AMBIENCE counts for a lot when you are out for a meal, but fantastic food is worth so much more. It was a cold, wintry Saturday night when my friend Suzanne and me visited Cello Caf Bar on Gillygate and the ambience could not have been better. I have
Stephen Lewis looks at Whitby through fresh eyes after reading a new book of photographs and poems. One hundred and ninety nine is the number of steps that wind up the headland at Whitby to St Mary's Church. In Whitby One Nine Nine, photographer Richard
ENGLAND is rich in legend, myth and superstition. Many such stories are hundreds of years old, told so many times down the generations that origins are lost. Jennifer Westwood and Jacqueline Simpson offer a county-by-county guide, explaining where the
THERE'S nothing like being wrapped up warm with a good book of ghost stories at Christmas while the wind howls outside and the rain rattles at the window. Folio books have come up with a beauty - a cloth and board-bound volume with its own slip case that
MOCK biographies of fictional characters have long been a staple joke of publishers. But they don't come much better than this 'unauthorised' biography of the great Victorian detective. Rennison plays by the rules, never once admitting the subject of
The definitive stargazer's bible: a simple and unshowy guide to everything you can expect to see in the skies in the coming year. Updated every year, there is an authoritative section of star charts showing you where and when to look, a month-by-month
TWO sumptuous picture books that can't fail to appeal to diehard Star Wars fans. The Ultimate Visual Guide tells the Star Wars story in film stills and drawings. There's a galactic history, a section devoted to each of the films, plus a behind the scenes
I AGREE with Mr Elliott on one point - that all cyclists should be adequately lit at night. However, after cycling from Bootham into York city centre and down Huntington Road to Birch Park and back on the day of your reader's letter with adequate front
Roderic Vassie seems to expect Hugh Bayley to vote against the Government like the usual suspects in the Commons (Letters, December 2). He was elected on a Labour manifesto, so it is hardly surprising that he tends to vote for Government measures. Also
YORK City fans could be forgiven for believing they were studying a London bus timetable rather than their club's fixture list in recent times. The Minstermen faithful will have waited 39 days for a home game by the time their team runs out for next Saturday's
COUNCIL officers asked for Government cash to investigate whether they could charge "polluting vehicles" to use the streets of York. But leader Coun Steve Galloway denied the idea was ever a congestion charge - instead labelling it an "emissions charge
PREMIER pantomime dame Berwick Kaler has donned his famous boots again, ready to star in another season of festive fun and frolics on the York stage. The veteran thespian will play Widow Twankey in a thigh-slappingly good performance of The Lad Aladdin
RIVERSIDE suffered double defeat in men's division one of York Badminton League, losing 7-2 at home to Clifton 'A' and 6-3 at Selby/Drax 'A'. Daniel Woolfson and Mike Hourston led Clifton's charge with a 94-39 return, including a 4-15, 15-13, 15-11 win
YORK City Knights boss Mick Cook has urged Mark Cain not to push himself too quickly as he looks to earn a new contract at Huntington Stadium. The utility star, who holds the record of five tries in a match for the new club, suffered an awful shoulder
A "FRIEND" who raped a sleeping woman in her own bed is today beginning five years in jail. The 22-year-old shop employee believed that Gregory Mark Betts, 45, was a trusted and valued friend, York Crown Court heard. But he raped her as she slept - and
THE future of one of York's top sporting events is no longer in jeopardy after a judge ruled that its organisers do not have to pay damages to a disabled man for excluding him from the race on safety grounds. Two officers from the city's Knavesmire Harriers
A INVESTIGATION will be launched after a chimpanzee was shot dead following a failed bid for freedom from her enclosure at a North Yorkshire zoo. The ape clambered over a wall and disappeared into the morning mist just after 10am yesterday at the Flamingo
CASH flow problems caused by fixture mayhem meant York City's players missed out on an overnight stay in Hereford last night. Billy McEwan's men were instead making the three-and-a-half hour trip to Edgar Street this morning for their important Conference
TONY BLAIR has promised the Government is working to provide more affordable family homes in York. During Prime Minister's Question Time, city MP Hugh Bayley asked what plans were in store to increase the supply of affordable housing, particularly family
MY dad rang me the other day. This is an unusual occurrence, as many grown-up daughters will testify. If I ring home he says, "I'll pass you over to your mother", whether I've asked for her or not, often with quite indecent haste, although he can be really
Saturday, December 10 100 years ago The men of the 1st Battalion the Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire) Regiment had just had an interesting and novel competition in India. While the battalion was in the hills, prizes were offered for the best collection
Friday, December 9, 2005 100 years ago Mr Leslie Bucknall, accompanied by three others, ascended in the balloon Vivienne at Sevenoaks and went off rapidly in the direction of Dover. They would attempt to cross the English Channel provided that the wind
YORK Acorn ARLC half-back Andy Gargan has been named in the 18-man BARLA Great Britain Under-21 squad to play a Combined Services U21s team on Wednesday at Bradford Dudley Hill, kick-off 7.30pm. The BARLA U21s held their final training session this week
GETTING a bird's eye view - that was the mission for Mr Bayley, who saw for himself the damage and erosion which has prompted the appeal to raise £23 million to restore the city's Minster. He showed a good head for heights as he made his way up the scaffolding
Despite the name, this appeared to be a very English snack spot during the day. However, we can't vouch for style of eating in the evening. It was busy when we visited mid afternoon. Tables were vacated regularly and the staff were quick to clear away
YORK City Knights boss Mick Cook has urged Mark Cain not to push himself too quickly as he looks to earn a new contract at Huntington Stadium. The utility star, who holds the record of five tries in a match for the new club, suffered an awful shoulder
IT came within a whisker of closing down as councillors sought to rationalise rural education. But Nun Monkton Primary School has since gone from strength to strength - and now it has been described as "outstanding" by Ofsted, following an inspection.
