From our archives:

85 years ago

Householders were still fleeing from the Yorkshire floods.

The worst area was now around Doncaster, were 600 families near Bentley Colliery had been advised to leave their homes.

Arrangements had been made to house the refugees, and it was understood that over 1,000 had used the school at Bentley New Village.

The main LNER line form North to London was also flooded at Arksey.

Railway traffic had therefore been considerably delayed near Doncaster, with trains at York more than an hour and 25 minutes late.

The Princess Royal paid another visit to York Spring Race Meeting.

This time the attendance had been considerably larger and, although the weather was very unsettled all Yorkshire stables did very well, winning four out of the seven races.

50 years ago

After one of the worst seasons in their history, York City had granted free transfers to six of their 20 professionals.

One of them being David Dunmore, who had begun his career with the club 14 years ago and then played for Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and Leyton Orient before returning to City in 1965.

At York Minster the first of the stone slabs to be raised from the floor under the central tower had been reported as showing nothing of archaeological interest, as there were no inscriptions on the undersides and, in fact, the slabs had come up with comparative ease.

This however was no real surprise as the paving had been raised before to allow power cables to be laid underneath.

The real archaeological ‘treasures’ were expected later when the stones under the central tower would be raised.

20 years ago

Star Wars’ hidden celebrities unmasked for their fans in Harrogate to celebrate 20 years of the science fiction film. Darth Vader, R2D2 and Wicket the Ewok all stepped out of their famous costumes to give talks and meet their fans at the Fantasticon UK in the Crown Hotel.

The event had brought together actors and other artists from science fiction, including the late author Terry Pratchett.

The Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, mucked in by hosting a champagne reception to help raise £1 million for the Abbeyfield Appeal to build brand new home for elderly people in the York area.

Helmsley-bound drivers were on the road to nowhere as thousands of visitors flocked to two major attractions, Helmsley Castle and the popular Duncombe Park Country Fair, causing major traffic jams.