May 4 (From York Press)

May 4

7:10am Friday 4th May 2012 in Way we were

100 years ago

The popular pleasure steamer, River King, was, the following day, to commence her daily service of sailings up and down the river Ouse, with a trip from Ouse Bridge to Naburn Locks in the afternoon, and another in the evening, particulars of which would be found in our advertisement columns.

For the remainder of summer there would, as usual in the past, be two trips each day, circumstances permitting. The boat had been redecorated since Easter, and currently boasted a very attractive appearance, which fact was always an important consideration in river sailing.

Further, with the country now looking its best, the scene on each side of the river after leaving the city was conducive to the enjoyment of an hour or two of real pleasure on the water.

50 years ago

Hospital Visitor wrote to The Yorkshire Evening Press: “As a frequent visitor to a close relative in York City Hospital, I have been surprised to learn that transistor radios are allowed in at least one of the wards. These radios, often playing very loudly, are a source of considerable annoyance to many older patients, and I have heard several bitter complaints.

“No one would wish to minimise the splendid work done by the staff of our hospitals, but one feels that an annoyance of this kind is surely unnecessary and that the wishes of the majority should be considered.”

25 years ago

A giant detective hunt to locate hundreds of 'missing' York families had begun. But the amateur sleuths were two academics, following in the footsteps of York's most famous social inquiry - the Rowntree Survey.

Roy Carr-Hill and Maggie Bustard, who worked at the Centre For Health Economics at York University, were trying to piece together the lives of families throughout York who were surveyed in Rowntree's 1950 survey.

And they had called upon any York resident who had lived in the same street for 50 years or more to contact them.

Their memories could be the key to the giant detective puzzle. “What we are doing is to try and contact the families of those people who featured in Rowntree's 1950 survey of poverty.

Our aim is eventually to see whether there is any link between the living standards of children of poor homes then and those same people's health today,” Mr Carr-Hill explained.

Seebohm Rowntree carried out three of his famous surveys of poverty in York in 1899, 1936 and 1950.

In 1950s he looked at 2071 households who were earning £530 or less and asked them questions about their occupations, wages, rent and food bills to establish unique information for future historians.