100 years ago

Miss Judith W Gostling, 54, Bootham, wrote to the editor: “Will you kindly allow me, through your paper, to appeal on behalf of the wounded soldiers in the York County Hospital?

I have arranged lately to have some of these men taken for motor drives in the afternoon, and find these drives have been so much appreciated that I intend if possible to continue them. I feel that there must be many people with whom I am not personally acquainted who no doubt would be willing to lend their cars occasionally.

If they would write to me stating the number of seats in their car, giving their address or telephone number, I should be extremely grateful. The cars would be required between the hours of 2pm and 4pm.”

 

50 years ago

Co-operation of motorists would be sought by the Road Research Laboratory before and during the Christmas period in roadside breath tests to obtain facts on “drinking during driving.”

The tests would be made by a small team of three or four people who would ask motorists to breathe into plastic bags for later laboratory analysis. “The police have agreed to assist us,” a Road Research Laboratory spokesman said, “because obviously, we have no authority to stop anyone.

The operation is entirely voluntary. Motorists will be asked if they are willing to co-operate in the experiment. If they are not, they will just go on their way. If they are willing to help they just blow into a plastic bag, which is sealed and taken to the laboratory. The driver’s name is not taken, nor the car number, so there is no kick-back.

We shall take tests in the pre-Christmas period and then during the actual Christmas period - specifically Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - and see how the two compare.” The spokesman said this was part of a long-term study by the laboratory into drinking and driving.

 

25 years ago

Work was to start soon on the first phase of a new £1.9 million college at the University of York. The seventh college would provide 144 study bedrooms for graduate students on the Heslington campus.

It represented a huge investment in York’s future as a seat of learning. The first phase was expected to be completed by autumn 1990. The bursar, Mr Roger McMeeking, had described the project as “an expression of the University’s health and confidence in the future”.

The seventh college, first envisaged by University architects more than a quarter of a century before, would mean more jobs at the University and a major spin-off for the booming conference trade.