April 24 (From York Press)

April 24

7:10am Tuesday 24th April 2012 in Way we were

100 years ago

At Bramall Lane, Sheffield, Barnsley and West Bromwich Albion met to decide who should become the proud possessors of the Football Association Cup for the season 1911-12.

The tameness of the game at the Crystal Palace the previous Saturday had served to create additional interest in today's game.

The decision of the Association in sending the re-play to Sheffield gave great satisfaction to the Barnsley supporters, but there were rumours that the Albion officials were not too well pleased with the choice of ground.

From an early hour crowds began to arrive in the cutlery city, and it was soon evident that there would be a very large attendance of spectators.

By half-past 2 the ground was well filled, and still the crowds came rolling in. At this stage the spectators must have numbered well on to 40,000.

A fine band was in attendance, and the period of waiting was pleasantly spent listening to selections of appropriate music.

50 years ago

“A quarter of an hour from Clarence Street to Exhibition Square.... Twenty minutes to go 300 yards along Bootham....”

These were the tales told by York motorists after an Easter day that broke the city's traffic records. Superintendent A P George, of the RAC, said: “It is the heaviest traffic I have known for a considerable number of years.”

Having checked figures from the RAC Leeds office, however, he had to admit that this was an understatement, for with cars passing along the Tadcaster Road out of York at a rate of 1850 an hour, as against 785 for the same period the previous year, traffic through the city was more than double its previous volume.

25 years ago

A York history group had published its third book of vivid accounts of life in the city within living memory.

The York Oral History Project had spent five years recording interviews with people who had spent their lives in the city.

They had built up an impressive archive of taped interviews, transcripts and photographs.

“These memories provide a fascinating picture of how life used to be in York, while the process of gathering this information involves local people in explaining their city's past,” said a spokesman.

The third book, called York Memories At Home and produced in partnership with the city's Castle Museum, focused on domestic life in the city within the previous 60 years.

The project had been established in 1982 and two years later it had published its first booklet.

York Memories gave a vivid impression of life in pre-war York and sold more than 3000 copies. The second booklet, York Memories At Work was produced in 1985 and concentrated on working life before 1952.