1885

On Saturday morning last, Mr T Clarkson, of Bridge Lane, met with a serious accident. He was assisting to convey a large boiler weighing ten tons, from Ilkley station to Mr Watson’s new mill at Addingham, when within 20 yards of their journey’s end, Mr Clarkson, who was leading the near shaft horse, got hemmed in between the wall and the waggon, and the wheel passed over his foot fearfully crushing it. He was taken to the house of Dr Bates, where his foot was dressed, and he was afterwards brought home. Drs Carter, Bates, and Usher were in attendance, who found it necessary to amputate all the toes on the injured limb.

At a meeting of Ilkley Local Board, Mr Ibberson rose to move a resolution of which he had given notice, that an urinal be erected near the large lamp at the top of Brook Street. He said that travelling through the country he always found that wherever there was a cab stand there was also a urinal. He did not think it was necessary to have to make a speech to show the necessity for one. He believed they had got one on hand, but the late board did not know where to put it. He thought one placed at the top of Brook Street would be a great boon to the town. At Southport, there were no less than five in Lord Street.

1910

Ilkley was at the height of the holiday season with the emphasis being placed on entertainment to please the numerous visitors. Each week a complete and comprehensive list of visitors to the town were listed in the Ilkley Gazette under the heading of the hydro hotel, boarding house, or lodging house in which they were staying.

In addition to the military bandstand and the town hall, visiting London companies provided first rate performances of plays such as Charley’s Aunt, and The School for Scandal. The Montague vagabonds offered a “follies”-type entertainment at the town hall with the male members of the cast clad in medieval jester costumes. Their programme offered patter, burlesque, impersonations and musical numbers. The skating rink’s varied programme offered an acrobat cyclist who performed feats on a cycle to entertain the spectators.

1935

Eighteen “lads,” their ages totalling 1,200 years, met in a cricket match on the ground of the Ilkley Club on Wednesday afternoon. They were the veterans who regularly attend the matches on the Ilkley ground, and their encounter was the outcome of various conversations concerning their ages. Finally, Mr James Hirst and Mr W Denton agreed to select sides, and with the help of a few friends the game was arranged. During an interval the teams, their aged supporters and friends, were entertained to tea by Mr Hirst. Thanks to the Ilkley cricket club for the loan of the ground, to Mr Hirst, and to Mr Edwin Wilson who had assisted with the arrangements, were expressed by Mr William Dobson, chairman of the Ilkley Old Age Pensions Committee. Mr Dobson said there were many people in Ilkley who their best for the old people and to bring joy and happiness to their lives. He hoped the event would be an annual one and those there that day would be spared to take part in many more matches.

Ilkley had its full share of the glorious Bank Holiday. Throughout the week-end, holiday-makers in this lovely portion of Wharfedale enjoyed to the full the beautiful sunshine and the glorious colour which the sunshine revealed across the hill and dale. Ilkley has rarely looked so appealing in the August Bank Holiday. Picnic parties among the heather and bracken on the moors, gay revels amid all the animation and life of the bathing pool, tramps along country lanes and over moorland tracks and quiet enjoyment of the cool loveliness of the ghylls – this summarises what the holidays at Ilkley spelt for thousands of holiday-makers who returned home with their minds stored with golden memories of Wharfedale to cheer them through the dark days of winter. Throughout the length of the valley the fields were studded with little tents in white, in buff and in green, marking the sites were campers were so determined to obtain the full measure of country freedom over the weekend.

1960

A complaint has been made by Major FA Ingham on behalf of tenants of Bingley Moor that Ilkley Council did not take adequate precautions to prevent the extensive fire in the area of Ilkley Moor, east of Keighley Road, from spreading to the adjoining Bingley Moor. Major Ingham points out that the fire reached the boundary wall east of Whetstone Gate. Ilkley Council has asked its clerk to inform Major Ingham that it is doing all it can reasonably do in dealing with moor fires having regard to existing commitments for other essential works.

The Skipton Rural Council has decided to express its disappointment that the Ministry of Transport is unable to forecast a starting date for the Addingham by-pass road scheme. The Ministry has informed the council, following its most recent representations, that while the need for the proposed by-pass was fully appreciated, and that the improvement of the trunk road south-east of the village did not in any way diminish the urgency of the by-pass scheme, it had not been possible so far to include this scheme among those authorised for preparation.

1985

Plans for the erection of 26 retirement cottages in the grounds of Ilkley Hall in Wells Road have been provided by Bradford Council’s planning sub-committee. Five will have garages, and the remainder will have parking spaces set among trees. The principle planning officer said the site was in an area of high environmental value and the cottages would provide excellent housing in a superb environment. They would be two-storey buildings and would be built of stone.

Fifty-five scouts, guides, venture scouts and leaders from Ben Rhydding left town for Holland at the start of a two week stay with “De Mohiccanen” of the Hague. The groups travelled through the day to Harwich in Essex to catch the night boat to Rotterdam where they met with 120 Dutch Scouts, Guides and Seniors. Together they set off in a convoy of coaches to Mook, a small village near Mijmegem, where the group spent a full week of the stay under canvas.