From our archives:

85 years ago

After five years’ work by his Majesty’s Office of Works, the renovation work on Middleham Castle was drawing to a close.

Many residents, however, did not relish the idea of the old monument being preserved and the ivy been stripped from its walls hoping that the ruins “would just be left as ruins”.

But after years of work they had changed their tune and were ready to uphold the usefulness of the scheme against all challengers.

The danger of people walking on a main road after dark instead of on the grass verge was emphasised during an inquest into the death of a solicitor’s clerk who had been knocked down on the Pocklington-Hull road and the first of a series of social evenings had been held in Spennithorne Schoolroom.

50 years ago

The Prime Minister had called in Mr Ray Gunter, Minister of Labour, to discuss the worsening situation in the rail dispute, which was now affecting most of Britain as more guards refused the controversial “second-man” duties, and were suspended from work leading to their colleagues coming out in sympathy.

From York, normal passenger services were still running to London, Manchester, and Birmingham, but no parcels were being accepted for the Manchester and Birmingham areas.

A notice-board in the station foyer warned passengers that, because of the labour dispute, trains beyond Manchester were liable to cancellation and delay.

It was a case of “time and tide wait for no man” after a 112ft ocean going tug slipped smoothly into the River Ouse at its launch at Selby shipyard.

20 years ago

Some people have all the luck, which was the case for a York syndicate that had just won £2.1 million on the lottery and then another tenner the following week and were now celebrating after been linked with another lottery success, after lucky golden wedding couple Eddie and Betty Pollard celebrated scooping £1,875 when five of their numbers came up on the Saturday night lottery.

And more than a thousand-people had packed York Minster as part of a “24-hour Hallelujah” raising over £6,000 by singing simultaneously in York and 311 other places around the UK for the BT Voices for Hospices event.

In York, a 500-strong choir and York Chamber Orchestra performed for an audience of 700 in a bid to raise money for St Leonard’s Hospice.