The Wharfedale Observer: News from Otley and surrounding areas.

Convalescing at new Ilkley hospital bowling green

2:51pm Thursday 9th May 2013

The opening of a new bowling green at Ilkley Hospital and Convalescent Home was captured for posterity in this shot. No date is given but it is thought it dates back to the 1940s.

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Scarlet fever breaks out and dog shot in the act of sheep worrying

12:59pm Thursday 2nd May 2013

125 years ago – 1888

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Burley-in-Wharfedale Miss Young Conservative 1963

1:03pm Thursday 25th April 2013

These young women lined up for a photo when they took part in a Miss Young Conservative competition at Burley-in-Wharfedale in 1963.

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Ben Rhydding Hockey Club team photo 1932-33

12:59pm Thursday 25th April 2013

This team photograph at Ben Rhydding Hockey Club was taken 80 years ago.

Menston Mental Hospital football team wins 1920s trophy

2:21pm Thursday 18th April 2013

These proud looking footballers had clearly won a very impressive trophy back in the 1920s.

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Ilkley station before redevelopment

2:31pm Thursday 11th April 2013

This picture apparently captures the last train to depart from Platform 3 of Ilkley Station, in September 1983. Although the station boasts just two platforms today, it was for many years a four-platform station. The old platforms 3 and 4 were originally used for through-trains, the services which ran across the bridge over Brook Street, to Addingham, Bolton Abbey and Skipton. Although the line to Skipton was closed in 1965, making Ilkley Station a terminus, both platforms 3 and 4, on the south side of the current platforms 1 and 2, remained in existence into the 1980s. The station was redeveloped in 1983, and the two little-used platforms were removed.

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Remember when?

2:26pm Thursday 4th April 2013

Ilkley Secondary School girls, pictured left, who won the championship for the Under 13s and Under 15s (combined) events at the annual sports of the Airedale and Wharfedale School Sports Association, in July 1963. Pictured are, back row, from left: Miss P Barnett, D Robinson, S Naylor, E Layton, D Reynolds and M Beasley. Front row, from left: K Hinchcliffe, P Lister, A Harrison, V Gell and P Taylor.

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Do you know any faces in this Otley football team?

2:55pm Thursday 28th March 2013

Taken in the late 1950s or early 1960s this photograph shows Otley’s DP&E football team.

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And the band played on... but, sadly, not the school

4:17pm Friday 22nd March 2013

Memories of a school which closed around half a century ago will be evoked by this photograph.

Mysteries of the computer room

11:23am Thursday 14th March 2013

The mysteries of the computer room were demonstrated to parents by these local schoolchildren in 1983. There is no record of where the photograph was taken

Fountain and slide were big Lido attractions

11:21am Thursday 14th March 2013

It was a very different looking Ilkley Lido when this photograph was taken in the 1930s.

First girls at Ilkley Grammar School

2:26pm Thursday 7th March 2013

As the first girls to be admitted to Ilkley Grammar School these young women were the pioneers of their day.

May Day majesty at Otley Bridge Street church

2:21pm Thursday 7th March 2013

These youngsters were pictured more than 60 years ago taking part in the May Day procession in the grounds of the Catholic Church in Bridge Street, Otley.

Questions of water purification are tackled by mayor at town meeting

2:39pm Thursday 28th February 2013

125 Years Ago - 1888

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Ilkley street party celebrates end of war

1:55pm Thursday 21st February 2013

This snapshot of VE day celebrations was discovered in a donation of items to the cancer research shop on the Grove in Ilkley.

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Otley man shows off his Scottish dance skills in front of Queen

1:53pm Thursday 21st February 2013

He may have been a Sassanach but Otley man James H Nicholson was picked to perform Scottish dancing in front of the Queen during a visit to Holyrood.

Tale of the Alice panto bunnies from Ilkley is rediscovered

9:00am Thursday 7th February 2013

These ‘rabbits’ were caught on camera more than half a century ago as they performed in a production of Alice in Wonderland at the Ilkley Playhouse.

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Ilkley Players cast testing out the means of escape

3:12pm Thursday 31st January 2013

Members of the cast of the Ilkley Players, who were taking part in a production of The Silver King, tested out a fire escape at the Ilkley Playhouse in February 1939.

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Guiseley Under-14s enjoy success at swimming in 1978

3:45pm Thursday 24th January 2013

Pictured is Guiseley School’s under-14 boys team which came second in the Yorkshire Bank Inter-School Swimming Compet-ition at the international Pool in Leeds, held on Saturday, April 15, 1978. The boys each won a silver medal and a cash prize for the school.

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Were you a member of Ilkley school percussion band?

8:00am Thursday 17th January 2013

The picture above was discovered in a collection of old photographs and forwarded to us by former Ilkley schoolboy Ken Kaberry. It shows the winners of the Wharfedale Music Festival Percussion Band Section, possibly in 1936 or 1937.

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Ledgard bus is en route to posterity

3:02pm Thursday 10th January 2013

This picture, recently sold as part of a private collection, captures a Samuel Ledgard coach rounding the bend on Moor Road by The Hermit pub, Burley Woodhead.

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A smart turn-out of Ilkley Frontiersmen

8:00am Thursday 3rd January 2013

This record of a Legion of Frontiersmen meeting in Ilkley is sadly lacking in any written detail. But the photograph, taken by Anning of Ilkley, appears to date back several decades. The legion, which celebrated its centenary in 2004-2005, was set up by adventurer and author Roger Pocock, who had seen service in South Africa and with the North-West Mounted Police in Canada.

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Pantos and piano..all the fun of yesteryear

2:13pm Thursday 27th December 2012

Countless celebrations have been recorded in the Ilkley Gazette and Wharfedale and Aireborough Observer over the years – ranging from reports of social functions at Ilkley’s hydros in the Victorian era, to school parties and fetes, panto-mimes and theatrical productions.

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Nurses given High Royds Hospital prizes

1:55pm Thursday 27th December 2012

Pictured are some of the nurses presented with awards in connection with the nurse training school at High Royds Hospital in Menston.

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Wharfedale pupils with Christmas stars in their eyes

8:00am Thursday 20th December 2012

This photograph above, taken in 1990, shows the vicar of St Peter’s Church, in Rawdon, the Rev John Barnes and the Rawdon Church of England Primary School head teacher, Kay Literskis along with her school pupils who have helped collect a vast number of toys for their appeal.

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Do you remember details about Observer photograph?

9:00am Thursday 13th December 2012

It looks like a scene from Heartbeat.

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Smart set for Salute The Soldier week at King's Hall

9:00am Thursday 13th December 2012

This smartly-dressed group of people look as though they have stepped out of the 1940s – and the poster at the back of the photograph indicates it was taken during the Second World War.

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Otley school days – 80 years ago!

1:35pm Thursday 6th December 2012

The photograph above was brought in by Jeanne Hardwick, of Ilkley, and shows herself (maiden name Metcalf) and her late husband Peter Hardwick, together with fellow school starters in 1937.

Proud day as Burley juniors get their new strip

8:00am Thursday 29th November 2012

This bunch of happy youngsters have big smiles on their faces as they receive their brand new kit. James O’Neil, the captain of Burley Juniors, was presented with the strip by Generous Pioneer pub manager Brian Wiley. The photograph was taken in 1998.

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