was produced indicating that it was town’s property held in trust for the poor of Addingham.

To the older people of Ilkley the fact that the Essoldo Cinema was built on the site of the Crescent Hotel Bowling Green is nothing new but to many people who have come to Ilkley in the last 40 years it is. Where the front entrance and the two shops stand was once a blacksmith’s shop.

25 Years Ago - 1993

Cameras from the BBC television series Panorama arrived in the Wharfe Valley this week to film a documentary about the area’s roads controversy. Their visit coincided with the sudden announcement by roads minister Robert Key that the A65 is not targeted as part of a new trans-Pennine route to relieve traffic congestion on the M62 motorway.

Half a dozen firemen rescued a pregnant cow which had fallen into a swimming pool during the middle of the night. They slipped reels under the animal’s body and wrenched her out of the water in the grounds of Wharfedale in Burley-in-Wharfedale. Ilkley fire station officer Richard Powell said:“The incident was quite odd. It took six of us even though it was a small heifer.”