I know that face

Last week we thought a mystery had been solved, by naming the man who painted the mural at the former Rialto cinema (now Mecca Bingo in Fishergate, York) as John Noble. That has now been challenged.

It was the late Mr Noble's son, Mike Noble, who rang to say his father had created the pictures of York through the ages. He had a painter and decorator's shop in front of the Rialto.

Subsequently, I was contacted by brothers Peter and Patrick Olsen who are convinced George Radford did the mural.

"I remember when my brother Peter was painting the interior of the cinema, George Radford used to be up on scaffolding in the foyer painting a mural starting at the stairs on the left, then all the way along the inner entrance doors and up to where the righthand stairs started," writes Patrick.

"This panel was above the doors and showcases. It was around 1952/53, my brother Peter told me. My sister-in-law Joan, who was also an usherette at the cinema, said she used to watch him painting in the foyer while at work...

"The amazing thing was George had only one arm! He was also a superb signwriter and used to teach it at the York School of Art in the same building as the present-day Art Gallery.

"A mural you spoke of may have been done in 1944 but the one I believe people talk about was the one I saw being painted in the Fifties."

So were there two murals?

Can anyone shed any light?

Staying in the post-war period, Mrs I Darrall of Regent Street, York, sent in two pictures taken in 1948 "during York's first festival after the Second World War".

Town criers walked the streets every day of the festival, she recalls. Among those in the picture including the donkey are two of the children, Myra Durkin and Denise Wigan. They lived in Margaret Street, off Walmgate.

More young faces feature on our top-of-the-page photograph, dropped in by Doreen McCowan (ne Appleton).

Mrs McCowan, who lives off Shipton Road, is "trying to trace school friends for a reunion night and a good chat about old times".

The picture was taken at St George's School in York around 1940. With a feat of memory, she has remembered the names of most of the children pictured.

They are: back row - Johnny Barnett; Derek Hartley; Miss Mansfield; Pat McCann, Peter Fern; third row - Wilf Long, Tom Walters, Ron Cassidy, Doreen herself, Ann Manion, Sheila Cowling, Gwen Husband, Dorothy Ayres, Barbara Precious, Terry Bramham; second row - Joan Button, Nellie Roche, Joan Harrison, Coleen Copley, Jean Gordon, Teresa Coates, Mary Riddle, Cathy O'Donnell, Audrey Smally, Margaret Martin, Dot Calpin, Cynthia Simms, Kath Jackson; front row - Muriel Lee, Iris Myres, Dorothy Birch, Frances Walker, Kath Searge, Rowena Crossfield, Jean Clark, Margaret Gell, Eileen Gibson, Vera Boyne and Moira Calpin. Anyone interested in the reunion should contact Mrs McCowan at 26 Rawcliffe Croft, Shipton Road, York YO30 5UT or ring (01904) 632270.

Another appeal, this time from Pete Horton, who now lives in Warwickshire. He wants your help to identify anyone on the photograph of "Mr Goodall's class trip to Fountains Abbey in 1959".

On to the buses now, and transport enthusiast Geof Dickson, of Lilac Avenue, York, wrote in following a piece earlier this year by "Our Man On The Omnibus". He was answering a request about "bible indicators on West Yorkshire Road Car buses".

"The large destination boards were not made of wood, but were in fact metal, and with several 'leaves' were very, very heavy," he writes.

"The term bible comes from the fact that they looked very much like the old, very large Victorian family bibles that many households possessed years ago.

"The leaves were turned at each terminus to reveal the far end destination...

"A typical two leaf bible could contain, for instance: (1) 'W Terrys via xxx' (2) '4 Fulford via Station and Nessgate' (3) '4 South Bank via Nessgate and Station'.

"The ultimate destination in larger capital letters was always on the bottom half with the service number in red on the left upper; the W stood for workmen." Many thanks, Geof.

Anyone who has visited the exotic North Sea resort of Skegness knows that it really is "so bracing!" But few will know the town was turned into a thriving seaside destination by York man Rowland Jenkins.

He was Skegness council's engineer, surveyor and architect from when he moved there from York in 1912 to 1952.

He masterminded a new phase of development including a ballroom, boating lake, beachside walks and solarium.

You can read more about Mr Jenkins and Skeggy in a new booklet Skegness: Lincolnshire's Famous Seaside Resort, available for £2 (including postage) from Jim Wright, at 33 Parker Street,Cleethorpes, NE Lincs, DN35 8TH.

We finish with two appeals. After a Yesterday Once More about windmills, Jen Williams of Cormill Lodge wrote to ask for more information about White Cross Mill.

"I have a photo of it as it was in 1898, presumably from your paper," Jen wrote. "It is also named on the 1907 Godfrey Edition old Ordnance Survey map. The house behind my house was the mill, and one curved wall of the central mill can still be seen, although that part is pretty derelict now. I know that the house next door to me on Haxby Road was the mill house."

If you have more information, Jen can be contacted on email: cornmillyork@btclick.com

Lawrence Teedon worked at Fulford Road Military Hospital during 1947 and 1948 and would love a picture of the hospital. If you can can help email him at teedon@onetel.net.uk

Diana remembered

Diana, Princess of Wales, died five years ago this week. We would like to know your memories of that extraordinary story and its aftermath. Where were you when you heard? Did you travel to London for the funeral, or did you pay a different tribute? Looking back now, what was Diana's legacy? Please ring Chris Titley on (01904) 653051 ext 337, or email him at chris.titley@ycp.co.uk

Updated: 10:01 Monday, August 26, 2002