ARC News Service reports on the meeting of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority‘s  ( YDNPA ) planning meeting on October 15 2024, at which planning applications were approved regarding Aysgarth Holiday Lodges and Howesykes Farm in Bishopdale, and there was a statement about the dangers to health and wildlife of telecommunications masts.

Bishopdale – Howesykes Farm

Cllr Robert Heseltine said that seven years ago the planning committee had been wrong to approve an application by Robert and Helen Brown to make changes at Howesyke Farm in Bishopdale. ‘I publicly apologise,’ he said.

Another North Yorkshire councillor David  Ireton stated: ‘Just because we’ve made a mistake and got it wrong… in my view doesn’t make it right by now approving this [new application] when it is entirely contrary to the development plan..’

It was pointed out that in 2017 the planning committee had not accepted the officer’s recommendation to refuse that application which included extending the farmhouse, the construction of two rural workers’ dwellings at the farm, the erection of two barns, and the conversion of a modern barn into five holiday lets.

The new application (for a barn and one rural worker’s dwelling) was, however, approved with the majority of the committee this time accepting the recommendation of the planning officer. They were told that if it was refused the applicants could ‘fallback’ to that of 2017 and build two rural workers’ dwellings at Howesyke.

The planning officer commented: ‘[With] the significant extent of the holiday let proposal, combined with the holiday let use of the farmhouse, it is apparent that the tourism arm of the enterprise would become the main income stream, and significantly more than a diversification to support the environmental beneficial aspects of land management.’

She told the committee: ‘Many significant elements of the development proposal are contrary to policy, with some aspects lacking detailed justification, such as the proposed dwelling and need for the additional barn. The reason for this is that the applicant is reliant on a fallback factor.’

She said that the latest proposal amounted to unsustainable development and there was no essential functional need for the proposed dwelling at Howesyke but stated: ‘There are several factors relating to the fallback scheme that are worse than the development that is now proposed, including the visual impact, the operational needs of the enterprise, and the sustainability credentials. This weighs in favour of granting permission for the development, despite it being entirely contrary to development plan policy.

‘The fallback scheme included two semi-detached houses which, whilst well-designed, were sited poorly. Together with the farmhouse they would have formed a long run of buildings, all with similar eaves and ridge height. In design terms they would compete with the main farmhouse and confuse the hierarchy of dwellings on site.’

There is now a car park where they would have been built. Member Allen Kirkbride described the original location of those two proposed dwellings as infill. ‘I can’t see what the problem is with that [2017] plan,’ he said.

He agreed with North Yorkshire County councillor Yvonne Peacock who commented: ‘My main concern is that the first [application] went through on the basis that the applicant was going to live in the house and farm 1,000 sheep on the land. That has not happened.’ The farmhouse is now a nine-bedroom luxury holiday let.

Several Bishopdale residents had objected to the latest Howesyke Farm application (see below)  with one stating that there had been an obvious increase in pheasants in the fields plus noise from the shooting business. ‘Howesyke is now beginning to look like some kind of expanding holiday estate. It is not in keeping with the natural, unspoilt image of Bishopdale,’ she had added.

The Browns have also applied to build a rural worker’s dwelling at Kidstones Gill Bridge and that will be discussed in November.  At present a gamekeeper lives in a chalet there for which temporary planning permission expired in March this year.  This is the second time the gamekeeper has remained there after temporary permission for the chalet had expired.

The committee was told that if permission is granted for a rural worker’s dwelling to be built at Kidstones Gill Bridge  a legal agreement would be signed to rescind the 2017 approval to build two beside Howesyke Farmhouse.

Cllr Heseltine commented: ‘In my opinion, it has not been helpful to conflect the Howesyke Farm application with that of Kidstones [Gill] Bridge. It’s muddying the waters and confusing the issue.’

However, Derek Twine, the chairman of the Authority, said: ‘The [Howesyke Farm application] is the lesser of two challenging proposals. There is much that can be learned from seven years ago but we are in a different position with different criteria in terms of businesses and work in the Dales, life in the Dales and the way in which tourism as well as farming has changed.’

And the majority agreed with Cllr Graham Simpkins (Westmorland and Furness Council) who stated: ‘I think we have got a get out of jail free card on the table. Over the last seven years there have been a considerable change in agriculture. This business is growing, it’s employing people, and what’s on the table is better than what we approved in 2017. So I can’t see any reason to refuse it.’

Mrs Brown told the committee: ‘Back in 2017 the planning committee supported our original planning application. The only changes to this current application is the removal of one cottage, the relocation of the remaining cottage to a more suitable site, and the reduction in size of one of the barns.

‘The idea of removing one of the cottages came about after lengthy discussion with the Park regarding the functional use of the worker’s cottage at Kidstones bridge – a stand alone block of 700 acres ten minutes away from Howesykes.

‘The easiest way to resolve the fact we already have permission for two cottages at Howesykes and not wanting to build a third in Bishopdale it was recognised that the best option was to move one of the cottages from Howesykes to Kidstones Bridge. This is the reason we submitted two separate planning applications.

‘In the last 15 years with the backing of the National Park Authority we have invested significantly in Bishopdale financially and environmentally and created employment opportunities for young people. We have created full time and part time roles for numerous young people, won environmental awards and so fulfilling many of the National Parks Management Plan objectives .. contributing to the environment, the local economy and the local community.

‘We wish to continue to complete our plans, continue to invest and create even greater benefits for the area. This application replaces what we already have approval for and does not ask for any more development than what is approved and could be developed.’

‘Receiving approval of the proposal for Howesykes will create the opportunity to move on to support the subsequent Kidstones Bridge application at the November committee meeting and for all the related elements to come together as a holistic finishing to the current situation as well as addressing the demonstrated need in a more direct and practical manner. We can assure you that we have the best interest of the national park and our employees at heart.’

