From our archives:

85 years ago

The Duke of York spent the night among his guests at the camp at Southwold, Suffolk, where 450 boys were gathered drawn from all parts of the country as well as the Channel Islands.

Motoring to the camp, the Duke of York, driving his own car, made a tour of the camp and then joined the boys for a dip in the sea.

A large crowd had waited for the Duke’s arrival, whilst some of the boys staged a delightful hoax, driving a Rolls-Royce car with one of the boys impersonating the Duke solemnly raising his hat and screening his face as he acknowledged the cheers.

In direct contrast to the previous year, when heavy rain had marred the event, Sowerby Flower Show and Fete was ideally warm with brilliant sunshine, which meant the sun-loving crowds had helped exceed the expected attendance.

50 years ago

A new town plan for Stockton-on-Forest, housing an eventual population of 2,000 people, had come out of cold storage.

Now the plans for the self-contained rural town were going back to the North Riding planning authority.

Smiling in the rain, Lord Harewood and his bride stepped from the front door of Harewood House to face a battery of press cameras, with their pet poodles gamboling around their feet.

This particular visit, said Lord Harewood, as the shutters clicked, would last six weeks. During that time they will visit Harrogate Festival events  - Leeds United matches.

“Are you a football fan?” the radiant countess was asked.

“I am and shall be going to Leeds United matches” – her husband is club president – “for that’s compulsory,” she laughed.

And Attorney General, Sir Elwyn Jones, had decided there would be no criminal proceedings arising from the Aberfan Tribunal report.

20 years ago

Armchair wars failed to break out in Piccadilly, York, with the opening of Home, the new Marks & Spencer Coppergate store which was right opposite a brand new £80,000 branch of home furnishing chain Multiyork.

Home was modestly opened today by Janet Clarke, of York, a former M&S supervisor who had come out of retirement to do the deed. Mutliyork, although already open to the public was due to be formally opened with all the high-kickin’ razzmatazz of an American musical.

Angry residents claimed their village was being made scruffy by a paint botch-job after Railtrack contractors had painted out obscene graffiti in a different colour to the Copmanthorpe railway bridge.