Thursday, February 2, 2006

100 years ago

Sir H Campbell-Bannerman had agreed to meet, along with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a deputation of trade union leaders and secretaries to consider the subject of old-age pensions. The deputation would urge the necessity of establishing a national system of old-age pensions which would be universal in its application to all citizens - men and women - on attaining the age of sixty years, the pension to be at the rate of at least 5s per week, and the entire cost of such a scheme to be contributed by means of Imperial taxation. The deputation would include many of the newly-elected Labour MPs.

50 years ago

It was not how much you had, or how little, but what you did with it that mattered. That was the belief of Miss Margaret Morphew, 72-year-old pensioner, who had mastered the problem of living on an income that in these days of £8 a week and more for shorthand typists seemed too little for existence. Miss Morphew, who had £3 a week, had one coal fire in her little sitting room. If she was going out to shop she soaked newspapers in water, rolled the sheets into soggy balls and put them round the top of the fire - "when I come back it's still a grand warm fire." The basic expenses and food took most of her income, and she hadn't had a new dress in two years. "I never waste left-over vegetables," she said, "they can be fried up with a bit of bacon." Miss Morphew had lost all her savings in the war. Whilst hanging out some washing a bomb fell, all she remembered was hearing a bang and then waking up in hospital. She was off work for nine months and had no compensation.

25 years ago

Buddhism had grown so fast in York that followers were now looking for a permanent base in the area. For the past two years they had been meeting at a hotel in the city. But members of the 60-strong Madhyamaka Centre wanted to put down roots. The premises would serve as a library, offices, a centre for Tibetan language courses and, possibly, "home" for a lama (priest). Mr Ron Lister, administrative director, said Buddhism was one of the fastest growing religions in the world, and that over the previous two years there had appeared a great need for people to come along and receive teachings. "To expand our existing levels of activities, to provide suitable accommodation for serious study and meditation, to cater for new interests and to have a solid base for our current programme, we need to acquire our own premises," he said.

Updated: 08:28 Thursday, February 02, 2006