Objections by local farmers and residents sent to the YDNPA before the meeting:

A local farmer commented about allowing a permanent rural worker’s dwelling to be built at Kidstones Gill Beck: ‘This development would be out of character for Bishopdale, in an unsuitable location, will impact the visual element of the area and will bring no significant benefits. Given that the YDNPA generally opposes the conversion of unused barns to accommodation for rural workers, such an out of character new build cannot, for consistency, be approved. There seems to be minimal justification for the demand for accommodation.’

Another farmer stated: ‘A great deal of good work has been carried out by the YDNPA since it was designated in 1954 which has preserved the wonderful landscape we enjoy today by protecting it from unwarranted developments and the near prohibition of green-field developments like this, especially with a purely commercial intent for the benefit of remote investors.

‘Excessive development has already taken place at Howesyke, which has destroyed the original character of the place with further unexecuted plans for accommodation still in existence. The existing permissions  for rural workers to be accommodated if executed, would be much less impactful on the environment than allowing the unwarranted permanent destruction of a fresh unspoilt site on an unsubstantiated premise from an owner with no link to the landscape we all have inhabited for many decades.

‘The owners, Mr & Mrs Brown, were granted numerous extraordinary permissions at Howesyke Farm, which lay outside the normal accepted developments allowed in the National Park, including the development of the site of the large modern building sited to the front of the property despite the strong objection of the appointed conservation officer who stated that such a development would perpetuate the significant visual harm already caused by the poorly sited building and that they could not support the application.

‘As I understand it, the permission which was granted for the doubling of the size of the part 17th century farmhouse (possibly with at least 16th century origins)  at Howesyke was on the understanding that it was to be used as a family home. It has not been used as such by the owner in the years since the major alterations were carried out and seems purely to be let as a holiday let/party venue.

‘The scale of the development is extreme:  the apparent doubling in size of the farm house (with probably at least 16th century origins), the complete disregard for its historic fabric and appearance, the introduction of prominent non-local building materials, the hardcore tracks that have appeared all over the valley, the numerous buildings already erected etc. all for the benefit of commercial absentee owners.

‘Given the number of applications from these owners so far and the following incremental developments that seem to just keep coming it is concerning to imagine what this landscape may look like in 20 years’ time if the present rate of creeping commercial overdevelopment of Howesyke Farm continues. I recognise the need for farms to diversify, but the developments proposed here are extreme, permanent, disproportionate and deeply impactful on the nature and character of the landscape – just as the intense commercial shooting operation run by the owners is on the quality of life [of residents]

A Bishopdale resident wrote: ‘The whole history of the development of Howesyke and adjoining properties and buildings has been expansion and changes of use applications, taking the original concept away from a residential farm to some form of massive leisure complex. Whilst changes to staff residences to holiday lets may seem reasonable…why have a new build further up the dale? This was meant to be a residential farm, and is now morphing into a holiday camp.’

Another commented: ‘The requirement for more holiday lets in such a small area is unnecessary. Additional to this, Bishopdale acts like an ampitheatre and noise is magnified due to the valley shape. Additional people to those already using the holiday let facilities at Howsykes will, when outside with games, music etc. create excessive amplified noise disturbing the local environment and wildlife. Full conversations can be heard quite clearly.’

West Burton – Aysgarth Lodge Holidays

The planning committee agreed that the intensity of the lighting along the internal roads at Aysgarth Lodge Holidays near West Burton must be reduced.

The committee was told that the 6000K bulbs in the 49 bollards did not comply with the Authority’s Dark Skies Initiative. It approved the retrospective application which specified that these will be replaced with 2700K and 470 lumens bulbs with ‘warm white’ colour.

Aysgarth Lodge Holidays was given one month to comply. The planning officer commented: ‘This would mean that the new bulbs would be in place for most of the winter 2024/25 and thereafter.’ He said this would be a significant improvement on the existing situation.

Burton-cum-Walden Parish Council had stated: ‘The council remains concerned about light pollution, particularly as we have supported the Dark Skies Initiative, but we will review the situation when the proposals are implemented.’

Its suggestion that the bollard lights should be switched off from 11pm to 6am each night was accepted by the committee and included in the conditions of the approval.

Both North Yorkshire councillor Yvonne Peacock and Allen Kirkbride approved of the application but told the committee that the bright light emanating from the holiday site had caused a lot of concern.

Cllr Peacock emphasised the need for screening as the lights from the site were visible from the B6160 near West Burton and also from the A684 when approaching Aysgarth from Hestholme Bridge. She asked that previous planning conditions regarding screening should be checked.

Cllr Graham Simpkins (Westmorland and Furness Council), however, was opposed to any bollard lighting. He said: ‘I think we are failing in our duty. We are supposed to be protecting the Dales by protecting the countryside and the wildlife. If you want something that is illuminated to this extent go to Pontins or Butlins or somewhere. You don’t come to the Dales. What about the kids who want to see our dark skies? Do they have to stop up to midnight to be able to see it? I think it’s a total failure. Bring a torch!

‘I’ve got villages in my constituency that don’t have [street] lights and have dark skies and they love it. In that way the wildlife isn’t confused and we can see the dark skies. [This] will be visible from somewhere and it doesn’t look like the Yorkshire Dales when it’s all illuminated. People come to the Dales to see countryside and wildlife, not to see an illuminated park.’

The approved application included the use of land for siting of a caravan to serve as the holiday park reception and office.

Telecommunications Masts 

The committee was asked if a planning authority could be held culpable if it failed to protect its residents from any harmful effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) emanating from telecommunication masts.

In statements at the beginning of the meeting four women asked the committee about the impact of new telecommunication masts in the dales on the health of humans, livestock and wildlife and upon the landscape.

‘We wish to alert members to the areas in which we feel planning authorities could be vulnerable to claims being made against them for resulting harm,’ Sue Holden said.

