Way we were

100 years ago: The Mendicity Officer of Scarborough had some peculiar incidents to relate at the meeting of the supporters of the Charity Organisation Society. He said he had received an application from a married couple, the husband being only 18 years of age, for a bag of coals on their wedding day. He refused the application as he did not like to think that the couple's first matrimonial fire should be the product of charity. Another woman was persuaded to marry a man with whom she had been living, and was given assistance to purchase the wedding ring. Half an hour after the ceremony she applied to the Committee for help in the wedding festivities. A woman who wished to start a lodging-house but had no funds, applied for £120 or £150 with which she said might manage very well, but her application, said the officer, amid laughter, was not entertained.

50 years ago: The Chief Constable of York was interviewed on a number of traffic issues in York. He said that the time was fast approaching when the parking restrictions, already existing in certain congested streets, would be extended to the whole of the city centre. "The whole problem, I feel," he said "in York is that we are trying to put quarts of traffic into pint pot streets." Commenting on the lack of road sense and responsibility of many cyclists in York, the Chief Constable said there were many good cyclists, most of whom came from the local cycling organisations, and it seemed a pity that these organisations could not do more to bring the bad cyclists within their scope. He also welcomed the encouragement of road safety among schoolchildren and said there were many children in York already using the roads with better road sense than older people.

25 years ago: An outline planning application was made for a £2 million Asda superstore in York, which would be almost identical in size to its Huntington store. More than 12 acres of land fronting Bishopthorpe Road was earmarked for the scheme, which also included the later addition of a hotel overlooking the Knavesmire and the racecourse, next to Terry's. The land was owned by York Racecourse Committee, and was currently being used either for parking cars during race meetings or as allotments. A recent application for a new supermarket in the city by Tesco, to be built in Monkgate, failed after a public inquiry.

Updated: 09:13 Monday, November 22, 2004