A HISTORY OF FEATHERSTONE
1982
THE COUNCILS
APRIL The 50 council tenants in Leatham Park Road and Leatham Crescent were to be asked how they would like their homes renovated before work started in May or June. They could decided whether they want extra rediators, where they want partition walls to be placed, and if they wanted to have automatic washing machines plugged in.
The West Riding County Council decided to ban parking on the North Side of Fearnley Street during daytime hours on week days. Parking on both sides was restricting access to the car parks and shops. The Featherstone road safety committee had been concerned for years about access for police and the fire brigade.
Jaglin Court sheltered housing scheme was officially reopened by Cr Roy Widdowson after £140,000 had been spent on renovations. It previously had bedsitters with shared facilities, and was converted to 22 self-contained flats with bathroom and kitchen facilities.
MAY The town council had been complaining for a long time about the state of the Station Lane subway and many pedestrians waiting in the rain or snow at the level crossing rather than using it. British Rail wanted to introduce remote control with closed circuit television and manual operation. Half barriers had been suggested, but these were ruled out because of possible road safety problems. West Yorkshire County Council considered that raising or lowering the roadway was too expensive, so it now proposed to clean up the subway and provide a shelter at each side for those not able to use the subway.
The Wakefield District Council election results were:
Cr Roy Widdowson (Labour) 2,481
Cr Norman Longbottom (Labour) 2,452
Cr Ernest Longley (Labour) 2,222
Colin Strange (SDP/Liberal) 1,871
All three retiring councillors were elected.
JUNE Cr Keith Wilson was elected Mayor of Featherstone for the next year. He said his aim was to improve the town's environment. There were schemes for around the cenotaph and on Wakefield Road but more needed to be done. Photo - The Express.
SEPTEMBER Wakefield announced a £30,000 improvement scheme for Purston Park. It involved new equipment for the playground, repairs to the lake wall, and draining the lake to remove all the rubbish and silt.
NOVEMBER A £200,000 scheme for Alexander Crescent was announced. There would be new roofs and wall cladding. Modern kitchen units would be installed and doors and skirting boards replaced where necessary. Tenants would be offered a choice of gas or coal central heating, and there would be sound insulation between houses.
THE ROVERS
At the half-yearly meeting in January the secretary, Terry Jones, revealed out of 756 members only 254 were Featherstone residents. He found this figure very surprising and rather disturbing. The attendance at matches continued to give rise for concern and was making things extremely difficult for the committee to continue their policy of selling only those players considered surplus to requirements.
Christine Welburn age 18 of Halfpenny Lane was chosen from six entrants to be Featherstone Rovers Rugby League Queen in March. The photo, taken at Pontefract Castle, is from the Express.
The Rovers now had ten acres of training grounds floodlit, and to help with fitness, a multi-gym was installed in the Social Club. It was opened in March by Mr Cyril Villiers of the Sports Council which had given advice and a grant towards the cost. It would be open to the public when not required for training. The Express photo shows Mr Villiers with Rovers players Keith Bell (on the left) and Peter Smith.
At the annual meeting in August it was reported the football club and the gymnasium in the social club had shown a profit, but there was a loss on the general fund of almost £14,000. The chairman, Bob Ashby, admitted the social club was still a white elephant. In the social club accounts for the past 26 months the excess of expenditure over income was £31,043 despite membership and entrance fees being £9,389, and fruit machines income of £9,086. There was about £8,000 in the Floodlight Fund and negotiations were taking place with Hunslet for the purchase of their floodlights.
It was announced in September Hunslet had agreed a price of £8,000, and the floodlights would be dismantles and re-erected on eight single poles around the ground. The work was expected to be completed by next August.
GWEN MATTHEWMAN
Gwen Matthewman was still world champion knitter having raised her record stiches in a minute to 111. It opened many opportunities for her. On a TV show in February in two days she made an elephant four leg warmers, a trunk warmer, a 114 feet long scarf and a hat.
She had a busy life, travelling for a national wool firm giving demonstartions in England, Scotland and Wales. Last year she visited 54 towns and cities. At home her wardrobes were bulging with woolies and she had taken to filling suitcases.Photo - The Express.
