SNOW returned to Ryedale this week, with the prospect of more to come before the weekend.

However, the snowy weather seen in the region so far this year prompted memories of an altogther harsher winter for one reader.

David Shipley, who now lives in Cayton but then lived near Wold Newton, sent in these photographs, taken in 1979.

He said: "Why should this year's snow cause so much disruption? 25 years ago, they were real blizzards."

Mr Shipley recalled: "By New Year's Day (1979), Wold Newton was snowed in. All north-south roads were blocked with drifts.

"The second snow, at the beginning of February, was almost a repeat of the first.

"The third snow, in March, was very short-lived, but blocked all the east-west roads. This I have not seen before or since."

Coming soon to the Gazette & Herald website is a new section, entitled Old Yorkshire. If you have any tales of Yorkshire in years gone by, or folk tales from the area, e-mail them to gazette@ycp.co.uk.

Updated: 09:59 Wednesday, February 25, 2004