THE PLANNED move of Silsden Post Office could mean the end of a 110-year-long chapter in the history of the town’s postal services.

Silsden Local History Group has revealed details of the Kirkgate building’s history following the announcement of changes proposed for next spring.

The Post Office wants to move the office and its staff from the existing premises next to Silsden Beck, opened in 1907, to nearby Twiggs newsagents.

A public consultation is running until January 30 into proposals to expand to seven-day-a-week opening with double the current number of hours.

The launch of consultation prompted a volunteer member of Silsden Local History Group to delve into the archives.

She said: “It was in 1907 that postmaster William Driver found his ideal premises alongside the village beck in a corner shop newly converted by the friendly society, the Earl of Thanet Lodge. He moved in with two assistants and shared the space with a barber.

“London-born Mr Driver had arrived in Silsden in 1894 and initially had difficulty in finding a permanent location, with the post office moving between Wesley Place, St John's Street and a shop next to the town hall.

“Once installed at the Thanet Lodge shop, William Driver constantly updated his services and introduced the village's first telephone box alongside the post office in 1914.

“On his retirement in 1924, he was replaced by his assistant Miss Emily Wilkinson, following a petition by villagers who commended her ‘courtesy and obliging manners’.”

“The present postmaster Andrew Cathey is the third member of his family to run the business over a period of some 60 years, his father F William Cathey having arrived in Silsden in 1955 to succeed James Bunney.”

The History Group member points out that the story of the postal service in Silsden goes back much further than the opening of the Kirkgate premises.

She added: “Around the time that the first postage stamps were introduced in 1840, a man known simply as Old Sutcliffe ran the first and very rudimentary post office from his humble home in Bridge Street.

“He was followed by John Berry in Skipton Road and then by an experienced postmaster from Leeds, Thomas Driver, who opened up the first village centre post office at 54 Kirkgate where he and his daughter Elizabeth Hannah operated a new fangled telegraph service.”

The post office was open most days from 8am to 8pm plus two hours on Sunday, and there were two regular deliveries of mail each day.