Looking Back with the Ilkley Gazette and the Wharfedale Observer

125 Years Ago — 1890 IT IS probable the statue to the memory of the late Mr W E Forster, MP, to be erected in the centre of Forster Square, will be ready for inauguration at the end of April or at the beginning of May next.

The committee have decided to invite the Marquis of Ripon as an old friend and colleague of the late member for Bradford, to perform the ceremony of unveiling the statue. Workmen are already engaged in preparing the site.

A passing glance at drapers’ windows reminds us that there must be tremendous slaughter of feathered creatures going on again to meet the demands of ornaments of this class on women’s head gear.

“Last at the cross and first at the tomb” was a beautiful thought descriptive of the tenderness of a good and thoughtful woman, and she is usually spoken of as the better part of human nature.

But surely such a cruel, morbid taste as this wholesale slaughter of poor birds never emanated from the brain of a woman.

100 Years Ago — 1915 Mr Sydney King, son of Mr Hy King, formerly stationmaster at Apperley Bridge, was one of the shipwrecked crew of the Liverpool steamer Abeokuta who were rescued by the Clan Cameron.

After the foundering of their vessel 20 of the crew were in a boat for 27 hours before being rescued. Two of the men died from exposure.

Three brothers and a son of the Snowball family of Otley are serving with the colours.

They are Corporal John Snowball, who has seen 30 years service and is now with the Wharfedale Howitzer Brigade at Doncaster; Corporal Edward Snowball, who is in the R.A.M.C, at present stationed at Penlee Fort, Cornwall; Sgt Arthur Snowball, for 21 years in the Otley Volunteers and now in the London National Reserve; Private Sydney Snowball, of the Scots Guards, who has been invalided from the front.

75 Years Ago — 1940 Hitler’s most effective general is General Boredom. Boredom is almost always due to idleness, or to a routine job without human interest.

But surely no-one need be idle, even if unhappily many still suffer from unemployment.

And human interest is within everyone’s reach. There is abroad today among lowly folk as well as great ones, a spirit of cheerful kindliness that shines as a welcome light in the darkness of war time.

It is one of our greatest national assets. We might try to spread it. We shan’t have far to look to find some anxious and trouble men and women who need a helping hand or even just a kind word.

Gossip has always been labelled as a feminine failing, because women do have more time for long leisurely chats, often in public places where conversations can be overheard. No one, of course, willingly gives away important information, and indeed most people think nothing they know could be of any possible use to the enemy. Nearly everyone, all the same, has some connection, however distant, with men in the Forces, on Home Defence or with workers in factories and essential war services. Gossip leads so easily from one subject to another and before long bits of news are exchanged about regiments, ships or factories, or, worse still, where they are.

50 Years Ago — 1965 Number 29 Howarth Lane, reputed to be one of the oldest — if not the oldest — cottage in Yeadon is likely to be demolished to make way for a road improvement. The date carved on the door lintel is 1699. For 75 years it was the home of Miss Mary Ann Waterhouse. Enough concrete to build a 20-storey building 750 feet wide and 50ft deep, has gone into the new runway at Yeadon Airport. The runway is due for completion towards the end of this month and about 4,000ft of it is already in use.

25 Years Ago ­— 1990 Ilkley Parish Councillors are pressing for the protection of a historic corner in Denton Road, Ilkley. They fear the old style red telephone booth could be replaced by one of British Telecom’s new look kiosks if they do not take action now. And in a bid to secure the booth’s future, councillors are pressing for it to become a listed building — like its close neighbour, the Victorian post box.

A Menston man who was part of an international rescue team from Yorkshire Electricity flew home this week after helping restore power to the devastated Caribbean Island of Montserrat — battered by Hurricane Hugo in September. Construction and maintenance engineer Tony Pringle, of Croft Way, was one of a special team of 14 Yorkshire Electricity workers who worked for six months on the island for six months.