Precious memories found in biscuit tin

The 48-year-old warehouse worker, from Holgate, likes to go to local auctions to see what he can pick up.

It was at one such auction that he spotted what looked like a metal biscuit tin.

It had been set aside to be thrown away. "Obviously it wasn't thought to be good enough for the auction," he says.

Mr Duck rescued it: and was amazed by what he found inside.

The box contained a series of old black and white postcards dating from the time of the First World War.

And many of them showed the aftermath of a Zeppelin raid on York.

Several streets are shown - Price Street, Nunthorpe Road, Kyme Street and Caroline Street among them. They are mainly streets that were in a cluster around Bishophill and Nunnery Lane, points out Mr Duck - so not a million miles from the railway station.

It seems natural to assume they were all damaged in the same raid.

One - the photograph showing a house in Price Street that has been badly damaged by bombs - has a note written on the back: "Mr and Mrs Avison killed."

We know from contemporary reports that there was a Zeppelin raid on York on May 2, 1916. The bombs rained down on Nunthorpe Avenue, Upper Price Street and at St Saviour's Place, amongst others. Nine people were killed in all - six men and three women. And among the dead there was indeed a Mr George Avison, 71, of 13 Upper Price Street, and his wife, Sarah Avison, 69. Their house received a direct hit.

Many of those who died that night had gathered in St Saviours' Place, perhaps to look up at the strange, alien object which loomed above them in the sky. AJ Peacock, in York In The Great War, his wonderful history of those times, reproduces a column from the York Herald of May 4, 1916, which gives a vivid account of the events of that night.

"At about half past ten on Tuesday night a hostile airship visited a certain place in Yorkshire," it reported (that 'certain place' being York).

"A few moments before its arrival the detonation of the bombs could be heard in the distance, as though ten to fifteen miles away. The ominous thud of the bombs attracted a good many people into the streets, and very shortly the long, cigar-shaped form of a Zeppelin, flying at about 3,000 to 5,000 feet, came into sight.

"Over a great open space it remained stationary, with engines turned off, for fully three minutes... When the engines were re-started the airship, with its droning, humming accompaniment of sound, passed over the town.

"Great volumes of dense black smoke issued from the machine, and many who were too late to see the airship saw the waves and circles of smoke floating with clear and marked contrast against the star-bedecked sky.

"Eighteen bombs, it is believed, were dropped in the district. Some dwelling houses were more or less shattered. One house entirely collapsed, leaving a hole in the ground, while another fell like a pack of cards about the ears of the occupants, a man and his wife, who were killed, and their bodies being extricated with much difficulty. The death toll totals nine, and approximately 40 people have been injured."

In addition to the Avisons, the others who died that night were: Edward Gordon Beckett, 29, an army sergeant on leave who lived at 4 St John Place, Hungate, who was killed in in St Saviours Place; Emily Beatrice Chapman, 28, a railway clerk, killed at 6 Nunthorpe Avenue; William Chappelow, 49, a coal bargeman who lived at 32 Garden Place, Hungate, killed in St Saviour’s Place; Ernest Coultish, 24, captain of a barge, who lived 47 Volta Street, Selby, killed in St Saviour’s Place; Leslie Hinson, 18, a soldier who was billeted on Knavesmire, killed in St Saviour’s Place; Benjamin Sharpe, 20, a Leetham’s Mill worker who lived 1 Wilsons Row, Layerthorpe, killed in St Saviour’s Place; and Susannah Waudby, 65, of 8 St Saviour's Place, killed in St Saviour’s Place.

Mr Duck's treasure trove of rescued postcards seem to be a visual record, therefore, of the aftermath of that night of terror in which so many died. Quite a find.

"People know about the bombs that fell in World War Two," he says. "But not so many know about the World War One raids." Well, now you do.

The metal tin that Mr Duck rescued contained several more remarkable photographs. One, dated simply 1914, shows soldiers on Knavesmire Road being driven off to war on horsedrawn carts. Another shows a group of day trippers aboard a charabanc for a Thwaites of York outing. "Horace Ward Ellison standing," says a note on the back.

And last but not least, there are a couple of photographs, dated 1913, showing employees of William Wright and Son, Butcher, of Nunnery Lane. Among the people identified are 'Tom Raines, Miss Bell and Bertie'.

Bishophill - Zeppelin raid 1916

Caroline Street

Kyme Street

Price Street