Skipton Building Society has increased its minimum opening balance on investment accounts in a bid to combat carpetbaggers. To protect service levels to existing investors, any new customer must invest a minimum of £5,000 and maintain this balance going
The original Mary and Joseph made their journey to Bethlehem riding on a donkey but the characters in Menston Methodists nativity procession had a horse and trap. Diane and Ashley France, of Brooklands, Menston, playing Mary and Joseph, were drawn through
A group of Labour backbenchers have formed a committee to get their voices heard as Bradford Council prepares to make history with a radical restructure. The backbenchers - who fear they may be isolated from decisions when the authority throws out its
Pensioners fighting Bradford Council over the large bills they face towards the cost of replacing neighbours' windows have vowed to continue the battle. They spoke out after the Telegraph & Argus revealed that four Bingley widows had won their long-running
Sometime last year three entrepreneurs approached the financial institutions in London with a bright idea. Their idea involved an Internet share dealing system. The institutions were impressed. The three were able to raise £2.4 million, partly by means
Fine Art's shares sparkled on news of a first half profit for the group, whose sales are heavily dependent on the Autumn season and therefore traditionally show a loss in the six months to September. The important home shopping division showed 14 per
The Straume UK wool processing plant at Low Mill, Addingham, has placed a £500,000 order for the latest in wool drying equipment. The order is for an Andar dryer which is made in New Zealand. Managing director Steven Porter said: "It will be the largest
A firm of accountants has moved a key department from London to West Yorkshire because of the level of expertise in the area. Horwath Clark Whitehill, will be using tax experts from its Bradford, Keighley and Leeds office to service the firm's Tax Technical
A Bradford packaging firm is all set to expand even further after its most successful year ever. Mailway Packaging is increasing the size of its premises in Pitcliffe Way, West Bowling, in preparation for one of its biggest-ever orders from a big-name
UniBond League: Bradford Park Avenue 1, Burscough 1. Park Avenue maintained their unbeaten record this season at Horsfall Stadium but they could have done even better against the UniBond Division One leaders. The visitors went into the break a goal up
Huddersfield 0, Liverpool 2; by Steve Teale, T&A Reporter. Town manager Steve Bruce leapt to the defence of Clyde Wijnhard after the striker blew a chance to knock Liverpool out of the FA Cup. With cooler finishing the former Leeds United man could
It was good to be back. Not necessarily at Crewe, but in a small stand with a rainswept pitch and a view blocked by a thick steel post. Just like the old days. However one thing has changed, and that is City are capable of beating sides like Crewe and
Crewe Alexandra ,1Bradford City 2; by Richard Sutfliffe at Gresty Road. Paul Jewell's gamble of all-out attack in the closing stages to avoid an FA Cup replay paid off as City edged nervously into the fourth round. The Bantams had looked set for a comfortable
Goal-scoring hero Dean Saunders is hoping his late winner at Crewe will help spark a long run in the FA Cup for Bradford City. And yesterday's fourth round draw has boosted his hopes with the Bantams set to visit either First Division strugglers Walsall
A Bradford store which is backing the Telegraph & Argus Bradford's Best event this week is the jewel in the crown of the Herbert Brown group. Despite the city's decline as a shopping centre, the Ivegate store of the Herbert Brown chain is top of the
Engineering firms in Yorkshire could be easing out of recession, according to a survey by a leading business organisation. The survey, conducted by the Engineering Employers' Federation Yorkshire and Humberside, questioned more than 100 companies across
An Otley-based firm now sells more equipment across the globe thanks to a four-year relationship with a personal business adviser. Family-run Craftsman Tools, established in 1953, manufactures toolholding and workholding products for companies all over
It's rather disconcerting to find myself in agreement with the Prime Minister for once - over the alleged regional gulf in Britain. With the season of goodwill almost here and the new Millennium galloping towards us fast, it's time to bury the hatchet
A man who is helping the development of the new South Africa has discovered he is treading in the footsteps of his grandfather. Brian McAndrew, 60, a former deputy chief executive of Bradford Council, who runs his own business development company from
A heartfelt message of thanks to generous Telegraph & Argus readers has come out of Africa. And charity worker Hildred Helm says aid donated by big-hearted Bradford folk is making a huge difference to the lives of poverty-stricken people in Gambia
A crackdown on truants on the Buttershaw estate saw dozens rounded up by police in only a few days. The blitz was set up jointly by the police, Buttershaw Upper School and education social workers with powers given to them under new legislation. Ten Bradford
The outside world can seem an intimidating place when you're only 13. Teenagers in the 1990s may exude an air of supreme confidence compared to their counterparts of years gone by but underneath they can still feel vulnerable. Many children are routinely
The only surviving relative of six firemen who died in a blast in 1916 has spoken of her heartbreak after a memorial in their honour has been defaced and had expensive stonework stolen from it. The memorial in Scholemoor Cemetery, Bradford, honours the
In the bar of the Alhambra Theatre, Tony Peers sucks on his cigarette as if drawing blood from it. It has been, he says, an ambition to play pantomime here - but he is a man of modest ambition. "Esther Rantzen found me in obscurity, and left me there,
Trucker Janet Sharpe is on the romance road after falling head over heels in love with her HGV training instructor Richard Atkins. And he felt the same about her as he coached her and three men through a course to make them among the best lorry drivers
Police were today hunting a masked attacker who burst into the home of a 25-year-old Keighley woman and struck her across the head and hands with a bat. She suffered two head wounds, a fractured hand and fractured fingers in the apparently motiveless
A thousand years of village history is being used to help improve the lot of local young people in the next Millennium. Burley-in-Wharfedale is being commemorated in a special Millennium Calendar, which provides a fascinating insight into the growth of
Christmas came early for hundreds of inner-city children as a church threw open its doors. A fleet of buses brought more than 650 youngsters from some of Bradford's most deprived estates to a special event at the city's Abundant Life Centre yesterday.
