100 years ago

Over 160 wounded British soldiers arrived in York from the front in the early hours of the morning.

The men travelled by a special hospital train which left Southampton early in the afternoon. It was due to reach the station at 11.50pm, but it was 40 minutes later before it arrived.

Major Straton, of the Military Hospital in Fulford Road, was in command of the detachment of the Royal Army Medical Corps, who were entrusted with the conveyance of the wounded men from the station to the Hospital.

One hundred and thirty of the men were taken in ambulances and motor cars to the Military Hospital, while the remainder, between 30 and 40, were taken to the York County Hospital. There were very few people on the platform to witness the men's arrival.

Many of the men were not seriously wounded, and were able to walk without assistance to the motor cars. Numbers were wounded about the head and arms. Some complained of being frost-bitten, while others were suffering from rheumatism.


50 years ago

People from places as far apart as the Argentine and Zanzibar were shown around the city by members of the Association of Voluntary Guides of York, and sometimes it was the visitors who pointed out views to the guides.

So said Miss Marguerita Spence, Headmistress of Knavesmire Secondary Modern School and a voluntary guide since the Association's inception, when she talked about the work of the guides to the York Conservative Ladies' Luncheon club.

“They see beauty in things we take for granted,” she explained.

Although many of the visitors - Continental, Commonwealth and American - were surprisingly knowledgeable about York and its history, the guides were even better informed, because they never stopped learning about the city, she said, visiting places of interest in York during the summer and attending lectures in winter.


25 years ago

A new “upstairs, downstairs” world was emerging in which badly-paid nannies worked for high-earning families.

Living in garrets, earning less than cleaners and with only one weekend off a month, the overworked teenage nanny was as much a part of “yuppie” life as the new BMW or designer kitchen. And the phenomenon was not confined to the rich Home Counties.

It had spread to north-east England, where young nannies were marginally better off because they could go back to their own homes at night. The trend had been identified at the Institute of British Geographers' annual conference.

Clear patterns had emerged three months into a one-year study according to Dr Nicky Gregson, of the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies at Newcastle upon Tyne and Dr Michelle Lowe, of Reading University.