8th October - Michael Bradford
Yorkshire - Whatever happened to the Ridings
Michael Bradford proved a passionate advocate opposing the loss of the traditional counties of England under the 1974 boundary changes. Despite the strong opposition of large majorities of local people who wished to retain their birthrights in the affected parts of the country, many of the proposed changes were pushed through and on 1st April 1974 people awoke to find that their local boundaries had been changed. The Craven area was very much affected when this western corner of Yorkshire, embracing Barnoldswick and the Forest of Bowland became a part of Lancashire. The western Dentdale and Garsdale went to Cumbria, the North Riding's "pan handle" went into Durham, Middlesborough disappeared into Cleveland, most of the East Riding into Humberside and the area around Saddleworth into Lancashire. Whitby fought successfully to remain in Yorkshire. One resident in Ingleton said that he did not want to go into Lancashire "because he could not stand all that rain".
Opposition remains strong and further changes have been made. Hunberside straddling the River Humber proved unworkable and was abolished. People still strongly identify with Yorkshire. Thriving Yorkshire Societies exist around the world. Mike Bradford asked  "what does Yorkshire mean to them". Over 200 replied stressing the importance of Yorkshire people, places and culture as well as sporting and cultural activities.
The Government at the time said that the boundary changes did not affect the traditional geographical counties. Mr Portillo, then Home Secretary, reaffirmed this to Mile Bradford in 1991 and the matter was raised a couple of years ago in a 10 minute rule bill - predictably without success.

22nd October - Barry Wilkinson
Yorkshire Potteries, Pots and Potters.

Barry Wilkinson told us how in 1770 the Leeds Pottery was founded and soon became successful with the production of household goods.  The most popular was creamware made from white Cornish clay with a translucent glaze. Pottery from Leeds with its fine embossing and intricately pierced open work decoration achieved widespread acclaim and at one time the industry in Yorkshire was as important as the Staffordshire potteries. Eventually economic problems, disruption of overseas markets and competition from abroad led to reduced demand and in consequnce a reduction in the number of factories. The kilns and buildings have largely disappeared although traces remain. But surviving moulds and pattern books and the existence of fine examples of Leeds pieces in local museums have enabled production of creamware to continue to this day to the original designs.

12th November - John Holroyd
Cromford and the HIgh Peak Railway.
A canal had been proposed to link Cromford with the Goyt Valley on opposite sides of the Peak District. With the coming of railways it was decided to opt for a railway instead. The line was built in 1836 - an astonishing early achievement. It had to climb from about 300 feet at each end to over 1200 feet to the south of Buxton. At this early date it was built on canal principles with long level stretches broken by steep inclines. Wagons were horse drawn on the level stretches and stationery engines or horse winches were used for the inclines. Wagons going down were used to lighten the load by counterbalancing those going up.  The line was largely superseded by later lines by the 1870s, but continued to be used for local transport of limestone to the main lines. Today it forms a long distance footpath. The talk was well illustrated with slides.

26th November - Neil Hanson
Great Fire of London -1st London Blitz 1918.
This proved a fascinating talk about developments in WW1. By 1918 Germany had developed incendiary bombs and the heavy bombers to go with them - the Goethes and the "Giants". The latter being a 6-8 engined bomber capable of a load of 4 tons and hardly matched in size by any WW2 bomber. Air raids on London and Paris from late 1917 had already created civilian panic.  Huge simultaneous raids on both cities were planned for early September 1918. It was considered that the resulting fire storms would have been devastating. Within minutes of the aircraft setting off the German High Command called off the raids. The reason being that by then they knew the war was lost and they were concerned about the repercussions.
The experience coloured the respective approaches to WW2. The allies view was that "the bomber will always get through". And they adopted a strategy of heavy bombers with the same incendiary bomb technology that Germany had developed. The Germans on the other hand went for fighters and lighter bombers, because the WW1 bombers had been so expensive in terms of cost and materials.
An interesting sideline was Neil's comments on the 1666 Great Fire when very few casualties were recorded. He reckoned (based on the evidence of crematorium workers) that the speed of the fire and its intense heat had in fact killed and obliterated large numbers. These numbers were never established because so many people left the city, never to return, and because of the chaos and confusion in the aftermath.
Neil is the author of more than 30 historical works.   

