A BANK Holiday is all the excuse we need for a look back at the way York people used to have fun in days gone by.

We've always done the formal occasions well in York as our pictures here of Military Day parades shows.

In one, the West Yorkshires march down Tower Street on a wet Sunday April 30 1905, to be precise. The weather hasn't deterred the crowds from turning out to line both sides of the street.

Our second military picture shows a march past the Minster in 1911.

York is good at royal welcomes, too. There are some splendid Victorian costumes on show in the image of Lendal Bridge decked out with flags and bunting for the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of York to receive the Freedom Of The City in 1893.

But it is scenes of ordinary people having fun that really bring the past to life most vividly.

Our image of ice skaters on the frozen River Ouse was taken in February, 1895. The figures dotted across the ice could almost have come from a Lowry painting: it is as though you can still see them moving to this day.

But perhaps best of all is the wonderful image of Barnum and Bailey's circus visiting York in 1899. The photo is blurred and faded with time, but it is still just possible to read on the faces of onlookers the sense of sheer wonderment at the sight of a large, ponderous and magnificently exotic elephant suddenly appearing in their midst.

A true holiday treat indeed!