On this day in Yorkshire 1936

The fate of Queen Victoria’s statue in Leeds has been determined.

The Parks and Allotments Committee yesterday decided (subject to the Council’s confirmation) that the statue be removed from its present position in front of the Town Hall and placed behind the cannons Woodhouse Moor, not far from the old Police Station.

A suggestion that the fountain in the middle of the Moor should be pulled down and the Queen’s statue established in its stead was rejected.

Two other statues now standing in Victoria Square will also find a home on the Moor.

One of them will guard the Leeds Grammar School entrance to the Moor, and the other will settle on the opposite side of the Moor near Hyde Park corner.

Draughts in the Parks

Open-air draughts are likely to be played in Leeds soon.

The Committee were favourably disposed to the suggestion that four of these large scale boards should laid out in city parks, in the belief that they would prove particularly popular with park veterans.

The game is played on large-scale chequered squares with draughts, eight inches in diameter. Canes with hooked ends are used move the pieces.

It is understood that the laying out of one “board“ with the provision of pieces and cane would cost £8 all told.

In Sheffield the game has met with considerable popularity. A sub-committee were appointed to go into the question further and to consider in which parks the games should be tried.

The Committee discussed the new municipal crematorium and cemetery at Cottingley Hall whlich is to cost £lO,8OO, and decided that it should be known as the Cottingley Hall Crematorium.

A sub-committee were formed to go into the questions of the opening date and the scale of charges.

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