EXTREME VANDALISM
Yorkshire Water Authority had installed a new £200,000 sewage pumping station in Wentworth Road because the old buildings were so badly damaged by vandals they had to be demolished. It opened in May, but in June the authority report more vandalism. An eight foot high steel fence, supposed to be vandal proof had already been damaged, bricks had been chipped out from the walls and stuffed with petrol soaked rags to try and set the building on fire.
Mr John Wlliams, administration officer, said "We have vandalism elsewhere, but at Featherstone you just can't beat them". The Express photo shows John Williams and Ken Armstrong dicussing their next move.
PLANNING MEETING
Wakefield District Council had produced a separate plan for each of its local areas and arranged meetings to discuss them. The one for Featherstone was arranged for July in the High School. The Express commented only 25 people turned up out of a population of around 15,000 and put "The dismal turnout suggests most Featherstone folk are happy with their lot and feel confident in letting someone else shape the future of the town. Yet, the tiny minority of residents who bothered to turn up found plenty to grouse about.
Residents in the Girnhill Lane area were worried about the loss of open spaces. Mrs Muiral Birch said "The council is supposed to have a green belt, but so many houses are being built there will soon be no green left". Mr Eric Naylor suggested new houses should be built on Wakefield Road, where about 300 homes had been demolished, instead of on agricultural land.
Chief planning officer Mr Peter Spawforth said not all agricultural land was included in the green belt. Featherstone was surrounded by a green belt which would prevent the town merging with other areas. Assistant chief planning officer Mr Eric Williamson said the Wakefield Road site was quite small and few people would want to live near a busy road.
Revd John McCarthy said Featherstone urgently needed a community centre. There was nowhere in the town where community groups could meet. He suggested the possibility of using Regent Street School. He had received so many requests from groups wating to use the Methodist Church Hall it was becoming overused.
Mr Williamson said the council recognised the need for community facilities and the idea of using Regent Street School would be considered. A new library was planned on a site in Station Lane. It was hoped the new building would have a community room.
Cr Keith Wilson said further inprovements were needed at North Featherstone crossroads. The main hazard was a wall which blocked the vision of motorists using the junction. The reply was a recent survey showed there was insufficient traffic to warrant any further work at present. Cr Wilson said once people started moving into the new housing estate it will get worse, and we will have a real problem at North Featherstone.
The meeting was told a bypass for the Station Lane crossing was not a realistic possibility within the next ten years. The idea had been abandoned because it would cost over £1m. Cr Wilson said the Government was not providing grants for such schemes.
Cr Tom Dando said he felt Featherstone deserved a market. The council was looking seriously at the possibility of having one in The Precinct. A private market at Wakefield Road had been stopped because of a legal decision.
THE GALA
The annual Gala was held in July and began with a parade from Cressey's Corner to Purston Park. It was led by Frickley Colliery Youth Band followed by floats, the Gala Queen Claire Heptinstall and her attendants, majorettes, a jazz band, bygone bykes, a Rington's Tea pony and members of Featherstone and District Amateur and Musical Society.
The attractions at the park included displays of dancing, majorettes, gymnastics, martial arts, model power boats, a fancy dress competition and bowls. There was an exhibition of children's painting in the Town Hall. The photo of part of the parade leaving Cressey's Corner is from the Express.
THE GAS EXPLOSION INQUEST
An inquest was held in July into the deaths of Reginald and Kate Braithwaite age 82 and 83 who died in a gas explosion last December in their bungalow in Wentworth Road.
Their son, Arthur, who was injured but survivied, said he switched off the bathroom light when there was a flash and explosion. He was blown out of the bathroom and out through the outside wall. When he came round, he went back inside and found his father trapped under beams and his mother appeared to be dead. He was joined by neighbour Mr Michael Glew, who helped fight the fire before the emergency services arrived.
Mr Charles Hinsley, divisional manager at the British Gas Engineering Research Station, said the fracture was caused by the pipe sagging and cracking. Excessive corrosion got into the fissure and the pipe broke. There were corrosive materials in the soil near the pipe.
