At first sight he's the lovable vicar who gave local children free rides down Dudwell Lane after school ("On horseback with the galloping vicar!", Nostalgia, September 25). But readers Robert Thackray and Andy Barker (click here) tell rather more sinister stories

Mr Thackray, of Tewit Gardens, Illingworth, Halifax, tells of one Desmond Clark, who was caretaker at Spring Hall Mansion in Huddersfield Road, Halifax, in the 1930s, when Rose Price was still at All Saints' and the old mansion was empty.

This was before its owners, the textile giant Patons and Baldwins, gave the hall and grounds to the people of Halifax in perpetuity.

It sems that Rose Price would "park" his horse at Spring Hall without permission and an irritated Clarkson – described by Robert Thackery as "a rough and ready chap" – would turn the horse out on to Huddersfield Road, which, thankfully would carry a lot less traffic than today.

But this so angered the vicar that he told Clarkson: "If you turn the horse out on to the street again I'll horsewhip you."

Upon which "rough and ready" Clarkson invited Rose Price into the mansion and gave him "a good thumping".

Whether charges were ever brought is not recorded, but it does seem that the vicar of All Saints' was a bit of an oddball, to put it mildly.

Another reader, Brian Crawford, in Nostalgia on September 25, alleged that Rose Price had been banned for riding on Savile Park after an incident in which he picked up a little girl by the belt of her raincoat, an act which would have appeared scandalous today.

Mr Thackray also says that he used to race about the moor on his horse, charging at children playing, presumably for the fun of it.

• Share your memories with other Courier readers. Write to Nostalgia, Evening Courier, PO Box 19, King Cross Street, Halifax, HX1 2SF, phone 01422 260208 or e-mail david.hanson@halifaxcourier.co.uk