100 years ago

Much surprise and incredulity had been caused in York by a letter from a correspondent in which it was asserted that the writer “was credibly informed that ratepayers wanting corporation electricity put in their houses are required to sign an agreement not to use gas at all for lighting”.

The writer added that if this was true, the scandal should be made public at once, and be done away with. However, Mr HW Hame, the city electrical engineer, had informed our representative that there was no suggestion of an agreement of the kind made to any customer of the department. “There are a great many people who use both electricity and gas in their households in York,” he said.

“When we are approached by those desirous of having current installed we, like every other corporation in the country, require them to sign an agreement to take the current, but certainly not to use the current exclusively. It would be ridiculous to suggest such a thing.” Mr Hame added that he was very glad to have had the opportunity of refuting the statement.

50 years ago

More than 60 pupils from York, including a party from St Peter’s School, would be among 2000 “extras” in a Granada Television programme in Manchester on February 15.

They were to attend a special young people’s concert given by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Bernstein, in the Free Trade Hall. Granada was recording the concert and would televise it later in the year. The orchestra was the oldest in America and the largest ever to come to Manchester.

Its visit to Britain coincided with the 130th anniversary celebrations of the Royal Philharmonic Society. The concert, called What Is A Melody? and including works by Mozart, Brahms, Wagner and Hindemith, would be followed on February 16 by a public concert during which Mr Bernstein would conduct his own music from West Side Story.

25 years ago

The new £5 million bypass at Seamer and Crossgates, on the busy A64 Scarborough to Leeds road, would enable more motoring holidaymakers to get to the Yorkshire resorts faster, said Sir Michael Shaw, MP for Scarborough and Whitby, when he officially opened the two-and-a-half mile section of road.

The bypass would be complementary to new roads built around York, Tadcaster and Malton in recent years, said Sir Michael. “It will not only benefit the tourist trade but industry in general,” he said. “It will make Scarborough much more accessible to new businesses wanting to move to the area, and to existing ones on the fast-growing industrial estate at Eastfield,” he added.