She told the committee that the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) had stated that compliance with its guidelines may not necessarily preclude interference with, or affects on, medical devices such as metallic prostheses, cardiac pacemakers, defibrillators, and cochlear implants.

Alexandra Wood said the ICNIRP guidance related only to thermal effects. ‘Information is readily available detailing the adverse health effects and increased cancer risk of electromagnetic radiation technology via a non-thermal pathway.

‘On the recent Outershaw mast application we see no reference to specific design details. We are asking how can the planning committee verify that any mast antennae set is compliant… without knowledge or understanding of the specific antennae design details from the Telecom applicant? We know Lloyds of London will not insure against the harmful effects of radio frequency from these masts and we don’t know of any insurance company that will.’

The women told the committee that there were over 10,000 independent peer-reviewed scientific papers that demonstrated adverse biological effects of EMFs, such as changes in hormone levels, damage to DNA, sleep disruption and many other serious symptoms including cancer, at power levels way below the current government and industry safety guidelines.

The committee was told: ‘This rollout [of telecommunication masts] is potentially endangering dales people and the habitat. No consent has been sought from locals for many of these masts. We are all being exposed to harmful EMFs without our knowledge.’

Caroline Penman stated:  ‘A 2020 European Parliament study found that ICNIRP’s links to the telecoms companies shows it can’t be considered independent. Many ICNIRP members have received research funding from the industries that benefit from ICNIRP’s high industry-friendly limits.

‘Why, when objectives of the Park’s Management Plan states that overhead lines are to be buried to “reduce the impact on the landscape”, are we even considering building massively imposing towering masts and the ensuing forest of booster masts on the skyline of our iconic Fells, when there are alternatives to achieve the same goals?’

These she said included satellite communications systems or the under road fibre-optic cable network that was used in Cyprus to connect all remote villages within two years.

It would, she said, cost £280 million less to equip 50,000 hillwalkers with iPhone 14 than the Total Not Spot scheme using telecommunication masts. And iPhone 14s can be used to send emergency SOS to text emergency services when outside cellular and Wifi coverage.

‘We could major in being the only place left in the UK totally free of masts, where you can truly digitally detox, pitching yourself against the elements and being allowed to take responsibility for yourself.’

In response the chairman of the planning committee, Cllr Ian Mitchel, read the following statement:

‘Firstly the Authority tries to ensure that information submitted with planning applications is correct insofar as it can. All applicants have to sign a declaration on the planning application forms to confirm that the information provided is true and accurate.

‘Your second point about health risks from telecommunications development is very technical. The National Planning Policy Framework, which sets out Government instructions on how the planning system should operate, is quite clear on how planning authorities should deal with these issues:

‘Planning applications should include a declaration from the applicant that new telecommunications development will meet international commission guidelines on non-ionising radiation protection.

Planning authorities should not “question the need for an electronic communication system or set health safeguards different from the International Commission guidelines for public exposure”.

‘Compliance with International Commission guidelines is a condition of the telecoms operator’s licence which is regulated and enforced by Ofcom and not by planning authorities.

‘You have also made a point about the potential effect on the National Park landscape and the experience of visiting the Park.

‘Every planning application for telecommunications development is carefully considered so that negative effects are balanced against the benefits for our residents, for children in education, local businesses, the emergency services and our visitors.

‘This does not mean that every application is permitted, some have been refused or withdrawn because of our concerns, but on the whole we have managed to find appropriate sites and secure landscape planting for the majority.’

Paul Markie and Nick Gaskell at Aysgarth Middle Falls

The water along the length of the River Ure was sampled at 45 sites on August 21, from the top of Wensleydale to beyond Boroughbridge, by 41 volunteers working with the Yorkshire Dales River Trust (YDRT) and Stop Ure Pollution.

This sampling was done to get a picture of the quality of the river and to identify sources of diffuse and point pollution.

The chairman of SUP, Prof Richard Loukota, commented: ‘It was great to see that SUP volunteers made up almost 88% of the citizen scientists sampling the Ure. This confirmed how concerned our residents are about the state of the river and are prepared to do something about it. I’m sure the results will be illuminating and point our way forward.’

And Charlotte Simons, YDRT’s Catchment Partnership Senior Project Manager said: ‘This scale of testing has only been made possible due to the support of the volunteers.  Their support at two local meetings in Leyburn the first on April 30 about the health the River Ure, sponsored by the Association of Rural Communities, and the second on June 25 when Stop Ure Pollution (SUP) was launched, has led directly to this sampling being possible, the results of which will be used to identify key issues and areas where work is needed to improve the quality of the river.’

Thirty six SUP volunteers were trained on taking water samples at a session at Lords Bridge on the Bolton Estate on August 14 with Simons and Mary Boyd from the YDRT. They formed the core of samplers on the 21st, making up 10 teams of volunteers, sampling from the top of the Ure at Lunds all the way downstream to at Aldborough,  which is south of Boroughbridge,  close to the confluence of the Ure and the Swale.

When thanking the water samplers afterwards  Boyd said: ‘All the kits and samples arrived safely and the samples [for faecal bacterial levels] reached the lab by 5pm [on August 21]. The lab has confirmed that there were no issues with any of the samples received. ‘

The samples were sent to ALS independent accredited  laboratories at Wakefield and Coventry with the cost of the testing being met by Yorkshire Water.

There will be another sampling day when the river water is high.  Boyd explained:  ‘The purpose of the testing is to get snapshot of the health of the River Ure by measuring a series of elements.  Sampling at multiple sites along the Ure and its tributaries will enable us to understand the chemical and biological profile of the river, and to help us gauge the relative importance of different pollution sources – under the same weather and river conditions.

‘The samples taken will be tested for nitrates, phosphates, faecal bacterial levels, suspended solids, pH and total organic carbon.  Measurements will be taken at each sample point for water temperature, conductivity and turbidity.  This snapshot will show the relative health of the river along with identifying areas of diffuse and point source pollution.’

