New book spotlights eminent Silsden artists of the past

A book about seven eminent Silsden artists of the past is being sold to raise money for Silsden Town Hall. Published by Silsden Local History Group, the 32-page book has been written by Colin Neville, pictured above, who runs the Not Just Hockney website, which features artists past and present from the Bradford district. Colin,a retired university lecturer who is an arts-related bookseller, has focused on Silsden's leading artists for the book, which, costing £5, will be launched at the history group's Remembrance weekend coffee morning at the Town Hall on Saturday, November 9th. Colin will attend to sign copies. He is pictured here in front of a watercolour of Bolton Abbey painted by Joseph West, one of the Silsden artists in the book. The others are Doris Schrecker, Augustus Spencer, who from a humble Silsden background became principal of the Royal College of Art, Hildred Harpin, of Swartha, who taught at Keighley School of Art and at Keighley Boys Grammar School, Stan Boardman, Dorothy Wade and Jack Clarkson.

Signal for an unwanted catch in the canal

Silsden angler David Cooper netted this American signal crayfish while enjoying a tranquil afternoon in the early autumn sun on the canal at Low Holden on September 19th. American crayfish have become invasive and have decimated the native white-clawed crayfish population.   

How's that for an unexpected opening in Kirkgate?

A new retail boundary has been set in Kirkgate with the opening of the Viking Cricket shop at No. 26, where managing director Jeff Wilson is pictured above. Jeff, who lives in Silsden, is a cricket coach and former player with Saltaire in the Bradford League.

The bats, which all have Viking names, are made in Huddersfield, using willow grown in Suffolk. The company expects to manufacture 300 bats this year. Viking started three years ago and shot to prominence after winning two accolades in The Cricketer magazine's good gear guide: best bat from a boutique manufacturer and second overall in the class for all makers. Viking's brand ambassadors include three members of the England women's cricket team.

                 

Christine's Kitchen adds to Kirkgate's colourful café culture

Christine Davenport, who comes from generations of Cobbydalers, has returned to Silsden after more than 40 years to open Christine's Kitchen in Kirkgate. Her new venture started in June. She previously ran a café in Haslingden, Lancashire.

Christine, who is pictured above with her granddaughters Samantha Lawton (left) and Bethany Kerr, is planning to open on Christmas Day, serving a traditional three-course meal (£15) for people who are on their own or who are elderly.

Blue Plaque tells historic pub's remarkable story

The historic Red Lion pub, in Kirkgate, has been honoured with a blue heritage plaque, which tells the story of the inn's unique contribution to community life. Landlord and brewer Luke Reid (right) is pictured with David Mason, chair of the Silsden Local History Group, which has funded and installed the award. It is the third plaque the group has presented to the town. The Red Lion was originally a mediaeval farmstead. By the early 1700s the farming Horne family had introduced a brewhouse and inn with stabling. Later, in the19th century, the pub became the centre of social and cultural life under the musical Weatherhead family, who ran the Red Lion for more than 100 years.

Newly on display in the tap room is the old pub sign pictured above, which has been loaned by Richard Spencer, owner of P. J. Motors, whose grandparents John and Edith Spencer ran the pub for 17 years up to 1976. Since 2015, the pub has been owned by the Reid family, which has moved its microbrewery to the premises. Production will resume shortly after a refit and two of the most popular brews of the 10 offered so far, Cobbied Ale, a traditional bitter, and Luke's Brew, a strong IPA, will return. 

Tom and Caitlin take the plunge with their own business

One of Silsden's oldest shop premises has been given a makeover by a couple who aim to ride the crest of a new wave of drinking hang-outs. No .55 Kirkgate is now The Duck Pond, a bottle shop and coffee house, run by partners Tom Grummett and Caitlin Schofield, pictured above and below, who live in Steeton.

Tom's experience is in bar management and the hotel trade while Cailtin worked for an events company and in catering. They have pooled their knowledge and resources to add The Duck Pond to Silsden's retail and catering transformation. The downstairs area offers a "carefully curated selection of beers, wines and spirits." Upstairs is the coffee-house part of the business, which overlooks Stakes Beck where the ducks gather by the bridge. The premises have been a shop for well over 120 years, for much of the time a grocery, particularly being remembered as Holgates. More recently it was Bilaluci's café. Photographs over the years were featured in my posts of August 28th, 2013, and September 6th, 2016.

Friends of Silsden's Green Places go to town with

a blooming good summer show

The Friends of Silsden's Green Places have adorned the main streets with 76 hanging baskets. Pictured above are some of the committee members (left to right): Tess Jurin, Carol Smith, town councillor Darren Edwards, chair Joyce Kilvington and her golden retriever Connie, vice-chair Barry Thomas and Stephanie Calvert-Smith.

In return for having a bright floral display, shops and businesses undertake to keep the baskets watered.

