The Ilkley Journal

21/11/2025

🎲 Keighley landmarks immortalised in charity Monopoly launch 🎲

Keighley has officially joined an exclusive club as the town launches its own limited-edition Monopoly board.

The game, a collaborative effort between Keighley Town Council and Bradford Council, will be available to snap up in person for the first time at the town’s Christmas lights switch-on tomorrow (Saturday 22 November).

Developed following extensive public consultation, the Keighley version of Monopoly replaces "traditional" London streets with local landmarks.

Iconic sites such as the Timothy Taylor brewery, Cliffe Castle and the town’s Cenotaph now feature.

A steering group, guided by resident suggestions, also customised the Chance and Community Chest cards to reflect local life, referencing community groups and municipal fines.

Keighley & Ilkley Labour councillor Caroline Firth, chair of the Keighley and Ilkley area committee and a member of the steering group, described the release as a "feel-good project" that highlights the town’s "cultural gems".

"We hope people enjoy playing it and that everyone is reminded how much there is to be proud of in our town," she said.

Proceeds from every board sold will aid Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice.

Retailing at £35.99, the game is also available through local firm PoundFun.

Dan Bates, the executive director of Bradford 2025, said: “A Keighley version of Monopoly is such a fun way to celebrate this amazing town and our year as UK City of Culture. Well done to everyone involved in making this a reality and celebrating all the amazing places in Keighley.”

21/11/2025

🎨 Ilkley Manor House to host The Colour of Dreams exhibition 🎨

A new group exhibition, The Colour of Dreams, will open at Ilkley Manor House this month, bringing together a vibrant collection of painters, makers, and textile artists.

Curated by Andreea Chitan, the exhibition explores the emotional and sensory impact of colour, looking at how artists use hue and texture to capture memory, mood, and meaning.

Running from 29 November to 14 December 2025, the show features a diverse selection of artists, including landscape painter Katharine Holmes, who shares her deep-rooted relationship with the Yorkshire Dales, and Kate Lycett, known for her gold-leafed townscapes.

In the Solar Gallery, textile artist Hannah Lamb expands the theme with the sculptural series [De]Constructed Cloth.

Chitan said: “The Colour of Dreams brings together artists who each, in their own way, use colour as a way of feeling — to trace memory, to build atmosphere, to invite a kind of quiet joy.”

A private viewing will be held on 28 November, 5.30pm–8pm.

20/11/2025

Labour councillor Caroline Firth reflects on the positive changes underway and on the horizon

20/11/2025

🎄 Locally grown Yorkshire fir trees arrive to spread Cheer 🎄

A huge consignment of locally grown Christmas trees has arrived at The Arium in Leeds, ready to bring festive cheer to homes across the region.

The council-owned garden centre has been selling trees grown at Stockeld Park in Wetherby, which cares for an impressive half a million trees annually, since 2018.

The most popular option available is the Nordmann Fir, famous for its symmetry.

The traditional Norway Spruce, popular in Victorian times, is also available.

You will be able to pick up a Christmas tree from Saturday 22 November.

George Grant, owner of Stockeld Park, said: “A massive amount of care goes into growing these trees."

Leeds City Council News
20 Nov 2025

It’s fir real: time to get your Yorkshire-grown Christmas tree

It’s fir real: time to get your Yorkshire-grown Christmas tree
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Thousands of Christmas trees locally grown in Yorkshire are waiting at The Arium ready to spread festive cheer to homes in Leeds.

All Christmas trees sold at the council-owned garden centre are grown at Stockeld Park in Wetherby, which cares for 500,000 trees each year.

The Arium have been selling Stockeld trees since 2018, making sure that people in Leeds have easy access to high-quality Christmas trees that are grown locally.

Most of the Christmas trees at Stockeld are Nordmann firs, the most popular option in the UK. Favoured for its straight central trunk and symmetry, the Nordmann’s needles stay on the branches for up to 20 years, longer than any other fir tree.

Stockeld also grow Norway spruce in smaller numbers, which was the traditional Victorian Christmas tree after it was introduced to England in 1841 by Prince Albert. Although it has reduced in popularity in recent years it is still loved by those wanting that signature festive Christmas scent.

After establishing themselves in the soil, a Christmas tree grows about a foot per year, with an average six-to-seven-foot tree being around 10 years old.

The Arium will be selling both Nordmann firs and Norway spruces from 22 November, alongside other Christmas plants like poinsettias and amaryllis, as well as Christmas decorations.

The Leeds City Council-run garden centre and plant nursery is the largest local authority nursery in the country. Most of the plants they sell are grown in the massive 19,000 square metre glasshouses on the premises, and the site provides flowers and plants to be displayed across Leeds.

Once the festive celebrations are over both St Gemma's and Sue Ryder hospices in Leeds offer their services to collect Christmas trees in early January, from selected postcodes.

Councillor Mohammed Rafique, executive member for climate, energy, environment and green space at Leeds City Council, added: “We want to make sure that the people of Leeds have easy access to high-quality trees grown right here in Yorkshire. The Arium sells all kinds of festive decorations, and at the same time lets people invest back into their city.”

