100 years ago

A series of health lectures in Addingham, presented by the evening schools committee, were discontinued due to a lack of interest.

The efforts of Mr W Farey, chairman of Skipton Urban District Council, to bring to the attention of local butchers the merits of the humane cattle killer - as opposed to the poleaxe method - had borne fruit. An inspector for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had organised a demonstration at the Co-operative slaughter house.

The chairman of the Skipton Education Committee suggested that fire drills be introduced in all schools so that in an emergency, the children would be ready to respond to the calls of their teacher and know how to act to avoid panic. He had been to the Carleton and Water Street schools and had commended the drills carried out by the respective headteachers.

50 years ago

The British Museum advised the Craven Coroner, Stephen E Brown, of the discovery of five silver pennies from the region of Edward 1 at Skipton Castle. They were found in an aperture about five inches square and several feet long and it was believed they had remained undisturbed for something approaching 700 years. A treasure trove inquest was to be held into the discovery.

Road improvements in the Craven district, totalling £57,500, were approved by the West Riding County Council at a meeting in Wakefield. Among the schemes recommended by the highways committee was the widening of the Barnoldswick to Thornton road.

25 years ago

A parachute jump was just the beginning of 16-year-old Simon Beaufoy's adventures to help finance a trip to the uncharted regions of Eastern Greenland. Simon, a pupil at Ermysted's Grammar School, Skipton, was one of 60 youths chosen for the British Schools Exploring Society's Golden Jubilee Expedition to the Arctic.

The Government's plans to use outside contractors for hospital domestic, catering and laundry services were described as a time bomb by Airedale Health Authority chairman John Bell. He was concerned about the lack of time afforded to the authority to consider the scheme and worried that if it was pushed through without proper thought, it could have far reaching consequences for the health service.

A top level inquiry was held at Rolls-Royce to discover how 200 gallons of cyanide had escaped from a tank. Night shift workers at the Bankfield factory in Barnoldswick discovered the cyanide had been leaking from a 250-gallon vat. Within minutes of the alarm being raised the Rolls-Royce emergency procedure was put into operation and people throughout Lancashire were warned of the danger.

10 years ago

Settle would have a Booths supermarket by the millennium and a new primary school soon after, it was revealed. Craven District Council's planning committee gave officers delegated authority to approve the food store's plans to build a supermarket on land at Sowarth Industrial Estate and Bond Lane field. It would mean the county council could use the money from the sale of Bond Lane to build a much- needed new primary school for the town.

Caver Tony Dilger returned from a unique expedition which became the first to conquer one of the world's deepest and steepest ravines. The father-of-three, from Ingleton, was part of the 25-strong British/Malaysian expedition that successfully tackled the infamous Low's Gully in Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, known locally as "place of the dead."

10:20am Friday 21st March 2008

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