Archive

  • Heritage you want to save

    TEN days ago, York conservationist Alison Sinclair put forward the case for a "local list" of important buildings. There are, she argued, many important buildings in York which do not meet the stringent criteria necessary to be given a national statutory

  • Street's rise from rubble

    ST Andrewgate is now a sought-after address in the shadow of York Minster. One of its most unusual addresses is number St Andrewgate, a residential development by local architect Tom Adams. But the street has undergone enormous changes, particularly since

  • Waterways were a vital lifeline for businesses in city

    YORK'S riverside may be occupied by trendy bars and exclusive apartments after years of redevelopment, but the buildings are still recognisable in these pictures from the city's more industrial past. For hundreds of years, the Ouse has been the city's

  • Aldwark down memory lane

    THE transformation of the Aldwark area of York was at the heart of Lord Esher's vision for the city when he wrote his famous report, published in 1968. Lord Esher saw a future where industrial buildings could be taken out of the city and people brought

  • Man who hunted the dead dodo

    THE dodo may be dead - so dead, in fact, as to have become the stuff of proverb - but at least the unfortunate flightless bird is not forgotten. And for that, we may have the son of a North Yorkshire clergyman to thank. Harry Pasley Higginson was a true

  • Lighting-up time

    A GRAND dame by day, a sultry beauty by night - York displays her bejewelled finery after dark. The nightscape transforms the city as street lamps or floodlights lend an even greater grandeur to the historic buildings. A time exposure eradicates the traffic

  • Taking the wind out of its sails

    ONCE York had 20 windmills, but only one survives. Holgate Mill was built in 1792, on the site of a 15th century mill, and now stands in the middle of a roundabout at the top of Windmill Rise. The photograph shows it, then known as Acomb Windmill, as

  • Classic day at York races

    ROYAL Ascot at York is a one-off, a first, unprecedented. One of the biggest meetings of the racing year is to be shifted North. Up to 60,000 racegoers from around the country are expected at Knavesmire each day during the 2005 festival. The city will

  • A real basinful of change on Foss

    THIS week's Yesterday Once More comes from one of York's busiest areas around the River Foss. The picture, from 1956, shows the dredger, Reklaw, gliding slowly under Layerthorpe Bridge. The barge was later converted into a pleasure craft for disabled

  • Terry's redundancy deal agreed

    REDUNDANCY terms - "significantly better than the statutory minimum" - have been agreed for more than 300 Terry's workers facing the axe. Employees' hopes of finding alternative work when the chocolate factory shuts next year have been boosted by news

  • 20 things you never knew about Ryedale

    1. Religious hermits were the original residents of Ryedale's most remote outposts. Edmund was first at Farndale, Osmund at Goathland and the Saintly Godric in Eskdale 2.The earliest hospital outside York in the area was formed at Goathland in 1119 when

  • What can we do with Terry's old factory?

    COUNCIL bosses are drawing up a blueprint for the redevelopment of the Terry's factory, following its closure next year. They say a single, comprehensive vision is needed, creating a distinctive campus or village style. They outline several possible uses

  • Future for York after Terry's goes

    The fight to save Terry's is over. So what can we do to make sure other big multi-nationals don't cut and run in the same way; and how can York continue to compete in the global jobs market? STEPHEN LEWIS reports. SO now we know. Two hundred years of

  • A spiky old topic

    A FEW centuries back, anyone looking up at the grandeur of Micklegate Bar may have found a pair of lifeless eyes staring back at them. For the main gateway into the city once served as a gruesome gallery for the severed heads of traitors. It was a very

  • Council seeks a new employer for site

    CITY of York Council said today it wants more jobs to be created on the Terry's site than are currently employed there. Chief executive David Atkinson said today's news came as a "huge disappointment" for the city. "We are determined to provide every

  • Women at war: Hilda's story

    THE Women's Voluntary Service began before the last war, and is still going strong today. As fears of an impending war grew closer, Home Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare invited Lady Reading to develop an organisation for the recruitment and training of women

  • This really is the end

    ALL hope has gone; Terry's will close. Soon the factory will become another icon of York's past, part of the tourist trail, a nostalgic reminder of a time when the city used to make things. Terry's will live on in name only. For 200 years that name stood

  • The day war nearly broke out

    York historian PETER KIRTON recalls a nerve-racking time as a soldier in post-war Berlin. THE story behind a major incident that happened over 50 years ago has just been fully explained, courtesy of the regimental magazine of the Light Infantry, The Silver

  • Terry's jobs fight is over

    THE battle to save Terry's for York is over. Parent company Kraft Foods today confirmed it was pressing ahead with the closure of the famous chocolate factory and transfer of production abroad, with the loss of 316 jobs. The announcement came after the

  • Scarborough's 'secret' gems

    THE seaside's not just for summer. Few would make Scarborough their first choice January destination, but you don't need to brave the beach to enjoy a day out in the town. There is plenty of interest in the ancient streets to warm the cockles of any history

  • Time runs out for Terry's

    Mike Laycock reflects on the Evening Press campaign to save Terry's following today's confirmation that the chocolate factory will close. IT was always going to be one of this paper's most difficult campaigns. When Kraft Foods said on April 19 that Terry's

  • Forgotten Flora, York's own hero

    Until BBC war correspondent Kate Adie published her latest book, the name of Flora Sandes had been virtually forgotten. Yet hers is a remarkable tale of a York woman who ignored convention to fight at the front line. WAR heroes such as Flora Sandes are

  • Birth stories at Fulford

    IT was one of York's most unprepossessing buildings. But, for countless residents, it was the first place they ever saw. Many mums will have happy memories of Fulford Maternity Hospital. It closed down 20 years ago this month and with it went a chunk

  • Farmer Don shares his old treasures

    IT was a fair way to travel, but when it comes to checking out potential Christmas presents for the history buff in your life, Yesterday Once More will not stint. We journeyed to the edge of Sherburn-in-Elmet to meet Don Bramley, whose family have farmed

  • A cliffhanger ending

    With news that York's Odeon Cinema could be about to close, MATTHEW WOODCOCK looks back at its 66-year history. SCOTT of the Antarctic was the most successful film ever shown at the York Odeon. Its popularity in 1948 with both schoolchildren and adults

  • End this silence!

    THE Evening Press campaign to save Terry's went nationwide today - as it emerged that company bosses are refusing even to reply to our open letter calling for a rethink on closure plans. Scores of delegates attending the GMB union's national conference

  • Terry's fight goes to union conference

    THE battle to save Terry's was today being taken to a union's national conference in Scarborough. Delegates were being urged to support the GMB's bid to keep production of top chocolates such as All Gold and Chocolate Orange in the York area. Two shop

  • Beatlemania comes to York

    LAST week we travelled back 40 years to remember a calamity: the day John F Kennedy died. This week we return to November 1963 for some rather more uplifting memories of another icon of the age - The Beatles. Given the grim world situation, it must have

  • Great pub days

    WE all know about the glorious history of York pubs. That there were 365, one for each day of the year. That the 19th and 20th centuries were a boom time for pubs. That this irritating cult for changing their names is a modern phenomenon. Think again.

