From our archives:

80 years ago

Owing to rain the annual garden fete and sale of work of Cawood Parish Church, which should have been held in the Vicarage grounds, was transferred to the Old Boys’ School. The effort, which was in aid of the church lighting funds, was opened by Mrs Mark Scott, of Selby. During the proceedings, a presentation was made by the Rev J B Unthank and a bouquet was presented to Mrs Scott by Hazel Hall. In Helmsley, the local branch of the National Farmers Union had expressed their dissatisfaction at the Pig Marketing Board for not allowing farmers to send their pigs to a factory of their own choice. If the pigs were to be sent to a factory some distance away from the farm, it could become very expensive for the farmer.

50 years ago

The Prime Minister had called a full meeting of the Cabinet at 10 Downing Street, to discuss the rail dispute. According to one Lobby Correspondent despite the obvious interest of the Cabinet to restore order out of the chaos, there would be no prospect whatever of a Government intervention between the men and British Railways. Comedian Tony Hancock had been found dead at his flat in Sydney, Australia, apparently from an overdose of sleeping pills. According to police, two “goodbye” notes had been found both written by Hancock’s hand addressed to Eddie Joffe, producer of the colour television series Hancock was making in Australia in his attempt to stage a comeback. And American boxer Joe Frazier had retained New York’s version of the World Heavyweight title by stopping Mexico’s Manuel Ramos at the end of the second round in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

20 years ago

Fifty staff at York’s hospital laundry were to lose their jobs after health chiefs awarded the contract to a Derby firm. York NHS Trust announced it had decided to close the laundry at Clifton, and issue redundancy notices to about 50 people who were employed there. Laundry, including bed lined and staff uniforms, would now be sent to derby to be cleaned before coming back to York. Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, long regarded as Hollywood’s golden couple for their solid marriage, announced they had split up. Publicists for the pair revealed they were separating after a decade-long marriage. And Lisa Riley, who starred in the ITV soap Emmerdale, was to step into Jeremy Beadle’s shoes as presenter of You’ve Been Framed!