July 28: Sunshine and crowds greeted the Silsden Gala procession, which, starting in Howden Road paraded by way of Kirkgate, Briggate, Bell Square and Bolton Road to the park, where there were arena attractions and a funfair, plus a downpour. Above: ahead of the procession, Airedale Hospital's running group, the Dodgers, and A&E staff bed-pushed in aid of Manorlands. 

 Jazz music led the floats.

 Silsden gala queen and her retinue.

Two handsome tractors preceded the St James' Church depiction of key aspects of Christian life. 

 The precision of Silsden Majorettes delighted onlookers.

Accrington Pipe Band, founded in 1885, made a stirring contribution to the parade.

Fancy-dress entrants.

 Shoemaker's elves from Footprints, a new children's-footwear shop in Kirkgate. 

 Music from Jamba Samba.

Silsden AFC junior players.

 Silsden Royal British Legion.

There was a broad sweep to the Royal British Legion's theme.

Bees on bikes.

Cobbydale Social Club.

Silsden Brass Band leads the procession at what is believed to be the town's first gala, in 1908. The event was called Silsden Charity Carnival (it became a 'gala' after the Second World War) and was held to raise money for the Helping Hands Fund for relief of poor people. The procession is shown passing the Red Lion.

Onlookers endured rain at the carnival in June 1909. The railings were at the entrance to the Methodist Church.

June 1910: note the lump of Silkstone coal on the cart, which is followed by the town's fire engine and volunteer brigade. 

The early carnivals included a class for the best-decorated shop. Tailor Arthur Dixon's premises are where the Beehive hairdressing salon is now in Kirkgate.

The photograph shows the procession in Briggate in the 1940s at the first gala after the war and the first to be held since 1924. The gala steward on the right is Fred Dixon, who reputedly was Silsden's tallest man.  The steward on the left is Willy Bancroft, who was 15 when he had tried to enlist in the First World War, one of five Bancroft brothers to serve.

Late 1940s/early 1950s: the procession is pictured in Tufton Street. The pipe band is passing Thompson's grocery and sweet shop.

1948 or 1949: the procession nears the canal bridge in Keighley Road. The children in fancy dress are led by Philip Mason (Indian chief), Barry Whittingham (sheik) and Derek Cooper (guardsman).

1950s: An entrant in the popular class for decorated horses. These Kirkgate shops, demolished long ago, overlooked Stakes Beck.

Another 1950s gala procession in Kirkgate, this time passing the drapery store of W. Sugden & Sons, which is now a travel agency. It is next door to Natwest, which in those days was the National Provincial Bank.

Above and below: gala processions in the late 1950s pass the Kirkgate junction with Wesley Place. The corner shop and adjoining properties were demolished to make way for the present-day car park. Further details and pictures of parades at this location can be seen in my April posts. 

This 1950s procession in Tufton Street shows Darkie, one of Silsden's last working horses, which was owned by the local Co-operative Society and retired in 1957 after years spent pulling a coal cart on house-to-house deliveries. Leading Darkie is coalman Bill Hartley, who loved the horse like a brother. (Photograph by courtesy of Richard Throup.) A picture of Mr Hartley attending a pony and cart in a 1970s gala procession is shown in my April posts.

A large crowd saw a Silsden Dream Team (pictured above) defeat a crew (pictured below) from the Emmerdale TV series to win the Browny Cup at Silsden Sports Club on July 20. The family fun day, strongly supported by local businesses, was estimated to have raised more than £5,000 for the Chris Brown Trust, in memory of Chris Brown, who died aged 24 in 2009 after receiving a head injury playing rugby league for Silsden Park Rangers. The Dream Team, captained by James Whitehead, comprised friends of Chris and Chris's two brothers, Mark and Adam. Silsden won on penalties after drawing 2-2 at full time. The Trust has raised hundreds of pounds to help local people in difficulty as a result of loss or injury.   

Above: The pre-match warm-up introduced players to musical moves and owed more to fun than formations.   