Staff and parents at an internationally-recognised special school were reeling today after learning it is to close. Heaton Royds Special School in Redburn Drive, Shipley, had been expecting to move to a new site under a shake-up which also includes the
A West Yorkshire recruitment company is preparing for a huge surge in job enquiries as the new Millennium dawns. Headway Recruitment, which has offices in Bradford and Leeds, is gearing up for a large increase in permanent job registrations following
Print firm Triangle Repro and Print takes involvement with its customers very seriously. The firm, which was started as Triangle Reprographics in 1995 by managing director Dominic Copsey, holds discussions with its customers on design as soon as the ink
Sports and leisurewear retailer John David Sports, which has opened a second store in Bradford, said it was confident its shoppers would not be wooed by low prices from US retail giant Wal-Mart. Since Wal-Mart's takeover of Asda, many British shopkeepers
A leading information technology firm is widening its sales net as it carries out more business abroad. Brighouse company Concorde Informatics, is expanding its operation, which also has a southern base in Ledbury, Hertfordshire, into North America, Canada
Keighley Cougars 28, Widnes Vikings 34; by Keith Reeves. The Cougars got their season off to a start with a tough friendly against old foes Widnes and as so often in recent years it was a tough and close-run game. New coach Karl Harrison was impressed
Rugby Union: Wibsey 7, Edlington Granby 14. Edlington Granby gained revenge for their 33-3 defeat in last season's Yorkshire Silver Trophy semi-final, but this is a match Wibsey should at least have drawn. Having restricted the Doncaster club to a 7-0
The public meeting to be held in Denholme on Wednesday to discuss timetable options for road-building affecting the village is a welcome exercise in consultation. The villagers are to be asked, in effect, whether they want to put up with seven-day or
Firms are being warned to watch out for extra taxes when staff use their own mobile phones for work. Accountants and business advisers at Grant Thornton, which has an office in Bradford, are warning firms not to be caught out by tax and VAT changes on
Transport company FirstGroup and BP Amoco have agreed a £400 million deal which will see the oil group supply "green" diesel fuel to 10,000 buses. FirstGroup runs First Bradford and bus services in other parts of West Yorkshire. BP Amoco is to provide
On the first Christmas, the drama surrounding the birth of Christ took place in a stable in the presence of oxen. Many of the greetings cards we receive are of the Nativity and give the stable a cosy appearance. The Dales equivalent of that stable would
Villagers will finally have a chance this week to quiz Council officials over major roadworks. A £200,000 scheme to rebuild the A629 in Denholme is due to take place next year. There were angry scenes at a neighbourhood forum meeting in the village when
Skipton Citizens' Advice Bureau has hit the jackpot again with a £318,147 lottery grant to be spent on employment rights advice. The application was made on behalf of a consortium of CABs in North Yorkshire and the City of York office. The grant will
Scenes of bygone Christmases were recreated when hundreds of shoppers braved the rain and flocked to the Victorian Market held in Bradford at the weekend. Visitors mingled with a variety of stalls - ranging from jewellery, hand-made arts and crafts, high
Sisters Clair and Krista Atkins have watched an incurable lung disease reduce their once-fit grandma to a breathless invalid. Jean Collins, who celebrated her 66th birthday on Sunday, was diagnosed as suffering from Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis three
A heartbroken couple have gone to the top in a bid to bring the four-year-old boy they want to adopt to Britain. Childless Abdul Hamid and his wife Rukhsana, are desperate to bring their little nephew to Bradford from a remote Pakistan village to make
