SHY BACHELORS OF BINGLEY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17345, 18 July 1924, Page 8

SHY BACHELORS OF BINGLEY.

TOWN OF OLD MAIDS. LONDON, June 4. In Bingloy. a little Yorkshire town the young women, though otherwise comely, wear an anxious and expectant look. Gathered in little groups along Moirstreet they eye hungrily, almost resentfully, the passing of each unescorted male. The reason for this is the prevailing famine which threatens this fair spot a famine, not of food, but of husbands ! According to figures quoted from the census by Dr H. Angus, medical officer of health, there are not only in Bingley, as elsewhere, many more women than men. but there is an excess of 2000 single women over tho number of single men. In a town the total population or which is less than 19,000. this state of affairs is really alarming—for the single women. The disproportion between the sexes is, in sober fact, believed to be the highest i* l the country, and it is getting worse. In the ten years between 1911 and 1921 there was an actual reduction in the number of' males, and the females increased in a greater proportion than in the previous decade. The life of the town is seriously affected. Jewellers complain that they can’t sell their wedding rings, and the confetti trade is a dying industry. What particularly exasperates the Bingley girls is the callous neglect by the men of the town’s natural advant- ° Bingley is set in a hollow of tlu Yorkshire hills, with woods providing scores of secluded leafy walks on every side. NEGLECTED LOVERS’ LANES. 1\ hat is the use of all these quiet lanes,' ; said a pretty mill girl, “when v. e have no one to take us along them? W hero is the fun in a couple of girls going for a walk in the woods? “Every Saturday afternoon it is the same. The men rush off to Bradford to a football or cricket match, leaving It is very unfair ’ Resentment lias been increased b' - a recent incident. At the parish church last Sunday the banns were read of a local young man. Imagine the wrath of the feminine partv when they heard the name of the bride’s parish. It was Brixham. in Devonshire. Only respect for the sacred building prevented a protest being made on the spot and an indignation meeting may lie held at an early date. The customary excuses were made by the men I have met. They lalk about the shortage of houses «ind the slack ness of the trade. One, bolder or more cynical, said frankly that he is too busy enjoying himself to think of marriage A serious reason for the shortage of men in Bingley is the fact that the textile trade, whicli is the staple industry, employs nearly 1000 more women than men.