100 years ago

The medical officer reported there had been 16 cases of scarlet fever over the past few months. Dr Atkinson said scarlet fever had been prevalent for some months, but it was not an epidemic.

The Skipton Baths and Washhouses Committee decided that a memorial plate should be fixed at the Moor View Baths, recently acquired through the generosity of the late Miss Isabel Brown of The Bailey, Skipton.

The statue of Sir Mathew Wilson Bart, which stood at the top of Skipton High Street, had undergone a facelift. According to the Herald, the stone plinths were trimmed and cleaned and the inscription reguilded.

50 years ago

Long Preston and Gargrave stations were among those which British Rail proposed to close under a scheme aimed at “streamlining” passenger train services in the region.

Since their formation, 12 years before, the Friends of Kildwick Church had proved to be a virile and enthusiastic band of workers and had helped in many ways with the work of maintaining and improving the fabric of the church.

Richard Fort, Conservative MP for Clitheroe since 1950, was killed in a car accident near Oxford. His death necessitated a by-election.

25 years ago

Junior Transport Minister David Mitchell MP said he was shocked by the condition of the Ribblehead Viaduct. During a visit to the threatened Settle-Carlisle railway line, Mr Mitchell was suspended over the viaduct on a hydraulic inspection platform so he could see the underside of the bridge arches. He was taken aback by what he found, but said the closure of the line was not just about money. “We have to balance whether the line should be retained in terms of the taxpayer, who has to pick up the bill,” said Mr Mitchell.

Embsay woman Jean Whiteside jetted off to Japan. Mrs Whiteside – a knitting machine expert – had won a Winston Churchill Fellowship to study teaching methods in the Far East.

10 years ago

Tosside School was again under threat. A consultation document released by Lancashire County Council highlighted the high costs of education at the nine-pupil school. It claimed the annual cost per child was £9,730, compared to a county average of £1,600.

Plans for a thatched pub near Kildwick were scrapped. The Devonshire Pub Company had been considering building the hostelry near Kildwick roundabout, but had a change of heart. It was good news for Bob Turner, landlord of the rival White Lion pub, who told the Herald: “It was the wrong establishment in the wrong place.”

TV weatherman Paul Hudson reignited the War of the Roses. Following a visit to Barnoldswick, he told TV viewers the BBC’s Look North programme could be watched in Lancashire. Predictably, he received a flood of angry letters, faxes and emails pointing out his faux pas. “For, as all good Craven folk know, the administrative boundaries may have changed on paper in 1974, but to all real intents and purposes, West Craven remains firmly in Yorkshire and will never be ‘Lancastrated’,” said the Herald.