125 Years Ago - 1891

Fish stealing - Mr J. P. Humphris, of Currer Hall, near Ilkley, recently had a large quantity of fine trout removed from a pond near his residence to a pool formed for the purpose of preserving them during the time that the work of cleaning out the pond was going on. Some person or persons, however, visited the locality during the night, for in the morning the whole of the fish were found to have been stolen.

The Leeds Corn Millers' Association, at their meeting on Tuesday, further advanced the price of flour 1s 6d per sack of 18 stones owing to the continued upward tendency of both English and foreign wheat. This makes a total advance of 8s 6d per sack since the 24th of February.

100 Years Ago - 1916

Another Eastertide in war! Though Easter falls this year almost as late in the calendar as possible there has been little prospect of holiday weather, yet, in spite of this, and in spite of the unpromising elements, Ilkley shows every prospect of another successful holiday. There were those of us who looked forward to the coming of Spring a year ago with grim foreboding. The shadow of war lay gloomily upon us. Yet Ilkley experienced a successful season. Today the war weighs more heavily.

Driver Wilfred Ellenfield, in a letter to Mr C flint, of Addingham, says: "All the lads here are very sorry to hear of Bob Townson and Harry Leach being killed. We all send our deepest sympathy to their wives. We are just behind the firing line, where our men in the trenches are having a warm time of it.

75 Years Ago - 1941

The food queue, one of the problems of the last war, is beginning to show itself in this war. It is a matter which requires immediate attention. For that reason the move by the Otley Chamber of Trade for the later opening of shops dealing with foodstuffs, is a step in the right direction. At Otley it has been found that the queues begin to line up at 8 in the morning ready for the shops opening. Obviously mothers with children to get off to school cannot be there at that hour, but when they have gone out later to do their shopping they have had the disappointing experience of seeing only the "Sold Out" notice.

Betty is as British as anyone I know ( writes a special correspondent). If you told her she was playing Hitler's games she would think you crazy. But listen to Betty on the telephone the morning after a raid. Now Betty is not the girl to talk carelessly in a cafe or a bus or a pub; but into the telephone, thinking it was my ear, she would pour - if I let her - all sorts of titbits Hitler wants to know; just where the raid was , how they bombed a cabbage patch instead of an aerodrome, what happened to the railway, when her boyfriend's leave is up and where he thinks his regiment is bound for.

50 Years Ago - 1966

Former teacher at Menston County Primary School, Miss Shirley Crocombe, has written to Miss E. M. Barrett, of of Ben Rhydding, Division Commissioner for the Wharfedale Girl Guides Association following her arrival in new Zealand. Miss Crocombe, who was Captain of the 4th Ilkley (Baptist) guides Company for three years and who left Ilkley last August , intends to study in New Zealand gaining school teaching experience.

This week considerable headway has been made with the removal of the rails, chairs and sleepers, forming the down line from Ilkley to Embsay. On Wednesday about a mile of track from Addingham towards Ilkley was removed and about 1,680 sleepers taken to the Leeds area. Taking up a mile of track a day it is expected that the stretch between Ilkley and Embsay on the down line will be completed next week.

25 Years Ago - 1991

Archaeology enthusiasts will shortly have the opportunity to examine historical materials from as far afield as Egypt and Ilkley. In a series of sessions at the Manor House Art Gallery and Museum in Church Street, staff will be able to provide information and attempt to answer questions on a variety of collections.

No-one can have failed to have been moved by the scenes which followed the end of Ceausescu's regime in 1989. The pictures and stories of the abandoned children of Romania moved us to tears and we responded by providing aid and dropping coins into the collecting cans. For most of us that is where it ended but others have been travelling to help the sick, dying and unloved children of Romania.