How a 1955 school trip sparked a man’s lifelong love of York

A SCHOOL visit to York sparked a life-time love affair with our city for William Thackray.

William came to York aged 10 on a school trip from South Yorkshire in 1955 – and took in the Minster, the Bar Walls, Shambles, the Castle Museum and the old York railway museum.

“We must have whizzed round York in an afternoon like how Americans do in Europe,” said William with a smile when we met for a coffee to look through a very precious memento of that day.

William, now aged in his 80s, remembers that first trip to York so vividly because he has kept a scrap book filled with details of the visit as well as sketches and his own reflections on the day.

William Thackray who has created photobooks of York. Image by NQ

“My lasting memory is of the sheer wonder of York – as a dream place. Here was history – it really got to me. It was a place like nowhere else I’d seen.

“I’d been to London in 1953, but even a few days in London didn’t hit me like my one day in York.

“I remember walking along the York walls thinking, well, we don’t have these in Rotherham!”

William was able to indulge his affection for York further when he came to York to study at York St John to be a teacher.

William Thackray who has created photobooks of York inspired by this scrapbook of a school visit in the 1950s. Image by NQ

During this time, he took weekly organ lessons at York Minster under the instruction of Francis Jackson, the celebrated composer and organist, who was director of music at the Minster from 1946 to 1982.

William Thackray as a boy. William has created photobooks of York. Image by NQ

William enjoyed a career as a teacher before retraining to be a vicar.

And as an adult, he would regularly visit York, often taking photos on his digital camera.

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Now retired and living in Northallerton, taking photos of York has been a hobby for many years. Although today, he takes images via his smartphone.

And he has created several photo-books documenting this deep regard for our city, across themes such as the city’s snickelways, its iconic buildings and many of its churches.

One of William Thackray’s photobooks of York on the city’s snickelways. Image by NQ

“I’ve done 12 books in total. I like taking photos. I am not a photographer and don’t know anything about photography; these days I just use a mobile phone.”

Each book can be reproduced, but at a cost of £85, so it not a mass-publishing nor profit-making venture, pointed out William.

Ultimately, he just loves taking photos of the city he first lost his heart to as a schoolboy.

“Walking around York is like walking around a stage set.”