From the Courier archives

years ago

to turn a former furniture store and adjoining nightclub into an eight-storey hotel have been turned down. The scheme involved converting the former Harrison Gibson’s store and Cats Bar in Silver Street into a hotel with an eight-storey extension. Planners said the building would be too tall and out of keeping with the character of the town centre.

Mary’s Church, Illingworth, Halifax, is facing permanent closure because a cash shortage means vital repairs cannot be undertaken. The roof of the grade 2-listed building, built in 1777, is in a poor state and the church has been temporarily closed pending a final decision. Members are attending Illingworth Moor Methodist Church. years ago

action is to be taken against a fruit and vegetable supplier who sold substandard food to Calderdale schools and homes for the elderly. A survey has shown that nearly half the fruit and vegetables supplied failed to make the grade. One in 10 deliveries was rotten and many washed potatoes were only fit for stock feed, according to trading standards officers.

A block of high- rise flats which has stood empty for nearly 10 years has been branded an eyesore. Crag Court at Jumples, Halifax, is 16 storeys high and has 96 flats but has housed no one since it was emptied by Calderdale Council in 1980. Now, after a decade of vandalism and neglect, people living nearby say they are fed of living near the deserted flats. years ago year 1964 was a black one for fires in the Hebden Bridge area. Four factory fires caused damage totalling £150,000. The biggest and most spectacular was at Calder Mill. The others were at Crossley Mill, at the Albion Works of H Pickles and Sons, and a small clothing factory at Eaves House, Heptonstall. In all there were 26 fires with a total damage of over £400,000.

Corporation is to a look at a German plan to give flat dwellers garden plots of their own. The scheme has come from Halifax’s German twin town, Aachen, where allotment gardens of 360 square yards are provided by the local authority, complete with roads,pathways and fences. Facilities such as a communal hall are provided by the plotholders themselves.