At the rising of a sunflower

Size is everything when you have 50p riding on the height of a sunflower. Cathy Golding, of Huntington Road, York, bet her six-year-old grand niece Sophie 50p that her sunflower seeds would grow taller.

Sophie, of Barlby, was up to the challenge and as news of the big bet leaked out, friends and neighbours wanted part of the action.

Sophie's sunflower reached 7ft but cool-hand Cathy reached for the sky with a massive 12ft 4ins and it's still growing.

Cathy, a former supervisor at the button factory at Haxby - a housing estate these days - now describes herself as a "person of leisure". Asked whether winning such a large amount would change her life, the chirpy Irishwoman chortled: "The first thing I'm gonna do is have a long weekend in America. But listen, I don't want any begging letters before I go."

Don't pack your bags yet, Cathy. I have it on good authority that Sophie has no intention of paying up. She wants a drugs test on the super sunflower to see if it has been genetically modified!

A mate who is signing on the Nat King Cole (dole) was stunned the other day when he went to cash his Giro at Lendal Post Office in York.

The counter assistant was polite as usual and at the end of the transaction, which caused jitters on the stock markets of the world, he was presented with a little box of Honeynut Cheerios. A sweet touch, you might think.

My ingrate of a mate muttered: "Where's the milk?" A Post Office spokeswoman explained: "We are just market sampling Cheerios and there is no particular significance about who is handed a free sample. It certainly is not meant as a slight on anyone on the dole."

Don't breathe a word of this to anyone, I will only save this once! Savers in York's Goodramgate offer such good deals on toiletries that staff from Boots, just a few doors down the street, nip in there to snap up bargain buys. Even their Boots staff discount card cannot match Savers' prices. Whatever happened to loyalty? Perhaps Boots should check their pricing polity. Lloyds Bank's new magic money machines are a pain in the... eyes.

The serried ranks of cash machines used to be inside the bank, accessible even after hours on cold, dark winter days and nights. That was until yobs and scallywags of both sexes started depositing their liquid assets in the cosy lobby. Out in the hot 'n' cold again, the cash dispensers are just as welcome and accessible. But when the sun shines you can't see how much you haven't got... because of screen glare.

A Charity worker inquiring about the cost of hiring a function room for a special event rang the four-star Royal York Hotel and was told she could have the Oak Room - capacity 120 - for £3,000 a day give or take a bit of haggling.

Ever mindful of cash for the Third World, she rang York's Grand Opera House - capacity 1,096 - with the same query. She was told it would cost £1,500 a day and they would even organise ticket sales.

Big-hearted Easingwold butcher Steven Mercer was given £250 to donate to the charity of his choice when his reign as president of the Harrogate and District Butchers' Association came to an end. There was no contest. It is going straight to the homely but tiny 12-bed St Monica's Hospital in the town, which employs about 20 people.

Steven, 38, says: "It's a great little hospital, it belongs to the community and we love it. Many's the time they have had me in stitches... after my knife has slipped."

Hospital Sister Jean Fargher says: "It's great that locals think so much about us. The cash will be well used you can be sure of that."

11/9/99

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.