From our archives:

85 years ago

The prospect of rain over the weekend had gladden the hearts of many Yorkshire farmers, after an unusual period of extremely dry weather. In Tibthorpe, the pond had dwindled to a quarter of its normal size; and dried-up patches of mud, baked by weeks of sunshine. The village well which was 120ft deep was nearly dry and Miss Walton the village Postmistress, wasn’t too pleased that residents were using the emergency tap. Wetwang railway station was also without water, causing a problem for engineers working on repairs and children waded in the village pond filling buckets of water for domestic use. In Malton and Ryedale however, there was nothing to fear as the new piped supplies were proving to be a great success.

50 years ago

One thousand and four hundred corporation workers from Newcastle-upon-Tyne had stopped working at midday for a half-day token strike in protest at the rejection by the Prices and Incomes Board of a £1 a week pay rise. According to a Transport and General Workers Union spokesman the feeling among the busmen would be “that of disgust.” Fire had destroyed one of the largest film sets ever staged, valued at about £350,000. The accident had taken place during filming of the Columbia Pictures “Castle Keep” starring Burt Lancaster at a set near the historic Yugoslav town of Petrovaradin on the Danube. And Clifton Hospital Operatic Society was making amateur stage history with their production of Iolanthe, by using a stage band. The society’s approach to the opera was new and was bound to be controversial stated Mr C R Evers, musical director.

20 years ago

Experts were investigating why a freighter sank suddenly in near-perfect conditions off the Yorkshire Coast, drowning at least four crew members. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch had promised a thorough probe into the mysterious loss of the Rema after a wreck had been found in 150 feet of water near the missing vessel’s last location, 20 miles of Whitby. A major name behind the massive department store at the heart of York’s multi-million-pound Coppergate extension had been revealed as Debenhams. And Lady Lucan, wife of missing peer Lord Lucan who vanished in 1974 after the murder of the family’s nanny, was taking steps to have her husband legally declared dead.