  • 'No' to Terry's factory switch

    As more than 2,000 of you sign up for our campaign, American bosses blame York's high production costs for the loss of 316 chocolate industry jobs and generations of loyal service...and say 'No' to Terry's factory switch. HOPES that Terry's could still

  • Putting history on the map

    IT IS easy to forget when you're barrelling down the motorway at 80mph or stuck in a traffic jam on the York outer ring road, but the landscape in which we live bears upon it the handprint of history. It has been shaped by generations of our ancestors

  • All hail the king of cabs

    Sunderland-based historian Keith Gregson recalls a York-born inventor. DO you ever wonder what it must be like to leave your name to posterity - how nice it would be to be a Lennon or McCartney, a Bach or a Michelangelo? Better still to have a name attached

  • Make Kraft think again

    EVERY reader who signs our petition - and there are already more than 2,000 of you - is helping to hold a corporate giant to account. Kraft Foods Inc employs more than 100,000 people world-world. Its profits are staggering. Faced with such vast scale,

  • Whitby gems

    JO HAYWOOD puts the work of a pioneering Yorkshire photographer in the frame. Frank Meadow Sutcliffe put Whitby on the map. Born 150 years ago this month, his sepia images of life in the Yorkshire seaside town travelled the globe, collecting praise and

  • Look here for racing's roots

    AS another York racing season comes to an end, we are left to ask: what other attraction could draw a quarter of a million people to the city? Not even the Pope managed that, although to be fair the 210,000 people who came to see him on Knavesmire 21

  • Past postings

    SOME space for Yesterday Once More readers' comments is long overdue. So this week I unlocked the Evening Press safe to air some of those precious memories. We begin by hailing back to the summer, when we looked back at the opening of Rowntree Park to

  • 1,000 sign up to keep Terry's in chocolate city

    MORE than 1,000 people have already backed our campaign to save Terry's - just over a week after the shock news broke that the chocolate factory is set to close. Signatures are continuing to come in for our petition, which calls for a Terry's chocolate

  • Thousands expected in York for Railfest

    TENS of thousands of people are expected to flood into York this weekend, as the city celebrates 200 years of rail travel. The National Railway Museum's (NRM) Railfest event will kick off on Saturday, with a special site and trackwork set aside to host

  • Flickers of life

    IT must have been quite a moment for those gathered at York's Exhibition Hall two days before Christmas in 1896. Suddenly a light flickered in the gloom and the audience were treated to the very latest thing in entertainment - a moving picture show. William

  • Partnership places - Railfest in the modern arena

    The UK rail industry is joining forces with the National Railway Museum to offer a unique insight into the modern railway. As part of the Museum's Railfest celebrations for the bicentenary of the train, the Modern Arena will showcase state of the art

  • Railfest celebrates 200 years of the train

    One of the UK's biggest ever rail festivals is being planned by the National Railway Museum to celebrate the bicentenary of the train. Record-breakers and history-makers from all over the country will be arriving in York to mark 200 years of progress

  • Take a drive through history

    Local transport historian PETER WHEATLEY takes an evocative trip back in time, stopping off at points along the York to Scarborough road. WITH the seaside town of Scarboro-ugh probably the most popular destination for local holidays and day trips, the

  • Readers' letters - We should all join in

    CONGRATULATIONS to the Evening Press and the GMB union for taking on Kraft Foods over its threat to close Terry's. Yet again a corporate giant tries to increase profit at the expense of workers, by moving jobs to countries where they can get away with

  • Sporting life of York Harriers

    SPORT fans will be glued to the box this Bank Holiday to watch if Britain's athletes can run, jump and fling their way on to the medals podium. The ninth World Athletics Champion-ships is a festival of fitness, pitting the globe's finest and fastest against

  • Education of the old school

    THAT'LL Teach 'Em, the new Channel 4 series in which modern teenagers are sent back to a 1950s-style school, has brought memories of her own schooldays flooding back for one York woman. Barbara Pettitt, now a 66-year-old grandmother-of-five who lives

  • MP meets Terry's boss

    YORK MP Hugh Bayley has held talks with Terry's boss John Pollock and union leaders about plans to close the chocolate factory next year. The MP said after yesterday's meeting at the factory in Bishopthorpe Road that Mr Pollock had explained why Kraft

  • Return to glory days of park life

    LITTLE Mary Birkby must have been getting under her mother's feet, because she told her son George to take the five-year-old girl to Rowntree Park. George, nine years older than his little sister, duly obliged. But this was no ordinary day at the park

  • Big year for the top brass

    OUR story begins, as so many York stories do, at the Rowntree works. "It has been suggested," started an advert in the Cocoa Works Magazine, "that the formation of a brass band in the confines of the works would be welcomed by the many music enthusiasts

  • In the dark on park

    STILL with all things Rowntree, we need your help. Next Sunday, May 25, from 2pm-4pm, the Friends of Rowntree Park are holding a Memorabilia Afternoon. Friends' archivist Syd Heppell has collected photographs and other items and is looking for help in

  • Derring-do of The Dambusters

    SIXTY years ago this Friday, the dambusters set off on their historic mission. Nineteen Lancasters of 617 Squadron left RAF Scampton, near Lincoln, to carry out one of the most challenging and daring raids in the history of warfare. Their targets were

  • Book digs up bloodiest battle

    The Battle of Marston Moor has been well documented but a new book digs deeper, partly by going under the very soil of the battlefield, reports Zoe Walker THE Battle of Marston Moor was one of the bloodiest ever fought on British soil. On July 2 1644,

  • Standing with Custer

    ON June 25 1876, General George Armstrong Custer led 200 men of his US 7th Cavalry to their deaths in the Montana wilderness at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. They were cut to pieces by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in a battle that has assumed legendary

  • Steam team on the road

    THE golden age of steam began in 1896 and lasted 30 years. Not on the railways, of course - that golden age lasted a little longer - but on the roads. For a brief period steam power rivalled the petrol engine as the motorised marvel of the day. These

  • Memories of a country childhood

    DAISY Naylor is 93, but vividly remembers her childhood on a farm near Stamford Bridge. It was both a harder and a freer upbringing than children know today, and her tale of rural life early in the last century makes for fascinating reading. We have Mrs

  • Champion Frankie backs our Ascot

    Frankie Dettori is in York today to sign copies of his autobiography. STEPHEN LEWIS spoke to him about the prospects for next year's York Ascot - and how it feels to be Champion Jockey again. WORRIES about traffic gridlock aside, just about everyone you

  • York's golden gild

    HERE'S a riddle. Which tradition, established more than 800 years ago, is only celebrating its 50th anniversary this year? The answer is the Gild of the Freemen of the City of York. The earliest register of freemen in York Archives dates from 1272, the

  • Portrait of mystery

    History buff JOAN PALEY works in one of York's most historic houses. In this, the last of our writing competition winning entries to be published, she explains her affinity for one particular exhibit FRANK Green lived in Treasurer's House for 33 years

  • What a big fuss about nothing

    THERE were serious ructions at Radio York last week - over nothing at all. Not just any nothing, however. This is the most important nothing in the broadcasting calendar: the two minutes silence for Armistice Day. In previous years, a BBC diktat has been

  • How to log on to local history

    IF you are interested in the past and are on the internet, you can step back in time with the National Grid for Learning's local history trail. The Government-funded National Grid for Learning website is running an online local history trail to encourage

  • Journey back to time of the trams

    IF you want to be transported back to the past there are only two ways to go: by steam train, or by tram. Next to a gleaming old locomotive, the most nostalgic thing on wheels is the good old tramcar. There is no tram equivalent to the National Railway

  • Teardrop treasures

    CITY leaders believe the liberation of York Central, the teardrop-shaped land hemmed in by railway lines, is one of the most exciting development opportunities anywhere in Europe. The scale is awesome. At 85 acres, the site is roughly two-thirds the size

  • We had a ball

    RECENTLY we exhibited for your viewing pleasure selections of photographs from the 1951 York Festival. This was our city's contribution to the post-war celebration of nationhood, the Festival of Britain. That inspired a flurry of letters, and a phone

  • Sweet rush

    FIFTY years ago tomorrow, the Government ended sweet rationing. Nearly eight years after Victory in Europe, the limit on jelly babies, pastilles, liquorice, barley sugar sticks, lemonade powder and chocolate bars was finally lifted - and a nation of schoolchildren

