Sowerby Bridge, Wharfe Street c1955

Doodlebug

I lived in Norland for just over 50 years and remember the war years quite well, and the night the doodlebug came over and came down on a farm in Sowerby. We had a few army places including the glasshouse on Walton Street in Sowerby Bridge, we used to watch the prisoners getting drilled up and down the parade ground and the sergeant screaming at them. I also remember the railway that went up the Ryburn valley as far as Rishworth, carrying mainly coal and livestock, and I knew one of the contribitors on this site (Monica Sekulka ,and also her mum and dad). We had some happy times, things for a lot of people were bad but we always had plenty of food on the table as there was a lot of blackmarket dealing going on and I think my dad was in the middle of some of the action. Keith Marsden.

70s Triangle

Growing up in Triangle in the 70s, I was the middle child of three children. My dad was Ian Whippey and my grandparents were Arthur and Lillian Whippey. We lived at 18 Rochdale Road, opposite the Triangle Inn, then run by the Collett family.

I remember the harsh winters with snow drifts and also the hot summer afternoons. Sunday afternoons was a treat as Grandad took my brother Mark and I over to the pub for coca cola and crisps all round!!!

Our Uncle Colin was a great cricketer so we would often watch him play at the cricket club or play in the woods at the back of the club.  Mark would go off with his friend chan and play at the river. I also remember at the time that John Madden, Tracie Whippey and Colin Gledhill were also cricketers too.

Triangle School was a stone's throw from our house and Mrs Reynolds was my teacher back then, and Phillippa Jack was my best friend.

I remember the chippy and the Sunday walks up to Millbank (even in the winter).

Back then it was a very tight knit community. It feels a shame that over the years, people have overtaken from as far afield as London. Still, it will always remain my favourite place.

Triangle in the 50s

My name is Monica Sekulka, I lived at Oaken Royd, Triangle, on the Norland side of the valley. Our house was one of 8, back to back - which the local council decided to demolish in their haste for modernity sometime in the 70s. We moved to Dodge Royd Farm, just a couple of hundred yards from Oaken Royd in the 60s. I remember walking to Triangle primary school over the old bridge by Rough Hey Woods and I have a memory very early in the 50s of steam trains passing through - all I could see was the smoke from the engines - a ghostly mist through the trees. There used to be a railroad station at Triangle, which once the railway ceased became the local boyscouts meeting place - it was finally destroyed by arson - pity. I remember the old co-op, that's where we did our shopping, I even remember the police station - with its blue light. I remember the old pub - my dad, Bruno Sekulka was a member of the local rabbit club, and shows were held upstairs in the pub - people showing their rabbits, pigeons and hens. I remember the old mill which had a hostel for its young women workers - and I remember the men waiting outside the hostel trying to get dates with the hostel girls. The guys tried to look like Elvis with their hairstyles. I remember the cricket club - I'd sit in the woods overlooking the ground and watch the matches on warm days. I remember the demolition of the old houses besides the co-op - yes they were old - but sometimes our history is destroyed by those rushing towards modernity.