100 years ago

A "SENSATIONAL discovery" was made in the river near Cononley when two schoolboys saw a woman disappear down the river bank carrying two brown paper parcels. When she reappeared, the lads noticed she had only one parcel and proceeded to the river edge, where they found the other parcel had been thrown into the water. The parcel was recovered and when opened it was found to contain the body of a small child. The boys gave a description of the woman at the local police station. A coroner was unable to say for sure how the baby had died, but it appeared as though it had been suffocated.

Two caretakers of Skipton Conservative Club had a "startling experience" as they sat down to eat their supper. They were alarmed by agonised groans apparently coming from the nearby canal. Upon investigating, they found a man struggling "feebly" in the water. One of them immediately set to work rescuing the man with the aid of a window pole, while the other attracted the attention of a passing constable, who in turn jumped in the water and pulled the man ashore. By their joint efforts, the man was soon back on board his boat, which was moored nearby.

Local government reorganisations appeared to be just as much of a feature of Victorian times as more recent decades. Earby was hoping to become an urban district council. The ward had "long desired the change", but the "extreme wings" of the council of Kelbrook and Thornton-in-Craven failed to see the benefits for them. An inquiry into the issue was held at the Albion Hall, but despite an exhaustive debate, which translated into thousands of words in the Herald, a decision was not reached and the meeting was adjourned to another date.

50 years ago

NEW chairman of Skipton Urban District Council, Coun JA Kenyon, revealed that the authority's housing replacement programme had been put on hold. To date, it had replaced 231 of the 348 "unfit" houses. However, further work had been postponed because the loan rate had risen to five-and-a-quarter per cent. Coun Kenyon said it was not, therefore, appropriate to build at the present time.

The Scargill estate at Upper Wharfedale was on the market. It was being sold by order of Mr W Holdsworth, whose family had owned Scargill since the beginning of the century. He himself was a former president of Upper Wharfedale Agricultural Society and had enjoyed show successes with his Shorthorn cattle. The estate included a house, modernised stock farm with 950 acres, cottages, shooting rights on Conistone Moor, a pheasant shoot and a mile-and-a-quarter of fishing on the River Wharfe. Today Scargill is a Christian retreat and conference centre.

Groups of hikers were said to be a menace to traffic on Craven's country roads. Skipton's road safety committee was told the walkers were not always visible behind high walls and bends. Members decided to erect boards with safety slogans on all the roads into Skipton. Posters were also to be distributed among youth hostels.

25 years ago

SUTTON sailor Graham Wild became Craven's first casualty of the Falklands War. The 17-year-old was serving on HMS Ardent, which sank after being bombed by the Argentines. His parents, Geoffrey and Janet, heard the news in a bulletin during the FA Cup Final. Ten hours later, they learned their son had survived the attack, but had been hit by flying shrapnel, sustaining cuts to his scalp.

Craven District Council was tightening its control on Skipton's stallholders following dozens of complaints about the state of the High Street. A letter had been sent to all frontagers, asking them to ensure stallholders cleared up their rubbish. Deputy chief environmental health officer, Keith Waddington, said some stallholders had even complained about their untidy colleagues. "We take the view that stallholders have some responsibility for their rubbish and if they took along a brush and swept up at the end of the day it would make our job much easier," he added.

Jack Macefield retired from his family's butchers business in Skipton after 65 years in the trade. He was just seven when he started to run errands and deliver meat for his uncle, Robert Drake. He started full-time after leaving school in 1924 and took control when his uncle retired in 1938. The new shop owners were members of staff, Colin Thorne and Ian Thompson, who were to keep the Drake and Macefield name.

10 years ago

SKIPTON Building Society revealed plans to almost double the size of its headquarters on the Bailey. It wanted planning permission to build an extension to provide space for an additional 500 workers, allowing the Bailey site to accommodate a total workforce of 900. "We have tried to look 10 years ahead so it will suit the requirements of both the society and our subsidiary Homeloan Management," said David Charlton, head of corporate communications. Now, 10 years later, Homeloan Management has just won planning permission to build its own headquarters off Gargrave Road.

Cross Hills construction company PS Turner was sold to the Allen Group for £8.7 million. Chairman and major shareholder, Philip Turner, had resigned but managing director Mike Wormald was to stay on to lead the new management team.