  • Back to ice age

    LAST Friday, we revealed that the spring flowers had already sprung in one York garden, testament to remarkably mild weather for a month after Christmas. That contrasts sharply to one of Yorkshire's bitterest winters 40 years ago. It all began just before

  • Supporting cast

    THE first Yesterday Once More of the New Year seems a good moment to dip into the postbag. We have more faces for you to identify and more memories prompted by previous articles. First we take to the river bank. The wonderfully evocative photograph of

  • Mile mannered man

    ONE day you might spot him. The first clue will be his motorbike, parked by the roadside. Then your eye will be caught by the rider hacking back at the verge weeds, or perhaps clicking away with his camera and making detailed notes in a pad. Don't worry

  • Stage at the heart of York

    DAME Berwick Kaler will meet the class of 2002 babbies and bairns for the first time on Wednesday. And when he takes to the stage for his 24th pantomime, he will know his legendary performances are part of the history of one of Britain's greatest theatres

  • My dad was a bobby ...and a firefighter

    THEIR walk-out has reminded us that modern firefighters do a complex job. Firemen and women not only fight fires, they free road accident victims, perform river rescues, pump water from flooded homes and check properties are safe. For their predecessors

  • Wicca's world

    ON Thursday night, we will all answer the door to find assorted little devils, imps and ghosts thrusting forward a bag half filled with processed sugar to the cry of "Trick or treat". This Americanisation of Hallowe'en makes those of a nostalgic bent

  • Haul in the past

    A SENSE of near-panic set Peter Frank about the task of chronicling the Yorkshire fishing community. Born in Whitby in 1934, he went on to become a professor at Essex University. In the Seventies he returned to his home town, and realised how much it

  • Trinity marches on

    LIKE those people who find they are just as busy in retirement, Holy Trinity Church is full of life long after being declared redundant. The venerable and ancient Goodramgate building hasn't been turned into a club or caf as have some churches. It even

  • Painting pictures

    NO other mass medium comes close to generating the magical memories of the movies. The telly, the wireless, even the theatre do not evoke the same sense of a communal occasion. Back when people went two or three times a week, every trip to those grand

  • Motherly myths and mysteries

    MOTHER Shipton is a legend. Ask anyone about her, and they are likely to scratch together a few facts: witch, prophetess, lived in a cave... Yet despite this fame, no one had undertaken a serious, historical study into her life. Until now. Yorkshire historian

  • Let there be flight

    WHEN Brian Mennell first started flying from Rufforth Airfield he asked about its history, only to be told that "nothing happened" there. This did not satisfy the tenacious retired policeman, so he kept asking. The result is his 112-page book packed with

  • Night the bombs fell across York

    WHEN the sun came up over York 60 years ago today, it exposed scenes of devastation. Houses were destroyed, the Guildhall burnt out. The Bar Convent had collapsed, killing five nuns. Pavements were littered with rubble and shattered glass. Huge craters

  • Deported to Oz

    THE York Assizes were kept pretty busy during the convict era. Exactly 200 years ago Thomas Peters, a 26-year-old labourer, stood in the dock accused of "stealing old silver plate, including ten pint cups," says Marjorie Tipping in her book Convicts Unbound

  • Royal picture recalled

    THIS week we remember the Queen Mother's first visit to York. Readers will recall how we published a photograph of the Duke and Duchess of York, as the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were then, and asked for your help in identifying it last

  • Royal picture puzzle

    EVERYONE loves a good mystery, and this one can only be solved by you. Take a look at our main picture this week. Ring a distant bell? Recognise any of the faces? The photograph is from the collection of Walter Hawksby, of Acomb, York. It is a royal occasion

  • Doctor knew best

    IN the early years of the last century, York's heritage was imperilled by progress. Landmarks across the city were under threat from roads, trams and an over-zealous council. Then along came a doughty and persistent conservationist who fought to save

  • Charity begins at home

    NEW Earswick is not so new any more. This year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the "garden village", and the centenary celebrations began in appropriate fashion last week with the planting of a commemorative oak tree. More events are planned

  • Dawn of a new age

    THE world was a very different place when the Queen acceded to the throne. Georgian Britain became Elizabethan Britain 50 years ago this week, and although it was the dawning of a new age, it was too soon for the nation to come to terms with the fact.

  • Tales of the hangman

    STEPHEN LEWIS discovers the hangmen of York were less than model citizens ANY delving into the murkier aspects of York's past is bound to yield copious details - some true, some mere legend - about the lives and deaths of the city's two most notorious

  • Rail boss fires salvo at Byers

    RAILTRACK chairman John Robinson has delivered a vicious assault on the Government, launching a salvo of criticism over its handling of the company's demise. Speaking among the proudest remnants of Britain's railway history at the National Railway Museum

  • Brownie points from the past

    THE past will never be forgotten - thanks to our readers. Again our series of Yesterday Once More articles has prompted a fantastic postbag of memories, and it is time to dip into it again. Back on September 10 - how eerie that date now seems - we published

  • Ancient learning

    LAST month, to mark its 400th anniversary, the Charity Commission revealed details of some the country's oldest charities. Among them was St Peter's School in York, an institution that can look back over a remarkable 1,300 year history. Although the exact

  • Book a date with history

    AS the success of television series like Battlefields and Blood Of The Vikings has proved, there's a huge public appetite for history. If someone you know loves to travel back in time, a history book makes the perfect Christmas present. For those who

  • Sound of silence on GNER trains

    TRAIN travellers who prefer the sound of silence to the shrill symphony of mobile phone ring tones can now go in peace thanks to the latest move by York-based rail firm GNER. From today, the firm is introducing new quiet coaches on all its East Coast

  • Five-star Robins on song

    SELBY Town were on the goal trail again when they beat bottom of the table Borrowash Victoria 5-0 at Flaxley Road in the Northern Counties East League premier division last night. The kick off was delayed for 40 minutes because the visitors from Derby

  • Council's pledge to GNER

    THE Government's failure to award GNER a 20-year rail franchise on the East Coast Main Line could have a "potentially devastating" threat on York, according to a leading councillor. In an emergency motion - passed almost unanimously - the full council

  • Trains franchise decision in days

    MINISTERS have pledged to announce the winner of the drawn-out battle for the East Coast Mainline franchise within two weeks. Last week, Transport Secretary Stephen Byers insisted he was still weighing up the submissions from GNER and Virgin. Parliament

  • Into the woods

    New Marske caught my eye while map-gazing, it's a most regular square shape of half a square mile of modern housing, near the sea, near Redcar. Looking down on to New Marske from the big car park in Errington Wood, we gazed over to the west to the ICI

  • GNER 'will win rail franchise'

    GNER is poised to clinch the East Coast Main Line franchise, it emerged today. The York-based train operator, supported with more than 2,000 signatures by the Evening Press Back The Bid campaign, is now widely expected to be announced as the Strategic

  • All mapped out

    George Wilkinson gets excited about the publication of a new map. A NEW Ordnance Survey map is a shot in the arm, the nearest to nandrolone a walker is likely to get. These days the big boosts are the new green dots that now mark up green lanes, or rather

  • Bright and bitter

    George Wilkinson finds a warm welcome, a chilly wind and a motorcyclist's bare behind. SAWDON and the warmth of its Anvil Inn lay somewhere a couple of miles south-east. To the south the Wolds shone milky bright the far side of the flatland Carrs. The

  • Day of pure pleasure

    George Wilkinson enjoys a winter walk out from Kirkby Malzeard, near Ripon. Fifty noisy geese flew over Kirkby Malzeard, the sun glowed on St Andrew's clock and we wandered past the Queen's Head and strode down the Ripon road. There was an irritating

  • Flatlands drifters

    GEORGE WILKINSON takes a peaceful ramble around Riccall. RICCALL is happily by-passed by the A19, not penetrated. The tasteful and triangular green is set bang in the middle of the large village. It made for a peaceful place to start. St Mary's is handy

  • Flooded with history

    MARK REID concludes his Dales stint by setting out from the delightful village green at Bainbridge. BAINBRIDGE is a delightful Dales village with a sprawling village green overlooked by a 15th Century inn. In medieval times this large green had an important

  • Seaside stroll

    George Wilkinson heads to the coast for a bracing walk at Saltburn. I DO like to be beside the seaside, especially in winter. At Saltburn it was just the two of us on the sands. Well almost, a local walked a dog and a yellow sailed sand yacht zipped around

  • Rock on...

