At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them

There was a large gathering at Silsden's war memorial on Sunday, November 14th, for the Service of Remembrance when wreaths were laid on behalf of the Armed Forces, civic bodies, churches, local organisations and individuals. Pictured above right to left are Jim Bartley (3rd Parachute Regiment), Bob Prosser (Royal Engineers, Airborne Forces and Parachute Regiment) and Steve Lightowler (2nd Parachute Regiment). 

Four-year-old Tommy Kavanagh and his Uncle Phillip lay a wreath in memory of brothers Ron and Reg Boulton (Royal Engineers). Reg was Tommy's great grandad. The following photos show some of the people who laid wreaths in memory of armed services and local organisations.

Carol Smith (pictured above) laid a wreath on behalf of the Friends of Silsden's Green Places.

The Rev David Griffiths, Vicar of St James' Church, read the Wilfred Owen poem 'Dulce et Decorum Est', which conveys the brutal reality of war in contradiction of the idea that dying in battle is 'sweet and proper', as in the title phrase.

Silsden Storm Amateur Rugby League Club's wreath was laid by young players Caleb (under 6s), Ellouise (under 9s) and Finn (under 15s).

Prayers were led by Father Michael McLaughlin, parish priest of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Wreaths were laid by Town Mayor Councillor Margaret Croft (left), Bradford district councillor Rebecca Whitaker and town councillor Adrian Naylor (right). Pictured with them is Eric Waddington, a former district councillor and well-known local businessman.

Jean Bower, chairman of Silsden Royal British Legion, read 'We will remember them' from the Laurence Binyon poem 'For the Fallen' and the epitaph by John Maxwell Edmonds: 'When you go home, tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today'. This year is the centenary of the Royal British Legion.

Pictured above is David Rishworth, Silsden Royal British Legion's standard-bearer. 

Red alert: 150 homes planned for fields between Brown Bank Lane and the new school at Hawber Cote

Persimmon, one of the UK's biggest builders, wants to put 150 homes on the scenically outstanding fields between Brown Bank Lane and Silsden's new school at Hawber Cote. The above photograph shows the proposed development area bounded in red. Brown Bank Lane forms the northernmost boundary while the grounds of the new school (still under construction when this drone photograph was taken) abut the southern end. The picture was supplied by Silsden Campaign for the Countryside, which is spearheading opposition to the Persimmon plans.

Persimmon is leafletting every household to draw attention to a 'digital engagement platform', which is a website (www.boltonroadsilsden.co.uk) giving development details and inviting the public's feedback. The above photograph, taken from the Tar Topping fields on the opposite side of town, shows the Bolton Road allotments at the edge of the built-up area. Two fields to the left of the allotments and farmland to the right, adjoining the houses in Banklands Avenue and Hawber Cote Drive, all the way to the new school, will be built on if Persimmon's plans are approved. 

The landscape from Bolton Road to Nab End, rich in footpaths, trees, hedges, dry-stone walls and fields, has been regarded by generations of Silsdeners as a precious and unique feature of local life. Persimmon says it will seek 'as far as possible' to protect and incorporate into the site lay-out these treasured features. The field pictured above and below, next door to the new school, would form the southern boundary of the Persimmon estate.

The field, with its well-used footpath from Hawber Cote Drive to Swartha, adjoins the original Hawber Cote (pictured below), which gives the area its name.

Another popular path from Hawber Cote Drive diagonally crosses the above field, which, again tree-lined, is scheduled for development. After discussions with Bradford council, Persimmon says it proposes to extend Hawber Cote Drive for a short distance into the housing site to provide a turning area for refuse and delivery vehicles.

Hawthorn and buttercups adorn the fields Persimmon wishes to develop. Its scheme is for about 150 homes, which will include 2, 3, 4 and 5-bedroomed properties. Around 30 of them will be affordable homes. Persimmon says the development will provide much-needed new housing and improve housing choice and availability in Silsden. The town council could receive 25% of the estimated £250,000 Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) on Persimmon.

This buttercup meadow to the left of the Bolton Road allotments and the adjoining field by Brown Bank Lane are the only part of the Persimmon proposals designated for housing in Bradford council's draft local plan. The council has earmarked the two fields for 40 homes. Altogether the local plan designates eight sites for 580 new homes in Silsden (see my blog of February 24th, 2021). Access to the proposed Persimmon estate will be from Bolton Road via a new junction. Persimmon says the site lay-out has been designed to enable the new estate to link to an eastern by-pass should one be built in the future.