10th December - Dr George Redmonds
Surnames of Skipton and District
Dr Redmonds explained how the surnames in the 1881 census have been collated. Altogether some 600,000 appear and Smith naturally with 600,000 was the most frequent. The first 10 names had 200,000 or more members. Quite a number of names had 200 or fewer occurrences and he reckoned that they were on the verge of extinction.
He advised against deducing the meaning of names from modern spellings as many books on the meanings of names do. It is necessary to go back to the earliest form available to derive the meaning and often the locality of origin. Sykes for instance originated in Calderdale. Oddly the common Welsh surnames Jones, Edwards, Williams etc arose when Welsh migrants moved to the Thames valley.
Altogether, he explained, the subject is far more intricate than first appears.

14th January - Social Evening - cancelled because of the snow and ice conditions.

28th January - Professor Mike Dixon
Ilkley and the Water Cure.
Professor Dixon explained how Ilkley was a poor, backward village with only a few hundred inhabitants in 1800. There was a "spa" at White Wells up on the Moor, but analysis was to show this was relatively pure water at 4 degrees C containing no significant minerals. Ilkley therefore latched on to the water cure, hydropathy, recently developed by a Silesian peasant Vincent Priessnitz. In 1844 the Ben Rhydding Hydropathy establishment, built by Leeds businessman Hamar Stansfield, was opened. In the process usurping the village name of Wheatley. It flourished under its soon to be appointed director, Dr William Macleod. Some 3-4 other establishments opened in Ilkley over the next 10 or so years. The treatment involved a cold, spartan regime, cold water, cold rooms and simple diet. The cure had a limited success compared with medical practice at the time, bearing in mind the state of clinical knowledge then, the improvement in diet and the placebo effect. After only some 20 years the cure was going out of fashion, so the hydros were moving on to other treatments, a less spartan regime and becoming more like hotels or leisure centres. The industry led to the growth of the town and with the coming of the railway in 1865 led to further growth as a base for wealthy commuters to Leeds and Bradford.   
Ben Rhydding Hydro was pulled down after the war, Wells House remains as apartments and only one, Craiglands remains as an hotel.

11thy February - Don McLellan
Vernacular Architecture.
He explained the 3 basic types -
On wall roofing - the standard building where the weight of the roof is conveyed to the walls via the roof trusses.
Cruck buildings built around large timbers forming an "A" shape. Walls here are now-supporting in-fill. There are few now identified in the Dales. The hamlet of Drebley in middle Wharfedale has 2 cruck barns. Sometimes they can be identified by the former stone bases on which the crucks rested. There appears to be a former cruck house near the beck in Silsden town centre.
Box timber frame construction. Again the walls were in-filled. There are very few in the Dales.
He went on to explain the evolution of the passage way house with cattle etc kept on one side and the living room on the other. Over time these evolved with the fireplace moving to the least drafty part of the house in the centre wall. This construction can be recognised as the chimney is in line with the outer door jamb.

25th February - Martin Roe
Middleton Park Leeds - Mining Site Survey.
This area was well known for its coal mines because of the early development there of railways and steam locomotives. But investigations have revealed a most complex history. The park of about 800 acres had been woodland for at least 400 years. Faults meant that the western and eastern sides had close to surface mines, but the central section had coal measures only at depth. Early workings were of the bell pit type. The likelihood was that a new pit was opened each year and worked through the summer with about 1000 tons of coal extracted meeting the locals needs. The next year they would open a new pit. As a result the woodland was relatively little exposed. 
Later deeped long wall type mining was introduced with expertise imported from the north east. Even here there were numerous shafts as moving coal and spoil underground was resource intensive. Horse gins were used at the shafts. Railways introduced from before 1750 used gravity to take the wagons down to the coal staives on the Aire, being horse drawn for the return. From the early 1800s fixed engines were used soon followed by locomotives.
A Heritage trail with display boards is being developed using Heritage Lottery funding.