In Tipping's Tipples this week, Mike Tipping selects his pick of yuletide beverages perfect for every occassion over the holiday season. I'm of the age where I have carte blanche to grumble and groan about Christmas. But I'm not going to go down the predictable
Gina Parkinson has a tall task when it comes to choosing a Christmas tree to suit all the family. IT IS time to think about choosing a Christmas tree. We always have a cut tree placed by the living room window so we can see it waiting for us as we come
HERE be dragons, sphinxes, griffins, ogres and banshees from around the world - and not only monsters of western myth. Here, too, are the Cherufe, an Argentinian monster who preys on young women; the Graeae, a trio of ancient hags from Greek myth born
More gentle Yorkshire antics from the Moors village of Aidensfield, as PC Nick Rhea waits anxiously for his anticipated promotion. In the latest of the Constable books - inspiration to TV's Heartbeat - Nick encounters a press photographer who gets lost
DERRY Brabbs spent the best part of a decade taking the photographs for Wainwright's large-format illustrated walking guides to the Lakeland fells. This sumptuous volume contains more than 300 spectacular photos from all over Britain. But it also includes
MR Elliott suggests that motorists blow their horn at unlit cyclists, in order "to let them know they have been seen" (Letters, December 8). Putting aside the fact that what Mr Elliot actually seems to mean is "in order to take their punishment into your
YOU should be ashamed of yourselves for publishing this letter from Keith Elliott advocating the actions of the bully towards cyclists. While I condemn the practice of cycling at night unlit, the idea of urging motorists to sound their horns at them is
TO the person who pocketed my purse left in a taxi on Sunday, November 20, I am an 86-year-old pensioner, I was on my way to get help for my friend who died four days later. You could have traced me through my York Card or the list of telephone numbers
I HAD to write and say how appalled I was at the thoughtlessness of the driver who ran down four geese in York (December 8). Did he not realise the damage they could have done to his car? These birds normally weigh 9 to 10lb, but the overfed ones we have
ON my last visit to the barber I was asked if I qualified for the OAP discount. Walking on air, I went to catch the bus. On looking at my bus pass, I saw a younger man looking back. Heigh ho! J A Whitmore, Springfield Road, Upper Poppleton, York. Updated
WE had some friends visiting from Oxfordshire last weekend including two children aged six and nine. On Saturday morning we began the bruising process of trying to agree on an itinerary for the day. We'd visited the railway museum on their last visit,
YORK City's Christmas Carol Service will be held at St Luke's Church, Burton Stone Lane, on Wednesday night. The evening will start at 7pm followed by mince pies in the KitKat Crescent Social Club afterwards. Manager Billy McEwan and some first-team players
A PLAY fight with a friend on Bonfire Night has ended up costing a Selby man more than £200, and brought him 60 hours of community punishment. Andrew Ingerson, 22, pleaded guilty to criminal damage, after he and another man fell on to a Rover car while
Just how big is Christmas in York for city businesses? STEVE CARROLL investigates. IT TOOK shoppers on the streets of York by surprise. According to surveys, Britons are the most generous people in Europe when it comes to buying Christmas presents - spending
FARMERS are set to hold a crunch meeting with highways bosses in the New Year over growing safety fears on the A64 near York. They will raise concerns that a lack of slip roads into farm entrances from the busy dual carriageway could lead to a major accident
YORK and District Table Tennis League division one leaders York RI 'A' were in prime form as they whitewashed Groves WMC 'B', who will have their work cut out to avoid relegation. Coneysthorpe 'A' and Sessions 'A' drew, with Martin Lowe winning three
TRAFFIC chiefs are set to install "ghost" speed humps to deter speeding motorists at a notorious accident blackspot. The scheme is one of several "psychological" traffic calming measures proposed for a dangerous stretch of Hull Road in York, following
PAUL Hunter will need more than his steel grit and determination over the next couple of days if he is to stay in this year's Travis Perkins UK Snooker Championship. His courageous performance in beating Jamie Burnett in a dramatic finish to their second
CASH flow problems caused by fixture mayhem meant York City's players missed out on an overnight stay in Hereford last night. Billy McEwan's men were instead making the three-and-a-half hour trip to Edgar Street this morning for their important Conference
When the great and good of British sport gather tomorrow to look back over the year amid the glamour of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year programme, you can be sure that women will not feature greatly. We will be treated to a lengthy reprise of the
GEORGE WILKINSON returns this week with a visit to Brawby, near Malton. Brawby is the birthplace of The Shed, the village hall of barely fifty seats, the place of famous gigs for the last decade. Otherwise the village is a small place on flat land. We
