125 Years Ago - 1894

During the flood in the River Wharfe at Addingham an otter was seen by several persons at Low Mill on Sunday afternoon last. The road to the mill was flooded.

The Lawn Tennis Tournament - The committee of the Yorkshire Association have decided to hold the Yorkshire Tournament this year at Ilkley.

100 Years Ago - 1919

We doubt if any local man has had a more varied or wider experience of “roughing it,” so to speak, than Sapper John Renton, R.E., eldest son of Mr. George Renton, Ash Grove, Ilkley, who is at present home on furlough from France, preparatory to embarking in about a fortnight’s time for Mombasa, British East Africa, where he says he intends to spend the rest of his days. He has spent 15 years in South and East Africa, and 12 years in South America, working on the railways as a engine driver, and at every other job imaginable. He was in British East Africa when England declared war against the Boers in 1900 and “did his bit”in that campaign.

News has been received of the death of Gunner T. W. Saunders, of the Tank Corps, only son of Mr. and Mrs. T. G. Saunders, of Mornington Road, Ilkley, where his wife and two little children (a boy aged 6 and a girl aged 3) also reside. Gunner Saunders was about 30 years of age and a motor mechanic by trade. He went out with the Tanks to Egypt at Christmas 1916, and from here moved forward into the fighting area; his tank being blown up by the Turks at Gaza in Palestine on April 19th, 1917. He was wounded and taken prisoner.

75 Years Ago - 1944

We began this year in high hopes that it would prove to be victory year; and that same hope still persists. It cannot, however, be gainsaid that with the lengthening of the days there is a growing feeling of tension and strain. The war news has revealed the tenseness of the struggle and, whilst not making us fearful, has made us guarded and thoughtful, bringing home the magnitude of the task that still faces us before final victory is won.

Lance-Sergeant John Thompson (38), of Moor Lane, Addingham, serving with the Eighth Army in Italy has been mentioned in despatches for “gallant and distinguished services.” In a letter to his wife and four young children he says he was surprised when he was handed the certificate as he had only done his duty.

50 Years Ago - 1969

After 15 degrees of frost had been registered at Ilkley Weather Station last Friday night there was skating on Ilkley Tarn on Saturday, but a quantity of frozen snow had to be cleared from the surface. Skating continued on Sunday.

A matter of great joy for St Margaret’s Parish was in the number of young men offering themselves for Ordination, said the Rev. T. H. Levesley (Vicar) at the annual meeting on Tuesday. One would be ordained later in the year, two were going to colleges this summer and three were preparing to go to selection boards.

25 Years Ago - 1994

This week ex-Benton Park School pupil, Capt Christian Townend, 33, was honoured by the Queen for distinguished nursing service in the former Yugoslavia. He was due to receive the Royal Red Cross today, along with others who were rewarded in this year’s New Year’s Honour’s list. Capt Townend was in charge of a nursing unit in a war zone, near Knin, in Croatia, from December 1992 to June last year as part of the UN tour of the former Yugoslavia.

Euro MPs in Yorkshire are being urged to challenge proposed EC regulations which could spell death for many horses and destroy hundreds of jobs in the countryside. The European bureaucrats are suggesting that that no drug should be used in food producing animals unless the manufacturers can produce detailed evidence as to how long the drug will remain in its tissue. And because France and other EC countries eat horsemeat, the new regulations would apply to horses. As the legislation stands at the moment, veterinary surgeons would not be able to carry out operations, nor treat some conditions.