100 years ago

THE only woman competitor in the Glasgow to London motor race appeared before the Skipton magistrates accused of breaking the 12 mph speed limit. Two police constables armed with a stopwatch had timed her between two measured points in Stirton and found Dorothy Levitt was travelling at 21 mph. When they went into the middle of the road and put up their hands indicating her to stop, she carried on and the policemen had to leap out of the way or be injured. She was traced through the official prospectus of the race and fined 40 shillings.

The incident caused the Herald to comment that police speed traps were a brake on the motor industry. The Herald said: "All the public require is that motorists will respect the rules of the road, refrain from scorching through crowded neighbourhoods, have some regard for horses and render themselves amenable to the laws of the land."

There was more car trouble discussed at Settle Rural District Council, where motor cars were speeding round the corner at the Temperance Hall in Hellifield, leading for calls for the road to be realigned. Coun J Hunter said cars were "a thundering nuisance" but Coun Charlesworth said "children have no business to play in the roads, they are a beastly nuisance."

Property prices in Upper Wharfedale were booming, fed by the opening of the Skipton to Grassington railway line. The Herald marvelled that the "extraordinary" sum of £630 had been paid for three small Grassington cottages with a combined rental of just £19. Meanwhile a public notice alerted the public to a meeting to raise interest in extending the railway line to Kettlewell. Potential investors were invited to attend at the Tennant Arms, Kilnsey.

The Skipton branch of the Amalgamated Association of Railway Servants led a procession through the town. The association provided allowances to widows of deceased members of between three shillings and seven shillings a week depending on the number of children they had. The procession, from the Temperance Hall and through town, raised £9 16 shillings from a collection.

50 years ago

THOUSANDS of Roman Catholics from all over the north attended an open air mass at Broughton Hall to celebrate 500 years of Catholic worship there - an event said to be unique in the North and probably the whole country. Stephen Tempest said that in 1453 the Archbishop of York granted a licence to Roger Tempest to establish a private oratory in his house.

The roundabout outside the cenotaph in Skipton was opened and chairman of Skipton Urban Council Mollie Mitchell said it was "a thing of beauty". Many townsfolk had a different opinion but it was pointed out that the amount of traffic in the town meant a roundabout was necessary.

International 18 stone freestyle wrestling champion Mitchell Gill returned to his home in Bolton Road, Silsden, after a nine month tour to the Far East. He had fought around 100 times, losing once and a crowd of 80,000 saw him beat Indian champion Dara Singh in Bombay. In Colombo he had met film actress Vivien Leigh and played a part in the film Elephant Walk.

25 years ago

THRESHFIELD'S Youth Club was up in arms about an order to remove a "quiet seating area", which had been built and funded by volunteers six months earlier. Because the seats were fitted to the floor, permission was required from the powers that be in order for them to qualify as fully law-abiding furniture. "Is this really worth £250 of the ratepayers' money?" queried the Herald reporter of the bill paid for the red tape as well as the joiner called out to right the wrongs.

Two lollipop ladies at Glusburn Primary School were presented with the princely sum of £10 each for making second place in the Yorkshire heat of the Ladybird National Lollipop of the Year competition. Pupils at the school had nominated them, with a book of pictures and stories on each of the ladies.

Pupils and teachers alike at St Stephen's RC School in Skipton were delighted with their brand new colour television, replacing their rented black and white. The PTA proved that not everything's more expensive these days; they paid £420 for the new set.

10 years ago

A GROUP of New Age Travellers were served an eviction notice from their spot in the lay-by on Brackenley Lane, Embsay. The group of five families had set up their convoy of cars and vans some weeks earlier, and the decision paved the way for further evictions throughout Craven.

A farmer in Gargrave fought for three hours, with the help of a group of fire fighters, to remove a heifer from a four feet wide drainage pipe near Skipton Golf Club. The cow had wandered 200 yards down the pipe before getting wedged, and had to be pulled by the backside out into daylight.