    GEORGE WILKINSON samples the delights of Brimham Rocks. Brimham Rocks have been a popular source of amazement since the railways came to Nidderdale in Victorian times. We arrived, chatted to Steve Pilkington, the National Trust's car park attendant, and

  • Up and under

    George Wilkinson savours a late-summer outing on the Cleveland Hills. The Lord Stones Caf is secluded and isolated and ever so interesting. Miles from anywhere, nearly 1,000 feet up on the Cleveland Hills, it is also literally half buried in the ground

  • Not a sign after the kissing gate

    George Wilkinson walks across farmland in the evening and returns as the bats come out. SOMETIMES walks over farmland can be bothersome with beasts, barbed wire and all. However we were confident that today's five miles, from Great Barugh, near Malton

  • Over the heather

    George Wilkinson roams around the rim of the Hole of Horcum. The Hole of Horcum is one enormous hole in the ground. Holiday makers driving over the North York Moors pull off the road, gaze at a depression big enough to swallow all the houses of Whitby

  • Bank on it

    George Wilkinson follows an appealing route to Sutton Bank. ON the buses again for a linear walk from Newgate Bank to Sutton Bank, an appealing route. We left Helmsley on a typically animated Friday market day, and the Moorsbus took us up to the viewpoint

  • Anguish of soldier's family 'hooked' on Gulf coverage

    THE mother of a North Yorkshire soldier out in the Gulf told today of the "absolute hell" her family has been going through since the war started. Frances Ellerker, who pleaded last week for Britain to rally behind "our boys", says she cannot sleep or

  • British soldiers missing in Iraq

    TWO British soldiers are missing in southern Iraq, and several US marines have been killed in fighting around the city of Nasiriyah, in what has been described as the toughest day so far in the war in the Gulf. The Ministry of Defence would give no details

  • A dam good walk

    MARK REID brings a flooded village back to life as he walks round Thruscross Reservoir in the Washburn Valley. THRUSCROSS Reservoir is the uppermost of the four large reservoirs along the beautiful Washburn Valley; it is also perhaps the most intriguing

  • Muslims at cathedral

    DOZENS of members of two different faiths came together to pray for peace at a North Yorkshire cathedral. Muslims and Christians joined together at Ripon Cathedral to take part in prayer and silent thought on the ongoing conflict in Iraq. About 50 Muslims

  • Sales of bottled water rocket

    SALES of bottled water have rocketed in York, as people stockpile emergency supplies - and cope with the warm spring weather. Supermarkets across the city have reported increased sales of bottled water over the past few days, with some stores forced to

  • Here for the beer

    A merry George Wilkinson follows part of the Inn Way through Rosedale. Beer and walking boots were the order of the day in Rosedale Abbey where a pair of size 13s hung over a brand new 'Inn Way' signpost. Andy Wilson, the boss of the North York Moors

  • Huge demo at 'spy base'

    THIRTEEN people were arrested during the biggest protest seen at a North Yorkshire "spy base" in 20 years. Police said "a tiny minority" got involved in trouble when more than 1,000 demonstrators converged on the Menwith Hill base, near Harrogate. Three

  • A64 fiasco 'will not happen at Bilbrough'

    MOTORISTS have been assured there will be no repeat of the Copmanthorpe traffic jam nightmare when the next big A64 project gets underway. The construction of an underpass to allow villagers from Copmanthorpe to get safely across the dual carriageway

  • In a dale of delight

    GEORGE WILKINSON sets off on a walk in the western Dales where he finds a blissful sense of nothing much having changed. THIS route in the western Dales seemed just the job for a long summer's day. So we made an early start, drove through Pateley Bridge

  • Your A64 ideas get go-ahead

    ROAD bosses are to adopt traffic chaos solutions put forward by Evening Press readers to help solve the A64 roadworks chaos. Highways Agency chiefs revealed today that they will create an extra lane approaching works on the westbound carriageway of the

  • Fell it like it is

    George Wilkinson climbs up among the wildlife deep in upper Wensleydale at Burtersett. BURTERSETT is a dozen or so old houses, all made of stone with heavy roofs and narrow, mullioned windows. It is found deep in upper Wensleydale, at a thousand feet

  • Peace movement gathers pace in York

    ANTI-war protesters daubed red paint on York's Mansion House and other council buildings to symbolise the blood of those being bombed in Iraq. Members of the York Painters for Peace squirted the removable paint on the steps of the Lord Mayor's official

  • Service for the troops

    EX-SERVICEMEN and women are urging York residents not to forget troops fighting in the Gulf. They are inviting people to take part in a special church service aimed at honouring troops, and are asking that political arguments surrounding the war are not

  • Windmilling around

    George Wilkinson arrives late in the southern Wolds to be charmed by a windmill... WE HIT the southern Wolds late in the day, but didn't think it would matter. The navigator's migraine had subsided, and as we walked out of Skidby there were some strollers

  • 200 hold candlelit vigil at school

    ABOUT 200 hundred pupils took part in a vigil at a York school following the start of the war. Teacher Ann Finch said the theme of the vigil in the main hall at Fulford School was solidarity and sorrow with the people of Iraq. But she said pupils, who

  • Memory Lane

    George Wilkinson follows in the footsteps of Clare Francis to one of her favourite spots. Clare Francis MBE, the sailor, was the inspiration for today's navigation in the south-west Dales. Recently she wrote about Crummack Lane, her favourite. It comes

  • Here's one for the Chop

    George Wilkinson has a grand day out when he climbs the Cleveland Hills at Chop Gate. WE SET off late to give the sun time to burn the mist off the Cleveland Hills, and a dozen or so cars were already lined up in the car park at the village of Chop Gate

  • College students thrown off campus

    YORK College students were thrown off campus as they tried to gather support for their anti-war protest, sparking a row between college management and staff. According to student Oli Wilson, 19, the 20-strong group was told to leave the Tadcaster Road

  • Down Whitby way

    George Wilkinson discovers Hinderwell, tucked away from Whitby. HINDERWELL huddled against the spitting rain and chilly wind. The coastal village lies Whitby way, but sits half a mile back from the waves, doesn't have its neighbour's pretty bays, but

  • On the up

    George Wilkinson takes a trip to Thoralby ... Thoralby was quietly welcoming, the daytime car park with an honesty box, the George Inn over the road for aprs-walk. The scene was set. Bishopdale angles away to the south-west. A mile away, out of view,

  • Mount school's silent vigil

    PUPILS at a York private school were today holding a silent vigil against the war. The anti-war protest took place outside the Mount School, a girls' boarding school in Dalton Terrace, York. Deputy Head Sarah Hebron said that the vigil, which began at

  • Made of Sterne stuff

    George Wilkinson is of 'sound head' as he engages with the ghost of Lawrence Sterne at Coxwold LAWRENCE Sterne, the author of Tristram Shandy and sometimes labelled "the father of the English novel", lived from 1760 to 1768 at Shandy Hall in the lovely

