100 years ago

The parents of the children attending Poppleton Road School had been invited to visit and see the children at work.

There had been a record attendance. Specimens of painting, drawing of various kinds, modelling, woodwork and metalwork, needlecraft, typewriting and handwriting were exhibited in the various classrooms and attracted great attention. Later, a varied programme of plays, songs, and dances was given in the Upper Central Hall. Scenes from As You Like It, in costume and with Shakespearean songs, secured a large audience.

Among the dances given were three morris dances, two performed by girls and the third by boy morris dancers in appropriate costume, along with other English, Welsh, and Irish folk dances. An exhibition of advanced drill, a humorous action song entitled “You dirty boy” and some admirable singing closed a very varied and versatile programme.

50 years ago

The 100,000 Scandinavians who had visited Britain in 1962 had spent £5m here, reported the British Travel and Holidays Association.

A sample survey carried out by the association showed that nearly half of the £5m went on accommodation, meals and drinks and almost a third on shopping. The rest went on theatres and entertainment, transport and other holiday and travel services. Thirty-seven thousand of the visitors from Norway, Sweden and Denmark came on “pleasure-only” trips; 14,000 combined pleasure trips with a visit to friends; 10,000 were on personal visits only; 26,000 were on business trips and the remainder combined business with pleasure and a visit to friends.

More than a quarter came to improve their knowledge of the English language. Scandinavian visitors spent an average of six weeks here. Of those questioned, nearly half were on their first visit. The great majority of the first-time visitors said Britain was better than they had anticipated because the British people were kinder and more friendly than they had been led to believe.

25 years ago

The caring Queen Mother had given our Lifesaver ’88 Appeal a royal cash boost with a personal donation to our campaign to buy a £100,000 heart scanner for York District Hospital.

Royal protocol prevented us from disclosing the amount of her donation, but her Clarence House treasurer wrote, saying: “The Queen Mother is well aware of the value of scanners and would like to support the appeal.” It was extremely rare for members of the Royal Family to make cash contributions to appeals of this kind.

The last occasion had been in October the previous year when the Queen made a contribution to an appeal to repair hurricane damage in East Anglia.