Ilkley news

Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore has explained his decision to vote against an amendment to the Environment Bill which would have legally compelled water companies to reduce their discharge of raw sewage into rivers and seas.

Ilkley resident Kate Rogers is taking on the challenge of running a half marathon every month for a year, to raise money for local charity Carers’ Resource.

Ilkley Choral Society is delighted to welcome back friends and supporters of the Society at its first concert in 18 months on 13 November at St Margaret’s Church in Ilkley.

Climate Action Ilkley is to host an online talk next week by Australian researcher Dr Kylie Harris where she will discuss her personal journey through crisis and mental illness to hope.

Inspector Khalid Khan, the man in charge of neighbourhood policing across Ilkley, Silsden, Keighley and the Worth Valley, has announced his retirement from West Yorkshire Police.

Ilkley’s very own vintage fair celebrates its eleventh event in the town with another day-long celebration of all things retro on Saturday 30 October.

Help is needed to raise extra funds to transform the third flowerbed outside the Station Plaza in Ilkley.

Bradford Council has issued a warning to people in Keighley and Ilkley that bonfire night shouldn't be used as an excuse to dump rubbish illegally.

Following last month’s successful public talk by Tim Benton, Climate Action Ilkley and the U3A will host Prof John Marsham at the Clarke Foley Centre on Thursday (21 October) to discuss 'What does climate change mean for the children of today?'

Rehearsals are under way for the next play at Ilkley Playhouse, All My Sons, which opens in the Wharfeside Theatre on Thursday, 4 November.

Having been thwarted last year owing to the pandemic, members of Girlguiding Wharfedale, and 1 unit from Bradford, took delight in walking on Rombalds Moor to offer support for Country File’s Ramble for Children in Need.

Robbie Moore has reacted to news of the death of the Southend West MP who was stabbed during a constituency surgery on Friday lunchtime.

Workshops at All Saints’ Church in Ilkley will offer an introduction to digital art next month.

A series of leaky barriers and earth bunds (earth formed into an embankment to form a flood barrier) are being built on Ilkley Moor, as the next steps in Backstone Beck Natural Flood Management Project start this week.

Grab your flares and get ready to sing and dance as the Ultimate 70s Show’s Big Christmas Bash comes to The King’s Hall, Ilkley on Friday 3 December.

Haworth's Bronte Society, the Ilkley Literature Festival and Keighley Creative are among the recipients of culture grants awarded by Bradford Council

The Rotary Club of Ilkley Wharfedale has once again held their annual Recycling Collection in the main car park in Ilkley on Saturday 2 October and wish to thank all those who participated.

People from across Keighey, Ilkley and the wider Bradford district are coming together for Hate Crime Awareness Week to help make the area more tolerant.

The doors have now closed on the Ilkley Lockdown Quilt exhibition at Ilkley Manor House, the community project that had created 126 personal and unique reflections of the first lockdown in 2020.

Ilkley, Haworth and Keighley could be part of Bradford's potential City of Culture status in 2025 as the bid has moved onto the next stage of the process.

Ilkley and Keighley are to benefit from an award of £1.28 million in Covid-19 grants to local Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).

A helicopter was busy on Ilkley moor last week ferrying stone and wood materials for the construction of more leaky mini-dams on the Backstone beck area.

When Ilkley and District Good Neighbours received an award of £1000 in National Lottery funding last year to support its work with older people it planned to spend the money on its annual scenic excursions to the Dales.

Friends of Ilkley Riverside Parks held their first Annual General Meeting as a Registered Charity and reflected on their progress since the group’s inception in the summer of 2018 and were praised for their work by the Ilkley Mayor and the local MP.

William Ilkley is to premiere his One Man Show, Alexa, Cry Me A Dance, at Ilkley Playhouse on 26 and 27 November.

Delayed by a year, the 7th annual Jigsaw Festival will take place at Christchurch on The Grove in Ilkley later this month.

Engagebdc.com is a new website launched by Bradford district and Craven NHS to better engage with local people. The website is a place for anyone living in the area to sign up to and interactive with.