Mr Clifford Purchon, Wakefield district engineer for NEGAS, said the main was laid in 1966 and was expected to have a life of about 80 years. The weather was very cold,and the water in the ground above the main froze, expanded, and pushed down the pipe.
Normally gas from a fractured pipe would percolate through the ground into the air, but because the ground was frozen it travelled into the home .He had no reason to doubt the soundness of the ground, and that section of the main had been replaced.
Verdicts of accidental death were recorded.
MOTORCYCLE RACER
Jon Harrison age 26 was a dedicated motorcycle championship racer. He had competed at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire, the Isle of Man and Brands Hatch. He was sponsored by the Leeds firm Malaline Autos who had provided him with a brand new Yamaha 250TZH, plus all the necessary spares and a new brake fluid expected to give him an edge over his rivals because he could get nearer to a corner before braking.
He met his girlfriend Vicki when he came off his bike in a race at Cadwell in 1977. She was in the St John Ambulance Brigade and was the one who looked after him. She now travelled to all his meeting to take his lap times. While in the Isle of Man she entered a beauty competition and won the "Miss Southern 100". The Express August article included these two photos.
VETERAN BIKES
The National Association of Veteran Cycling Clubs' Annual Rally was held at Top Farm, West Hardwick, in September and was hosted by the Yorkshire Bygone Bikes Club which was formed in Featherstone in 1966.
The founder and secretary of the Yorkshire club was Bill Auty of Priory Road who started the club with his brothers Ken of Priory Road, and Eric of Ferry Lane, Stanley. By 1982 it had grown to 150 members.
Two penny-farthing fans were Rchard Banks of St Thomas Road and Simon Travis of Featherstone Lane who could be seen riding their bikes round the town. The photo of Richard Banks is from the Express.
ROY WIDDOWSON AND THE STRIKERS
There was a strike at Pontefract Infirmary in September in support of a pay claim. Mr Ian Stevent, spokesman for the Pontefract hospitals' strike committee, said Cr Widdowson had been seen performing portering duties during the strike by several people and members had taken it very badly. The only comment Cr Widdowson had made was the service needed doing so he did it.
Mr Shaun Hilliard, assistant divisional officer of the Yorkshire branch of NUPE said "It is absolutely deplorable that a trade union representative on the health authority has the effrontery to do our members' work during an industrial dispute. We will not let the matter rest".
The Express commented "It could cause acute embarrassment to the local Labour Party and may lead to Cr Widdowson being disciplined by his own union, the NUM".
Mrs Perry Wilson, local branch secretary of the Confederation of Health Service Employees said the criticism was unfair. All health service unions were instructed by their head offices and the TUC to make sure they provided emergency cover when they take action. Cr Widdowson and other members of other trade unions only did portering work because the whole department was withdrawn without providing emergency cover. He has always worked to co-operate with trade unions and is sympathetic to our pay claim.
Cr Widdowson wrote to the Express "I, being the person responsible for the management of hospitals in our district, did nothing wrong in ensuring measures were taken to safeguard the safety and health of the people who were in hospital and unable to fend for themselves when all the portering staff, including emergency coverage, was withdrawn".
Sir Jack Smart, president of the Pontefract and Castleford Labour Party, sald after a meeting "It was unanimously resolved that a full vote of confidence be placed in Roy for his activities when all emergency portering facilities were withdrawn".
THE MARKET
After negotiations between Wakefield Council and the private owners of the shopping precinct, a council run market was opened in October. It would be weekly on Thursdays with 28 stalls.
Cr Keith Wilson, town mayor, said all the units on the shops built in the 1070s are now let and this will be the icing on the cake. I am sure it will be well supported and it can only be good for the town.
It was declared open by Colin Croxall mayor of Wakefield District Council. Photo uploaded to Featherstone Bygone Days by Linda Atkins. The photo of the market is by Dr J Gatecliff.
The market wasn't as popular as expected. By December some traders had left, but Mr Bill Bradley for the council said there was a waiting list of 120 wanting stalls. But the future of the market would depend on people wanting it. If the trade is there traders will keep coming.
