Death of Brenda Hayes ends link to era of local rule

The death shortly before Christmas of Mrs Brenda Hayes, aged 89, severs one of the last links with the old Silsden Urban District Council, which ran the town throughout the 20th century until disbandment in 1974 when local government was controversially reorganised. Mrs Hayes is pictured above with her husband, Councillor Tom Hayes, during Tom's UDC chairmanship in 1969/70. Wearing their chains of office, Mr and Mrs Hayes are pictured with senior citizens prior to a day out. The picture was taken in Elliott Street, from where coach outings traditionally departed. Tom and Brenda ran the newsagents at the corner of Kirkgate and Briggate. The shop (then known as Dewhirsts and now Kirkgate News) was owned and run for many years by Brenda's father, Arthur Watson, a long-serving councillor who was chairman of the UDC in 1952-55. Brenda and Tom succeeded him at the shop and became one of Silsden's best-known couples. Tom died in 2012.

This photograph was taken at a social gathering of councillors and their wives and UDC officials in 1970/71. Mrs Hayes is sixth from the left at the back, with Tom Hayes next to her. Council chairman William Cathey is pictured on the left at the front with his wife Mary. On the right at the front is Councillor J. J. Barker, chairman in 1959/62 and 1971/72; next to him is his wife Norah. Other leading councillors pictured include Nurse Catherine Herbert (chair 1963/66), Bert Mole (1966/67), Harold Kellett (1967/68), Dorothy Robinson (1972/73) and Eric Robinson, the last chairman, who served in 1973/74. Also in the photograph are councillors Brian Brockbank and Alan Townson; council clerk Eric Gration; town surveyor John Mitchell; and Roy Mason, the Keighley News and Craven Herald journalist who covered the council's doings. 

Silsden UDC gave way to Bradford Metropolitan District Council. Nationwide parish and town councils were created as a relatively powerless form of local government. In the early years, Silsden's parish council comprised a wealth of experience as seen in this photograph by Will Baldwin. The chairman is Richard Binns. Seated next to him are Betty Crabtree and J. J. Barker. Standing left to right are Tom Hayes, John Auchinleck, not sure who this is, Eric Robinson, Neil Cathey, Ernest Hoare, Edna Egerton and John Twigg. Seated far right is the clerk Mr Hodgson.   

Down Memory Lane to the Big Freeze of 70 years ago

The morning of December 29th, 2017, brought a fair covering of snow but it swiftly melted and gave way to a rainy afternoon. The two most prolonged perilous post-war periods of snow and freezing temperatures gripped Silsden and the rest of the country in 1947 and 1963. The above photograph shows the scene in Bradley Road, near the Raikes, in 1947. This and the following five photographs of that winter are from the late Kevin Bower's collection. 

 Lane House farm on the back road from Silsden to Kildwick.
The frozen canal at it passes Harwal Works on the left towards the boat yard and Keighley Road.

The frozen canal from the opposite direction with the wharf on the right. 

 Hard graft clearing the Addingham-Silsden road at Cringles.

The road from Silsden at the top of Cringles. The milk churn on the left is by the junction with Cringles Lane.  

The scene near Far Ghyll Grange in December 2010. 

The view from Tar Topping towards Hole Farm and, beyond, Heights Lane in January 2013. 

A snowy scene on a private driveway in January 2013. Silsden's sole reminder of the old red telephone boxes is privately owned. 

Snow came again in March 2013 and on the moors beyond Tar Topping produced drifts as high as the dry-stone walls. Drifts were still a feature of the Nab road in April 2013, as can be seen in my blog of April 3rd that year. 

Spotlight on Donald and Mary at a traditional treat
for the town's senior citizens

Pictured above are Donald Fowler and Mary Greenwood, who were the oldest man and woman at a Christmas treat on Saturday, December 9th, for Silsden's senior citizens. The event continued a community tradition of providing a Christmas tea for the elderly. The Friends of the Town Hall treated 60 senior citizens over the age of 75 to a splendid buffet and music by the Swing Cats Trio. The provision of a gift for the the oldest man and woman at the party also revived a tradition. These honours went to Mary, who is 98, and Donald, 97, who pipped Norman Akeroyd by less than six months.

The organisation of a Christmas get-together for local pensioners began after the Second World War and by the 1960s the community catering team were serving 230 teas and taking out a further 130 treats, plus a bag of coal, to elderly residents who were too frail to attend. This photograph by the late Will Baldwin shows the chairman of Silsden Urban District Council, Councillor J. J. Barker, and his wife, Norah, at the top table in the 1960s. They are wearing the chains of civic office.

This photograph, also by Will Baldwin, shows another Christmas tea in the 1960s. The festive event disappeared in the 1980s but was revived last year by the Friends of the Town Hall with generous funding from the Harry Beverley Tillotson Trust.

As a postscript I am repeating a Will Baldwin photograph from my blog of November 8th, 2016, showing members of Silsden's Harassed Housewives Club. I am doing so because the women include, third from left kneeling in the front row, Mary Greenwood, who at 98 is the subject of the first picture above. Next to her, fourth from left, is Mary Jane Smith, whose daughter Ivy is 87 and attended this year's Christmas tea. The photograph also includes Mrs Rose, Mary Sharp, Joan Hill, Ada Brooks, Miriam Parker, Alice Heaps, Mrs Tillotson, Violet Inman, Mrs Roberts, Mrs Rush, Elizabeth Lamb, Mrs Shackleton, Mrs Robinson, Mrs Moorehouse, Mrs Baldwin and Kitty Gledhill.