100 years ago

York was adjusting itself to the existing war conditions with considerable effectiveness, and measures were being taken to maintain as nearly as possible a normal state of affairs.

We were informed that since the previous Friday a small sub-committee of the Education Committee had been making strenuous efforts to find suitable temporary accommodation for the children displaced by the commandeering of certain elementary schools by the military authorities.

All children whose names were on the registers of the schools involved were requested to assemble in the playgrounds attached to these schools where they would be transferred to the buildings which had been secured as temporary schools.

The Municipal Secondary School for Girls, Queen Anne Road, had also been taken over by the military, and would be occupied by a body of mounted men, whose horses would be accommodated in the school grounds.


50 years ago

The English schoolgirl of crumpled gym slip, crushed black velour hat, and creased stockings was a myth perpetuated by Ronald Searle’s cartoons.

The current schoolgirl cared about her appearance and her clothes followed current fashion trends. This coming term she was more likely to be wearing a neat grey skirt, a colourful blouse, stretch tights and an attractive beret. Serge gym slips had been replaced by permanently-pleated skirts of Terylene.

Drip-dry poplin blouses with pointed stiffened collars were sold in a variety of colours – including green, pink, gold and blue. Berets were worn by a number of schools, but velour hats were still popular.

The new styles bore little resemblance to the old black hat despised by pre-war schoolgirls; they had much slighter brims. Girls of one York school would be sporting tartan stockings this winter, and even those confined to traditional fawn would be wearing stretch nylons or tights.


25 years ago

The television presenter Sue Lawley would step back 50 years when she recreated the original 1939 news bulletins which had announced the outbreak of the Second World War.

The radio bulletins would go out on television in a modern nightly version of what listeners had heard in the week before war was declared.

The bulletins were part of a week-long season of programmes on BBC radio and television to mark the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of war.

Announcing the anniversary season, Mr Paul Fox, managing director of BBC Television, said: “It will be a time of sadness for many. For some it will bring a nostalgic smile, a memory of a small but personal part in history. For those born after the event it will be a time to learn what happened and why.”