100 years ago

MR R Bland, of Halton West, received news that his son, Private John Bland, was killed on or about May 5, 1915. He was 19 years old and had only been in France a few days. It had previously been reported that he was missing. He was the first from Hellifield to have sacrificed his life for his country.

Sergeant Phillip Garratt, upon whom was conferred the Distinguished Conduct Medal while he lay in hospital suffering from his wounds, arrived back home to Barnoldswick. A presentation was made to him by officials of the Wesleyan Sunday School.

Private T Reynolds of the Duke of Wellington's, arrived home at Cononley from France. He had been slightly wounded and gassed and taken to hospital in France. He was due to return to France in less than a week.

50 years ago

AT the annual meeting of the Yorkshire Dales Tourist Association, an increase in tourist development was welcomed. The chairman, Arnold Denby, said tourism had expanded to such an extent that some businesses were unable to cope.

Thirty workers from the Barnoldswick firm of Yorkshire Plush Ltd, Coates Mill, entertained the perfect employer to a dinner at the Coronation Hotel, Horton-in-Craven, as a tribute to the pleasant way he treated them and the manner in which he made the business go since he took over two years earlier.

The Skipton to Embsay road was blocked for six hours in order for a new tar plant to be taken to Embsay Rock Quarry. The plant weighed 26 tons and the low loader weighed 13.2 tons, presenting quite a formidable vehicle on the road.

25 years ago

HEARTLESS vandals left a trail of destruction at Skipton's Waltonwrays Cemetery, damaging more than 50 gravestones. An estimated £20,000 damage was caused when 53 gravestones, the oldest dating back to the 1800s, were pushed over. "I have been doing this job for 35 years and this is the worst damage I have seen," said cemetery superintendent Danny Clark.

Janet Tempest, of Broughton Hall, enjoyed the experience of a lifetime, meeting 82-year-old Mother Teresa in India. "It is something that I never dreamed possible," said Mrs Tempest, who had been a co-worker for Mother Teresa for more than 15 years. "Mother Teresa herself seemed to be in good spirits, certainly not retired in any way."

Skipton cook Doreen Feather won two first prizes in the Look After Your Heart cooking competition. Mrs Feather, who worked at the town's St Stephen's School had to cook a meal using only healthy ingredients and produce a poster advertising her meal. She made farmhouse cottage savoury, tangy orange coleslaw and baby new potatoes.

10 years ago

A CRACOE schoolboy was crowned North East regional winner of a national letter writing competition. James Otulakowski, of Cracoe and Rylstone Primary School, was one of 40,000 pupils across the country to enter the Royal Mail's Young Letter Writers' competition. Youngsters were asked to write a First Class letter to anyone, anywhere and about anything. James wrote to the author of the Horrible History stories, James Deary.

A Tosside sawmill went up in flames. Around 40 firefighters from Barnoldswick, Earby Clitheroe and Hyndburn were joined by colleagues from Skipton and Settle to tackle the fire at Riggs Barn. They had to battle for more than two hours to put out the fire, which was believed to have been caused by an electrical fault in a forklift truck. There was extensive damage to machinery, some of it had been imported from abroad.

Sixty years of providing a first class motor service in Settle and beyond was celebrated at Ribblesdale Land Rovers. The Settle-based dealership had been run as a family business since the 1940s and prided itself on its excellent customer service and top-class motors. Originally Ribblesdale Motors Ltd, the company dealt with Vauxhall, British Leyland and Rover, and began selling Land Rovers soon after they started being built in the late 1940s. One member of staff, service manager Gordon Robinson, had been working at the dealership for 48 years.