WE have a real treat for you this week - a series of wonderful postcards depicting street scenes in York from more than 100 years ago.

The postcards all come from the collection of the Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeological Society (YAYAS), and they offer a real window on life in York between the 1870s and 1910s.

One postcard of Shambles in 1875 shows the butchers for which the street was once famed sitting outside their shops, while sides of beef and pork hang beside them. A postcard of Blossom Street in 1900, meanwhile, shows a horse-drawn carriage proceeding at a merry clip down the centre of the street - we know it was travelling quite fast because the coachman is wilding a whip. And in a 1904 photograph of Ouse Bridge there's another form of transport - a handcart being pushed by a boy or young man in a cap. The bridge is dominated by the premises of B&E Bushell, the ironmonger.

By 1911, motorcars were making an appearance - one can be seen driving through Bootham Bar towards Bootham itself. And by 1916, the new-fangled electric trams were well established. A photograph shows a tram on the Fulford to Dringhouses line having just turned onto Blossom Street heading for Dringhouses. It's just a shame these wonderful machines didn't last. Just think how much less polluted and congested York's streets would be today if they still ran...

Stephen Lewis

The Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeological Society (YAYAS) which supplied these postcards celebrated its 175 anniversary this year. It has been promoting and protecting the history, heritage and architecture of York and Yorkshire since 1842. You can find out more about the organisation by visiting www.yayas.org.uk