The Friends have also newly provided and planted up four  hayracks on the bridge over Stakes Beck. The group was formed in 2016, since when it has made a colourful and greatly appreciated impact by tidying and maintaining public green places, providing planters and installing benches in tranquil settings.

Senior citizens salute a Silsden centenarian

Silsden born and bred, Mary Greenwood was the VIP guest at the summertime tea for senior citizens on Saturday, July 6th. Mary celebrated her 100th birthday in May and at the Town Hall tea she was presented with a specially decorated cake to mark the milestone. 

The summer treat for senior citizens is organised by the Friends of the Town Hall and funded by the Harry Beverley Tillotson Trust. 

The 60 guests were entertained by Kitty LaMare, a star singer of songs from the 1940s. The summer event is complemented by a Christmas tea for a similar number of seniors. The teas are the revival of a Silsden tradition, which lapsed in the 1970s.  

Beck duck race and Park Day fun in the sun contribute to Silsden's month of grand events

Families basked in the sun at Silsden's annual Park Day on Saturday, July 6th, a headline part of the town's Grand July of events. Dog Show classes are a popular feature of the Park Day's fun activities and entertainments and pictured above are twins Isabella and Francesca McKenzie with their 16-week-old, long-haired chihuahuas Lunar and Mollie, who won the cutest-pup competition.

The park showed yet again what a precious community asset it is. The day had commenced with the annual duck race at Stakes Beck, after which families streamed to the park. The annual Murder Mile road run on Thursday the 4th opened Silsden's Grand July of events, which celebrate the momentous time five years ago when the Tour de France came through Silsden on the route of the Grand Depart in Yorkshire.

The Silsden Stormettes Under 13s rugby league team are pictured with coach Nigel Crouch before their match against Stanningley Girls. Silsden Storm boys Under 13s were also in Park Day action, heavily defeating Garforth Tigers.

Silsden Singers conducted by musical director Janet Russell welcomed families as the park programme commenced. 

The Punch and Judy show by Professor Keith Davies was as popular as ever. 

It's not easy to eat an ice cream while concentrating on Punch and Judy as young Oscar Woods demonstrates. He is pictured with his dad Andrew Woods and sister Mia, who slept through it all.

Frankie Huchinson was deep in thought at the Punch and Judy show.

The 'handsomest dog or bitch' class was won by Labrador Lily Rose, pictured above  with owner Darren Maroney. Second was border collie Sky, pictured on the left with friends Macy Clarke and Halle Dent. Third was labradoodle Bee, pictured on the right with owner Reuben MacLeod.

Three-year-old Teddy Wilkinson tackles the children's cycling course.

Daniel Nicholson, five, took the ramps in his stride.

It was a perfect day for chilling out.

Sisters Edie and Mabel Marriott had fun with a gadget that created super-sized bubbles.  

Sisters Athena and Thea Blondel (on the right) and Chloe and Jacob Graham (on the left) enjoyed clay modelling at a craft table run by Ann and Graham Reay.

Keeping cool in the shade. The day's events also included children's tennis, crown green bowls tuition from members of the Silsden Playing Field Bowling Club, and novelty running races. In the evening, there was a concert titled "Sixty Voices Sing" at Silsden Methodist Church given by the Heath Chorus, an award-winning choir from Staffordshire, supported by the Aire Valley Singers. The Grand July events also include history walks, an open garden in Hunters Meadow, a family art session, and a Belgium-themed evening (this year's Tour de France Grand Depart was in Belgium). The final attraction is the annual gala on the 28th, when the town band will also perform.

The duck race at Stakes Beck brought out the crowds and got the fun day off to a grand start.

Hundreds of ducks were purchased for a fund-raising £1 a piece.

Photographic exhibition celebrates Silsden in springtime

Fiona Pietrovito and her mother, Mary Brook, admire the 'best in show' photograph at an exhibition celebrating Silsden in springtime. Local photographers submitted more than 80 photos for the exhibition, which was the focal point of a fund-raising coffee morning held at the Town Hall on June 1st by the Silsden Campaign for the Countryside. The 'best in show' photograph was taken by Silsden Photography Group member Mark Waddington and was of a sunset viewed from the footpath from Light Bank Lane to the Nab. The judges were local artist Jo Whitehead and Silsden town councillor Darren Edwards, of the Friends of Silsden's Green Places.

An unexpected visitor was a former student of well-known Silsden artist Hildred Harpin. Mrs Doreen Godfrey (nee Barritt), pictured above, of Thwaites Brow, Keighley, brought a sketch of her younger self produced by Mr Harpin during a class at the old Keighley Junior Art School in 1952. A Harpin watercolour of Swartha was also on display, loaned by Silsden resident Mrs Joan Todd. The event, which included stalls, was held to build up a fighting fund to protect Silsden against unsustainable development. 

Silsden soldier's grave lovingly tended in the Netherlands

Above: the grave of a Silsden soldier who was killed in action in the Netherlands in the Second World War has been lovingly adopted for the last nine years by an ex-pat.

