From the Gazette & Herald of Friday, April 20, 1956 (From Gazette & Herald)

From the Gazette & Herald of Friday, April 20, 1956

The Rev Kenneth MacKenzie, one of York's most outspoken Methodist ministers, strongly attacked the Budget plan for a premium bond when, in a comment on Wednesday, he said the Chancellor's statement that the bond was not gambling "appals me".

It was obvious to a child, he continued, that what the punter loses is the interest on his money and if Mr Macmillan could not see that there was "something seriously wrong with his intellectual processes". If he could see it and said he could not, then that was something worse. There was no Roman Catholic comment in York yesterday but the Rev D Oxby Parker, rural dean of York and vicar of Acomb, in a personal comment, pointed out that one of the great objections to gambling was that it caused poverty as the gambler lost his stake. In this case, the investor would not lose his stake and therefore such an objection in principle was removed. While he felt, therefore, that it was not a great moral issue, he added: "There is something I don't like about it."

Members of the Women's Section of the Helmsley branch of the British Legion donned the lace and fripperies of grandmother's day and staged a colourful mock wedding in the Scout Hall, which had all the ingredients of fun and gaiety. It was the novel idea of the committee in helping to raise funds, for each of the 40 guests brought along presents which were later auctioned.