100 years ago British soldiers had gained a reputation in France for the manner in which they cared for their horses.

The comradeship existing between man and horse was shown in the following graphic letter from a Private in the Scots Guards (transport): “We were coming through a wood riding our horses to water in pairs, when the pair in front of me were blown to smithereens, the driver as well, by a shell.

Hell can be nothing compared to this. It is just as if someone left the door open and all the furies were let loose. It is death or glory for every one. I look an awful picture. My clothing is torn to shreds, I have lost all my buttons, and it is dreadful cold at nights but I cuddle up against the horse for warmth. Our horses are terrified mad, but my two seem a bit at ease when I lie down beside them at night.

If I leave them for a minute there is no pacifying them. I did the best I could for this poor chap, a wounded man. I found him wandering with his arm badly shattered, and covered him with my great-coat although goodness knows I wanted it badly myself that night. But I would have given him all my rags after he promised to post this.”

 

50 years ago

The last colours ever to be carried by a battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment would be paraded through the streets of York for the last time the following Sunday. They were those of the 5th Battalion, the Territorial Army battalion which had amalgamated with the 4th East Yorkshire Regiment to form the 3rd, The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire (TA).

The colours were to be laid up in the Regimental Chapel in York Minster on the same day as the colours of the 4th East Yorkshire were laid up in Holy Trinity Church, Hull. In June this year the new battalion had been presented with new colours by the Princess Royal.

 

25 years ago

The curtain would go up tonight on a glittering new era for York’s Grand Opera House. A special open day had attracted thousands of visitors eager to see the new-look Grand, back to its old glory following an ambitious £4 million restoration scheme.

Tonight a theatre audience would return 33 years since the playhouse had wound down the curtain on its last show. The Edwardian building, renamed the SS Empire, then became a venue for wrestling and bingo before closing in November 1985. It was eventually bought for around £500,000 by developers India Pru who embarked on the restoration plan.