Silsden's new primary school next door to Hawber Cote was scheduled for completion in summer 2021 but is not yet in use. It will cater for 640 pupils. There are fears it will not be big enough to meet the demands of all the new housing already under way and much more to come.

Silsden's Campaign for the Countryside, which started in 2018 when the Hawber Cote fields were previously threatened, will be leafletting residents calling for them to support a potentially long battle against Persimmon's 'unsustainable development.' The campaign urges the public to respond to the Persimmon consultation and to express their concerns to the ward councillors and the MP. It says Silsden is already witnessing a massive house-building programme to the north and south of the town but the Persimmon development would 'destroy forever one of our most wondrous assets: the gently rising setting and sweeping views which wrap around Silsden to the east.' The campaign's new website (www.silsdencountryside.org) includes a film about the Brown Bank/Swartha/Hawber Cote fields and the role they have always played in the community. Campaigners are pictured above at a gathering in January 2019.

Work proceeds apace at site for 156 affordable homes

A view from a hillside across the valley of the Keighley Road site (opposite the Aldi supermarket) where 156 affordable homes are being built by Lindum York on behalf of Yorkshire Housing, a not-for-profit association, which manages more than 18,000 affordable and social-rent homes across 20 local authorities. The 5.8-hectare brownfield site was previously occupied by textile firms and a wood yard. (Silsden's first powered weaving mill opened here in 1838.) 

The development, which will take just over two years to complete, comprises 36 homes for affordable rents, 44 rent-to-buy properties and 76 houses for shared-ownership. The homes will be built of stone and there will be a public open space to the south of the site, which lies between Keighley Road and Sykes Lane, from where the above photo was taken. Meanwhile, work continues (in the foreground of the above photograph) on Barratt Homes' Saxon Dene development in Belton Road, where 230 houses are being built, many of them already completed and occupied. The photograph, also taken from a hillside across the valley, shows on the right in front of the Hawber Cote fields Silsden's new primary school, which originally was due to be ready for the new term.Above: at the other end of town Skipton Properties is developing fields bounded by Nab View, Townhead Farm, Rotary Works (formerly occupied by Airedale Factors) and Bolton Road. Skipton Properties acquired the site after it was the subject of a successful appeal to allow up to 62 homes to be built.More local fields will be lost if allocations go ahead to meet government housing targets. Land between the canal and Woodside Road (pictured above) has been scheduled for 146 new homes. Fields either side of Sykes Lane, including smallholdings by the canal, have been earmarked for 145 houses. Altogether eight Silsden sites accommodating 580 new homes have been designated (see my blog posts of February 24th, 2021), in addition to the Barratt and Skipton Properties developments.

Poignant re-discovery of uncle's name carved into landmark Fireman's Rock 80 years ago

The name of a teenager carved into Fireman's Rock and hidden from view for more than 60 years has been re-discovered, to the emotional joy of his family. John Sowray is pictured above by the uncovered name of his uncle J. Sowray. The ancient boulder, on the moorland path between Nab End and Windgate Nick, is known to countless walkers for its carved depiction of a fireman's helmet and the inscription of A. Moore November 1939 (pictured below).

The family of Arnold Moore told the Keighley News in 1964 that as a 17-year-old Arnold and his pal Jack Sowray had incised their names and two helmets into the rock shortly before enlisting for service in the Second World War. For more than 60 years it has been assumed that the carved name of Jack (pictured left), who was killed while serving in France in 1944, had disappeared, probably lost to time and the elements. But a series of coincidences in 2021 has led to the remarkable re-discovery of his name at the rear of the rock, where it is overshadowed by the dry-stone wall that borders White Crag Plantation. Amazingly, the finding was made by Jack's niece, Lesley Sowray, earlier this year. She had been alerted by a former nursing colleague, Mike Fizio, of Swartha, who was researching the rock's history. Lesley, a keen walker, had passed the rock many times over the years without knowing her family's connection. Arnold Moore and Jack Sowray were the sons of serving fire officers in Bradford and grew up together in the staff quarters at the Nelson Street fire station. The Moore family owned a small holiday bungalow at Silsden, in Light Bank Lane, below Nab End where the moorland path to Ilkley starts. The teenaged lads spent many hours exploring and climbing in the area and planned to follow their fathers into the fire service. Arnold and Jack created the carvings when war broke out. Arnold survived the conflict and became a leading fire officer. Jack lost his life aged 22 in August 1944 when he was hit by a German sniper and is buried at Bayeux War Cemetery (pictured below).