18/11/2025

🎄 Festive lights switch-on to illuminate The Grove in Ilkley this weekend 🎄

The festive season officially arrives in this Saturday (November 22), as Ilkley Town Council officially lights up the town with its Christmas lights switch-on event.

Before all of that, The Grove will be transformed into a bustling Christmas market from 10 am, offering you the perfect chance to browse local crafts and begin your gift shopping while soaking up the atmosphere.

Live musical performances will also grace the bandstand throughout the day. But that's not all.

There will also be a lantern parade. Local families and schoolchildren, with the assistance of Cecil Green Arts, have created stunning lanterns that will cast a magical glow as they process along The Grove.

All families are welcome to join the illuminated procession, Ilkley Town Council said, adding that they should arrive at the Memorial Gardens at 4:20 pm for a start time of approximately 4:40 pm.

The main event – that's the highly anticipated lights switch-on is scheduled for 5 pm.

Ilkley’s Mayor and Town Crier will officially welcome Santa Claus (quite the scoop, we have to say), to light up Ilkley's Christmas lights for 2025.

Following the dazzling illumination, Father Christmas will then, of course, head straight to his grotto at Christchurch to meet excited children (and adults, of course) and hand out some treats.

The Grove will be closed to traffic from 7am and reopen between 6pm and 7pm.

18/11/2025

“The water quality was really good at Bolton Abbey, but at the end of the day’s walk we tested again after Ben Rhydding and the results were the worst possible score on the chart. For the water quality to deteriorate so quickly was shocking.”

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17/11/2025

It's a duckin' good life ... new feature in the works. Sign up below to get it first 🦆

14/11/2025

FYI …

👩🏼‍⚕️ Local hospitals prepare as resident doctors announce strike action 👨🏽‍⚕️

Local residents are being urged to use health services "wisely" as resident doctors (aka junior doctors) will take part in strikes that are set to run from 7am on Friday 14 November until 7am on Wednesday 19 November 2025.

The action will affect both Airedale Hospital NHSFT and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS FT, with core cover maintained by striking staff.

Non-striking consultants and SAS doctors will adapt their schedules to prioritise patient safety across both sites.

Hospital management anticipates that some elective care treatments and outpatient appointments may be postponed or rearranged.

Patients with existing appointments are advised to attend as normal unless they are explicitly contacted to reschedule.

Saj Azeb, chief operating officer at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, highlighted the strain on emergency services: “The industrial action will reduce the number of resident doctors we have in our hospitals, and this will have a particular impact on our emergency department."

Both trusts stress that 999 and A&E remain for life-threatening emergencies only. For less urgent needs, the public should utilise NHS 111 online as the first point of contact.

Leanne Cooper, chief operating officer at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our emergency departments are extremely busy and will be affected by the industrial action taking place, so it’s incredibly important that people only come to A&E if they are seriously unwell or injured.”

13/11/2025

We ask after it was revealed that Ilkley Town Council’s planning committee had agreed to object to replacing the dated and very neglected phone box on The Grove with a modern BT Street Hub.

Answer below or complete the poll in our story.

12/11/2025

🏠 Leeds' low-carbon heating pipeline to power net-zero city bid 🏠

is gearing up for a significant expansion of its award-winning low-carbon heating system, Leeds PIPES, as part of a bold push to become the UK’s first " and nature positive city."

Senior city are set to meet on Wednesday 19 November to review the progress of the district heating network and approve its next crucial phase.

The system, already recognised as the fastest-growing of its kind nationally, currently supplies over 4,000 homes and 70 public and private buildings with affordable, greener heat recovered from the city’s non-recyclable domestic waste.

The planned expansion – construction began in July 2025, will see the network connect to new residential developments, including SOYO Leeds and a 300-apartment block on Flax Place, underpinning the city's growth with sustainable infrastructure.

Crucially, the council will consider renewing the Leeds District Heating Network Local Development Order 3 (LDO3), which is due to expire at the end of 2025.

Extending this simplified planning order until 2035 will eliminate the need for lengthy full planning applications for every new pipe route and building connection, ensuring the rapid continuation of the project.

Councillor Mohammed Rafique, executive member for climate, energy, environment and green spaces at Leeds City Council emphasised the urgency of the work.

He said: “Homes in the UK are some of the least energy efficient and most reliant on costly fossil fuel gas in Europe, and too many families in our city struggle to pay their . We are committed to helping households by making our homes greener and fit for the future.”

The ongoing investment in this network is considered a vital piece of the city's strategy to meet its ambitious climate goals.

12/11/2025

“Our natural world, like the planet earth, is one of our kind. Everything it consists of, from the complex, delicate and harmonious balance of animals, plants, rivers and trees to all the phenomenon that takes place beneath the thin kármán line, is exceptional. And not just in our solar system or the milky way or the local group of galaxies we belong to. In all the vastness of the universe, there is nothing like our natural world. We are all there is …”

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