11th March - John Billingsley
Folklore Tales from Calderdale.
John indicated how folklore needs a fairly settled community in which to develop. Repetition of the tales reinforces their wider acceptance and retention in the community. He provided examples and backed these by views of the Calderdale landscape. 

25th March - Dr Tony Stephens
Birtwhistle Family of Galloway and Craven
This proved a fascinating and ever expanding account of a local family. John Birtwhistle was born in Skipton and became a farmer in Long Preston. By the 1730s he was employing drovers to bring cattle from Scotland, using his holdings in Long Preston or the common land on Malham Moor as a staging post before sending the cattle on to Lincolnshire or East Anglia to fatten for the London market. After the 1745 rebellion confiscated cattle were sold off cheap and as a result John appeared to have made his fortune and built up his business. He already had an interest in Galloway having met his wife there and acquired land and property there.
A change in the law about 1780 first allowed Irish cattle to be exported to Great Britain. As Irish cattle were larger than the highland stock, much of the droving business moved away from Scotland. This had some impact on the introduction of cheviot sheep and the Highland clearances.
Two of his sons William and Alexander carried on the drover business until their deaths by 1819. A third son, Robert ran a textile mill in Galloway. They had numerous illegitimate offspring but no legitimate heirs. So their sister Agnus claimed the inheritance and in turn her daughter Anna after her mother's death. Alexander's oldest son, John disputed the inheritance and was eventually successful after some 15 years of litigation.  Apparently unlike English law, under Scottish law illegitimate children had equal rights of inheritance and since John was born in Scotland it was held that Scottish law should apply. It is said that the result of the case were incorporated into the constitutions of several countries including that of the United States. A grateful John had a memorial to his grandfather erected in Skipton Parish Church some 50 years after the latter's death.
A much more comprehensive account can be obtained on Google using the above title.

8th April - Dr Stephen Caunce
Yorkshire Hiring Fairs
 Hiring Fairs for farm labourers and domestic servants grew up in the north of England from late mediaeval times, reached their apogee in the 19th century and declined after the 1st World War. They were held at Martinmas (November)and again around Whitsuntide. While often held in market towns they had no connection with the markets. Their growth was largely spontaneous.
Wages were generally good in the north given the competition from manufacturing. Surprisingly such fairs were not a feature of the south of England - south of Yorkshire. There wages were depressed and work was often shared by families or groups of workers - the same total amount in wages being paid irrespective of numbers.
Contracts were made between the farmer and the labourer by a shake of hands and the farmer paying over a small sum, perhaps 5 shillings in acknowledgement. This led to the social side of the fairs where often there would be an itinerate fair, opportunities for drinking and socialising. The labourer usually had a week off before starting his new employment. Wages for a half year might be £10-£20 plus full board and lodgings. The labourers worked hard and were well fed. A survey of poverty in the East Riding in the 1880s was wound up because it found the labourers were better fed than the middle classes.
The 2nd World War had a big impact on the decline in the fairs followed by the increasing mechanism thereafter. But a hiring fair is recorded in Scotland as late as 1974.

22nd April AGM.
This was to be followed by a talk by Hedley Fawcett, but unfortunately he was caught up in the air transport delays. So improptu talks were given by
Bernard Peel on the journeys of Lady Anne Clifford
Susan Broadhead on extracts from an 1880s national newspaper that a resident had found.
Douglas Grant gave a short quiz asking members to identify famous Skipton and Craven residents from descriptions that he provided.