Baby Boomers: class of 1958 at Aire View School

Back row, left to right: Susan Coates, Catherine Hodgson, Susan Judson, Ann Driver, Sylvia Scaife, Jean Howson, Jean Bancroft, Billy Stevens, Roy Sanderson, John Throup, Colin Smithson, Philip Dickinson, Michael Spencer. Middle row, left to right: Rachel Atkinson, Elizabeth Atkinson, Christine Kettlewell, Barbara Watson, Catherine Mason, Kathleen Buck, Heather Marshall, Judith Southern, Anita Wass, Keith Lowcock, Rodney West, Neville Ackroyd. Front row, left to right: Josephine Saam, Eileen Walker, Susan Brown, Margaret Power, Kathleen Rogers, Linda Tillotson, Mr Edward Chester (deputy head and class teacher), Marjorie Bell, Catherine Spencer, Kevin Hawkins, Geoffrey Roberts, John Golden, David Foulger, David Atkinson.

The junction that will always be known as Tannery Corner?

A recent surge of interest in my blog of February 24th, 2015, about the changing face of North Street near the junction with Bolton Road (Tannery Corner) has brought to light the photographs above and below. Taken in the late 1990s by Steven Mitchell, they show the old tannery before the building was knocked down. 

Janet Mitchell said her husband took the photos because he suspected the building might not be there for ever.

My photos above and below show the corner as it is today.

The changing times of a distinctive Victorian building

Pictured above are Charlotte Hawkins (left) and Katherine Hopwood, joint owners of the Beehive Hair Salon at No.37 Kirkgate. They are the modern chapter in the story of a building that has been a prime commercial site for more than 120 years.

A hairdresser since leaving school, Katherine opened the Beehive eight years ago. Charlotte became her partner in the business two years ago. Their clients span all ages from tots to very senior citizens. The Beehive, with its distinctive frontage and  standout lettering, attracts passing motorists in busy Kirkgate.

For more than half a century the shop belonged to Arthur Dixon, tailor, clothier and hatter. This photograph shows the premises in 1909, decorated for the second Silsden Charity Carnival. The sign on the wall says that hats, caps and a large variety of the latest styles are available in store. Dixon's was still trading in the 1950s. No.37 was later a greengrocery, first Gibson's and then Myers'. It was subsequently an accountancy office. For a year before Katherine opened the Beehive, the shop was a florist's.

A scene from the 1970s when No. 37 was Myers' greengrocery.The Liberal Association rooms next door had several uses before becoming the Thomas Clarkson/Co-op funeral-care office of today.

Travel agent celebrating a decade of Destination delights

Destination, the travel agent at No. 57 Kirkgate, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Owners Shevaun Joy (seated) and Lisa Manditsch (standing left) are pictured above with sales consultant Natalie Bowden (centre) and administrator Jill Swire.

Shevaun and Lisa both worked for Specialist Travel, which closed in Silsden in February 2009, having occupied No. 57 for 14 years and prior to that an office across the road. Shevaun and Lisa opened Destination in June 2009 after securing their ABTA licence and becoming ABTA bonded. They both went into the travel business from school, Shevaun aged 16 and Lisa 18.

The company offers a wide range of holidays and says river cruising in Europe is the big draw at the moment. Compared with 10 years ago, families are going farther afield and 'experience' holidays are popular with young families who have older children. Destination will mark its anniversary in June.  

Specialist Travel moved into No. 57 following the closure of H. Cooper, a well-known shoe shop, which was a Kirkgate mainstay for many years. 

This photograph from the 1950s shows a gala procession passing No. 57 Kirkgate when it was the drapery store of W. Sugden & Sons. Next door was the National Provincial Bank, which became Natwest. The bank moved out a few years ago. Solicitors Walker Foster moved in recently.

Stylish addition to Silsden's retail reputationThe Carelli B fashion and accessories shop at 82 Kirkgate will soon be completing a successful first year in Silsden.  

Owner Beverley Ford, from Bingley, had spent nearly 30 years in education, starting as a secretary at Beckfoot School before becoming an extended services manager at Crossflatts Primary and then for the last 10 years at Burnley Upper School. But with increasing demands on the role, which involved running numerous special projects for young students, and ever-shrinking funding Beverley decided it was time for a complete change and opened Carelli B in March 2018.  Her previous retail experience had been a shoe shop she owned in Bingley for two years.

The shop has proved popular across all age ranges beyond teenagers, who are more likely to buy online. "My customers still like to see and feel and try on garments before buying," says Beverley, who sources most of her ranges from suppliers in Manchester. The name Carelli B comes from her granddaughters, Carmen and Ellie, and B for Beverley. My blog of September 12th, 2013, shows No. 82 Kirkgate as a barber's in about 1912. In the 1950s, No. 82 was well-known as Mr Sanderson's sweet shop. It has seen many changes of trade since then.

MP shows support for campaign to save our countryside

The campaign to save Silsden's countryside goes into the new year with the placing of an eye-catching banner in one of the fields under threat. Local MP John Grogan is pictured above next to the banner on the right on Saturday, January 12th, when he met campaigners in the field alongside historic Brown Bank Lane, where planning permission is being sought for a new road, which would pave the way for up to 1,000 homes to be built on farmland towards Hawber Cote. The gathering included town councillors Darren Edwards, David Loud and Mark Wogden. Plans for the road, which would also serve Silsden's new school in Hawber Cote Lane, were the subject of my posts of September 30th, August 24th and July 17th.

Town Council returns to its traditional home

Silsden's Town Mayor Peter Robinson (fifth from left) and his deputy, Margaret Croft (next to him), are pictured with town councillors at their first meeting of 2019, held at the Town Hall on January 10th. Left to right are David Loud, David Rushworth, Michael O'Dwyer, Adrian Naylor, who is also a Bradford district councillor, Peter Robinson, Margaret Croft, Rebecca Whitaker, who is also a Bradford district councillor, Richard Barton, Mark Wogden, Darren Edwards and Lawrence Walton. A vacancy is in the process of being filled to bring the council up to its full complement of 12 members. The Town Council has returned to the Town Hall, the traditional home of local government, after a period of self-imposed exile during which it met in a  back room at the Co-op. The council decamped following the £300,000 upgrade of the Town Hall five years ago when the former meeting chamber was turned into a new home for the town's library.

This Will Baldwin photograph of Silsden Town Council in its early days in the 1970s, when it was a parish council, was first published with the names of the members in my blog of December 30th, 2017.

Silsden's local authority up to 1974 was the Urban District Council, which had come into being in 1895. This photograph of the UDC was taken during the Second World War. The chairman, Horace Fortune, is pictured wearing the chain of office. He chaired the council from 1940-43 and served a second term from 1949-52. His wife Nellie chaired the council from 1955-58. The UDC gave way to Bradford Metropolitan District Council in a bitterly opposed nationwide reorganisation of local government.