A short report on the results of the sampling on August 21 will be  presented by YDRT at the public meeting being held by SUP  at Leyburn Methodist Church Hall at 6.30pm on Tuesday October 1. A full report will be prepared by YDRT  after the second day of testing.

At the meeting on October 1 people will be invited to join SUP and donations will be welcome. SUP aims to be able to conduct fully independent testing as a follow up to the two sampling days carried out with YDRT.

There will be exhibitions about the water sampling, Stop Ure Pollution and Yorkshire Dales River Trust at the Quaker Meeting Houses at Bainbridge and Leyburn from October 3 to 5.

ARC News Service reports on the meeting of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) planning committee on July 16 2024. Items discussed included:  a slurry bag for Arches Farm at Bolton Abbey;  a housing development at Giggleswick;  a new storage building for the Kilnsey Show;  possible enforcement action against Network Rail.; and a dog walking facility at Devils Bridge. A decision regarding a garage cum workshop in Hawes was deferred for a site meeting.

Arches Farm at Bolton Abbey –

Protecting the River Wharfe from pollution is high on the priorities for the Arches Farm near Bolton Abbey, Stephen Bolland told the committee.

He stated: ‘We farm close to the River Wharfe and protecting the river is something that is important to me and my family, regardless of legislation requirements. We already work hard to farm in a way that protects the environment.’

In addition, he said, they want to install a 50m by 29m slurry bag in a field to meet the requirements of the Environment Agency’s Reduction and Prevention of Agricultural Diffuse Pollution Regulations 2018.

But a planning officer argued that due to the proposed location the slurry bag would have a detrimental impact upon the landscape even though there would be a metre high bund. She pointed out that when the bag was full it would be 1.5m above the bund.

The majority of the committee, however, voted to approve the application. As this was against officer recommendation it may be referred back.

Mr Bolland had explained: ‘A slurry storage bag is the type of solution recommended by Natural England and the Environment Agency. And as the next generation at the Arches farm I am enthusiastic about the benefits despite the cost implications to our business.

‘By law we have to collect all the cow slurry and dirty water produced on our farm and store it. Slurry is fertiliser and if applied correctly it avoids the need for artificial fertiliser and doesn’t harm the environment.

‘A need for a large store is so that the application of slurry can be optimised to take account of the environment of growing grass and the weather at the time of application. With a store of the size proposed we will never need to spread in winter or when it is raining so we can safeguard the environment. We are not intensive dairy farmers. We have a mixture of sheep and cattle and our produce, including our milk, is sold and consumed locally.

‘As a family we appreciate the special qualities of the National Park in the picturesque setting of Bolton Abbey. As a parish councillor commented, we have farmed at the Arches Farm for several generations having ensured our operations are in harmony with the tourism activities that draw thousands of visitors to the village each year. Our land management and keeping of livestock adds to the attraction for visitors.

‘I genuinely believe that the slurry storage bag screened by dry stone walls and proposed tree planting will have less of an impact than is suggested in the [officer’s] report. An amended plan has been submitted to show a new dry stone wall instead of previously shown hedge to screen the views from the bridle way to the west. When it comes to long distance views from across the dale, I remain of the opinion that these will only be intermittent glimpses between trees and that it would not be harmful.’

The YDNPA’s historic environment team commented: ‘It’s appreciated that there may be a wider landscape impact from this development, but it’s not considered that it would have a significant impact on recorded heritage assets on, or in the vicinity of the site.’

The planning officer, however, stated: ‘The siting of a slurry bag of the size proposed, along with the excavation works and engineering operations required would impose a large and prominent unsightly feature in this open landscape that would result in harm to the intrinsic pastoral character and visual quality of the area and would fail to conserve or enhance the natural beauty of the National Park. As an unsightly feature of significant scale and prominence it would also distract and detract from the wider setting of the Bolton Abbey historic landscape which is of international importance. It is considered that such a large and potentially reflective feature in this location cannot be adequately mitigated or assimilated into the established, open landscape character through landscape planting and a less harmful location should be considered.’

Member Lizzie Bushby supported her and stated: ‘I do worry that this is a very high quality landscape adjacent to Bolton Abbey and it is visible in long distance views across the valley. It is potentially going to be highly visible and a change to this landscape.’

Bolton Abbey Parish Council had disagreed. It had told the committee: ‘We are of the opinion that this proposal will have no visual impact on the landscape character of the surrounding area nor will it introduce any amenity issues. We believe that the proposal should be supported to allow this considerate, long standing farm enterprise to continue to grow sustainably to the benefit of future generations and the village.’

North Yorkshire councillor Richard Foster commented that it would be difficult to find any site near Bolton Abbey that wasn’t of historical importance. ‘These were some of the first pastoral fields probably in the north of England [as the monks] probably had a dairy farm here rather than a sheep farm because it was closer to the priory for making cheese. So it is probably one of the most historic dairy farms in the country and to stop it on the grounds that it is not meeting environmental targets I think is wrong. I think [ this] is a really good solution. A big metal or concrete structure would probably look worse on the aspect of Bolton Abbey.’

Parish council member Allen Kirkbride said that a large concrete or metal slurry tank would stand out like a sore thumb and that fulfilling the latest legal requirements was a big financial outlay for small farms. ‘To my mind the applicants have bent over backwards to try to minimise the amount of environmental impact on this site. They are willing to screen it with planting schemes and a dry stone wall. I don’t know what more can be done. We are going to lose dairy farming in the dales if we are not careful. We do need help from the National Park to keep farms going especially dairy farms.’

When agreeing with Ms Bushby that a decision should be deferred Member Mark Corner said ‘I prefer nothing at the moment and come back with a better location.’

Cllr Foster, however, stated: ‘I am not sure another site will functionally work. We might be in a position where this [this application] comes back in six months time at which point the farm hasn’t had suitable storage. We could have another wet winter and we could’ve put the farm in the position where it is polluting the river.’