  • 'Get behind the British troops'

    CIVIC heads in Selby and Tadcaster today urged local people to get behind the British troops - even if they were against the war with Iraq. Selby District Council chairman John Bedworth said he was against military action without a second UN resolution

  • On a high

    GEORGE WILKINSON takes in some fabulous views on a visit to the Cleveland Hills We climbed the 400ft from frost to sun, from the lowlands to the heather, from Bank Foot to the crags above the tree line and to Battersby Moor. The only clouds in the sky

  • A Wolds wander

    GEORGE WILKINSON dons waterproofs for a day exploring becks and woods. KILNWICK is a village on the Wolds, or rather just off the higher ground, to the east, between Beverley and Driffield. When we got there it was tanking down, and we must have presented

  • Dales and Druids

    GEORGE WILKINSON ponders the mysteries of the past as he takes us on a walk in the Yorkshire Dales... We parked in the nice little car park near the Druids Temple in the Dales, donned waterproofs rather than white cloaks and, leaving the mystic for later

  • Iraqi missiles hit Kuwait

    Two Iraqi missiles this morning hit northern Kuwait, according to the official Kuwaiti news agency. Experts in bio-chemical suits were said to be examining the blast sites. Updated: 09:13 Thursday, March 20, 2003

  • Magic and ice

    GEORGE WILKINSON takes a walk in the Wolds where frost and sunshine create a winter wonderland NORTH Grimston was blessed with snow on the fields, frost on the hedges and, through the mist, a soft sunlight that glowed on the golden dial of St Nicholas

  • Special service at Ripon Cathedral

    Ripon Cathedral is to hold a special service of prayers on Saturday. The Rev John Carter said a delegation of Muslims would be visiting the cathedral to take part in midday prayers for peace. Updated: 09:11 Thursday, March 20, 2003

  • York 'human shield' now in Baghdad

    WOULD-BE human shield Antoinette McCormick has reached Baghdad - just hours before the conflict began. The 38-year-old arrived safe and well at the Palestine Hotel in the Iraqi capital after a long and difficult overland journey from Jordan, her York

  • The saving of Terry's

    THE shock has subsided. York now has a choice: we can meekly accept Terry's closure with a shrug and a sigh, or we can fight back. In a world seemingly governed by giant multinational conglomerates, it is easy to presume that nothing we do will make a

  • Haven't we been here before?

    The Evening Press is campaigning to save Terry's and more than 300 jobs. Mike Laycock looks back at a remarkably similar campaign fought in the 1990s to save more than 300 jobs at York firm RR Donnelley. The coincidence is extraordinary. In 1996, the

  • Political leaders back the fight to keep Terry's in York

    THE Evening Press campaign to keep Terry's in York is winning heavyweight backing. City of York Council's executive has thrown its full weight behind efforts to persuade American owner Kraft Foods to reconsider its decision to close the chocolate factory

  • Traffic-buster for York races

    HIGHWAYS bosses today unveiled radical plans to beat race-day congestion at all future race meetings in York. City of York Council said the prospect of Royal Ascot at York next year had provided the catalyst for reviewing route arrangements. The new arrangements

  • Save Terry's

    THE American owners of Terry's were urged today to think again about their decision to close the York chocolate factory. Union leader John Kirk said he wanted to put forward a survival plan to Kraft Foods to keep Terry's in the York area. The GMB organiser

  • Labour Labour members burn their cards

    THE Labour Party is today at least three members lighter after three York stalwarts burned their membership cards in response to war in Iraq. Gordon Campbell-Thomas and Mick and Sue Hoban said they could not support UK military action without UN backing

  • Developers stand by to battle it out for prime site

    THE Terry's chocolate factory site could be worth more than £50 million, if property-hungry developers get their way. A mad scramble is predicted for the 33-acre site, which straddles Bishopthorpe Road, and is one of the city's prime locations overlooking

  • Police in talks on York bill for Ascot

    POLICE chiefs are locked in top-level talks to prevent local council taxpayers picking up the multimillion-pound bill for policing Royal Ascot at York. Officers say the meeting at York Racecourse will be the largest pre-planned event that the force has

  • Bitter sweet for Beattie

    FOR one former Terry's worker, the news the historic York factory was to shut hit especially hard. Pensioner Beattie Rippon, 82, of Acomb, gave 36 years of her life to the factory, until she retired in 1978. Her duties were to keep an eye on the chocolate

  • Workers reflect on sad day for historic firm

    MANY Terry's workers have been at the factory since they left school. Reporter Richard Edwards asked them their thoughts on a black day for York. Paul Illingworth, of Dringhouses, York, has worked at Terry's for 16 years. He said: "I'm not surprised.

  • Home Office issues 'preventative steps'

    THE Home Office has set out "simple preventative steps" - like stocking up on bottled water and tinned food - that people should take to guard themselves against possible terror attacks in this country. Though officials say there is currently "no information

  • On to a winner

    York has a proven history of dealing with large successful events, says DAVID ANDREWS, chief executive of York-based Yorkshire Tourist Board, but for Ascot 2005 we must look further than the event itself. Railfest: What a marvellous event... Nine days

  • Ascot-style Royal procession hopes

    PLANNING is under way to bring the centrepiece of Royal Ascot to York when the famous race meeting moves north. Bosses at Ascot have confirmed that moves are being made to cater for a Royal visit should York Racecourse host the five-day festival of horse

  • Hat the races

    Evening Press reporter STEVE CARROLL donned his top hat for a day at Royal Ascot to see what York can expect when it hosts the meeting next year. THEY were gathering several hours before the first race. The horses were the last thing on their minds. As

  • Toast the coast

    George Wilkinson heads to Robin Hood's Bay for a bracing New Year walk. HAPPY New Year all. Here's a walk from Robin Hood's Bay for a hard January day when a minimum of the other half million visitors per annum are of the same mind. The station car park

  • Winning the fashion stakes

    JUST how way out is too far? Never far enough, judging by the standards in the Royal Ascot fashion stakes. An upturned umbrella tipped with peacock feathers, a hat in the shape of a shoe, and a Picasso-inspired creation complete with an embroidered eye

  • A winter winner

    PLAN B it had to be, because the dales' moors were erased by cloud. So we dropped down into Lofthouse, donned our waterproofs and set off for five safe miles, almost every step the Nidderdale Way. We met other walkers: this is a pleasant and popular walk

  • An estuary wander

    George Wilkinson steps out near the Humber Bridge for a walk at Ferriby Sluice. LINCOLNSHIRE this week, but only just, for a wander by the Humber Estuary. The world's third longest suspension bridge was worth the price of a pint (£2.50 toll), the walk

  • 'Let the world come to Ascot'

    "LET the world come to York." Those were the words of York race committee chairman Lord Halifax, who opened the doors of the city to tens of thousands of punters hoping to attend Royal Ascot. Speaking at the racecourse, Lord Halifax said he wanted to

  • Hidden away

    George Wilkinson heads out across Hamer Moor ROSEDALE Abbey deep in the North York Moors is ever so popular. Nearby, tucked away a mile or so to the east, hidden in a roll of moor, is a quite secret and nameless valley. Well, one we had never explored

  • Spuds you hike

    GEORGE WILKINSON witnesses the potato harvest near the village of Scackleton. THE village of Scackleton is long and linear, with two pumps, shaggy sheep, a pond and a hint of an ancient moat. It lies bang in the middle of the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding

  • It's all yours for £32,500 a week

    FANCY renting a luxury stately pad for Royal Ascot in York ? Got a spare £32,500 lying around the house? In the unlikely event the answer to both these questions is yes, a North Yorkshire stately home could be yours for a whole seven days. The owners

  • Forever autumn

    George Wilkinson enjoys an Indian Summer walk in Arkengarthdale. This is the last of my three walks in Arkengarthdale, a place I can recommend. The dale is a distance from York, that's why I did it in a midweek-break/saver fashion. Three days of glorious

  • Will Posh and Becks be spending Ascot at Aldwark?

