A HAIRDRESSER who cut, permed and styled the hair of thousands of Skipton women, has died aged 97.
Mark Danvers-Colquhoun, of Carleton, was one of the first men to work in a women's salon in Skipton when he set up in partnership with his wife Molly in Otley Street, Skipton, in 1946.
Later he and Mrs Danvers-Colquhoun, who died in 2006 aged 87, moved the business called Henley's to a new salon in Newmarket Street, Skipton, in 1957 where they worked until retiring in 1986.
The couple met at the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool when he was an engineer in the RAF. They were married on Christmas Eve 1940.
When they first met, Mrs Danvers-Colquhoun, who hailed from Barrowford, was already running a hairdressing salon in Skipton having set up on her own aged just 18.
Mr Danvers-Colquhoun was born in Rangoon, Burma, now Yangon, Myanmar. He served in the RAF for six years and was living in London when he met his future wife.
After their marriage, he applied for an engineering job at Rolls-Royce in Barnoldswick but changed his mind, joining his wife in the business, taking up a hairdressing course and also learning the skills on the job.
When the couple moved to Newmarket Street, they introduced modern styling techniques and brought the "open salon" style to Skipton. Before then, women sat in cubicles.
Keen to keep up with new methods of styling, Mr Danvers-Colquhoun spent some time in Paris where he learned new techniques bringing them back to his salon.
The salon opened at 8.30am in time for clients arriving from Malham and eventually closed for the day at 11.30pm. A hair cut cost one shilling and six pence - seven and a half pence in today's money - and a perm 15 shillings - 75 pence.
The couple lived for many years in Princes Crescent, Skipton, before moving to a newly-built bungalow in Carleton in 1973.
Mr Danvers-Colquhoun died on February 2 at Airedale General Hospital, Steeton, and a funeral service will be held at St Stephen's Church, Skipton, on Wednesday at 12.30pm.