Westmorland and Furness councillor Graham Simpkins said the country needed the farming industry and added: ‘We need slurry management because we know the problems with the rivers.’

And North Yorkshire councillor Yvonne Peacock commented: ‘Only the farmer knows the best place for this for his business.’

Several members, including Cllr Foster, asked if the proposed screening with trees and bushes could be increased, and if there was an alternative colour for the slurry bag rather than grey.

Richard Graham, head of development management, said that usually a decision was referred back to the next planning committee meeting if it was against officer recommendation. He said he wanted to talk to the applicant to see if he could offer a landscaping scheme which would improve the impact upon the landscape.

Giggleswick –

Compromise was the key word when the committee approved a development of nine homes, large and small, on a site at Stackhouse Lane, Giggleswick.

The development will have five open market houses with one to always be a principle residency; two First Homes discounted for first-time buyers; and two flats for rent through a housing association. The First Homes and the flats were counted as affordable housing units.

Mr Graham said that, although principle residency was not a policy in the present Local Plan, having one open market dwelling designated as such had been agreed with the developer.

When asked by Mr Corner whether the developer might seek to remove the four affordable housing units Mr Graham replied: ‘I think it’s unlikely. It’s taken ten years to get to this point with this particular site. It’s been through an awful lot of discussion about viability – and through an appeal where viability has been looked at. I am really hopeful we will get some affordable housing on this site soon.’

He said the site had been allocated for development in the present Local Plan to deliver affordable housing for local people and not open market housing. ‘However, it’s one of the harsh realities of negotiating over a development scheme whereby viability is such an issue that you do end up with a compromise. Our current policy states we would accept a financial contribution in lieu of on-site affordable housing so it’s been a real plus to secure some on-site rather than spent somewhere else. It’s not ideal but it’s a good compromise.’

Cllr Kirkbride said: ‘The only thing that worries me a bit is the size of the affordable housing. It looks slightly minute compared with the open market housing.’

The planning officer had stated: ‘There is significant plot disparity with the four affordable units on a combined plot size equivalent to one of the open market plots. The purpose of allocating the site is in order to secure the affordable units and yet the majority of the site will be taken up with the open market houses. It is also understood that the applicants are seeking to maximise viability on a site with several abnormal costs including significant excavation works and undergrounding the overhead line.’

She explained that due to the sloping nature of the land quite a lot of excavation was required. ‘We have tried to achieve the best compromise and accepted that the houses would be elevated above the road. That was why the landscaping was such an integral part of negotiations.’

In her report she stated: ‘Given that the allocated site had little depth into the field, the submitted scheme brought the buildings closer to the road. However, officers suggested that the applicant increase the depth of the site beyond the allocation in order to site the buildings further back from the road. This has enabled more open space around the buildings and some space for meaningful tree planting to the front. All of the buildings will still remain in the allocated site.

‘The proposed mix of houses includes four affordable units – two First Homes and two apartments for affordable rent. The Strategic Housing Marketing Assessment (SHMA) has identified a need for small affordable rented properties and the apartments will help to meet this need. First Homes are effectively discounted market sale units which are discounted by 30 per cent from the market value and sold at not more than £250k to a person or persons meeting the First Homes eligibility criteria (first time buyer, household income not exceeding £80k). The 30 per cent discount is passed down to subsequent owners of the property but the price cap of £250k is only for the first sale.’

Kilnsey Show

Compromise had also been important in finding a location for a storage building for the equipment used by the Kilnsey Show even though it was accepted it would not be an ideal site.

The planning officer explained that a decision had been deferred at the committee’s meeting on May 28 to see if a better site could be found than that originally proposed by the Upper Wharfedale Agricultural Society (UWAS). Following discussions with UWAS she accepted that a site near Scar Laithe Barn would offer the best compromise.

She said: ‘There is a need for a permanent building to store equipment for the show. It is an important event within the agricultural calendar of the Dales and contributes significantly to the agricultural heritage and economy of the dales.’

Chris Windle, the agent for UWAS told the committee: ‘The society has always been acutely aware of the iconic landscape at Kilnsey. It’s one of the things that makes the show as successful as it is [with a] fantastic backdrop and the acoustics – with the commentary bouncing off the crag.

‘The show is an iconic dales event. It’s probably one of the most important agricultural shows in the Yorkshire Dales. We have got a dilapidated building that has been there 50 years. So we need to have something more modern to ensure that the show, which has been going for over 125 years, can continue for as long as possible.

‘We’ve got a compromise that suits, I hope, the members and the planning officers. It suits the society, it suits the landowner.’

When it was noted that the new location was nearer to Kilnsey Crag Mr Graham said: ‘It’s going to have a landscape impact but we think that it is less than the site that was originally proposed.’

Cllr Foster commented: ’It’s not an ideal site but I do think it’s the best compromise…for the volunteer organisation.’ It was important, he said, that the building worked well for the volunteers.

Parish council member Liz Appleton Hall, who is chairman of Conistone with Kilnsey Parish Meeting, said: ‘The Kilnsey Show showcases the Dales. It’s a very good example of our statutory purpose to promote the understanding and enjoyment of the qualities of the Yorkshire Dales – and 10,000 people went last year.’

Network Rail and Blea Moor

Cllr Heseltine described the work carried out by Network Rail on Blea Moor as ‘vandalism of the highest order’. And Cllr Foster commented that it looked like criminal damage.

They and other members of the committee were shocked to see photographs showing the 4.5m wide track already created by Network Rail as part of one 620m long route to provide access to a tunnel ventilation shaft. The depth of the stonework on the track varies from 600m to 1m.

They were told that its construction had involved the excavation of earth, including peat, in order to reach ground sufficiently solid to build on. The planning officer said the work had begun in August 2023 without informing the landowner, who had stopped it a month later after being told about the track by a Dent Parish councillor.

