From our archives:

80 years ago

Another “at home” to which the public of York had been invited, was held at Lumley Barracks, Burton Stone Lane, by the 221st (1st West Riding) Anti-Aircraft Battery, Royal Artillery. The previous “at homes” had been very successful, but this year many citizens had been unable to attend, to gain interest there was a further demonstration of work done by the battery. Parents had also been kindly reminded that it wasn’t possible to admit young people under 16 years of age. For the keen gardener, it was time to secure the growth of border carnations loosely to stakes, plant spiraeas that had been growing in pots, and cut away all sweet pea seed pods to achieve the best flowers and continuous blooms. At this time of the year the ground was also liable to become baked on the surface with disastrous results to the seedlings. Loss could be averted by keeping soil constantly stirred with the Dutch hoe.

50 years ago

Senator Robert Francis Kennedy had died in the Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles, the victim of an assassin’s bullets, just like his brother before at the age of 42. The world’s reaction was one of shocked sympathy after the Senator had just celebrated one of the biggest political victories of his personal career. The Archbishop of York, Dr Donald Coggan, announced that he would therefore hold a memorial service for Senator in York Minster the following week at 12.30. Princess Margaret had flown in to Yorkshire for a visit to the Dr Barnardo homes and youth clubs in Ripon, Harrogate and Wetherby. Accompanied by the Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding, Lord Scarbrough, she spent three hours looking round Red House Nursery School and Springhill School in Ripon before meeting Dr Barnardo’s officials and workers. Then in the afternoon she paid a visit to Bilton Youth Club in Harrogate and the Crypt Youth Centre at Wetherby.

20 years ago

Six tiny ducklings were settling into a cosy new nest after being rescued from a water-filled gasometer pit at Malton. The survivors from a brood of 12-week-old chicks had been nicknamed Hugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Cluck by the firefighters who plucked them from their dangerous birthplace. And police warned local businesses to be on their guard against the latest fax scam which promised to make them overnight millionaires.