100 years ago

TENDERS to build a new hospital for the Settle District were received but the Herald ventured the opinion that its location, at Cross Streets, Austwick, could be a mistake. "I have heard it hinted that a little feeling of jealousy between Bentham and Settle districts is responsible for this half way house sort of compromise," said the editor. Scorn was also poured on the view of one Settle councillor who thought that no building should cost more than £2,000. Skipton's new hospital, on Granville Street, had cost £16,000 and was "by no means too large" said the Herald.

Settle Rural District Council declared a house at 14 Ickornshaw, Cowling, unfit for human inhabitation and ordered it to be closed. The house was occupied by a family of nine plus a lodger, all living in one room with two bedrooms. There was no water, no drains and a "dilapidated pail closet" for sanitation.

Skipton Rugby Club reached the final of the Yorkshire Cup with a 28-0 win over Ilkley in the semi-final, played at Harrogate. This was despite the fact that they played the entire match with only 14 men because half back Crump "failed to reach the destination".

50 years ago

BARNOLDSWICK'S gas works, operating since 1891, closed. The town's new gas supply was via a mains from Colne.

The Linton, Threshfield and Grassington Angling Club celebrated its centenary. Early records showed that owners and tenants of property on the river side were entitled to fish and received between four and eight pounds of trout each year.

Litter is a common complaint, but perhaps our predecessors were little better. The Herald announced a new Government initiative with a new slogan - Keep Britain Tidy. Litter was left everywhere, said the Herald, and the Forestry Commission frequently found its work hampered by the discovery of an unofficial rubbish dump.

25years ago

TWO issues dominated the Craven Herald of this week in 1979: an election and the publication of the detailed plans for a reservoir in the Ribble Valley.

Turning to the election first, all three candidates were solicitors - John Watson for the Conservatives, Claire Brooks for the Liberals and John Paine for Labour. The Herald also ran a story on Madeline Hellaby, the Skipton woman who was joint head girl with Margaret Thatcher at Grantham Girls Grammar School. The two had gone on to Oxford University together but had then lost touch. Mrs Hellaby had joined the Ba'hai faith and her religion forbade her to have anything to do with party politics.

Meanwhile the reservoir would put a vast swathe of land, starting south of Settle and stretching south of Long Preston and extending from the villages of Rathmell and Wigglesworth in the west to the A65 road in the east. It was one of four alternatives, the others being to flood Borrowbeck in the Shap Fells, extend Haweswater in the Lake District and esturial storage in Morecambe Bay.

Speaking of schemes which never came off, the Ministry of Transport announced that work on a bypass for Gargrave would begin in 1982. The announcement was in a letter to the current MP, Burnaby Drayson, and put before a meeting of Gargrave Parish Council. Who knows if the council realised the significance of the words "if all goes well" after the phrase "start in 1982".

10 years ago

FAMILY ties stretching back 100 years were to be broken with the announcement that Dr Brian Fisher was to retire. His grandfather had founded the Skipton surgery in 1885 and he had been involved for 30 years. He said that doctors in general practice did not have to work as hard as they used to, but they had a lot more administration to deal with.

An Australian cricketer was deported despite the best efforts of MPs David Curry and Gordon Prentice to allow him to stay. John Rainger, who was to marry an Earby girl, had come to play with Skipton Cricket Club after three seasons with Earby and one with Skipton, but immigration officials said they did not believe he would return home at the end of the season. He was due to stay with former Herald editor Jack Heald, who wrote to Prime Minister John Major appealing to his love of cricket, but received no reply. Mr Heald said he was disgusted to be British and was amazed to find there was no right of appeal.