    RUMOURS were intensifying today that the Beckhams may come to York for Ascot. A well-placed source in the racing world claimed gossip was rife among jockeys that David and Victoria would be staying at the Aldwark Manor Hotel, near Easingwold, for the

  • Bubbling beck

    GEORGE WILKINSON experiences stoat encounters of the furred kind in Arkengarthdale. Arkengarthdale was peaceful, we were at Whaw in the sunshine morning, nothing made a sound and nothing moved except a pair of stoats that scampered on the verge. A mile

  • On Ilkley Moor

    Ilkley is one of the most elegant towns in England, a former spa town that has retained the dignified air that would have once attracted the wealthiest people to this "heather spa" in search of a cure during the Victorian and Edwardian era. However, there

  • Ascot house letting fears

    CITY residents thinking of letting their homes out for Royal Ascot at York have been warned they may not be insured. Some homeowners' existing policies may not cover them in the event their homes are damaged or if tenants have an accident during the five-day

  • Golden harvest

    We came into Huggate on York Lane and left a landscape burnished in the harvest time heat for the cool of the Wolds Inn at noon. Thereby "mad dogs and Englishmen" were delayed a while, and it was hot, more than 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Huggate is a low

  • Moor downpour

    IT was tanking down on the North York Moors, stair rods. A lonely long-distance runner splashed past the car park on the edge of Wykeham Forest, everyone else was sensibly indoors, we tried to get our waterproofs on without a soaking. Then came some hanging

  • York bid to beat Ascot gridlock

    TRAFFIC experts hope to avoid bedlam in York city centre when motorists flock to Royal Ascot in 2005 - by forcing motorists to travel on the A64. Vehicles travelling from both north and south will be diverted from the A1 on to the A64 and will approach

  • Temporary boxes for Ascot guests

    YORK Racecourse will become home to a swathe of temporary structures when Royal Ascot arrives in the city. The plush executive chalets will be constructed to cater for box holders, should royalty arrive in June 2005. Ascot sells out all of its 287 boxes

  • Losing the way

    THE Howardian Hills are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. After being repulsed by vegetation and crops on a walk out of Terrington, I thought AONB might expand as Area of Outstandingly Nullified Byways. Later in the week we tried again from Terrington

  • Recruitment hit by parking charges

    BOSSES of a York restaurant group say they are struggling to recruit new staff because of crippling parking charges. Sharon Killin, operations manager with Russells Restaurants, in Stonegate and Coppergate, said they had noticed an "adverse effect", particularly

  • Pure Goldsborough

    George Wilkinson heads for the coast at Goldsborough and finds a lovely quiet spot just up the coast from busy Whitby GOLDSBOROUGH is a little village - a farm, a pub, a few old sandstone houses and an expansive sea view wide enough to show the curve

  • Floods money is slashed

    VITAL work to keep North Yorkshire roads and properties free from flooding has been placed in doubt after plans emerged to slash county council funding for the work of the environment department. Environment chiefs at North Yorkshire County Council are

  • £1m to bolster flood defences

    FLOOD defence chiefs have approved urgent repairs costing more than £1 million to three damaged defences in Yorkshire. The decision came as the Environment Agency revealed that walls, embankments, pumping stations and other protective measures prevented

  • Gorse code

    AT THE Lion Inn at Blakey, roadies were setting up sound equipment for outdoor midsummer music on the moors. Just down the road a few yards after Ralph Cross we drove into Westerdale and then to the lovely sheltered car park and picnic spot called Hob

  • Tea trek

    GEORGE WILKINSON works up an appetite with a stroll along the river at Linton WE did this toddle in a fine evening after a longer walk nearby in the southern Dales. Supper was our main objective, and as the pub at Linton is on the Inn Way we felt there

  • £6.3m flood works begin

    ENVIRONMENT Minister Elliot Morley is to visit Ryedale next week to view work on the Malton and Norton flood defences. Work started this week after the Yorkshire Flood Liaison Committee and DEFRA agreed funding for the project. The minister, who last

  • Alternative ideas

    In his fourth and final article in response to the Evening Press Stop The Highway Robbery campaign, York council leader STEVE GALLOWAY examines options for changing city centre parking charges and restrictions. THE council increased charges as a way of

  • Petition forms filling up rapidly

    SIGNATURES are still being collected at shops and cafs across the city for the Evening Press Stop The Highway Robbery petition. Our message to anyone opposed to York city centre's new parking charges and restrictions is: keep them coming in. More than

  • Watch out for...

    WATCH out on television next spring for a piece of snooker wizardry from the young pro' who has been running the show at the Barbican CueZone during the UK Championship. Del Smith will be appearing in the next series of BBC television drama Murphy's Law

  • Council considers evening parking fee of £2

    YORK could introduce a flat rate evening parking charge - with a hefty discount for residents, it emerged today. But council leader Steve Galloway has indicated that the authority cannot afford to completely scrap evening fees at this stage. Coun Galloway

  • A restful repast

    WE got up early and beat the Bank Holiday traffic to the western dales, seeking a quiet and very colourful walk on the land between Grassington and Malham. The sun shone on Boss Moor and a big owl was floating along the gritstone walls till ushered away

  • Flood workers facing new crisis

    FUNDING for flood defences across Yorkshire looks set to be plunged into further crisis next month. The York and North Yorkshire representative on the Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee predicted today that - for the second year running - members

  • Anger at letter to advertisers

    A LIBERAL Democrat councillor has written to York businesses which advertised in the Evening Press' recent parking protest supplement to ask for "constructive suggestions". A music shop owner today condemned the letters from Coun Christian Vassie, claiming

  • Cloud cover

    George Wilkinson goes in and out of cloud as he walks on Thimbleby Moor above Osmotherley WE sat in the car on Thimbleby Moor above Osmotherley as the rain lashed the windscreen. Cloud at one thousand foot smeared out the top of Black Hambleton, the nearest

  • Tyke in final frame

    A YORKSHIREMAN will be centre stage in tomorrow's PowerHouse UK Snooker Championship final at York's Barbican Centre. Stuart Bennett, from Barnsley, is the referee for the climax of the second biggest tournament in world snooker. It is the biggest honour

  • Comings and go Ings

    SERIAL seekers of wild floral shows, if you have done the daffs and the bluebells and have a taste for pink then head out now from York, for just one mile, and see the docks in bloom on Fulford Ings. A better bet than the 'retro-hippy' dandelions at this

  • Fight to speed up flood defence work

    RESIDENTS and businesses in the centre of Stamford Bridge have launched a campaign group to press for flood defences to be built as quickly as possible. The formation of the Stamford Bridge Square Flood Defence Association follows East Riding of Yorkshire

  • Traders come up with money-raising ideas

    SMALL traders have come up with a series of suggestions to help City of York Council raise extra cash so parking charges can be cut. Independent retailers David Cox and Simon Evans, who are leading campaigners against the controversial new charges and

  • Cue queen's agony

    THE future of the world's best woman snooker player could be in doubt, she admitted in York this week after playing through pain to retain her UK title. Kelly Fisher, the 24-year-old four-times world champion from Carlisle, was in so much pain on the

  • Dogged by George

    Saltmarshe is a hamlet on the Yorkshire side of the River Ouse about five miles upstream of the Humber Estuary. We visited because Mr Ayre from Elvington, an Evening Press reader, sent in a tempting route. Thank you, we enjoyed the walk very much. The

