IN many ways Ilkley is a unique town. The setting, in the tranquil lower Wharfe Valley, is God given, but the way the town has evolved over the years owes more to the activities of the people living here.

Looking at the photographs and news reports in our Across The Years column it is easy to see how the changes have happened over the decades and how life is very different today.

Before we lose the people who remember the past it is important that copious records are gathered so it wont be forgotten.

Projects like the one being undertaken by Parish Councillor Barbara Cussons, to record the memories of people who have lived in and contributed to the town over the past 50 years, should be encouraged as much as possible.

Her fascinating account of Geoff Wilkinsons contribution to setting up the Olicana Barbell Club in 1950 shows not only how less complicated life was, but also how people were

prepared to put themselves out to provide a resource for themselves and other young people.

Today, there are many people who are also more than

willing to give significant amounts of their spare time to contribute to the further expansion of The Warehouse youth centre on Little Lane.

Although, as in the case of the Barbell Club, there is little likelihood of the front door key to the Warehouse being left on a hook in someones coalhouse, the same community

spirit is still in evidence, albeit in altered circumstances.

As the millennium approaches rapidly, it becomes even more important to record the past, especially in a town with a higher proportion of residents coming from the older generations.

As many letters and phone calls to the Gazette testify, there is at least a half-century of events stored in the minds of Ilkley residents, needing just a small reminder to trigger the release of a flood of collective memory.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.