Tuesday, May 23, 2006

100 years ago

In St Deny's School, Walmgate, York, a meeting was held in connection with the St Deny's and St Margaret's Churches to protest against certain clauses in the proposed Education Bill which appeared to be unfair and unjust to the scholars, the parents, and the teachers who belonged to the Church of England. It was said that the York schools were excellently managed by the local authority, and there was no religious question in their city, but there were places in England other than York where such a state of affairs did not exist. A resolution strongly protesting against the passing of the Education Bill, because it destroyed the voluntary schools of the country, excluded religious teaching from school hours, and ignored the rights of parents to choose the character of the religious instruction to be given to the children, was unanimously carried.

50 years ago

If there were no measurable rainfall by the end of the week, London and the south of England would enter a period of official drought. Conditions were not so bad in Yorkshire, and in the York area crops were not suffering very much. Weather experts drew a distinction between a drought and a shortage of water. A weatherman pointed out that an official drought existed if there had been no measurable amount of rain for 15 consecutive days. The dry spell was causing farmers much concern. It had set back crops, particularly cereals, and if the dry spell continued there was bound to be an adverse effect both on the quality and yield of milk due to the parched grass.

25 years ago

Mr Michael Montague, chairman of the English Tourist Board, was opening Scarborough's Spa Grand Hall, after its £3m restoration -- the completion of a plan envisaged 25 years before. The hall had been restored under the guidance of experts from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Its colour scheme was identical to the original. Mr Don Waterman, Director of Tourism, said, "Sample scrapings of the original paintwork were sent to the museum and we have gone to considerable lengths to restore the Spa to its original splendour." The restored hall was part of a £6m scheme for Scarborough tourism during the previous three years. In addition to the renovation of the Grand Hall, Spa vita dome and green lounge restaurants had been restored. The council planned to carry out the second phase of the renovation, costing £1.6m, which would involve restoring the ballroom and promenade lounge.

Updated: 12:31 Tuesday, May 23, 2006