A legendary bench has been returned to its rightful place in Silsden.

People say T'Old Man's Seat,' in Elliott Street, has been a popular village institution for more than a century - and to sit on it you had to bide your time and earn your right.

Graham Barclay Thompson, 66, of Elliott Street, who has always lived in Silsden, told how he spent his life ascending the bench "hierarchy" only for the seat to break when his turn finally came. Mr Thompson said: "To sit on that seat you had to book it. Only when you are an old man can you sit on it. I had thought to myself, when I retire I want to sit on that seat and watch Silsden go by'.

"But just as it was coming up to my retirement, the bench fell off its hinges."

For Mr Thompson, it was a race against time to see it replaced before his retirement.

He said: "I got on to the council straight away to find out when it was going to put another seat up. It said one should be coming in six weeks but it was over a year before the seat finally arrived.

"I think a lot of Silsdeners wanted it but I just pushed for it and pushed for it until it arrived. T' Old Man's Seat' has been called that for years because if you were an old man you used to sit on it and use it as a rest place between pubs and stuff like that. People used to say we'll meet you by T'Old Man's Seat'."

Mr Thompson, who is now retired, said he was very much looking forward to using the seat.

Silsden Town Council chairman Liz Trainor said she was relieved a new bench had now been erected, because of all the complaints she used to receive.

She said: "Since I became mayor everyone has been saying to me can we have the seat back?' I have been told it is also called Parliament Seat' because the old folks used to sit there and put the world to rights and discuss national events in the newspapers and things like that.

"Every few weeks and months people have been asking me when it will come back."