HOT refreshments are being prepared at the side of Redcar Tarn during an era when winters tended to be severe and the tarn was described as a “skating Mecca”.
A Keighley Skating Club, founded in 1865, had transformed what had been a mud-bath for cattle into a seven-acre sheet of water, the popularity of which is suggested by the slogan “Tobacco and Refreshments” on the building in the background.
In 1929, with ice inches thick, skating was possible during most of January, attracting visitors from far and wide. Many skated after nightfall by the light of motor-car headlamps. A special bus service plied between the town and the tarn at weekends, carrying, on the last Saturday of the month, a total of a thousand passengers.
In February the weather turned colder than ever, with skating possible even on the River Aire. Even when the ice deteriorated in March, the fire brigade flooded the tarn to produce a better surface for skaters!
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