GEOFFREY Darby, who in this column last week recalled his time building home defences at Blackmoorfoot reservoir, set one nostalgic Linfitter thinking about his own memories of local defences against potential German bombing raids.

“In addition to the towers on the Meltham side which Geoffrey Darby helped to build, there was another pair on the Linthwaite/Colne Valley side which ensured that both of the two dams which contained the waters of the reservoir were protected from aircraft attempting to attack them,” said Ian Baxter, who was a child in the early 1940s.

“Construction of these towers attracted considerable local interest and could be seen from my bedroom window in the Linthwaite Clough.

“I can remember seeing a carriage travelling along the catenary wire from which the down-wires with concrete blocks at the bottom were being fixed.

“I am not sure how much was known about the smoke screen that protected the reservoir until it made its presence known in spectacular manner on Whit Monday, May 29, 1944.

“The afternoon had started well and the traditional Sunday school sports were in progress until heavy rainfall sent us scurrying into the school building for shelter.

“The rainfall became a cloudburst accompanied by thunder and lightening and somehow this set off the smoke pots at Blackmoorfoot.

“The clouds of black smoke rolling down the Clough could be seen from the windows of the Sunday school building, causing considerable anxiety, until it was realised that the reservoir was not under attack.

“This particular storm will be well documented in relation to other parts of the district as it was responsible for the second Holmfirth flood.”

DAVE Worsnip is originally from Rochdale, where one set of his grandparents came to live from Holmfirth later in their lives.

Now of Market Harborough, Leicestershire, Dave sets local history enthusiasts a poser on a mysterious property in Holmfirth.

He’s researching his family history and has got so far as to discover that the grandparents were married in December, 1925 in Huddersfield, though both were living at the time at the same address in Holmbridge.

“On their marriage certificate, their residence is given as ‘Prospect (something),” said Dave.

“The word looks like ‘Canteen’, or ‘Centre’, which doesn't make sense.

“At the time, my grandparents seem to have both been working in domestic service, and this makes me think they were working at a private residence in Holmbridge, with the prefix ‘Prospect’.

“My grandad's surname was Milligan and my gran's maiden name was Burrows.

“If any of your readers can shed any light on this address, I can be contacted via e-mail on worsnip9gg@btinternet.com ”