It was reported that the landowner had worked with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT) and Yorkshire Peat Partnership (YPP) between 2020 and 2020 to restore peatland at that site of the track with funds from Nature for Climate and Countryside Stewardship agreements.

YWT stated: ‘Due to the prolonged period between the damage occurring and YPP being commissioned to undertake the works to stabilise the exposed bare peat, damage has continued to occur. For example, peat was left uncovered for a significant period and it is impossible to comprehensively cover up the piles of excavated peat, plus erosion has taken place due to the channelling of water into new gullies (50+) that have formed around the track.

‘The installation of the track has disrupted the structure of the peat and the peatland hydrology. The specialised peatland vegetation that forms under healthy blanket bog conditions forms new peat, captures carbon, slows the flow of water across the landscape and provides habitat for rare and important birds and other wildlife. Once the peat structure and hydrology has been compromised, these processes are also compromised.’

The planning officer reported: ‘Blanket bog is classed as irreplaceable habitat. The unauthorised works have clearly caused loss and damage to an irreplaceable habitat. For such damage to be justified there needs to be “wholly  exceptional” circumstances.’

Network Rail stated that it needed access to three tunnel ventilation shafts serving Blea Moor tunnel to fix new tops to the turrets and carry out repairs to brick and metalwork so as to stop rainwater falling onto the tracks and freezing in winter. The planning officer said that, although it was accepted that these repairs were necessary, these works were clearly not a ‘nationally important infrastructure project’.

Both he and the landowner believed that other methods could have been used to access the turrets such as helicopter lifts, using Argo Cat vehicles, use of bog mats and floating access tracks. All of these, however, had been discounted by Network Rail.

The planning officer told the committee that Network Rail had withdrawn its retrospective planning application for the track. Approval was given for enforcement action.

Devils  Bridge

Just one vote decided the fate of an application to provide a safe place to exercise dogs opposite a parking area near Devils Bridge on the A683. Eight members of the committee voted to refuse the application in accordance with officer recommendation, seven were for approval and there was one abstention.

The proposal was for the change of use of a flat field to create an enclosed private area offering safe and secure spaces for dog owners, locals and visitors, to allow their dogs to play off lead during booked time slots between 6.30am and 9.30am. In addition to the existing wall there would have been a six metre fence with the field being divided into four paddocks of differing sizes.

The applicant, Annie Golden of Pooch Pods Ltd, told the meeting she had read reports about sheep worrying and dog attacks and wanted to help find a solution. She added: ‘The number [of dog owners] has grown hugely. And a lot of these dogs since Covid haven’t had the opportunity to be exercised.’ She said the field was near a parking area where there were toilets and a refreshment kiosk.

Parish council member Libby Bateman commented: ‘There is a real demand for this kind of facility. Dogs will be better behaved if they’ve had a good chase about. I don’t think this will be as intrusive as what we thought originally. I think it will be a great addition to the area.’

But others agreed with the planning officer that it would have a detrimental impact upon the landscape. ‘I don’t think it’s the best place,’ said Ms Bushby. ‘It’s potentially going to have a detrimental impact on the gateway to the National Park.

And Cllr Simpkins stated: ‘This is the gateway to the Westmorland Dales. If you go down there at the weekend this is an extremely congested area. There are motorbikes [and bicycles] all over the place, and there’s cars as well. And the burger van. This is totally the wrong place.’

Hawes

It was agreed to hold a site meeting before making a decision regarding the application to demolish a garage cum workshop at the west end of Hawes Market Place and build a two-storey stone building to be used as an office.

The planning officer had recommended this be approved. But Cllr Yvonne Peacock told the committee: ‘This is a very very tight site. I think you need to see this in context to actually realise just what it is like and how narrow it is round there.’

A district councillor is asking for help to find out just how many people regularly  use Barclays Bank at Leyburn.

In January Barclays Bank announced that it will close its branch office in Bedale on April 26 and that in Leyburn on May 5. This will mean it will have no banks in mid and upper Wensleydale  and nor has any other bank.

Barclays stated that the branch in Bedale is used by just 17 regular customers, and that in Leyburn by 19.

Richmondshire District councillor John Amsden is far from convinced that the Leyburn branch has only 19 regular customers. ‘I was in there on Friday and asked about that. Someone behind me said “There are nine of us in here now and more coming.” ‘

Cllr Amsden  said the bank is very much needed by those living in such a very rural area which includes Swaledale, Arkengarthdale, Bishopdale, Coverdale, and Wensleydale. ‘There are elderly people who don’t use computers or the internet. They have to use public transport because they don’t drive. So they have got to bank locally.

There is a Barclays Bank at Richmond. For someone living in Aysgarth a visit to Leyburn by bus takes about two hours, but twice that to go to Richmond. The last bus from Northallerton on weekdays is at 3pm.

Many bank branches  have closed due, it is said, to more people using internet banking. But Cllr Amsden commented: ‘The internet is very intermittent in parts of the dales which means residents can’t easily use internet banking and some businesses can’t take payments by card. A lot of people still pay in cash. There are the village halls and charities who need to pay in cash,’ Cllr Amsden said.

And he is worried that more ATMs will be removed making it very hard for visitors and residents to obtain cash in the evenings or at weekends.

He also pointed out there were more bank scams now and the scammers often target the elderly.

He asked those who bank at the Barclays branch in Leyburn and use it regularly to tell him by emailing him at cllr.j.amsden@richmondshire.gov.uk .

Above: Steve Jack and Tina Clune

Aysgarth’s new Post Office is now open and will provide a service for mid Wensleydale following the closure of that at Thoralby. It is in the Convenience Store at Aysgarth Garage and will be open from 9am to 1pm Monday to Saturday.

Steve Jack took over the shop and the garage in 2008 and ensured that the store remained open every day throughout the Covid pandemic.

