125 Years Ago - 1895

The storm still continues and has by no means lessened in severity, and the consequence is that much suffering is being endured by the poorer classes, and the little fund now being raised for their relief, will tend to somewhat lessen the pangs of hunger.

A pigeon shooting match took place at Silsden on Monday between A. Lever, of Nelson, and M. Benson, of Addingham, for £50; 15 birds each, half oz shot. About 1,000 spectators were present. Lever was outshot at the thirteenth bird.

100 Years Ago - 1920

Whilst telephonic communication with several outside places was interrupted as a result of the storm of Wednesday evening, Ilkley, largely by reason of its sheltered situation, in the valley, escaped most of its worst effects. On the hills around, however, the snow lay deep, and the Keighleygate Road into Airedale was, in places, covered with snow to a depth of nearly eighteen inches.

The snowstorm on Wednesday night wrought considerable damage to the telegraph wires and poles in Yeadon and Guiseley. In Yeadon, many of the poles had been snapped off and lay in the road.

75 Years Ago - 1945

Mrs. Clayton, 10, Bingley Lands, Guiseley, has forwarded a copy of “The Bangor Daily News,” Bangor, Maine, U.S.A., which contains an interesting paragraph concerning her husband, Ordinary Seaman Albert Clayton, who is serving with the Royal Navy. The paragraph says he is a gun-layer in the Navy, is married and has two small sons. The report adds: “Clayton has been on convoy work most of the three and half years he has been in the Royal Navy and his ship has always been in luck, as on seven convoy trips, the next ship to his was sunk.” He has made nine trips to the U.S.A.

Believed to be the first rescue of its kind on the Burma air front, a landing was made on Tuesday, January 23, by an American/British team in an amphibious Catalina on the Bay of Bengal to pick up the crew of a drifting bomber. The wireless operator of the Catalina was W/O W. A. Kirkness, aged 23, of Horsforth, who recently won the D.F.M. with an R.A.F. Liberator Squadron in India. The captain of the plane was an American and the crew included an Australian and a Canadian. Sighting the bomber crew in two dinghies by the light of flares, the pilot, with a tropical moon flickering on the water, put the amphibian down a hundred yards away and taxied over.

50 Years Ago - 1970

The Crow Lane-South View Terrace controversy at Otley was carried a step further on Saturday. Residents in the row of 15 stone-built houses erected a new street plate bearing the name South View Terrace, which they contend is the name by which the houses are, and always have been, known. Their action is in defiance of a decision by Otley Council that the houses must be known as Crow Lane. There were cheers from the residents and their neighbours when the five foot unofficial-plate was fixed on to the end house in the row.

Miss Jill Baldwinson, aged 28, a former choreographer with Yeadon Amateurs, has been chosen for the part of a French barmaid in a new Granada Television series “Family at War.” Jill has made many previous appearances on television.

25 Years Ago - 1995

Some of the worst flooding in living memory hit the Wharfe Valley this week whilst most of its residents were asleep. Large areas of low lying land were covered by several feet of water as the River Wharfe burst its banks, roads were closed and at one stage there were fears that Denton bridge might collapse. There was no loss of human live or threat to livestock in the Ilkley area. But there was probably some of the worst flooding since Ilkley’s great flood of 1900 when a man died as torrential rain turned streets into rivers.

The show did go on after a pantomime’s premiere was hit by winter snowstorms. Members of the Ilkley Upstagers were forced to ad lib during their first performance of Jack and the Beanstalk when three principal actors were delayed by the weather.