From our archives:

85 years ago

According to columnist Vera Forbes it was a good idea to draw up a beauty programme to help keep up those resolutions about looks which we all made in the spring, and which, by this time, had worn a little thin.

One specialist had recommended “on waking in the morning, stretch until every muscle of your body had been tightened and relaxed, and whether you have wisely substituted orange juice or lemon water for the early morning cup of tea, or whether you perversely stick to the old habit, rinse your mouth, for this is really important to both to health and beauty.”

A presentation was made at the LNER Yard Master’s Office, York, to Mr J W Johnson, who had relinquished the position of Yard Master to take up an appointment as chief of the Superintendent’s Freight Trains Section.

50 years ago

Road signs warning of two unmanned railway crossings on the York to Selby road at Riccall had been altered by British Rail because of the Yorkshireman’s connotation of the word “while”.

Locally “while” was often substituted for “until” which gave an opposite meaning to the previous signs which read “Stop while lights flash”.

A picture in the Yorkshire Evening Press showed the rapid progress being made on The Viking, a multi-storey hotel under construction in North Street, York, as well as the new headquarters block for British Railways Eastern Region which was being built on the old station site.

The Countess of Feversham, herself a magistrate, officially opened the new court house at Easingwold, rolling up to impress in her Austin car.

And it was the second time in six months York’s Mansion House flagpole was without its flag. Police were treating the disappearance as simple larceny.

20 years ago

The York Against Cancer appeal had smashed through the £50,000 barrier, making the dream towards a fully-equipped cancer counselling centre at York District Hospital one step closer to reality thanks to a £5,000 donation from an anonymous benefactor and other large donations, including £2,000 from a Grand Summer Dance in Stillingfleet.

A lake in the grounds of Harewood House had been identified as the source of poisonous algae affecting a 30km stretch of river, after samples of water had been found to contain high levels of blue-green algae.