From our archives:

85 years ago

The fine weather during the summer and the mildness of the autumn in Whitby and district had resulted in a prolific crop of blackberries.

Fine, large, ripe fruit was hawked in the town as low as 4d a pound.

Alderman Sir William Forster Todd, chairman of the Markets Committee, took great pleasure in opening York’s Martinmas Fair.

On entering St George’s Field, the first thing he was greeted with was a large ox roasting on a spit.

When cooked the ox was carved with joints been sold and the rest used for sandwiches, so that people visiting the ground would be under no obligation to leave for the purpose of satisfying the inner man.

And York Corporation Streets and Buildings Committee had rejected the plans for the £35,000 stadium proposed to be erected on York City Football Club’s old ground, Fulfordgate, Heslington Lane, York.

50 years ago

York Cattle Market, which under normal circumstances would have had a store sale, was deserted again because of foot and mouth restrictions.

The number of cases of foot and mouth disease had risen to 395.

Total slaughter so far was 74,997 head of livestock, 35,526 cattle, 18,715 sheep, 20,749 pigs and seven goats.

A brown paper parcel, containing an explosive mixture and a timing device, had been found on the steps of the new Ulster House in Berkeley Street, Mayfair, London, which was due to be opened by Princess Alexandra later that day.

And a petition signed by 100 traders at Thirsk, had been presented to Thirsk Rural Council urging it to speed up negotiations towards the town’s privately-owned Market Place being bought by the public.

For several years, the council had been debating the offer of Major Peter Bell, Thirsk’s Lord of the Manor, to sell the two-acre cobblestoned town centre to the council for £6,000.

20 years ago

The Old Brewery at Helperby, near Easingwold, which had a starring role in the filming of a Yorkshire TV series about a Victorian poisoner, had gone the market for half a million pounds.

And Ryedale was reeling from a double jobs blow.

TLC Home Workers in Market Street, Malton, which provided home carers for North Yorkshire Social Services, had closed with the loss of 43 jobs and Slingsby Aviation’s factory, at Kirkbymoorside, was also due to lose 60 members of staff.