100 years ago

The Bishop of Birmingham, who was keenly interested in athletics, had written to the secretary of the Birmingham Athletic Institute a letter in which he said: “Do you think it would be possible or useful to try to get our young fellows to be a little more interested in walking?

I am afraid lest in the course of time the bicycle should supersede ‘shanks’ pony.’ If you think it worth taking up, I would gladly give a £10 cup as a challenge cup for a walk, say from here to Gloucester or Tewkesbury, or some such fifty miles course. I am a great believer in walking.” The letter was to be placed before the various local athletic organisations, and it was believed that a competition would be arranged.

 

50 years ago

Work on the erection of Raindale watermill on the bank of the River Foss behind the York Castle Museum, was to begin almost immediately according to the curator, Robert Patterson.

The creation of York’s “Mill on the Foss” had been assured at the last meeting of York City Council, when power to borrow the necessary £4,750 had been granted. This was what it would cost to re-erect the two-storey building of faced stone on its new site, and to put it in order. The old mill, with its overshot wheel fed by sluice, would work for its living when it had been rebuilt, and would either be operated by retired millers or be demonstrated as required.

Raindale Mill which had originally stood in a North Riding valley near Pickering, had been last used to grind corn about the time of the 1914-18 war. At that time it had been offered to the late Dr JL Kirk, whose collection of Yorkshire bygones overflowed from his Pickering home and formed the nucleus of the world-famous Kirk Collection in the York Castle Museum. It had always been Dr Kirk’s plan that the mill should be re-erected in the city as part of the Castle Museum.

 

25 years ago

The railway station buffet at Malton looked set to be axed in a £3 million redevelopment.

Plans to turn the Victorian building into an upmarket coffee shop and offices could put caterer Joe Brayshaw out of business – and out of his home. But British Rail had denied giving Mr Brayshaw a notice to quit and said his fate was in the hands of the new lessee.

The station – together with redundant land alongside – was earmarked for what could be the largest commercial enterprise seen in the town for many years. The original marble-topped counter – there since the station opened – was listed as a fixture of historical interest.