100 years ago

Two Earby men faced each other in court after fighting over a dead cat. One claimed he was looking into a shop window on Earby "Main Street" when the defendant went up to him and, without the slightest provocation, began "knocking him about". The victim asked his assailant: "Why have you done that?" and the defendant replied: "I will let you know" before resuming the onslaught, causing two black eyes and knocking out two teeth. The defendant denied being the aggressor and said the trouble arose over his prize cat and some prize pigeons belonging to the complainant. He said he had met the complainant on Water Street and accused him of poisoning his cat to protect his pigeons. He said the complainant then attacked him and he retaliated. The case was dismissed after a policeman called to the incident told the court he had seen "no black eyes".

Also before the bench was a Buckden farmer who had committed the offence of allowing a sheep carcass to lie unburied. The bench heard from a constable who said he had seen the body lying in a field unburied and, upon examining the carcass, he found it had been partially eaten by dogs.

50 years ago

"I had no idea it was an offence," a stonemason from Cononley told the court when he was summonsed for stealing parts of a tree. He was accused of taking 12lb of holly, worth 24 shillings, from a tree in a field at the Springs, Carleton. Chief inspector J Oakes said that on December 14 a gamekeeper saw the defendant with his wife and child walking away from the tree carrying the branches. "I looked on it like picking mushrooms or blueberries," the defendant said. He was given a conditional discharge with costs of four shillings.

A grocer from Sackville Street, Skipton, was fined £5 when he admitted selling goods not covered by the Shops Act on a Sunday. John Crawshaw, a Shops Act inspector, said he was on duty in the Sackville Street area when he saw the grocer's was almost full. He said while he was there several customers were served with items such as sugar, bacon, biscuits and self-raising flour. The grocer told the court he thought the regulations had been relaxed for Christmas.

It was reported that if a stranger were to walk into the village of Marton and accuse the men of being "washerwomen", the sturdy villagers would doubtless give the visitor an unhappy reception. But the men of Marton took over that role for the day when they put on a party for the womenfolk. However, after washing the crockery of 115 guests, their enthusiasm appeared to cool somewhat.

25 years ago

A whole new world as a TV personality opened up for Silsden signwriter Stan Boardman, when his unusual artistic talents were discovered six years earlier. Now, Stan was set to pour his enthusiasm into his own half-hour show on BBC1. Woven around the theme of gypsies and fairgrounds, "My Show" would feature comedy, music, interviews and a light-hearted look at Stan's own trade.

High and wide lorries were causing problems on the narrow road from Linton to Burnsall. Linton Parish Council was campaigning to get a width or weight limit on the unclassified road to stop HGVs using it as a shortcut.

10 years ago

Patients under the care of a Skipton health centre faced having their operations delayed indefinitely because of a lack of funding. Doctors at the Fisher Medical Centre suspended all non-urgent waiting list admissions after a number of GP fundholding practices in the North Yorkshire health authority overspent in 1996/7 by £855,000.

Grassington's ambitious Millennium Project received the royal seal of approval. The £600,000 scheme to transform the town hall received a Charter from the Duke of York's community initiative. GP Andrew Jackson received the award from Prince Andrew at a ceremony in York.

Urgent investigations were to be carried out into a wet area of Skipton. For years residents and businessmen near a canal culvert on Ings Lane had complained about the mini-river they faced every time there was a downpour. Craven District Council told residents it was looking into who was responsible for the culvert.

9:21am Friday 18th January 2008

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