Saturday, June 4, 2005

100 years ago

A remarkable story of theft by a schoolboy was told in court. A boy of nine broke into a school and stole the sum of 10s 7d, which was later missed from a cupboard in one of the classrooms. He appeared to have disposed of the money in a variety of ways, some of them being as follows: Hid 4s in a hole on the moor. Paid a visit to a waxwork show. Bought two pork pies, some black puddings, cherries, and three-halfpennyworth of peas. Went to the market, bought a rabbit for 6d and gave it to a lad. Bought some rock and chocolate and gave it to another boy. The accused boy promised the court to do better, and the Bench bound him over to come up for judgement in twelve months.

50 years ago

The minimum admission charge for Football League matches in the forthcoming season would be increased from 1/9 to 2/-. This was decided at the annual meeting of League clubs in London, when it was reported that the previous season had seen a fall of more than 2,000,000 in attendances. This was the biggest decrease since the war. The League president stated that the return on gate receipts showed that the clubs' total reduction of income from them, during the last two seasons, amounted to well over a quarter of a million pounds. He concluded by saying, "Many Third Division clubs are having difficulty in paying their way, and the time has arrived for us to give very serious consideration as to the best method of dealing with the situation."

25 years ago

Councillor Ken Cooper bitterly attacked procedures for investigating the possible introduction of a sixth form college system for York. He claimed setting up a small working group of members, suggested by the Conservative majority on the sub-committee of the Education Committee, would be a recipe for delay. "At the rate we are going at the moment we will be lucky if we go comprehensive in York by 1999, let alone 1985," he said. "We are just dragging our feet. People in York want to know how the schools are to be organised. The 11-plus is outdated and the sooner we get rid of it the better."

Updated: 14:21 Friday, June 03, 2005