100 years ago

THE Queen was celebrating the 47th anniversary of her birthday. Messages of congratulation had been received by her Majesty from the German Emperor and Empress, and from practically all the Royal houses of Europe.

A luncheon in celebration of the Queen’s birthday had been held at Buckingham Palace in the afternoon, at which a dozen members of the Royal family were present.

An Exchange message from Malta stated: “In celebration of the Queen’s birthday the Union Jack is flying from every flagstaff in the port. All the foreign and British ships are dressed, and a salute of 21 guns was fired.” The naval men in port had been invited to dinner by the naval and military officers at the Union Club.


50 years ago

CLIFTON Bridge had been used for race traffic for the first time in a new police “beat the queues” plan.

A senior police spokesman said that traffic from the Thirsk and Easingwold direction had been advised to use the signposted route to the racecourse via Clifton Bridge, Poppleton Road, Dalton Terrace, and The Mount.

“This route saves at least 15 minutes and will avoid traffic queues in the city centre and near the railway station,” said Chief Inspector J A Pickup. He said motorists returning to Thirsk and Easingwold should use the same route, in reverse, for their homeward journeys.

“This is the first time Clifton Bridge has been used for race traffic and we are hoping motorists will take full advantage of it,” he said.


25 years ago

IT WAS feared thousands of North Yorkshire holidaymakers could be grounded because of a threatened passport strike.

Travel agents predicted a long summer of disruption - with many families forced to cancel their foreign break.

 A huge backlog of work had led to a threat of industrial action at the Liverpool Passport Office the following week.

Some travellers from York had resorted to queuing overnight in Liverpool to get their applications processed. But if the passport office staff went on strike even that option would be lost.

The manager of Victoria Travel in York, Pat Emsley, said: “It’s very worrying, especially if people have already paid for their holiday. Passports have been taking anything up to 13 weeks to arrive and quite a lot of our clients have had to go to Liverpool and queue, often for more than one day, just to get them.”