From our archives:

85 years ago

Employees of William Birch and Sons, a builder’s firm in York, had formed a social and recreation club in Ogleforth. Joining many of the company’s workforce for its official opening were Alderman W H Birch and Mr Walter Birch, who had agreed to be president and vice-president respectively. A spacious room had been equipped with a billiards table, table tennis and other games and in addition to the indoor facilities the club had also planned to organise football, cricket and tennis matches. It was therefore hoped that when the club became well established it could then acquire a permanent position within the city centre. And in Scarborough, the town's council had agreed to the development of a £6,000 speedboat pool and a public shelter on a car park Peasholm Gap. One firm objection had come from Councillor John Jackson who stated that the council was “jeopardising the possibilities of the North Side getting a bathing pool for at least the next 10 years”.

50 years ago

A seven-way bath, a status symbol for Victorians plunging into the 20th century with all mod cons, was the latest acquisition for the Castle Museum, in York. The bath, seven feet long in half-inch solid copper and with a nine-foot copper canopy incorporating a shower, had been given to the museum by Stockport, Cheshire, education authority. Meriting a prime position in the museum, staff still hadn’t decided where the monster would go. Would it be best positioned in the bathroom collection of period rooms, or a plumber’s shop to one of the streets? And Princess Anne celebrated her 18th birthday by sailing off to Scotland with the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles.

20 years ago

Bathers in Scarborough, who had been plagued by jellyfish, faced a new peril. Weever fish, which lived in the shallows and carried a poisonous sting like a bee. The summer visitors were now a regular on the East Coast and had been reported further down the coast off East Anglia. Ryedale’s magazine for the elderly and disabled had published its last edition after 20 years. The Ryedale Rainbow, which began as a way of distributing information, helping cheer up people at risk of leading isolated lives since the 70s, had now rolled off the presses for the last time.