100 years ago

THE trustees of the Hugh Smith charity, in Cowling, had announced the sale of property and was offering financial assistance to students during the coming season. Twelve students studying at Leeds University, Keighley Trade School, Skipton Technical School and Glusburn Institute proved eligible. Each of the Glusburn students was awarded the full grant of 12s 6d (62 and a half pence in today's terms). The Skipton student was awarded 20s (£1), the Keighley student £3 10s and the Leeds student who had a county council scholarship to the value of £60 was awarded £7 10s. The money was to go towards tuition fees and books.

There was a big turnout at the Elm Tree Inn, in Embsay, for the auction sale of the property Roseville, in Main Street. Bidding for the property owned by Joseph Watson and occupied by tenant Peter Knowles began at £100, but was withdrawn at £175.

Grassington residents were upset at a new sewage scheme being installed in the village at a cost of £4,000, a cost they would have to meet. A public meeting heard that privies from some houses went directly into a "rubble drain" originally intended to take away storm water. Sewage went directly into a local beck. However, most houses in the village were served by earth closets and the inability to discharge water closets properly meant that if the piped system was not installed most houses would have to do without flushing lavatories.

Speaking against the plan, Colonel Maude said Grassington had been stagnating for years since the death of the lead mining industry with a population of less than 500. But just when the health benefits of the local sanatorium and the tourist trade provided by the railway offered some relief to local farmers and businessmen, along came the council with a grandiose scheme which would doom the whole place by putting 1shilling and six pence on the rates of each household. Colonel Maude wanted a much smaller scheme but the council reckoned the town's popularity as a health resort would see it grow to more than 1,000 population (they were right, it is now 1,150 and, we believe, with no trouble with its sewage).

Barnoldswick was mourning the death of its oldest inhabitant. Betty Simpson, who had reached 93, was known to enjoy a "pipe o' bacca".

50 years ago

FARMERS in the Dales were suffering from a poor harvest and their plight was being reflected in modified harvest festival services. As the churches still felt it necessary to thank God for his provision elsewhere in the world, one vicar, Rev TH Stanley of Skipton's Congregational Church told the congregation not to sing "All is safely gathered in", but "Some is safely gathered in!"

Rathmell vicar the Rev J Savage had branded the suggestion to acquire one-and-half acres of land for playing space for Helwith Bridge School as a "sheer waste of money". The comments were made at a meeting of the Settle and District Education sub-committee. Mr Savage said the 16 schoolchildren were living in an area surrounded by fields and had little use for the land for games. They didn't even have a football or hockey team, he had noted.

25 years ago

NEIGHBOURS in Victoria Street, Sutton, went crowing to the council because a cockerel was disturbing their sleep.

The young cock usually started up his vocal chords at 3.30am, and then continued on and off at intervals lasting up to 10 minutes a time. The environmental health department had suggested an experiment in that the owner locked up the cockerel and its 20-strong bevy of Moran hens in the hut each night, and not let them out until 8am. The experiment was to last a fortnight.

A 16-stone caver from Knaresborough became wedged just feet above a rising waterline in Providence Pot, near Kettlewell. He was forced to wait for four hours alone after trying to slide down the wrong hole at Hardy's Horror, while a friend went to raise the alarm. He was eventually freed from the hole by the Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association.

10 years ago

SKIPTON Town Council's planning committee had recommended refusal to a proposed wheelchair platform lift on the steps outside the front of the building. The existing ramp access at the side of the town hall was becoming too steep for many wheelchair users. Instead the committee suggested it would be preferable to escort the wheelchair users through the "tradesman's" entrance at the back of the building and left to find their way through the town hall kitchens and dining area to the front of the building.

Debt-ridden Skipton Town Football Club's future was still in doubt after an appeal for a "moneybags" backer proved unsuccessful. The Craven Premier League side was desperate for an injection of cash to ease its £40,000 debts. The club had borrowed the money four years earlier to finance the purchase and development of the sloping pitch at Engine Shed Lane and its new club house. The annual revenue of £3,000 the club received did little to cover the interest on the loan and the burden of day to day costs.

Langcliffe's landmark Stocks Tree, thought to be around 300-years-old, was due to be axed. The aged sycamore had become rotten and dangerous. It was to have its place taken by a 15 metre high tree.