100 years ago

Mr George Shaw, the skipper of the Scarborough steam trawler St Cloud, told of how the Germans had come to Scarborough the previous day, and the terrible havoc he witnessed them create in the space of half-an-hour.

“About half-past seven o'clock we steamed nearer to the harbour mouth for unloading purposes. About ten minutes to eight o'clock we saw three warships come round the Castle Hill from the north and steam quite close.

"They came round there at a speed that showed me they knew Scarborough well, and we took them to be British warships. They had no sooner got round the corner than they opened fire. The first shot was fired at the Castle, and struck the wall.

"The next was sent in the direction of the Northern Cavalry Barracks. Then all three ships started firing as fast as they possibly could. Some of the shells went quite close to us, one shot whistled past us and damaged the pier, and another went right through the tower of the lighthouse. We saw shell after shell strike the Grand Hotel and other places, and saw the wreck they were creating.


50 years ago

The first edition of Sunday Spin, a new weekly programme for ten York hospitals, would be presented on Sunday, and on Saturday, when the programme would be recorded at Acomb Community Centre, the Lord Mayor, Councillor S Palphramand, would introduce it.

Representatives from all the hospitals receiving the programme - Acomb, Bootham Park, City, County, Fairfield, Fulford Maternity, Naburn, St Mary's and The Grange - would be at the opening.

The new programme, which would replace the old fortnightly record request programme to only four York hospitals was presented by Acomb Community Association Hospital Broadcasting Service. Behind the scenes the programme took a total of 12 hours to collect requests, script and record.


25 years ago

The Yorkshire Museum of Farming, near York, which had closed in September with debts of £50,000, was half way to recovery.

Trustees were optimistic that the award-winning museum would survive. The secretary of the museum's management committee, Mr Geoffrey Heselton, revealed that the museum's endowment fund stood at £25,000.

More money was hoped for from local authorities - and around 15 per cent of the debts had already been paid. A decision on the museum's future was expected within a month. But trustees ruled out a rescue deal offered by the owners of a simulated Dark Ages village in York.

“The museum is an educational resource, it's not a fun park. The offer is not very appropriate as it would clearly change the nature of what we do,” said Mr Heselton.