Signalman Harry Farrar, pictured above, was 27 when he died on December 18th, 1944. His widow, Agnes, and four-year-old son lived in Albert Square. Before the war Harry had worked for Messrs John Woodrow and Sons and at Becks Mill, Silsden.

Harry is buried at Brunssum Cemetery, pictured above, where there are more than 300 graves of British soldiers. Harry's grave was adopted nine years ago by Rob Ash, who lives near Maastricht. He chose to adopt Harry's grave as Rob, like Harry, had served in the Royal Corps of Signals (1990-2000).

Remembrance Day in the Netherlands is held on May 4th, the day before the anniversary of Liberation Day. The service at the Brunssum Cemetery is always well attended, as can be seen in the above photograph. Last year there was a Lancaster bomber flyover. United States forces liberated Brunssum in 1944 and were followed soon after by the 43rd Division of the Royal Corps of Signals, which made its HQ in the town. Harry Farrar, the son of Harry and Mary Farrar, is commemorated on the Silsden War Memorial. The Keighley News report of his death described Harry as a despatch rider. 

Gino and Nancy's headline anniversary at Cut Italia

Immensely popular hairdressing couple Gino and Nancy Familio have celebrated 30 years as owners of Cut Italia, at No. 88 Kirkgate. They met through hairdressing and next year will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. Gino (Luigi) was born into a hairdressing family in Naples and came to England in 1969. He worked at salons in Bradford and Leeds, going on to manage the upmarket Carlo and Jeffrey hairdresser's in Leeds, where clients included Leeds United footballers. A hairdresser for more than 50 years, Gino won prestigious national competitions in the 1970s. After 30 years at Cut Italia in Silsden, he and Nancy, who was an apprentice at Rogue's in Bradford when she met Gino, regard all their clients not as customers but as friends. Their son Alex ran Cut Italia between 2009 and 2015 but has since moved to the United States where his wife comes from. 

Planning chiefs turn down scheme for road to serve new school and hundreds of homes

The proposal to build a countryside-destroying road to serve Silsden's proposed new school at Hawber Cote Lane and thus enable up to 1,000 homes in two phases to be built on farmland has been turned down by Bradford council planning chiefs.

The momentous decision was announced on April 2nd 2019, nearly a year after the road plan was submitted, uniting Silsdeners to protect fields, hedgerows, trees and dry-stone walls in an area immensely popular with walkers of all ages. The campaign generated more than 400 objections to the plans. 

The manner and suddenness of the decision took campaigners by surprise. They had been awaiting a date for a council planning meeting at which the application would be discussed. But it has been revealed (April 2nd) that the scheme for an enabling road has been refused by the 'area planning manager or group planner' rather than the planning committee. Above: MP John Grogan joined protesters at a gathering in Brown Bank Lane in January.

In September many people supported a protest walk on public paths that cross the route of the proposed enabling road. The road would have started in Bolton Road, on the up stretch near Tannery Corner. From there it would have headed through the countryside to Hawber Cote Lane where the proposed new school is to be built. The planners say the application (by the Silsden Development Company) does not provide sufficient information and in particular is not supported by a transport assessment.

The planners also say the proposed development would be incremental and prejudice the comprehensive development of safeguarded land in the wider area. The campaign was spearheaded by among others (left to right) Sue Grimley, Jim Grimley, Caroline Whitaker, Janet Russell and Cathy Liddle. 

View from Hawber Lane looking towards fields where the road would have headed towards the proposed new school, due to be built in the fields to the left of the tree-obscured barn.

The fields towards Swartha ultimately could have become a substantial housing estate. The applicant has the right to appeal against the planners' verdict. 

School's 1950s capital outing to the Ideal Home Exhibition

Silsden Secondary Modern School students are pictured at Steeton and Silsden railway station in the mid 1950s for an outing to the Ideal Home Exhibition at London's Olympia. The photograph was sent to me by Silsdener Len Green and belongs to Sylvia Matthews (nee Whittingham), who is fifth from left in the front row. The teacher at the back on the right is Mrs Barbara Waugh. The Ideal Home Exhibition was founded in 1908 by the Daily Mail to stimulate debate about better housing conditions. By the 1950s the exhibition had become an iconic symbol of mass consumption.


Also from Len Green is this photo of Silsden Secondary School's Canoe Club, about 1956/57.

Silsden pupils pictured in the early 1950s when the Secondary Modern School included juniors.

Panto time at Silsden Methodist Church in the 1950s. Another photo kindly provided by Len Green, who is sitting on the left in the front row.

The old Silsden Secondary Modern School, which ceased in 1967, since when South Craven School at Cross Hills has been the upper school for Silsden. Silsden's secondary school became Hothfield Junior School, fed by Aire View Infants School. The two schools have now merged as a primary prior to moving to new purpose-built premises at Hawber Cote.

Hothfield today in School Street, viewed from the opposite end  of the buildings.

The official designation is Silsden Primary School, Hothfield site.