The Red Lion in Kirkgate has reopened as a pub. Pictured above with customers is manager Danielle Broadley, whose parents have bought and refurbished the historic inn. They own a pub in Elland and have have been in the licensed trade in Leeds for the last few years. The Red Lion, which was built as a beer shop in the early 1700s, has played a remarkable role in community life. The Weatherhead family ran the pub throughout the 19th century, making it a centre of musical and educational enterprise. Weatherhead Place is named after them. Several prominent local organisations began life at the Red Lion. 

The Red Lion in the early 1970s when John Spencer was landlord. He is pictured in the doorway.

Meanwhile, the Bridge Inn (above) in Keighley Road, which up to last year was Silsden's oldest surviving hostlery, has been converted into three two-bed apartments, at prices from £99,950. Ale was believed to have been sold on the site since the mid-1600s, originally brewed at a farmhouse on what is now the canal towpath. A small stone stable connected to the farmhouse still stands. The inn was thought to date back to the early 1700s.  Above the original pub doorway at the rear is a 1799 date-stone, depicting a "boot and shoe", which was the name of the inn at the time. 

Above: The Memorial Gardens area, flanked on the left by the Library and to the right by the Wesley Place car park, is in fascinating contrast to how Bolton Road End looked in times past. The Memorial Gardens were built in 1956.

Above: This part of the site features in the centre foreground the old Urban District Council depot, where previously there had been Pollard's sweet factory. In the bottom right corner is the gable end of the former  fire station. The spire of the present-day Catholic church can be seen in the background, with the view looking across to Daisy Hill before Craven Drive was built. The Catholic Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church was previously the Wesleyan Methodist Church. The tall building at the back on the extreme right is the Primitive Methodist Church (recently demolished to make way for the new Methodist building), where the Wesleyans and Bethesdas (from Keighley Road) moved on uniting in 1956.

Above: The area of  Bolton Road End opposite the junction with Briggate was dominated by Highfield Farm, which, built in the late 1600s, for more than 200 years was the Talbot Inn. These buildings were to the left of the sweet factory and the later depot shown in the preceding photograph. Both pictures are by courtesy of Silsden Camera Club.

Above and below: The oldest part of the present-day library buildings goes back to 1852 when the Wesleyan Methodists opened a combined Sunday School and day school. A schoolmaster's house and new classroom were built in 1858. The day school continued until 1914 when Hothfield Street school opened.  

The picture below, taken in the 1950s, shows on the right the two buildings at the intersection of which  the library entrance was built. The church-style window by the red door on the far left of the picture above can be seen in the picture below, on the right of the single-storey Sunday School premises, which, apart from  that section, have been demolished.   

Blooming delay. Above: May 3rd 2010. The cherry trees in front of the Library
are frothing with blossom. Below: May 3rd 2013. Nature-disrupting adverse
weather means the trees are still some way off bursting into their
spring spectacular. The Graham Inman Memorial Bandstand in the
foreground opened in July 2011.

A new sweet shop opened in Silsden on May 1. Candy Fest, in Elliott Street, is selling old-style boiled sweets, candies and toffees in traditional glass jars (pictured above) as well as modern-day chocolate bars and goodies. The opening stock of 140 lines will be increased to 200. Owners James and Sharon Hoyles, pictured right, will be offering bespoke novelties, such as candy trees, for parties and special occasions. Candy Fest is also online with a Facebook page. James and Sharon are from Lothersdale. Two of their four children attend school in Silsden and James has local customers for his carpet, curtains, upholstery and rug cleaning business, which he will continue to run. The Elliott Street shop was recently vacated by Gold Leaf Designs, which has moved to bigger premises across the nearby main road in the old Co-op premises on canal bridge.

Above: The cairn at Windgate Nick on the Rombalds Moor path from Silsden to Ilkley has a distinctive new waymarker. The yellow arrow on a green background indicates the Dales High Way, a relatively new 93-mile walk from Saltaire to Appleby-in-Westmorland, which has quickly become a big hit with long-distance walkers. There is a route guide by Tony and Chris Grogan, who inaugurated the walk. "A Dales High Way" is published by Skyware Ltd. and is available via the website www.daleshighway.org.uk. The cairn also has a marker for Bradford's Millennium Way, which follows the same moorland path to Ilkley.