YORK-based readers of the BBC website may have got a surprise when they checked out the latest headlines this week.

It appeared a by-gone council row was back in the news with a bang.

"Fireworks from Galloway" read the headline.

Was this a reference to our local council boss Steve, and a resurfacing of the controversy that surrounded the 2005 fireworks display?

Alas not. The story was actually about Respect MP George Galloway, who had fired off one of his characteristic tirades.

Green councillor Dave Taylor emailed us and said: "Just for a second, I thought we were going to get the fireworks back."


More memories of doomed pub

WITH the sword of Damocles hanging over The Bay Horse in Marygate, York, former customers continue to submit their memories.

Paul Marshall, from the United States, posted the following message on our website.

"I grew up just round the corner from The Bay Horse. When I was old enough, we used to go in and play darts. Good old pub, sad to see it go."

The pub has stood empty since 2003, and developers now want to convert it into flats and offices.

The scheme has been recommended to get the go-ahead, and councillors will meet today to decide its fate.


Shooting back into popularity

TAKE aim, fire! Here at The Press we're well used to popping on our plus fours, slinging a gun over a shoulder, and getting out into the countryside for a spot of hunting, shooting and fishing.

But our diary staff were a little surprised at the sinister turn these innocent country sports seem to have taken when a press release plopped through our letter box bearing the headline "Yorkshire hotel aiming at shooting enthusiasts."

The hotel in question, the Black Swan at Helmsley, was apparently popular with members of the Kennedy clan when they were America's first family in the 1960s.

John and Caroline, the children of JFK and wife Jackie Kennedy Onassis, used to travel to Yorkshire every year with Jackie's youngest sister, Lee, and her husband, the Polish Prince Stanislaw Albrecht Radziwill, a shooting enthusiast.

Now the hotel - which dates back in parts to the 15th century - is reviving the age-old countryside pursuit by hosting shooting parties for guests.