December 6

A new Home Office order was in force in York. We had been requested by the Chief Constable of York to state that by an order of the Home Office all Belgian refugees living in the city had now to register.

Any proposed change of address had also to be notified to the police. The expression “Belgian Refugee” meant any person who was either a Belgian subject or an alien recently residing in Belgium who had arrived in the United Kingdom since the commencement of the war.

50 years ago

Now that more household preparations were packed in pressurised aerosol containers, the problem of their safe disposal – they could not be burned or punctured – was being studied.

At present, York’s refuse disposal system was that of controlled tipping, so no difficulty was found in dealing with these containers, in the odd cases when they were mixed with the normal refuse.

It was felt in the City Engineer’s Departments, however, that when the disposal of refuse by incineration was put into practice in the foreseeable future, then the final disposal of these containers would need to be considered.

25 years ago

One of the blackest episodes in York’s history was to be commemorated on its 800th anniversary – in a spirit of reconciliation.

In March 1190 hundreds of York Jews besieged in Clifford’s Tower committed mass suicide as the only alternative to Christian baptism or death at the hands of the mob. Those who tried to escape were butchered or forcibly baptised. York still had a low Jewish population, and according to historians that was partly explained by memories of the most notorious event in the annals of mediaeval English Jewry.

A four-day programme had been organised by a group of Jews and Gentiles, dedicated to learning the lessons of the past.