A 96 YEAR old former resident of Hellifield has shared her fond memories of the village where she grew up after being given a copy of the Craven Herald.

Elsie Twisleton, who now lives in a care home in Sussex, is a relative of ‘Craven dialect poet’ Tom Twisleton and last year recorded a video greeting, with the help of her son, John, to the around 40 relatives who attended the celebrations in Settle marking a hundred years since his death.

Now, having been given a copy of the Herald by her grandson, she has been prompted to recall past times in Hellifield, from the weekly selling of cattle , the importance of the railway station, the lovely surrounding countryside, and ‘Salmon Sunday’ when hundreds went to see the salmon in the River Ribble travelling upstream to spawn.

“The Co-operative Hall was centre of entertainment. We tottered onto the stage in crepe paper, singing, “I want to be happy” and life really was just like that,” said Mrs Twisleton, who as Elsie Vickers lived in Thorndale Street.

Hellifield, she says, was not the usual Dales village, because of the dominance of the railway. “The Vicar once called it “a railway accident”. Hence the rows of good substantial terraced houses - not pretty Dales cottages. Station Road housed over 50 employees, and my grandparents brought up eight children there. Every Thursday the village was taken over by ‘moos’ as the cows came in in heavy lorries a visit to the selling of cattle was exciting.”

Hellifield, then as now, was surrounded by ‘glorious paths, with matching views’. “Ryloaf, I remember particularly, as Haw Lane. We often visited a railway employee at his small cabin, and sat round his stove at the rail crossing. We used to hang on to the crossing gate and see passengers enjoying their tea on the way to Carlisle,” she writes.

“The “Haw” provided our picnic hill and from it we could see the lovely lit up cross of Settle Roman Catholic Church shining in the sun, and Otterburn Wood was a lovely experience of woodland.

“ On the Lancashire side we ‘waded’ through bluebells in Tommy Clark’s wood, and enjoyed the Ribble Bridge, especially on ‘Salmon Sunday’. The sports field next to the church was the scene of horse-racing, and our first experience of betting. Clods of earth used to fly out, rather a frightening experience.

“Dr Evans, the Vicar, was very learned. He translated the Bible into African languages and provided us with profound quotations, probably our first Christian teaching.”

Hellifield Peel played a large part in the lives of the villagers. “Lady Nicholson held tea parties, which inspired my mother to become a baker. We spent hours climbing the lovely trees on the way to the Peel, and especially enjoyed a walk through the woods to see the first snowdrops. It was interesting to see The Peel’s restoration on Channel Four.” Finally, she recalls the shop, Ahernes, still in the village, as a place where ‘the gentry from Bradford’ would come to shop and which became ‘very well known’. “Thank you, Hellifield, for a lovely place to be brought up in. God bless you.”