100 years ago

The way in which children’s instinct for handicrafts could be developed was described at a meeting of the Teacher’s Guild, at the University of London, by Miss Dora Walford, of the City of Leeds Training College.

She said that at a school in Yorkshire the boys and girls had reclaimed an extensive kitchen garden from the inhospitable moorland and trenched and drained it. In one corner of the garden was a complete observatory, consisting of a rain gauge, barometer, thermometer, wind measures and a sextant, all home-made.

At a tiny forge constructed out of what appeared like a worn-out fire bucket they had beat out runners for their sledges and skates, and from old tin cans and buckets they had made a real bucket for each child in the kindergarten. They had put up a modern henhouse in which hens were kept.

 

50 years ago

York City Council had decided to “subsidise” the city’s southernmost river crossing – the New Walk Ferry. The council had agreed to pay £70 for the erection of a landing stage for the ferry providing suitable terms could be arranged with the ferry operator, Mr E Driffield.

A move by Coun J Hardcastle to have the subsidy quashed was defeated. “I feel we are setting up a very dangerous precedent here,” he said. He pointed out that anyone operating a business in York might be able to get a subsidy by suggesting it was giving a public service. It was entirely wrong that the council should be called on to subsidise a business, he said.

Coun Mrs I Faulkner championed the ferry, saying it was a service for people in the Fishergate area who wanted to get to Rowntree Park, Terry’s works or the other side of the river in general. “We want this to be maintained as a service,” she said. “If we maintain the landing stage we can see the service is run according to our wishes.”

 

25 years ago

The Queen and the Prime Minister had sent messages of sympathy to Japan as its people mourned Emperor Hirohito, who had died earlier in the day.

Two messages were sent to Tokyo by the Queen – one to the new Emperor Akihito, and the other to Hirohito’s widow, the Dowager Empress. Mrs Thatcher’s condolences to the Japanese people, sent on behalf of the Government, were relayed to Premier Noboru Takeshita by British Embassy officials.

A book of condolences was opened at the Japanese Embassy in Grosvenor Street, London.