125 Years Ago - 1894

We learn that a well-known and much respected Ilkley gentleman, Mr William Whitaker, of Fellstow, Bolton Bridge Road, was one of the passengers of the Cologne express which met with so serious an accident on Sunday at Apilly.The train came into collision, through the negligence of the stationmaster, who was killed on the spot, with a goods train which was shunting as the express passed. Five persons were killed and fifteen wounded. Mr. Whitaker was a passenger of the express, but was all right excepting for being a little bruised, which was a most miraculous escape.

100 Years Ago - 1919

The rationing scheme which is to come into force in October has now been definitely worked out so far as the Ilkley district is concerned, and the various documents in connection with it will be in the hands of the retailers and consumers within the next week or two.

A meeting of the Ilkley Food Control Committee took place at the Town Hall last night. Mr. Eckersley said the Commissioner was desirous of obtaining a recommendation from that committee, as to what should be added to the producers’ price for milk to form the retail price in this district.

75 Years Ago - 1944

The need for the nation to go on saving when the war in Europe is over is emphasised by Mr. R. H. C. Hammond, the North-Eastern Region Commissioner for National Savings, in his report for 1943-44. “It is certain,” he writes, “that the post-war period will make many demands on the savings movement, and on those who have already done so much. The movement has an obligation to the present as the war goes on. It has an obligation to the future, for spending must be restricted until goods are in plentiful supply if the financial stability which has been maintained during the war is to be continued into the peace.

The day your five-year-old exchanges his green ration book for a blue one, sit down and make a new food plan for him. He will now get, for the first time, an adult ration of meat. He will probably be having his mid-day meal at school, and so will enjoy the school’s special food allowance. Milk? Not such a loss as it seems at first sight. Instead of his priority pint he gets a half pint of milk at home - this is more than the grown-ups’ share - and either one-third or two-thirds of a pint at school. So most days he still has five-sixths of a pint or more.

50 Years Ago - 1969

Steps to save water were taken by Rombalds Water Board at a meeting at Menston on Friday, when it was reported that a serious position could arise if the dry spell continued. The Board might have to apply for a Drought Order, it was said.

An agricultural expert with many years experience in East Africa and Zambia , is once again off on his travels, this time to Malawi. He is Mr. Peter James Allister, of Station House, Burley-in-Wharfedale, who has been recruited by the Ministry of Overseas Development on behalf of the Malawi Government as an Agricultural Training Officer. He is due to leave by sea on 16 September.

25 Years Ago - 1994

An Ilkley bicycle shop is riding high on the crest of interest shown in Sir Clive Sinclair’s latest invention. JD’s bicycle workshop in Nelson Road was one of the first businesses in the country to stock the Sinclair Zeta, a rechargeable battery powered motor for cyclists. A number of the town’s residents have already bought one, and the shop is now making a national name for itself as a centre for fitting the device.

At remarkable speed, a new Bolton Abbey railway station is emerging from the ashes of the former buildings which fell victim to the Beeching axe almost 30 years ago. In less than two months, the Bolton Abbey station site - derelict for so many years - is being transformed to serve as an important feature of the Yorkshire Dales Museum Trust, which operates steam trains out of Embsay.