Kurdish barber chooses Silsden for his first shop

The Silsden Barber business which opened at 5 Bolton Road in April is owner Saim Sarwan's first shop. Saim, pictured above, is a Kurd and came to Liverpool from Iran a couple of years ago. Having decided to open his own shop, he found the premises in Silsden through a friend in Bradford and says he is delighted to be in such a welcoming community.
The shop in Bolton Road has been a barber's for a few years and previously was AJ's, which opened there in 2013.   

Briggate bike shop riding high after first year in business

Johnny Varley, pictured above, opened his Cyclopedia bike shop at 19 Briggate on July 3rd 2020 and has successfully steered the business through a challenging first year.

He has benefited from the surge, during lockdown, in the popularity of cycling but has had to be constantly resourceful: huge demand has disrupted supply chains and made bikes, spares and accessories hard to come by. Nationwide, customers ordering a bike today might have to wait six months for delivery. Mr Varley says that half the enquiries he receives are about electric bikes.  

Unsettled in his job as a technical manager in the construction industry, in Leeds, Mr Varley took a step back and reflected on where his life and career were going. At the same time, the shop in Briggate, previously occupied by Ayrton Interiors, was on the market. Mr Varley seized the opportunity, quit the building industry and opened his own cycle business. He remembered valuable insights from the days he worked after school at a bike shop in Wetherby, the town where he was brought up. He now lives in Silsden.

Bursts of blackthorn blossom bedeck our hedgerows

Glorious sunshine has highlighted stunning arrays of blackthorn blossom in local hedgerows, coinciding with the National Trust's first "blossom watch" day on April 24th when people were urged to celebrate the sights and scents of the blossom season. The blackthorn pictured above is part of the dazzling display lining the footpath from Skipton Road towards Tar Topping.

Crumbs! Serving up special treats for mums' special day

Aimee Mcnulty (pictured above), owner of Crumbs, the popular cafe and cakes caterer in Briggate, and her team provided 340 boxed-up afternoon teas and cup cakes over the Mothering Sunday weekend. Aimee, a former South Craven School student, is a member of Silsden's well-known Mcnulty footballing family and took over the Crumbs business five years ago. She has been exceptionally busy during the Covid 19 lockdown, which has closed pubs and restricted all cafes to a takeaway service.  

The shopfront has been tastefully decorated with this eye-catching balloon garland provided by Ribbons & Bloom, of Bingley. The door bow matches the window display celebrating both Mother's Day and Easter.

New era in Briggate as iconic DIY shop changes hands

Michael and Julie Whitaker (pictured above) have completed their first six months as the new owners of the Briggate DIY shop, which stocks around 4,000 products. Michael was a printer for 40 years before acting on his ambition to own a DIY shop, having always enjoyed doing home improvements. Julie helps in the shop, now named Whitakers, when her job as a Bradford council support teacher, working with children in care, permits.

Michael and Julie took over the shop, previously known as Paul's DIY, last August after owner Paul Waddington retired. There was much relief when it was found that the new owners were to continue the business as a DIY shop. They say they have greatly appreciated the welcome and support they have received. Paul Waddington ran the shop for 40 years, during which time he established himself as a local character. His parents, Eric and Mary,  also traded in Briggate as proprietors of a fish and chip shop between 1962 and 1983.

Exercising in lockdown, more and more people discover the delights of Silsden's lanes and uplands

It must be many years since people in such large numbers have walked the lanes and moors around Silsden, taking advantage of permission to exercise locally during lockdown. Young people, elderly residents and families have found the countryside a perfect outlet for relief from the restrictions imposed to try to halt the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

The last day of February was blessed with glorious sunshine and warmth that felt more like the first day of summer than the day before the start of spring. Among the popular walks were the lanes to Nab End, and the ridge route across the moor to Ilkley.

This memorial seat with panoramic views into Wharfedale was seldom vacant as hikers stopped for a coffee and snack, or simply a rest.

The path across the heather was particularly busy. As well as being a fine vantage point, the moor is an important habitat for flora and fauna. Red kite and buzzards are frequently heard, if not always seen, in territories between the trig point and the plantations.

Silsden, viewed from Nab End, sits perfectly in its Aire Valley surroundings. In the last week of February, large numbers of curlews and smaller flocks of lapwings returned to breed in the sunlit uplands and riverside fields. And joy of joys, skylarks were singing on high.