Koukouli
Ioannina
Epirus
Greece
14th June 1994
The Editor
Ilkley Gazette
8 Wells Road
Ilkley
Dear Sir,
I am one of many people lucky enough to have been born ( 1945 )
and raised in Ilkley. My great uncle, Walter Drury was a friend
of Mr. & Mrs. Williamson, then in charge of opening up and
looking after White Wells. My earliest childhood memories are of
being taken by my uncle to see the 'Roman' baths there, with
their clear peat water, their green mossed stones, lions head
spouts, ferny crevasses and the twinkle of copper and silver
coins in the bottom. The two men would light up their respective
pipes, so the smell of pipe tobacco shrouds the memory of that
cool, damp, secret and ancient place.
Years passed, the last fifteen of which I have beeen living
abroad. On this, my first visit to Ilkley for a long while,
imagine my surprise to find that White Wells and the 'Roman'
baths, so intrinsic a part of Ilkley's history, is closed to the
public; unmanned, uncared for, vandalised and forsaken. Having so
looked forward to revisiting its atmosphere of childhood
enchantment I was severly disappointed, and seriously wonder how
any council body can allow such a thing to happen.
White Wells is a unique asset to Ilkley and an attraction to
visitors from all over the world, let alone those of us for whom
it is the focal point of the moors for which Ilkley is famous. Is
Bradford Metropolitan District Council so lacking in direct
interest in Ilkley, removed as it is from the City of Bradford,
that it condones this closure of our town's prime feature?
It cannot surely be impossible to find someone to take over the
duties Mr. & Mrs. Williamson carried out all those years ago.
And I cannot believe that Bradford, who have benefitted so
greatly from EEC funds in building up the city's appeal as a
tourist venue cannot find the funds to maintain Ilkley's existing
tourist attraction. It is a crime against the township at Ilkley
NOT to have White Wells open and I hope pressure can be brought
to bear on the powers that be to ensure its re-opening and
staffing.
I intend to send a copy of this letter to Mr D. Jackson in The
Countryside Division of Bradford Metropolitan Council.
Yours sincerely,
Ainley Brownhill
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