SCHOOLS REORGANISATION?
It was predicted there would be 900 vacant school places in the 1990s so a joint meeting of school governors, headmasters and teachers came up with the following proposals in October.
Instead of the current first schools for pupils age 5 to 9, middle schools 9 to 13 and a high school 13 to 16, there would be primary schools for 5 to 11 and a high school for 11 to 16. For 16 years old pupils who stayed on there would be a school at Pontefract. The high school would need more places so it would take over the adjoining St Thomas's School premises. Cr Roy Wiiowson said the proposals had been submitted to the council's education department.
In December the education committee agreed in principle to the closure of Regent Street First and Girnhill First Schools. Also the amalgamation of North Featherstone First and and Second Schools, and to discuss with the Church of England Diocesan Authority the future of Purston St Thomas C of E School.
The National Union of Teachers said "As a union we must be concerned forr the future of our members, but we must also ensure standards of education do not fall". Cr Norman Longbottom said there was still some leeway for discussuion and anything could happen before 1985.
A NEW VICARAGE
The Revd Eric Cheetham, Vicar of Featherstone, said the vicarage was over half a mile from the church and was expensive to heat. Wakefield Diocese wanted to sell the land in front of the vicarage to a private developer and build a new one opposite the church.
Wakefield Council refused planning permission on the grounds it was not in land earmarked for development, and part of it was the proposed green belt. The diocese appealed the decision and a public enquiry was held at Wakefield Town Hall in December which decided in favour of the Wakefield Diocese. The photo of part of the field stretching down to Featherstone Lane is from the Express.
1982 NEWS ITEMS
JANUARY Featherstone High School won the National Coal Board/Wakefield District Council Best Kept Boiler House Award. Mr John Kearsley, headmaster, Mr John Kearsley (no relation), caretaker, and Mr Albert Campling, assistant, went to Wooley Hall, Wakefield to receive it from Mr John Crowley NCB. Photo - The Express.
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Mr Ted Broxup, owner of Web Automatic in Station Lane, received a plaque and birthday cake from Peter and Gladys Roper, chairman and vice-chairman of Featherstone Karate Federation, for his help in providing trophies and equipment. He was also made an honorary black belt. Photo - The Express.
FEBRUARY Mark Johnson age 18 of Verner Street was faced with going on the dole, so he took over his friend's window cleaning round. Photo - The Express.
MARCH Janet Hodkinson, Coal Princess, went underground at Ackworth Pit to declare open a 500 yards long diesel locomotive roadway built to get men and materials quickly to their working place. Photo - The Express
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APRIL Three girls from Featherstone Youth Club won the inter-youth disco-dance competition at Knottingley. They were (from the left on this Express photo) Lisa Ellam, Sally Smith and Astrid Copley.
Vandals caused £800 damage at Liptons supermarket in Station Lane.
James Beardsley of Featherstone Lane received a cut glass decanter on his retirement after 45 years service with West Riding Bus Company. He was Featherstone Depot Traffic Superintendent. He his shown on this Express photo (n the centre) with his wife Mary and Mr D G F Rawlinson, regional manager. George W Wainwright of St Thomas Road also received an award for 35 years service.
MAY In the national Britain in Bloom competition Featherstone didn't get past the early stages. The Yorkshire and Humberside Committee judges said "While there are some good local authority improvements in Purston Park and some landscape schemes in housing improvement areas, there is no evidence of support from the private and business sector. There is also plenty of scope for extensive tree planting". Featherstone was bottom of the league for small towns with over 8,000 population.
JUNE A thunderstorm caused a power failure when lightning struck a sub-station. Some people were cut of for up to three hours. Engineers worked through the night to reconnect supplies.
Children and members of Pontefract Day Activity Group were cleaning a wall in Station Lane, which was once part of Ackton Hall sidings, ready for a giant mural to be painted on it. They also hoped to get permission for a new adventure playground in an adjoining site. Photo -The Express.