At the start of Recycle Week, Bradford Council is sending teams out on to the streets to remind us how to recycle more and help reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

More than 30 Bradford manufacturers have registered for this year’s Bradford Manufacturing Weeks initiative, despite the continued constraints of Covid-19.

Airedale NHS Foundation Trust is inviting people to attend its Annual Members’ Meeting and Annual General Meeting on Friday 24 September, 1.30pm to 3.15pm.

After a year’s absence due to Covid Ilkley & District u3a held its autumn Meet the Leaders event last Saturday.

Tickets have gone on sale for discodom’s Glitter Ball at The King’s Hall and Winter Garden in Ilkley on Friday 29 October in aid of Sue Ryder Wheatfield Hospice.

Ilkley Playhouse's next play is Flamingoland written by Deborah McAndrew, the story of four women who can’t talk about their feelings.

Pioneering women in literature are to be celebrated at the Ilkley Literature Festival this October.

This year’s committee for the Ilkley Business Awards have announced outline plans for the next event which will take place on 18th March 2022.

Ilkley Clean River Group and the Ilkley Great Get Together put on a post lockdown River Celebration and Community Picnic on Sunday in East Holmes Field.

Families with 4 and 5 year olds starting school for the first time this month can borrow a special pack from Keighley or Ilkley library to help them get settled.

Ilkley resident Antony Butcher is doing a marathon in 24 hours to raise money to support people with Multiple Sclerosis.

The Friends of Ilkley Moor volunteers have been working hard, improving the steps at the top of Heber’s’ Ghyll.

The team behind the Ilkley Scare Trails have announced they are joining forces with The Otley Zombie Apocalypse to create The Leeds Scare Trails!

Ilkley Choral Society will start rehearsing again next month.

Ilkley Community Transport’s distinctive blue buses, which were parked up during lockdown, are back on the road again and have issued an appeal for volunteers to help with the popular service for local residents.

Ed Balls, Bernadine Evaristo, Gyles Brandreth, Susie Dent, Sarfraz Manzoor, Jackie Kay and Anita Rani feature at the Ilkley Literature Festival.

From last Saturday, All Saints Church in Ilkley has reopened its doors to visitors.

A new support service launched this week will benefit people recovering from Covid-19 across the Bradford district and Craven.

Yorkshire Water is planning an innovative smart wastewater network pilot in Ilkley, which will better inform a systematic approach to the management of Yorkshire’s wastewater.

Former British Olympic racing cyclist Dudley Hayton is teaming up with a local businessman next week to raise money to help underprivileged children.

A Climate Action Ilkley project to stop the ongoing decline in the local swift population in both Ilkley and Addingham is making good progress.

The Ilkley Playhouse Autumn season begins with Agatha Christie’s thriller The Hollow from 4 September and will see a return to full audiences.

Over the Bank Holiday weekend, Ilkley Playhouse will be presenting Bard in the Yard incorporating two half-hour Shakespeare plays in one performance.

Ilkley Talking Newspaper is hoping to recruit more volunteer technicians to help deliver the vital regular service to its customers who really value their weekly CD delivery of local news.

Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club’s Boys U18 Premier Team were crowned National League winners this month at the National Tennis Centre, in Roehampton London.

After months of discussions and work, Ilkley District Councillor Kyle Green is thrilled to see a new path between Ashlands Primary School and Backstone Way being built.

The Ilkley Manor House Trust are delighted to announce that the Ilkley Lockdown Quilt exhibition opened on 24 July 2021 in the upstairs gallery at the Manor House in Ilkley.

Young people aged 12 to 17 are being invited to consider joining the local branch of the RAF Air Cadets.

It’s sixty years since the Manor House Museum opened in Ilkley and a number of events will celebrate the anniversary.

Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore is staging a summer tour around the constituency and holding 18 surgeries to meet local residents.

West Yorkshire Police say a 25 year old man from Keighley has died in a road crash on the Moor Road between the Cow and Calf and Burley Woodhead.

Ilkley came alive on Sunday 11 July with the return of the Ilkley Half Marathon, organised by Ilkley and District Round Table, after a one-year hiatus due to Covid-19.