In March, when he sought the support of Aysgarth and District Parish Council for a Post Office at the garage, the councillors pointed out that, with the closure of that in Thoralby, residents in such villages as West Burton, Thoralby, Aysgarth and Carperby often had to travel 12 miles to Hawes or Leyburn for Post Offices.

‘A lot of people from Thoralby were worried about losing the Post Office there. I thought it would be a good addition to the village and for the shop’, Steve said when the new Post Office opened on Friday morning (September 23). He emphasised that he would be flexible about closing if there was a queue.

During the first week he is being trained by Post Office trainer Tina Clune. He is advertising for someone to take on the Post Office work for 25 hours a week. And he is looking for another assistant for the shop.

The Post Office stated: ‘As part of an exciting modernisation and investment programme taking place across the Post Office network, a brand-new Post Office for Aysgarth has opened.The Post Office said the new facility [with ample car parking] will provide customers with 24 hours of Post Office services a week making it convenient for them to visit [and there is a car park]. The Post Office services are offered from a low-screened, open-plan Post Office counter that is integrated into the retail area.

It added: ‘This new Aysgarth branch offers customers a wide range of Post Office services, from posting letters and parcels to collecting and returning online shopping items. Customers can also take advantage of a wide range of banking services including cash withdrawals and balance enquiries for customers of all the main UK banks.’

Ian Murphy, Post Office Network Provision Lead, said: ‘We want to make it as easy as possible for customers to pay their bills, withdraw cash from their bank accounts, and send and collect their mail at a time and place that suits them best. We know how important our services are to customers, and we are confident that this brand-new Post Office will ensure that people in the Aysgarth area have easy access to our services.’

Below: Steve and Tina at the open-plan counter.

Jack Sutton’s photo: Friends – two young asylum seekers at Aysgarth Falls

Children in Wensleydale formed friendships with asylum seekers living in the North East when the Quakers from Bainbridge Meeting House and other volunteers hosted a Day out in the Dales on Monday July 25.

The organising group (Gwen Clark, Jennie White, Vanda Hurn, Sue Stokes, Andrea Hunter and Nancy Sutton) chose Carperby as the best venue with its sports pavilion and village hall. Flyers about the event were delivered to all residents and holiday makers in the village and many joined in with the fun.

‘We must have had over 40 people from the community turn up to wash dishes, prepare food, clear up, offer workshops or just chat and be welcoming. We had a good number of local children who joined in, made friends and played,’ Jennie White said.

There were 48 asylum seekers including 24 children, who came on the coach booked by Darlington Assistance for Refugees with the cost covered by the Bainbridge Quaker Local Meeting and donations.

Their day in Wensleydale began with drinks and biscuits at Carperby pavilion and then the freedom to enjoy the playing fields and children’s playground. Some played football and others had fun with the various sports equipment organised by Vanda Hurn.

There were also craft workshops: felt making with Andrea Hunter; face painting with Julie Edwardson and Sue Stokes; button making with Fran Flanagan; plus painting pebbles. Volunteers prepared a generous vegetarian lunch in the village hall and there were plenty of tray bakes for desserts.

Afterwards, they finished craft making before going with their new friends to Aysgarth Falls where there was a decent amount of water. Tubs of ice cream were provided by Gill Harrison from the Wensleydale Ice Cream Parlour.

The next day Jennie White received a thank you from one of the asylum seekers who stated: ‘You organized a wonderful organization for us yesterday. We had a lot of fun with my family. Your hospitality was also great. Food and desserts were also delicious. I want to thank all the participants, from the oldest to the youngest.’

Paddy’s funeral, following her death on April 26th 2022, was at St Andrew’s Church, Aysgarth, on May 27th. One reason it will be remembered is because of the splendid black horses with plumes which pulled the hearse.

Her daughter Ro explained beforehand: ‘We are not sure if Paddy was joking or not (one could never be sure!) but she did mention this more than once to me, and on a separate occasion to my sister-in-law Nicola, that she would like her final journey to be in a carriage drawn by “black horses with plumes”. This has been arranged, and the horses will be setting off from Hamiltons Tea Room, where Steve, Sandra and some of the regulars will raise a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows to her.’

Photos: The horse-drawn hearse at the church; at Hamiltons in Aysgarth; descending Chapel Bank followed by the family and friends; Paddy’s granddaughter Eleanor stroking one of the horses.

Ro gave the following tribute to her mother at the funeral:

Africa

Paddy was born on July 30th 1940 in Lindi, Tanganyka Territory (present day Tanzania).

She wrote of her earliest memories: ’I used to play with Nganya, my Ayah’s daughter, but don’t remember much about her. Ma had hoped I’d teach her European ways and was disappointed when she discovered us sitting on our haunches, swaying and clapping and singing some African chant’.

When she was five, she went with her parents to visit her mother’s family in Sussex, where her brother was born, and she attended school in Rye. They also spent time with her father’s family in Bangor, N. Ireland, where she went to her second school.The journey included travelling on a flying boat.

Many years later, when I took her to the Flying Boat Museum in Foynes, S W Ireland, the museum staff were very excited to meet someone who had travelled on one and she was treated to an Irish Coffee – although all she could remember [of the flight]  was being told off by her mother for pulling the hair of the lady in the seat in front of them!

In 1947 the family returned to East Africa, and some of Paddy’s fondest memories are from that time. Here are two excerpts from her written memories of this time:

‘We returned to Africa when I was seven and for a few months my mother taught me with materials supplied from Dar es Salaam as a correspondence course. I really loved this and would spend my break times climbing trees, examining the abundant insect life or just lying on my back revelling in the sunshine, the bird sounds and the work songs of the natives. There were no other white children, so my friends were African girls, who taught me some of their customs and dances. My parents gave me a little dachshund puppy, which was later run over by one of the lorries from the ill-fated Groundnut Scheme and I also had a tame monkey, which went everywhere with me.