  • Reds alert

    YORK CITY midfielder Lee Bullock collected a snooker cue for winning the man of the match award in the FA Cup game against Brentford last Saturday. Bullock scored the City goal and gave a solid display as the Minstermen just failed to overcome the Second

  • Noisy parkers

    A REVIEW of York's controversial parking charges will be completed within two months, following a noisy lobby of councillors by scores of protesters and a stormy council meeting. Trades unionists, shopkeepers and operatic society members united in staging

  • Wait and see

    Today's walk could have been made for the Moorsbus Service. A short ride from Helmsley takes you to the top of Newgate Bank in Bilsdale and then you can walk back to the town over moors and through the bluebell valley of Riccal Dale using newly designated

  • Wolds winner

    George Wilkinson discovers an unmissable walk in the Wolds THIS is a wonderful Wolds walk, one of the best I have done. We started at Fordon which is a farm, a mini church, a house or two, that's all, a hamlet at the junction of North Dale, East Dale

  • Quakers and the Tories join the protest

    MORE York organisations and individuals - from the Tories to the Quakers - have joined the Evening Press campaign to Stop The Highway Robbery. Leading members of York Conservative Party have signed our petition, calling for City of York Council to abolish

  • Sad 'Rocket' fizzles out

    DETHRONED champion Ronnie O'Sullivan is locking his cue away till next year after his shock exit from the PowerHouse UK Snooker Championship in York. Far from living up to his nickname of 'The Rocket' he played more like a damp squib as he tamely surrendered

  • Extra £1.5m to bolster flood defences

    THE Government has stumped up an extra £1.5 million towards the cost of new Yorkshire flood defences in the wake of last year's disaster. But some of the boost to the Environment Agency's coffers is under immediate threat because of the need for urgent

  • Chamber on the attack

    YORK'S evening parking charges have come under a blistering attack from York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce. President-elect Andrew Lindsay claimed the charges were damaging a number of York businesses, "flew in the face of common sense" and

  • Flood defence bill may be £11m

    DEFENDING York against future flooding could cost as much as £11 million - and the Environment Agency admits such funding may be difficult to secure. The agency's calculations emerged as Yorkshire householders were warned today they may need to stump

  • Shopkeeper's penny protest over parking

    A SHOPKEEPER today paid his monthly £638 business rates bill in small change in protest at York's parking charges. Wayne Dixon, owner of Something Different gifts and collectables shop in Stonegate, delivered the payment to City of York Council's offices

  • Yorkshire title hopes vanish

    Yorkshire hopes of a white rose triumph in this year's UK Snooker Championship vanished as Leeds star Paul Hunter's sudden loss of form continued yesterday and he went out 9-4 to former world champion Ken Doherty, last year's UK beaten finalist. Trailing

  • Cash-strapped city's £50,000 fee claim

    CASH-STRAPPED City of York Council has managed to find £50,000 to employ consultants - and should also find money to scrap new parking charges, Labour group leader Dave Merrett claimed today. Coun Merrett said in a statement to the Evening Press that

  • Ill White crashes out at Barbican

    SNOOKER legend Jimmy White pulled out of the Travis Perkins UK Snooker Championship in York today. White, a UK semi-finalist last year, was feeling ill and retired when trailing 7-0 in the second round to world number 19 Allister Carter, from Essex. The

  • Readers' letters: Come off it, Steve

    I WAS interested to read that Steve Galloway suggests parking charges could be reduced, even done away with, if recycling were increased and residents used the system more (Under Pressure, July 23). Firstly, I would like to bring to Mr Galloway's attention

  • Council 'must do better'

    A VOTE for an Independent councillor is a free vote and a free voice, says long-serving Selby councillor Maurice Patrick. Farmer Mr Patrick, spokesman for the district council's Independent group, was speaking ahead of the local elections on May 1. He

  • Anti-flood measures on show

    HUNDREDS of North Yorkshire residents turned up to an event aimed at helping them shore up their defences against flooding. Led by North Yorkshire County Council, the "flood fair" saw more than 40 exhibitors displaying products aimed at protecting homes

  • Gloves off for election

    THE gloves came off today in Selby's local election campaign as the Labour and Conservative Parties launched their manifestos. The district council's Labour group vowed to tackle anti-social behaviour, while the Tories pledged to crack down on council

  • Room for all

    There were streaks of snow on the colder slopes of the Cleveland Hills but in Great Ayton, ice cream consumption continued institutionally at Suggitts' caf. Visitors to this famous refuelling stop looked out over the River Leven; hard core cyclists slurped

  • Racking up top breaks

    THERE have been 26 century breaks in the PowerHouse UK Championship this week up to end of play on Thursday night. The top break in York so far is 138 by Mark Davis, but the highest break in the whole championship is 141 by Matthew Crouch in a qualifying

  • Hustings session hailed a success

    CURRENT and would-be councillors who braved York's voters of the future at a lively question and answer session today hailed the event a success. The Evening Press organised session, or hustings, was held at Oaklands School, Acomb. It saw a group of Year

  • All white now

    GEORGE WILKINSON is back on his feet and makes the most of a late-winter snowfall Snow, a rare treat, and to make the most of it, to avoid any chance of slush, we changed our plan, from the gentle hills around Coxwold to the high ground of Bransdale.

  • 'It's time to dump council dinosaurs'

    A GROUP of independently-minded York election candidates today urged voters to "dump the dinosaurs" - and vote Independent. Les Marsh, spokesman for the Clifton-based Independent group, says that two decades of Labour council rule have left York ready

  • City blooms despite charges - study

    NEW tourism figures appear to show that York's popularity continues to grow - despite the controversial city centre parking charges. The study, conducted by the Yorkshire Tourist Board (YTB) and based on a sample of accommodation providers, found that

  • Rough ride over humps

    ROAD humps, crime and congestion charges were all on the agenda when voters of the future grilled politicians of the present at a York school election hustings event. The Evening Press-organised question-and-answer session, was held at Oaklands School

  • Battle for York

    With the local elections looming, the scramble for your votes is hotting up. The three main City of York party leaders explain why you should choose them... Dave Merrett, Labour Running a successful council requires a broad vision, local focus and determination

  • Riverside ramble from Burnsall

    The path we fancied near Grassington was still closed. So we decamped a mile or two down Wharfedale and settled on the village of Burnsall, which Wainwright described in 1991 as 'neat and compact... well endowed with nature and a lovely riverside setting

  • Walk in the woods

    We took a random route to Pickering Castle turning uphill at the North York Moors Railway station, up through the slopes of old terraced houses. I noticed three stones named Ellis in a Quaker graveyard, a pleasant place to lie, eternity with a view. The

  • Blown away

    Fantastic views are your reward when you brave the contours out of Clay Bank, says VICTORIA ELLIS There is a choice of car parks today. The big one on the top of Clay Bank offers, as a backdrop to boot lacing, the majesty of the Cleveland Plain. But for

  • Readers' letters: Final straw for traders

    AS a market trader for 30 years I have seen the ups and downs of York trade. Unfortunately it has been more down than up. Before the advent of Clifton Moor I was a member of the York Chamber of Trade. We had regular meetings with the council and we put

  • Review: Alistair Griffin, York Opera House

    FROM busker, to bright lights; local lad Alistair Griffin returned to his home turf to rock the people of York on a Grand Opera scale! The second date in Griffin's mini-tour saw him wow the York audience with an intimate acoustic first half. This gave

  • Nought-y but nice

    Today's eight-mile route is a splendid way to stride into the New Year. We started at Pateley Bridge, crossed the River Nidd and took the quiet back road through the village of Bewerley. The next half-hour is a slog uphill and part of a popular little