Neighbourhood plans in the Aire Valley and Worth Valley have been adopted by Bradford Council, while draft plans have just been submitted for Ilkley and Oxenhope.

On Friday 23rd July, the second round of British Cycling’s HSBC UK National Circuit Series will be coming to the streets of Ilkley.

Bradford Council is appealing to mountain bike enthusiasts to stick to appropriate routes, tracks and dedicated areas for their bikes.

Award-winning Ilkley chef, Matt Broadley, is taking over the kitchen of the The Craven Heifer in Addingham and bringing his own take on home-made, traditional ‘pub grub’.

The Ilkley BID Board of Directors welcomes Geraldine Thompson as the BID Manager, who takes over the role from Felicity Gains.

Three aspiring writers who host a podcast are hoping to create the 'greatest story ever written in the history of the whole world ever' when they appear at a live event next month.

Taken into safe keeping in 2015 by Bradford Council the artefacts that were on display in the heritage space of Ilkley Manor House are at last being returned.

Moving on from online Zoom events, Ilkley & District u3a is inviting members to join in the Summer Programme fun this year for some socially distanced walks and talks.

People in Bradford district and Craven are invited to hear about the progress and plans of their local NHS at an annual general meeting (AGM).

Local daredevils are invited to take on a thrilling zip wire ride over Ilkley Moor this summer to raise vital funds for Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice in Oxenhope.

Improving Ilkley is a charitable trust that has been set up with its main aim is to improve areas of Ilkley that are in need of attention by securing funding through council and public donations.

The Manor House is holding an anniversary exhibition to look back over the 60 years of the Manor House being a museum and art gallery.

Ilkley Literature Festival are delighted to announce the Forward Prize-winning poet Ian Duhig as the festival’s 2021 Poet in Residence.

During June The Friends of Ilkley Moor provided opportunities for the local community to learn about and help conserve the heritage of Ilkley Moor.

The Ilkley Manor House Trust is joining forces with Ilkley Literature Festival, Ilkley Playhouse and a range of local organisations to produce a programme of events for Summer in the Courtyard.

Ilkley Clean River Group welcomed the Ofwat Chair Jonson Cox, and CEO David Black for a visit to Ilkley to secure the town's ambition to clean up the Wharfe at Ilkley.

When the country first locked down in March 2020, for one local resident it meant that plans for a charity bike ride across America had to be put on the back burner.

A new parents ‘collective’ has set a target of raising £25k to help overhaul one of Ilkley’s best loved family facilities.

The winners have been announced for the Spring section of The Friends Of Ilkley Riverside Parks Photographic competition.

Ilkley Manor House will be opening inside to visitors again from Saturday 3 July.

Members of the Friends of Wharfedale Greenway heard about the progress that has been made in planning the Wharfedale Greenway over the last year at their first general meeting recently.

When the first lockdown happened, Ilkley Manor House Trust felt it was important to capture some of the memories and experiences for the town as part of its social history.

Ilkley resident Anne Longfield - plus scout leader Ronnie Pickles and magistrate Margaret Smith from Keighley - have been recognised in the latest Honours List.

Ilkley’s historic hotel the Craiglands is re-opening its doors with a new team, a luxury new spa and a refurbished 700-capacity ballroom following a £2.2million investment.

Due to Covid the normal huge biennial Skipton International Puppet Festival cannot happen this year, instead the organisers have programmed a series of puppet events for the second weekend of every month from June to November.

In its 21st year, the Ilkley Bandstand Charity have announced live music will return to the bandstand on The Grove from 4 July as long as Covid restrictions allow.

The Ilkley Half Marathon, organised by Ilkley and District Round Table, takes place on Sunday 11 July 2021 and aims to generate more than £40,000 for good causes in the local area.

Awarding-winning Ilkley author, Alan Reynolds, has released his new riveting novel that will give readers a powerful insight into what life was like in the days leading up to the First World War.

Ilkley Literature Festival organisers are planning a return to live events this October, alongside a programme of pre-recorded and live-streamed digital author talks - this will be the first hybrid festival.

The monthly Real Food Ilkley market is back on The Grove this Sunday (6 June) between 10am and 3pm.

