Pat Dibb, General Secretary of the Wharfedale Festival of Performing Arts (WFPA) reports on The Ilkley Urban District Council Shield returning home after more than a century of service with WFPA

THE King’s Hall, Town Hall and Library, all Grade II listed, were opened in Ilkley in 1908 with the Winter Garden being added in 1914.

Since its opening, The King’s Hall has hosted the Wharfedale Music Festival (now the Wharfedale Festival of Performing Arts) and in 1913, our oldest and largest trophy was presented to our committee by the Ilkley Tradesmen, on behalf of the Urban District Council, to be awarded to winning Male Voice Choirs. It was to be known as The Ilkley Urban District Council Shield.

Having been awarded many times over the intervening years, the trophy has latterly been too big for most choirs to take away as they no longer had anywhere it could be displayed. In fact one man said it had been under his bed the whole time they had held it as winners. The Belfast Police Male Voice Choir found it so difficult to return the trophy that they sent it back by ‘Police Air’ (the equivalent of the Diplomatic Bag) and it was eventually delivered to our then Trophy Secretary, Margaret Smith, by the local police force. Thereafter it was simply displayed at the King’s Hall on the final concert night of the festival.

Wharfedale Observer: Margaret Smith and WFPA President Blanche Woollin with the trophy in the Town Hall Margaret Smith and WFPA President Blanche Woollin with the trophy in the Town Hall

The central large silver section of the shield is engraved with a design showing the King’s Hall, Town Hall and Library at their inception in 1908 when our festival was already in operation, with shields of winning choirs around the edge also in silver.

We are now in our 118th year as a festival, though without anywhere to display this wonderful trophy. It seems only fitting that it should be returned to Ilkley Town Council as it represents over a century of the town’s history and as such is a valuable document which should belong to our whole community.

The Shield was presented to ITC on Monday 3 June by our President, Mrs Blanche Woollin JP, ARCM (perf.) and Mrs Margaret Smith, who was our Trophy Secretary for very many years, providing some of the background details for this record from her personal experience.

Cllr. Damian Kearns, Ilkley Town Mayor, said: “Cllr Gibson and I were delighted to receive the shield from representatives of the Wharfedale Festival of Performing Arts on behalf of the Town Council and it is now proudly displayed in the Council Chamber at the Town Hall. It has a noble history going back many decades and is thus a valuable piece of Ilkley’s cultural heritage.”