  • Bucking the bus trend

    In the third of four articles responding to the Evening Press' Stop The Highway Robbery campaign, Liberal Democrat councillor Steve Galloway, leader of City of York Council, explains the authority's attitude to cars - and reveals the increased use of

  • Step into winter

    When we got to Broxa Forest on the North York Moors it was typically wet, gloomy and misty winter weather, so no views from the bench. So we slipped straight into a larch wood and then soon found a nice sunken track through Silpho Moor with beech and

  • Night out in York 'expensive treat'

    A NIGHT out in York has become an expensive treat for Ryedale people, say town councillors at Kirkbymoorside who are pressing the city council to give them a better deal on the controversial parking issue. Coun Susan Balf said: "We now have to pay an

  • Tasty blend of tech and tradition

    YORK Gift Hampers, that wonderful marriage of tradition and technology, was a finalist in last year's awards. Can it succeed again in the Innovative Use of New Technology category? And can its new venture win the New Business of the Year? The fine foods

  • Charges eat into volunteer's funds

    A VOLUNTEER who gives her free time to mentor a troubled youngster has hit out at York's evening parking charges. Helen Rough, who spends one evening a week with an 11-year-old boy as part of a council-run scheme, said the introduction of city centre

  • On the road with mobile Net link

    CONVERGENT Telecom Limited, which, with 225 staff, is one of the biggest employers in Pocklington, is setting its sights on the Innovative Use of New Technology Award. Tony Farmer, chief executive, believes that his firm's latest product, SmartLinx is

  • Green means gold for Thirsk company

    A ROAD-building and haulage business in Thirsk has since diversified into such a model of waste disposal, recycling and management that it is pitching for our Best Environmental Company of the Year. The 30 people working at Todd Waste Management, on the

  • Theatre numbers hit by parking charges

    AUDIENCES at York Theatre Royal have fallen by ten per cent in the wake of evening parking charges. But theatre boss Ludo Keston is hopeful major changes could be made to the charges by November to ease the problems they are causing. The chief executive

  • Classes forced out over parking

    DOZENS of evening classes are to be switched from York city centre to the University of York campus in the wake of evening parking charges. The university's Centre for Continuing Education says in its 2004/05 prospectus that the move of most of its adult

  • Firm's growing client list

    WITH a name like Acute Marketing, Nick Eggleton expects his York business to take sudden tangents, but in his case they are always on an upward path. Nick had to issue a quick update on his entry for the Evening Press Business Awards, both in the Growth

  • Back on track

    George Wilkinson hits the trail again, for a moorland walk among the heather. Regular readers will have noticed that a couple of weeks ago the paper described me as 'incapacitated' (much to the amusement of my friends) and Victoria Ellis has kindly done

  • Sheppee International Ltd

    SHEPPEE International Ltd, the Elvington firm with a lotta bottle was last year's Exporter Of The Year. Can it do the double? In spite of the strength of sterling, its exports of engineered products for the hot glass container industry all over the world

  • Coasting along

    Victoria Ellis takes in the views on a walk along the coast from Scarborough. The car park took a bit of finding, being curiously unsigned, but when I pulled up it would have been worth the drive just to sit there and enjoy the views of Scarborough Castle

  • Colour purple

    VICTORIA ELLIS temporarily takes over from George Wilkinson, who is incapacitated, and leads a walk to Cawthorne. Cawthorne Camp on a midweek morning was busy with walkers and dog walkers and lorries delivering topsoil. In the first century you might

  • Healing Clinic, York

    APPLYING feng shui, the ancient art of positioning furniture to create a more harmonious flow of chi, or energy, helped to boost turnover at the Healing Clinic in York tenfold. That is the claim of June Tranmer, founder-proprietor the natural health centre

  • The Swallow Hotel, York

    WHERE one Swallow usually makes a summer this time it made a Marriott and heralded the start of the BAM busters. Explanation: The Swallow Hotel, York, became part of the Marriott International Hotel group with a York Marriott branding in June - and that

  • East to Reasty

    I broke my rule of 'never try to get anywhere on a Bank Holiday' to do a route recently recommended by the North York Moors Authority. This is useful for me as I don't have to worry about it too much and I think will be nice for you as it's a pleasant

  • Last free car park

    MOTORISTS can still park for free on an evening in a City of York Council car park, the Evening Press can reveal today. The authority may have slapped controversial charges of up to £1.60 an hour to park between 6pm and 9pm at most city centre parks.

  • It's a family affair at Lesley's estate agency

    IT'S tough starting out in the crowded estate agency business, even in boomtime. No one knew that better than Lesley Beattie who, having closed one chapter of her life as founder of Friends Estate Agency in York, opened another with Quantum last November

  • Payroll award for Mitrefinch

    STAFF at York-based Mitrefinch are today celebrating the news that the company has won the Pay Awards 2001 Best Support Product or Service for the Payroll Industry category. The glass trophy, awarded by Pay Magazine in National Payroll Week, was accepted

  • Rye grin

    George Wilkinson is enchanted by an evening stroll around Nunnington NUNNINGTON had already settled in for the evening, Nunnington Hall resting after its daily flux of visitors. The River Rye was running in clear, just a little coloured. A touch of breeze

  • Drivers staying away from York

    MORE motorists have come forward to tell how they no longer come to York city centre in the evening because of the controversial new parking charges. Their comments are further cause for worry for city centre restaurants and entertainment venues which

  • We'll refund car fees to get our trade back

    A DEPARTMENT store is offering customers a parking fee refund in an effort to spark a campaign to lure shoppers back into York city centre. Supersave, in Fossgate, will refund the cost of an hour's parking to shoppers who spend £15 or more on items. Manager

  • Round and about

    Deep into the far reaches of Nidderdale, at Scar House Reservoir, there was but one other car. I asked the occupants which way they were going round the water. They thought anticlockwise. Using the plughole principle, and being in the Northern Hemisphere

  • Tadcaster brewery giant goes back to nature

    Bass Brewers, which employs 123 people at the Tower Brewery, Tadcaster, keeps up the good work which earned the company so much praise as finalists of last year's Evening Press Business Awards. Once again, the brewery is seeking the Best Environmental

  • Fiona is life and soul of the parties

    THERE has been a lot of glittering revelry since the last time Fiona Sidwell entered her York-based corporate hospitality and events company, Exclusive Events, in the Evening Press Business of the Year. There has also been a lot of money raised for good

  • I'll move out says second-hand Dave

    A TRADER says he is considering moving out of York city centre because business has slumped so badly in the wake of the parking charge changes. Dave Dee, owner of the Banana Warehouse second- hand goods shop in Piccadilly, says his trade has fallen by

  • Couple's talents go to waste

    SHEY were finalists in last year's tough category for Best Environmental Company - and this time Chris and Christine Dennis justifiably expect their Tadcaster business, Waste To Compost to be up there among this year's leaders. The couple used to count

  • Clamp city

    CLAMPERS are set to move on to the streets of York to deal with drivers who persistently flout parking regulations. Motorists could now face paying out £75 to get their car back if they leave it illegally parked more than three times in six months. The

  • Parking fees fury

    A MUSEUM boss has spoken out about the "bizarre" introduction of evening parking charges - not long after a campaign was launched to boost York's evening economy. Dr Gill Page, manager of the Barley Hall Museum, off Stonegate, said that in her opinion

  • No compromise for recruitment firm

    A NO-COMPROMISE yet empathetic approach to recruitment is paying dividends for York-based executive search specialist Beresford Kane Associates, which is pitching to win the Evening Press Small Business of the Year category. Since Steven Matsell and Maura