April 1

TO mark the publication of our 10,000th issue a special section was incorporated giving the history of our newspaper.

It included the following: “When the ‘Evening Press’ was first issued in 1882 the paper was set up by hand by compositors. This was followed by the introduction of the Empire type-setting machines, which did the work quicker, cheaper, and much more expeditiously. Subsequently, in order to keep the paper up-to-date, the Empire machines were again superseded by the Linotype machine, which currently represented the last word in up-to-date newspaper production.

The rate of output of the Linotype machine was generally taken at a minimum of 6000ens per hour, but under good conditions the compositor could average from 7000 to 9000ens. When the “Evening Press” was first issued, the Webb rotary machine, currently in general use, had been unknown. The “Press” had first been printed on a Prestonian machine, which delivered the paper spread open, after which the copies had to be folded by hand.

50 years ago

The following Saturday was to be the last Parliament Street market before the removal of the stalls to Newgate.

This weekly bustle would have been a part of York’s life for exactly 127 years 10 months. There would be regrets at the move. There always were. When Parliament Street had taken over from the old Pavement market in June, 1836, it was far from popular with the stallholders. In the resulting flare-up stallholders determined to go back to Pavement. They formed a procession, headed by a fiddler, piled all their goods on wheelbarrows and handcarts, and returned to Pavement where they set up their stalls.

For this they were summoned before the magistrates and fined. From then on the stall¬holders settled down, and gradually the Parliament Street market became as cherished a possession as the old Pavement market. Within living memory, the market, once lit by naphtha and acetylene flares, had produced many “characters.” George Howson, fishmonger and fruiterer, would not strike a chord under his full name, but as “Wrap-it-up George” he was known to generations. When a sale had been made, he would turn to an assistant with the words: “Sold! Wrap it up, George.”

In the old days, the market was larger than it was at present. In 1934-5 there were 182 stallholders and 234 stalls. Five rows of stalls covered the entire street from side to side.

25 years ago

Anti-nuclear protesters denied their much-publicised plan for a mass break-in at the Menwith Hill base, near Harrogate, was nothing more than an April Fool’s day stunt. The protesters, from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and peace groups all over Yorkshire and Humberside, instead were bombarding the base with phone calls in an attempt to jam its switchboard.