From our archive:

80 years ago

Miss H M Mann had announced that she was retiring as assistant mistress at Haxby Road Junior School, after a long record of service dating back to the 1900s. Thanking her for a job well done, the Education Board also announced that it had other news, the intention to erect a new fully working gymnasium at the Queen Anne School and the appointment of Miss D J Milner as headmistress, in succession to Miss Netherwood. The salary recommended was £500 a year, rising by increments of £25 to a maximum of £650. Over in Harrogate, The Royal Spa Rooms, the Mecca of Women’s Institute members, held its annual Yorkshire County Federation’s exhibition filled with handicrafts and craft workshops. The exhibition which had been postponed in view of the Coronation, had enabled the organisers a year’s grace to make the event one of the best of its kind, both in quality and the number of the exhibits.

50 years ago

Twelve families were unaccounted for after a corner of a 22-storey block of council flats had collapsed in East London. The disaster’s known toll was two dead; with at least 20 people in hospital; and 80 families homeless. Mobile cranes were brought in to lift huge sections of wall from the debris and police toured the streets with loudspeakers warning people to keep away from the building, as it was feared there might be a further collapse. And an application for Sunday cinema performances in Pocklington had been described as a fiasco by the general manager of Majestic Cinemas. Mr Donald Foster who had submitted the request more than 14 months ago, had been told by the Home office that the application, which was for Pocklington parish only, must cover the entire rural district.

20 years ago

The Toon Army had swept through York on its way to the FA Cup final at Wembley, picking up troops at the city railway station. Thousands of black-and-white clad Newcastle United fans were in high spirits as they joined special trains heading to London for the clash with Arsenal. A section of York’s outer ring road was closed to traffic for several hours after a car struck an electricity pole, causing it to block the road. And veteran comedian and entertainer Bob Hope had received an honorary knighthood at the British Embassy in Washington at the grand old age of 94.