From our archives:

85 years ago

The boys of York Blue Coat School would not forget their recent harvest festival in a hurry, after the Canon A A R Gill had asked the boys to help themselves to the apples at the end of the service. After the supply had gone, some helped themselves to the vegetable marrows and tomatoes, while others preferred onions. According to Canon Gill: “It was a selfish scramble for pleasure, leisure and treasure, instead of a dignified, confident struggle, to make the world a better place to live in.” Mr George Sunley, of The Green, Nawton, celebrated his 90th birthday. The oldest resident in the Ryedale village, Mr Sunley was one of the biggest fruit buyers in the north and a dealer in cattle and sheep. And past students of the St John’s College, York, had revived some happy memories at their annual reunion held in the school’s new gymnasium.

50 years ago

Boys at the Selby Secondary School were finding a spring in their step due to the arrival of a new £250 trampoline, the latest acquisition of the Three Rivers Area Youth Service. The trampoline which was bought for use by members of youth groups, was being housed at the school whilst the youth service lined up a trampoline instructor. A steady stream of objections had been made against British Rail’s plan to axe the York-Sowerby Bridge-Manchester main line. Seventy written objections had been received since the proposal in August and rumours were circulating that the closure would bring an end to the Horbury and Brighouse passenger stations. And a £20,000 appeal for a new Artist Centre for York was launched at a press conference at the Yorkshire Club in Museum Street. The plan was to convert St John’s Church, Micklegate, into a centre for dramatic productions, cinema and social club.

20 years ago

York had lost out in the race to become an American bank’s new European headquarters creating more than 1,000 new jobs. The city which had been pipped at the post by Cardiff, could not offer the same big cash incentives. Meanwhile, the man who had kept Castle Howard blooming for 25 years was retiring to concentrate on his own garden. Head gardener Brian Hutchinson, 65, had only gone into gardening because he couldn’t get a job as a joiner when he left school in 1949.