Nostalgia: From the archives

In this week 30 years ago: Half the workforce of a Cleckheaton company were laid off after voting to work to rule.

The pay dispute at Mintex Limited, part of the BBA Group, escalated when members of the Transport and General Workers Union asked for a 12 per cent increase on the basic wage of £82, which would have brought the total to about £100. A representative of the workers said there was plenty of work to do but a company spokesman said there was an overtime ban because of the pay dispute.

A Batley home was investigated as part of a crackdown on dog fighting. It formed part of a wider group of the dawn raids by police and RSPCA officers. But there was no sign of the man or his pitbulls when police arrived. A relative said they knew nothing about it and that it had upset the family.

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Councillors in Mirfield won their fight to keep land next to a Northorpe mill in the green belt. A government inspector ruled against objections by cotton doublers Thornton, Kelley and Company Limited to the land next about their Spring Bank Mills premises being kept in the Heavy Woollen District Local Plan. The whole area had previously been green belt but the mill itself had been taken out of the zone.

In this week 50 years ago: A call was made to create playing areas for children to keep them safe from busy roads in Batley. Coun Harold Sheldon told the Batley Accident Prevention Sub-Committee that there needed to be specific areas in built-up parts of town. County councillor Donald Hall said two Batley women who lived in Mount Street had complained. He said: “They are both desperate about the situation and one them asked if the street could not be designated as a play area.”

A Heckmondwike shop in Lower Market Place was cleared out during a weekend burglary. Around 15,000 cigarettes, worth about £150, and 18 transistor radios, worth £225, were stolen from the shop. The theft was discovered by police on the Monday. Officers believed the thieves gained access by breaking the glass above a door in a roof.

The Mirfield Reporter received information than a cotton mill was to reopen as a plastics firm. The paper understood that negotiations were almost complete for a firm with branches across the country to acquire Britannia Mills in Station Road, Mirfield. But a spokesman for negotiating agents said: “I cannot give any details of the negotiations nor of the firm interested. The contract is not yet actually completed.”

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In this week 75 years ago: A call was made to create playing areas for children to keep them safe from busy roads in Batley. Coun Harold Sheldon told the Batley Accident Prevention Sub-Committee that there needed to be specific areas in built-up parts of town. County councillor Donald Hall said two Batley women who lived in Mount Street had complained. He said: “They are both desperate about the situation and one them asked if the street could not be designated as a play area.”

A Heckmondwike shop in Lower Market Place was cleared out during a weekend burglary. Around 15,000 cigarettes, worth about £150, and 18 transistor radios, worth £225, were stolen from the shop.

The theft was discovered by police on the Monday. Officers believed the thieves gained access by breaking the glass above a door in a roof.

The Mirfield Reporter received information than a cotton mill was to reopen as a plastics firm. The paper understood that negotiations were almost complete for a firm with branches across the country to acquire Britannia Mills in Station Road, Mirfield. But a spokesman for negotiating agents said: “I cannot give any details of the negotiations nor of the firm interested. The contract is not yet actually completed.”