posted on Dec, 12 2009 @ 05:14 AM
Hello, i have just joined because i found a thread relating to RAF oxenhope on your site and was interested to read all the posts. My interest stems
mainly from the fact that i live in Oxenhope, less than a mile from the site of the airstrip. The airstrip definately exists and is not a secret as
amateur pilots use it for training sessions, i know nothing about the buildings recently pulled down and rumour is that there are underground tunnels
up there, and that is all it is, rumour, until proved otherwise. However i have been aware of some rather unusual activities in the area over the
years, two of which are worthy of a mention. Late one evening after a family get together one of my sons and i went for a stroll to burn off the large
meal we had eaten and after a mile or so of deep conversation and fairly aimless walking over the fields near the resevoir came to a stop at a
farmer's gate on a narrow tarmac road. It was about eleven at night and fully moonlit so we could see very clearly over the tops and were leaning
against the gate chatting when a black Range Rover sport drove slowly up the road without any lights on and stopped next to us. Our first thought was
'drug dealers' and even though im well built and my son is over six foot and well built we both felt concerned for our immediate safety ( remember
that oxenhope is a very quiet, small village far enough away from the city for drug dealing to be unheard of, but i work in the city of Bradford and
recognise drug dealers when i see them) in this case however when the window descended we could clearly see two men in black military style jumpers
(ribbed wool with shoulder and elbow patches) and black or dark blue body armour vests . Both had short hair and had a definate look of trained men.
the driver asked why we were up there and i said 'we live in the village and just came out for a walk' he then asked me to name the church and the
pub on Hebden Bridge road. I obviously gave the correct answer. During the conversation the passenger stared straight forward and didnt speak. The
driver asked that we make our way home now as we were on private land. I apologised having not realised that we had wandered onto private land and we
set off back across the fields. When we climbed over the stone wall back onto the road near our house the range rover was sat further up the road ,
lights off and engine running. As soon as we entered the house my son ran up the front bedroom and without switching a light on looked up the road to
see what they did, but the range rover had driven away. The second incident was when myself and my wife were ruturning from a friends house in Harden
which is a village about four miles away from Oxenhope at about 1 a.m. The quickest way to my house from Harden is over the tops (uninhabited
moorland) we were slowed down when we became stuck behind three black Range Rovers travelling in convoy at a steady forty odd miles an hour which is
the speed you would expect visitors unfamiliar with the area to drive at as it is an unlit, winding, bumpy road with dry stone walls on either side,
but as a local i can do the road at a steady sixty so was frustrated by these vehicles ahead of me. They did however turn off left down the resevoir
road and as i passed them remember thinking that it was a tad strange. I realise i may well have witnessed an early morning Range Rover owners club
get together and the local farmer may well have a very efficient security company protecting his grass but i cant be sure.