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SOME MEMORIES OF A WARTIME CHILDHOOD IN ILKLEY
by Chris Youhill
I was three years old on September 3rd 1939 and we were visiting my invalid Grandma and my aunty in Bridlington. I can remember the scene so very clearly. The news of Mr. Chamberlain's announcement had just come through and I recall Grandma, the kindliest soul you could imagine, her face full of sorrow as she said "Eeee No - not again." She looked at my Dad who had been badly injured on The Somme with the Leeds Pals in 1917 and even at the tender age I was I could fully sense her grief and sadness.
Back home in Ilkley there was an incredible amount of unfamiliar activity. Blackout precautions were installed and were rigidly enforced. I clearly remember Woolworth's in Brook Street which had only been built a matter of months and had a wide doorway at each edge of the frontage - still has !! Portable black cloth "chicanes" were placed inside the doorways so that you had to change direction twice to enter or leave, and they were vert effective as no light could be seen. The Wells House Hydro Hotel on The Moors was commandeered and became offices known as "The Wool Control" - a name which mystified and fscinated my tiny mind. Each morning a fleet of elderly petrol engined buses would make their way up the steep West View to the hotel, gasping and spitting asthmatically as their engines, under maintained of necessity, struggled to make the summit and deliver the "Wool Control" office staff to work.
Next came the rapid removal of many iron gates and railings from property all over the town "for munitions."
Dramatic scenes could be seen often as Army tanks hurtled about the town on practice manoeuvres. To a child unaware of the full horrible implications this was an exciting time indeed. Dad, who as I mentioned was a WW1 veteran, took to trudging the railway lines around Ilkley by night as a willing member of The Home Guard. A dramatic arrival was to be seen in the large yard behind the Midland Hotel in the form of a bright red single engined aeroplane as a pertinent exhibit of some kind - how it got in there was a mystery to us - the age of The Harrier jump jet was not even a dream in those days !!
At Ben Rhydding Primary School we had to learn how to put on our gas masks - a terrifying experience and I can still almost smell that fresh rubber even now. They had metallic green grills over the filters at the front and were kept in specially made cardboard boxes. Air Raid drill was frequent, and we had to file quickly into the cellar of a large semi-detached house next to the school, entering by a small side door. I always look at the house even now after sixty five years. The headmaster, Mr.Crossley, quickly instituted a wonderful market garden in the large field abutting Manley Road. We had to bring pennies from home and could buy the excellent fresh produce.
One of my clearest and fondest memories of those dark days was the occasion of a kind of "patriotism" concert in The King's Hall. I had a friend whose wonderful mother Mrs. Kathleen Oglesby, was a most lovely and kindly lady who did modelling work and drama and music, as well as managing "Hargreaves" coal office in Cunliffe Road for "the duration." The highlight of the evening was when Mrs. Oglesby appeared in the most elegant pink full length gown and a rose or two here and there and rendered a very heartfelt perfomance of "Land of Hope and Glory" - you could have heard the legendery pin drop during her beautiful and, at the time especially, poignant delivery - except just once when her son, my friend John, leaned towards me with tears of pride in his eyes and whispered "Oh doesn't me Mam look smashing."
I hope that these few recollections from my many hundreds may perhaps bring back some of the atmosphere of "Ilkley at War" to those who were there at the time.
Chris Youhill
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