Way we were

100 years ago: The body was laid to rest of a resident of Fenwick Street, Bishopthorpe Road, York, who, it was claimed, was the oldest engine driver in the world. He was 80 years of age and drove his first engine for the North Eastern Railway at 16, and remained in the company's service for nearly 60 years. His distinction of being the oldest engine driver had now been challenged, for it was said that Preston laid claim to a driver of even longer standing than the York veterans. A correspondent in a contemporary paper claimed that a man known as Red Jack from Bow Lane in Preston began life as an engine cleaner in 1834, and was a passenger driver in 1839, two years before the York man was a fireman. Red Jack's champion claimed he had travelled more than two million miles, and had an accident of any kind, and was the last of the survivors who struck work for an increase of pay in 1843.

50 years ago: York magistrates were asked to pass on to a police constable the thanks of an offender for the "kind and courteous manner he showed". The local man, who expressed his thanks by letter, was fined £2 for driving a motor truck unaccompanied while holding a provisional licence, and £2 for failing to display "L" plates.

25 years ago: An early Victorian workhouse in Kirkbymoorside had been converted by the Save the Children organisation into a reception centre for sixty Vietnamese boat people, ranging from babies to grandparents who would be arriving in North Yorkshire shortly. It would be their home for the next three months, while they took a crash course in English, learning enough to get by initially in places such as shops. They would also be found permanent homes and encouraged to find jobs in this country. Most of the refugees had spent anything up to nine months in a transit camp in Hong Kong, before coming to Britain as part of the quota of 10,000 refugees that had been agreed. Kirkbymoorside was the last of 14 homes opened by Save the Children in this country.

Updated: 12:07 Friday, November 19, 2004