A group of people in the town were looking for premises where the unemployed could have recreational facilities and go for advice on their rights. There could also be a workshop to learn new crafts. Revd John McCarthy, the Methodist minister said one full-time employee would be needed to supervise plus help from volunteers. Ideas were still being put forward and there would be a further meeting for more talks.
JULY Victor Zadorozny age 13 on Huntwick Crescent won a gold award in a national pentathlete competition at Butlin's Filey holiday centre. He competed in table tennis, athletics, jogging, swimming and high jump. Last year Victor and his twin brother Stefan won silver awards in the competition, and their sister Vanda age 15 won the bronze award. The Express photo shows all three with Victor on the right.
AUGUST The National Coal Board was considering extending the Springfield opencast site to include the area between the old Featherstone Main Colliery site and Featherstone Lane.
SEPTEMBER Vandalism to stained glass windows at Purston Parish Church had now reached a cost of £1,000. An appeal was already in place for £4,500 to install protective plastic over the windows.
After 80 years the Silkstone Seam was finally worked out at Ackton Hall Colliery, and 262 men were transferred to the Warren House and Haigh Moor Seams. Thirty-eight other men took voluntary redundancy.
Paul Ells of Avon Walk found a magpie with a broken wing. After it had healed and it was able to fly away it would come back and take food from his hands. It was also grateful for a drink of milk. Photo -The Express.
Through a variety of efforts, Featherstone Fire Brigade had raised £1,000 for the Fire Service Benevolent Fund. Station officer Ian Dransfield presented a cheque for that amount to Mr Kevin Horan, national chairman of the fund. Photo - The Express.
A harvest festival at New Purston WMC raised £160 for the Featherstone and District Hospital Comforts Fund, and a similar one at the Bradley Arms raised £65.
The operators of the Springfield opencast site wanted to extend the working hours from 7pm to 11pm. James Walley of Hilltop, Ackton, said "We are going to pursue every avenue we can to try and get permission for longer hours revoked". Ronald Thompson of Springfield Farm, Ackton, agreed with him. A spokesman for Miller Mining said longer hours would enable them to use quieter electric equipment instead of noisy diesel.
OCTOBER Julie Binnersley age 15 of Bedford Close was crowned Sunday School Queen at Featherstone Methodist Church.
NOVEMBER Ackton Hall Colliery had a Bagnal Austerity Class locomontive which was built in 1944. The NCB bought it from the Ministry of Defence in 1965. It failed its steam test in 1977 and had remained ever since in the colliery sidings. Now it was to be transferred to the York Railway Museum as a static exhibit. Photo - The Express. Walter Tennant is in the foreground, and David Williams is on the engine.
A branch of the Bradford and Bingley Building Society together with insurance brokers D V Dixon and Co opened at 54 Station Lane.
The Poppy Day collection organised by the Royal British Legion raised £641.
The Featherstone and District Amateur Musical and Dramatic Society put on the pantomime Mother Goose at Castleford Civic Centre. The Express judged it a great success with all the children on the stage or in the aisles doing the actions to the Birdie Song. The Express photo shows Mother Goose (Margaret Mather) with Pamela Oxley and Julle Withe.
DECEMBER Eileen and George Clegg of Alexander Crescent couldn't afford a honeymoon when they got married in 1956 but they won one in a competition arranged by Featherstone High School. A clock was wound up and people were asked to guess how long it would be before it stopped. Mrs Clegg picked nine hours, five minutes and 50 seconds, a mere six seconds more than the correct time. They decided to take their prize of a weekend in London next month on their wedding anniversary.
A sponsored six hours dance by pupils of the Ken Akrill School of Dancing in Station Lane Precinct raised £152 52 to be split between the Hospital Comforts Fund and Ferndale OAP Home.
A clean up Featherstone campaign was planned by the Community Association which was concerned about mindless rubbish dumping. It aimed to involve the town's schools and make both pupils and parents more litter conscious. They said people seem to be tidying up their own patch and then dumping rubbish elsewhere.
Members of Featherstone and District Hospitals Comforts Fund together with Featherstone Gospel Hall and Castleford Male Voice Choir visited Ackton Hospital and sang carols for patients.
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