Wednesday, October 6, 2004

100 years ago: The painter was abroad on the banks of the Ouse, warned Yorkshire Brevities. Young people who thought of sitting in the moonlight holding each other's hands had better think twice, as it would be no use explaining that you had just come from the Free Library when you had a broad green stripe across the middle of your back.

50 years ago: Readers were asked to recall the love story of Charlie the swan and Janie the goose. Charlie regularly flew off from York to woo Janie, whose home was on a farm at Strensall. Janie was eventually bought by the Corporation and brought to York to console Charlie, who was miserable whenever they were not together. In due course Janie laid eggs which produced "swooses", and although they all eventually died, history was made and something had happened in York which, so far as it was known, had never happened before. The story of Charlie and Janie received national publicity, and a magazine "rewarded" them at contributions rates. Not having any use for the money, the two birds thought desperately how they could best dispose of it, and hearing of the Lord Mayor's Appeal to save Holgate Windmill, they felt that a better object could not be found. With the assistance of the York Parks Superintendent, the fund benefited by the sum of £2 4s, so that Janie became not just the first mother of a "swoose", but also the goose that laid the golden egg.

25 years ago: A juror at the Court Leet of the Manor of Spaunton paid a fine for the Post Office, because its post box at Hutton-le-Hole had been placed on Manor Waste. The Court Leet heard that when the postmaster left the sub-post office in the village, the box was moved and put on a stand on the Manor Waste. The Post Office refused to pay the fine and so a juror and former parish councillor, with the agreement of the rest of the jurors, was allowed to pay the 10p fine for them.

Updated: 14:34 Tuesday, October 05, 2004