100 years ago

After the lapse of several months, and the appearance of many unexpected delays, the bells of York Minster, which the previous May had been removed to London to undergo retuning and general repair at the famous Spitalfields bell-foundry of Messrs Warner and Sons, Ltd, were expected to arrive in the city today.

The 12 bells had been shipped at the Surrey and Commercial Docks the previous week on board the steamer Hallas, which had recently arrived at Hull and thence transferred to the railway. Extensive arrangements in the south-west tower of the Minster had of necessity to be made well in advance. The bell hangers had not only to deal with enormous weights, but they were working at a great height, which necessitated the use of long lengths of tackle and the building up of elaborate temporary structures.

A ten-ton iron winch was just being got into position for hoisting the bells. All of the parts had to be taken up the narrow steps within the tower. The operations were expected to last up to five weeks, followed by considerable work in fitting. There was little doubt that the bells would be rung at Easter.

 

50 years ago

Although Brown’s Home Bakery, Goodramgate, used the most up-to-date methods, their “straight from oven to customer” principles remained the same... and they still employed those good, pure recipes which went back more than 100 years.

Purity of product, and cleanliness in production and service – these were two of the highlights at Brown’s. Their famous Old English Fruit Cake received orders from all parts of the world, and a taste, even a smell, of this cake gave you the reason for its popularity. The richness of pure ingredients, the scorn of anything synthetic, was a hallmark of Brown’s.

 

25 years ago

Viking marauders were back in town again hoping once more that they could beat the Brits. But this time the Norsemen had come to York offering the hand of friendship, although there was still a competitive edge to the river race, one of the highlights of the Jorvik Viking Festival. Dressed in Viking costume, Norwegian boat men from Bjoekedal raced British crews from all over the country in their specially built Viking replica ship called Bjarka.

Races were taking place between Skeldergate and Ouse Bridges at half hourly intervals. Teams from several universities and boat clubs would do battle against the Norsemen. Eliminating races would determine the fastest British and Norwegian crews and those two were due to do battle in a grand finale.