THE Burley Bridge Association, which has been campaigning for a footbridge over the River Wharfe in the village since 1996, has announced that it has appointed a new President.
Following the recent resignation of long serving Janet Street-Porter due to moving home from Nidderdale, Colin Speakman, previously Vice-President, has agreed to assume the mantle.
Colin is a respected academic, author and broadcaster and Burley-in-Wharfedale resident. A co-creator of the Dales Way, now 50 years old and one of the most popular long distance paths in the country, Colin has written nearly 60 books, covering walking and history, transport guides, biographies, poems and fiction. He has recently been described in a new book by outdoor writer Roly Smith as one of 20 of Britain’s all-time “Walking Heroes”. His latest book is a biography of John Phillips, the influential C19th Yorkshire scientist who completed the first detailed geological surveys of the Yorkshire Coast and the Yorkshire Dales and who helped establish the British Association for the Advancement of Science.