Craven through the years

9:42am Friday 14th September 2007

100 years ago

FORTUNE in the shape of an ideal day smiled on the Craven Agricultural Society's 53rd annual show, which was held in the usual field off the Bailey, adjacent to Skipton Castle. Hampered by severe debts, which at the beginning of the year totalled £300, the society never stood more in need of favourable weather.

The day proved unfavourable, however, for several hundred people from Lancashire who were intending to visit the Craven Agricultural Show. They arrived at Colne only to find that the connecting train to Skipton had been dispatched a few minutes earlier. The result was that it was after 4pm when they arrived at Skipton station. Needless to say, they did not patronise the show.

A special meeting of ratepayers and inhabitants of Linton was convened at the Hospital Chapel to consider the idea of converting the village green into a little fenced-in park. The chairman spoke in favour of the project and thought it would be an improvement to the already pretty village.

50 years ago

A PETITION signed by more than 300 regular bus users in Bentham and Ingleton was presented to Bentham Parish Council. The petition was calling for the new bus stops to be moved. They were said to be "most inconvenient" because they were not central and left passengers exposed to the elements. However, Coun FT Rooke took the public to task and said hardly any of them had attended a council meeting on the matter and that they should have showed a keener interest in the preliminary stages.

Male supremacy was restored at Skipton Gardener's Show when Mr L Wearing and Mrs TL Whitehead went head to head to win the silver cup. Mr Wearing emerged victorious and took the cup from Mrs Whitehead, who had won it the year before.

A party from Skipton became the first to ascend several mountain routes in Arctic Norway. The group, led by Ermysted's teacher Peter Broadhurst, paid £50 each to go on the six-week holiday. They lived "comfortably and cheaply" and had reason to believe they were the first to ascend the west face of the mountain Tvillingtind.

A Long Preston Butcher was fined 20s for allowing cows to stray onto the highway.

25 years ago

SKIPTON was officially twinned with Simbach, in Germany. The ceremony was said to be an emotional event that "bridged the miles separating the two towns." Bernard O'Neill, Mayor of Skipton and Herr Josef Strasser signed the twinning document at Skipton's trade fair. It was described as a day "full of friendship and hope for the future."

A memorial tablet was erected by the side of Keighley Road, in Bradley, to mark the place where a 32-ton lorry ploughed into a herd of cows. The tablet read "Here died a beautiful animal, one who was smashed by a hit and run artic. Please spare a minute while we cross."

A Skipton milkman was fined £20 after carrying a teenage boy in his trailer while delivering milk. The milkman admitted that he was in a position likely to cause danger, but said he did not know why the boy was there.

10 years ago

SKIPTON rector, Rev Adrian Botwright, and Chris Wright came back down to earth in style after doing a 300-feet abseil down Malham Cove. Thirty-four volunteers took part in the abseil to raise money for the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust.

Ingleton Rural Association was investigating the idea of thousands of residents joining hands and forming a chain around the village to mark the Millennium. The idea was part of a year-long programme of festivities being organised to mark the year 2000.

More than 125 years of teaching experience was marked at South Craven School, in Cross Hills. Five members of the teaching staff all celebrated 25 years of working at the school. The teachers had worked under three different headteachers and seen changes including the raising of the school leaving age to 16 and the introduction of the National Curriculum.

Football international and Manchester United star David May was signed up to open a new flower shop in Salterforth.

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