100 years ago

THERE was a special service at the parish church in Broughton when the offertory was devoted to the Serbian Relief Fund. It raised £6 8s.

People in Buckden had been hard at work making comforts for the soldiers and sailors. The township sent 12 pairs of socks, 13 mufflers, 106 vests, six pairs of mittens, six feather pillows, 27 pillow cases, and 20 pairs of slippers.

The announcement that the Royal Highlanders, the Black Watch, were to leave Skipton was received with regret. They had been in the town for more than two months and had become something of a public institution. They had welcomed New Year in typical Scottish fashion and honoured the memory of the Immortal Bard in similar fashion.

50 years ago

RENTS of farms administered by the Duchy of Lancaster in the Whitewell and Bowland area were being increased by more than 30 per cent. Mr GB Drayson, MP for Skipton, was to ask Douglas Houghton, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, in a Commons Question, if he would refer the proposed increases to the National Board for Prices and Incomes.

A car containing jewellery worth £10,000, which was stolen from outside the Cross Keys Hotel, East Marton, was found abandoned on Nelson Moor. The jewellery belonged to a jeweller from Ilkley, who had stopped for a snack, and was stored in a alarmed safe in the car. The car was fitted with a device which made it turn off after 200 yards.

Squadron Leader Meek, northern organiser for the World Wildlife Fund, was the guest speaker at a meeting of Skipton Rotary Club, held at the Devonshire Hotel.

25 years ago

A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy, handicapped since birth, was awarded £790,000 in damages against Airedale Health Authority. The settlement was agreed at the High Court in Leeds after it heard Thomas Canham had been starved of oxygen during his birth. The health authority had admitted liability in 1986, but it had taken nine years for a settlement to be reached.

A substantial number of new jobs was to be created at Johnson and Johnson at Gargrave. The news came after the company announced it was to close a manufacturing plant in Scotland and move the operation to Gargrave. It would make the Craven factory the company's principal European supplier to the healthcare sector.

Barnoldswick couple Graham and Deborah Lancaster travelled to London to take part in the nerve-racking quiz show Every Second Starts. "It's something I had always wanted to do," said Deborah, an adviser at Country Holidays, Earby.

10 years ago

ALMOST ten years after Settle parents living near Townhead petitioned the town council to provide somewhere for their children to play, their plea came to fruition. A new £23,000 play area was handed over to the town by developers J and JH Barnes. It was created with money donated as part of the development of new homes along Townhead Way.

Barnoldswick's CCTV system had halved criminal damage in the town, claimed police. Officers said that since the cameras were switched on the previous year they had seen a 50 per cent reduction in damage offences and a 30 per cent drop in anti-social behaviour. Sgt Andy Cartwright said CCTV was not the panacea to all ills, but it was having a significant effect.

Two Craven youth hostel were to close as part of a radical overhaul by the Youth Hostel Association. Stainforth and Earby had been earmarked for closure but Malham was to be included in the investment programme and would get better educational facilities and updated accommodation. YHA chief executive Roger Clarke said: "Changing tastes and markets have left us with too many underused properties in less popular locations. We expect to use sale proceeds from some of these properties to raise funds for YHA's future development plans."