Saturday, November 27, 2004

100 years ago: A good cricket yarn was being told about Lord Hawke, the famous Yorkshire cricketer, in the clubs around the city. He was attending a banquet on the Continent, and feeling very lonely and "out of it", among so many people whose conversation he did not understand, when one of the waiters approached him with wine. He declined it with a shake of his head, whereupon the waiter electrified him by whispering, in the broadest Yorkshire dialect: "Tak' it my lord, an' leave it in t'glass. Ah'll sup it!" It was an old member of his lordship's own cricket team, who had drifted to the Continent in search of work.

50 years ago: The importance of strict accuracy in recording historical finds was stressed by the Keeper of the Yorkshire Museum, at a meeting of the East Yorkshire Local History Society. To illustrate his point, he told them about consulting an Ordnance Survey map where he found that a Roman amphitheatre was shown as being located at Sancton, in the East Riding. He went to see it, and formed the opinion that it was something other than an amphitheatre, and so he wrote to the Ordnance Survey authorities requesting some information about the site. They replied that they had very little, but sent him all they possessed. The Keeper was still unconvinced, and shortly afterwards someone from the OS department went to Sancton to have a look at the "amphitheatre". His inspection confirmed the Keeper's theory, the "amphitheatre" was nothing more than an ordinary chalk pit. The moral of the story was given as: "Treat all information on maps with wholesome caution."

25 years ago: The national shortage of skilled labour was one of the reasons given for a manpower shortage in York City Engineer's Department. The city engineer said that he was 45 people short of the 450 manual workers needed in the department, and the shortage meant it was difficult for the department to plan work ahead. He was trying to keep the number up despite funding cuts, and so York City Council were advertising for plumbers, joiners and bricklayers, as well as unskilled labourers. The council weren't the only sufferers in the shortage, and it was thought to be a particular problem in York, as there were several large firms also competing for available labour.

Updated: 11:00 Saturday, November 27, 2004