WHEN York played Halifax in the 1931 Challenge Cup Final it looked like they were going to race to victory. But the Wasps had not bargained for the resolve of the Halifax team, including a certain FT Adams, making a diving tackle in the photograph above.

FT, known to all as 'Hefty', was a Halifax winger who kicked four goals in the Wembley final, helping his team to victory by 22 points to eight. He was the father of York architect Tom Adams, who has designed and overseen dozens of prestigious developments around the city.

Mr Adams brought some of his father's memorabilia into the Evening Press after the 1931 rugby league cup final was featured in our piece looking back at Wembley. And that story seems to be a suitable way to kick off this week's Yesterday Once More, which is a collection of readers' memories.

York Wasps reached Wembley by defeating Bradford Northern, Huddersfield, Salford and Warrington. As soon as their semi-final victory was secured, cup excitement engulfed York.

Thousands made the journey south, confident of a Wasps' victory. And in the first half, York lived up to their billing as favourites. They established a first half lead of 8-3, and it should have been more, according to a contemporary match report in Tom Adams' archive.

"It was positively an amazing match, York at first threatening to run their opponents off their feet, and then allowing themselves to be subjugated in a fashion that made you wonder how such a transformation could really happen."

On first half form, the report went on, "York seemed certain to win the trophy for the first time in their history. They produced just the same vivacity as had carried them through the earlier rounds, passing the ball with delightful swiftness and revealing such perfect cohesion that made it impossible to believe they could be beaten." But beaten they were.

The following year, Hefty's heroics made him the cover star of the Radio Times. A picture of him tackling a York player was used to preview BBC Radio's coverage of the 1932 final. The cover also featured a picture of the Wembley turf divided into numbered squares. This early magazine graphic was designed to make it easier for the listener to imagine where on the pitch play was going on.

From rugby to railways. Caroline Briscoe wrote in from her home in Devon to recall the life of her remarkable family of railwaymen.

Her father George Jennison Castle, who lived in Murray Street, Acomb Road, York, died in 1961, a month short of his 90th birthday. He had begun his career in 1886 as a boilersmith before becoming a driver.

His reputation for ensuring a smooth ride meant that he was often taken off normal service to drive trains of Belgian wounded in the First World War, because there had been complaints about them being shaken up on bends.

His grandfather, George Jennison, helped to make the first railway lines. Aged 12, he earned fourpence for a 12-hour day. He was later employed as fireman on the No. 1 locomotive, Rocket. And he drove the first engine to run between York and Darlington.

In an article written by Mr Jennison, he explained how he was often called upon to transport lords and dukes. "They used to see that the driver and fireman always received £1 and a hare for themselves."

Mrs Briscoe was educated at Priory Street Higher Grade School and Queen Anne School, before going to Manchester University in 1929.

"There is so much political nonsense about opportunities for education which makes me very angry," she writes.

"I owed my chances to the opportunities offered in York at that time and to my family's attitude to my plans."

She went on to become a teacher, in Middlesbrough.

"I was fortunate to have a York City Scholarship and money for one year's research. I think the Government paid the money we needed during the year we took our education certificate."

The recent flooding in York also brought back a vivid memory to Mrs Briscoe. She was sitting in an upstairs Queen Anne School classroom looking out of the window.

"I sat there and watched as the water came in at the little gate. The hockey field was soon flooded and we hoped it would come even higher.

"Since we were a group of scientists, with chemistry, physics and biology on our timetable, we enjoyed wandering around to find what had been left there when the tide went down. "I miss York very much," she concludes, "but can enjoy walking round it in my memory."

The floods brought memories back, too, for KJ Clibery, of Wolverhampton.

"I can only feel for the people who have been flooded out of their homes and the devastation this must have caused to the young, the old and the infirm, to mention but a few," he writes.

"My mother was a York woman, and would have been very saddened by the recent floods. She was a 'Chipchase' before marriage. They used to have a butcher's shop in Shambles many years ago.

"I have a picture of a York flood in 1931. It shows a portion of Huntington Road with some children looking on."

News that the Rialto on Fishergate is likely to be flattened has had many York people thinking back to the days when the likes of The Beatles and Roy Orbison used to visit. But its boards were also trodden by lesser known, but equally committed, artistes. Among them were the young players in the St George's School pantomime, staged at the Rialto in 1959/60. Thank you to Anne Church (ne Fake), of Severus Avenue, Acomb, York, for the picture.

Finally, back to rugby, and an appeal for help.

"For the past four years or more I have been compiling information in the hope of producing a history of Railway Rugby in York," writes Bernard Emmel of Heslington.

His research has revealed that the origins of the Railway Institute Rugby Union Football Club can be traced back to 1883. But there are many gaps in his knowledge and any information on this topic would be gratefully received. Write to Mr Emmel at 30 West Moor Lane, Heslington, York, YO10 5ER.