At its Annual Meeting on Monday May 24th, Ilkley Town Council re-elected Councillor Mark Stidworthy as Ilkley Town Mayor (and Chair of the Council), and Councillor Ros Brown as Deputy Mayor (Vice-Chair) for the year 2021 to 2022.

Volunteers are a vital part of the Ilkley Manor House Trust team, and the Trust is delighted to announce that they have been awarded the ‘People Can’ volunteering quality mark by Volunteering Bradford - a great way to celebrate national Volunteers Week, 1-7 June 2021.

West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service is launching an appeal to recruit on-call firefighters to support rural communities in Ilkley, Otley and Silsden.

Wharfe Walkers Patrick Godden and Jack Hanson returned to Ilkley on Thursday having walked from the source of the River Wharfe in North Yorkshire to London to raise awareness and funds for Clean River Campaigns.

An event's taking place next month to help local businesses in Keighley and Ilkley better understand the government's Kickstart Scheme, which supports young people into work.

With summer, improved weather and visitor numbers fast approaching a trial scheme to manage litter better has been introduced in Ilkley Riverside East Holmes Field.

A former Ilkley resident is set to open a new specialist outdoor and bike store in the town he grew up in.

93 year old Betty Spensley was guest of honour at The Fleece in Addingham this week, which has reopened with her grandson as its new Head Chef.

The Football Association has confirmed that Ilkley Town AFC will play in the North West Counties Division One North next season.

Patrick Godden and Jack Hanson are walking to Westminster as part of fundraising for the Ilkley Clean River Campaign.

As restrictions ease and events can resume, a revamped theatre space comes to Ghyll Royd School and Pre-School in Burley-in-Wharfedale, a fundraising effort over four years in the making.

Applications are now open for Ilkley Literature Festival’s annual poetry competition and festival Fringe events and they are inviting local poets and artists to get involved.

New signs at Ilkley Riverside Memorial Gardens were delayed due to the pandemic, but have now been installed.

The highly anticipated Ilkley Half Marathon, organised by Ilkley and District Round Table, is set to be the largest sporting event in Yorkshire since 2019 when 2,000 runners take on the course on 11th July 2021.

Co-op stores across Ilkley, Adddingham, Silsden, Steeton, Cross Hills and Riddlesden are inviting local groups to apply for their Community Fund.

The Friends of Ilkley Riverside Parks (FOIRP) are pleased to announce the planned works around the Memorial area in Riverside Gardens have now been completed.

The NHS in Bradford District and Craven is urging people aged 16 and over who provide vital care and support for others to come forward for their vaccination.

Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore and his counterpart in Shipley are to meet with government ministers to discuss a plan to remove the areas from Bradford Council control.

Ilkley Camera Club’s Jack Sedgewick wins young photographer prize in national photo competition.

Bradford Council is considering implementing a ‘Public Space Protection Order’ at Ilkley Riverside to help reduce the anti-social behaviour by a minority of visitors.

Climate Action Ilkley is putting together a design brief to redevelop the land in front of the Playhouse between Castle Rd and the river. 

Positive news for families requesting primary school places for September across the Aire and Wharfe Valleys.

Indoor swimming pools and gyms can reopen from Monday with stage 2 of the roadmap out of lockdown.

Friends of Ilkley Riverside Parks are partnering with The 2 Minute Foundation, a registered charity dedicated to encouraging people to do a small amount of litter picking when they are out walking.

Following the easing of lockdown restrictions, Friends of Ilkley Riverside Parks are back and have started work on new memorial flowerbeds.

A new group has been formed to support the planned Wharfedale Greenway, a planned route for walkers, cyclists and horse riders that will link towns along the River Wharfe in West Yorkshire.

Police are appealing for witnesses following a robbery in Ilkley last week.

The Friends of Ilkley Moor Litter Pickers Group are celebrating the arrival of their new, superior litter picking equipment, bought through a grant from Bradford Council.

Ilkley has been named the best place to live in the North and Northeast of England by The Sunday Times.

A virtual meeting to update residents in Ilkley on the progress of a partnership created to improve ecological status of the River Wharfe will take place on 13 May, ahead of the start of the 2021 bathing season.