‘I travelled down to South Africa for my next school, where I boarded. I found out later that I was in the same form as Sue McGregor (we compared notes when we met at the BBC). I was very happy there and made many friends. At weekends I went to stay with a delightful couple who had a house in the middle of a vineyard. She was the sister of a famous singer, Keith Faulkener, and had a superb voice herself. She trained the church choir and made me a member, along with two other girls. This wonderful woman would gather a whole group of children together at weekends and take them on exciting excursions to various beauty spots, to the seaside, to the top of Table Mountain by cable car and many other places I cannot remember. The school also arranged trips to the cinema and to the ballet, but it was after the ballet trip that the house mistress took me into her sitting room and told me very gently that my father had died and that I would have to leave the school’.

As her mother wound up her father’s business, farm and estate, Paddy attended a government boarding school for six months. She was very happy there and made many friends.

England

She and her brother Bernard travelled back to England with her mother and their lives became very different: ‘After a long sea voyage, we arrived in a murky Britain to find ourselves in the middle of a dock strike, so our trunks couldn’t be off-loaded. My mother’s brother hadn’t bothered to come and meet us, so it was a miserable introduction to the country that would henceforth be my home’. They travelled to Rye, where she was enrolled almost immediately at the Primary School, where there was ‘a non-stop regime of General Knowledge, Intelligence, Mathematics, English Language and other tests, all of which would feature in the Eleven Plus exam’.

She missed Africa terribly, and when she sang Jerusalem at school, she would change the words to ‘England’s green unpleasant land’.Since her father had died overseas, her mother was not entitled to a widow’s pension and was too proud to ask for help. There was enough money to buy a small bungalow in Camber, which was ‘in an area where she felt we’d be safe when she left us to our own devices when she went out to work. She had a bicycle with a child’s seat and cycled in all weathers to the golf club, walked across the links and banged the gong (an old artillery shell case) for Mr. Doughty the ferryman, who would row passengers across in his little dinghy for (I think) sixpence. She worked in the office of a concrete works and would keep tabs on us via a daily lunch time telephone call.

‘We spent a lot of our holidays in the (forbidden) Amusement Arcade, trying our luck with the penny-in-the-slot machines and the crane that never quite managed to pick up the goods. Most of the rest of our time was spent on the beach or in the sea’.

She would also climb around the walls of Camber Castle with other children and was often quite daring in these exploits. At home she had a strong preference for Meccano and the Hornby train set and had no interest in dolls. She also liked taking things apart to see how they worked.

Despite the major trauma of losing both her father and the country she loved, Paddy came ninth in the whole county for her Eleven Plus and went on to Rye Grammar School. However (in her own words):’The Grammar School was a let –down. We had all kinds of exciting subjects and sports and games, but I was aware right from the start that girls were not considered academically worth encouraging. We were told that only one girl would go to university for every 50 boys and on one notable occasion the Chemistry Master told us that the girls must be quiet because the boys couldn’t concentrate’.

Things improved as she went through school, and had an inspirational art teacher, Marjorie May. She passed A level Art and would have liked to have gone to Art College, but her mother was advised that Art Colleges were "dens of vice and iniquity", so she went to secretarial college instead.

BBC and family

In 1959 she joined the BBC as a secretary and worked in various departments before becoming a production secretary in Radio Drama in 1961 and a Studio Manager in 1964. She married a fellow Studio Manager [Roger Charlton] in 1966 and left the BBC to become a full-time mother when Ro(semary) and Alan were born in 1968 and 1970.

Paddy was very capable and became very adept at DIY. One of my earliest memories is of Paddy high up on a ladder removing paint from the eaves with the terrifying paraffin blow torch, with its fierce long flame.

In the mid-1970s, Paddy and Roger moved into a larger house that needed quite a lot of work, most of which they did themselves, including rewiring the whole house. Paddy did most of this when the children were at school and Roger at work. She described herself ‘holding a book in one hand and a wire in the other and working out what to do’, but the task was completed successfully. They also carried out most of the maintenance on the 1965 Morris Minor.

She made many of our clothes using her trusty hand-driven Singer sewing machine and knitted many jumpers.She started an Open University degree in 1982, while raising the family and working part time. While taking a Science Foundation Course she discovered a passion for geology. She graduated in 2000, and then went on to complete a postgraduate diploma. She made some very good friends from on geology field trips and excursions.

Wensleydale

Roger was given early retirement in 1992 and they moved up to the Dales two years later. Paddy made the most of her retirement, gardening, learning new skills (upholstery, spinning, scything), and some sailing. She played the viola in the Wensleydale Orchestra, which she and Roger have supported for nearly 30 years. She was able to resume her art studies and joined a ‘laid-back, but highly productive amateur group’ who have now been meeting for 20 years. She was one of ten finalists in the 2014 Oldie Magazine Artist of the Year, for her painting of the Poulnabrone passage tomb in Co. Clare, Ireland. While Paddy was still recovering from a knee replacement, I received a call from her ‘I’m on top of Addlebrough!’

The last few years have brought many challenges, including the death of her brother Bernard in August 2018, followed by Alan’s death just three weeks later after a long illness. I was very fortunate to be visiting in March 2020 and to spend both lockdowns working from Wensleydale. This unexpected additional time together was a precious gift at the time, and even more so now.

‘For a long time I yearned to return to Africa, but the intervening years I would be an alien there. Strangely enough, our move to the Yorkshire have brought such changes to what I still consider to be my country, that Dales has given me the same feeling of contentment as I felt in my early life and I think this is probably due to the fact that the inhabitants in both countries have had to contend with Nature in all its moods and have to deal with all the different natural emergencies on their own’.

Derrick Pickard (in red cap) unveiling the new plaque watched by his great grandson Eidur. On the left is John Dinsdale, chairman of Aysgarth Institute committee.

The festivities in Aysgarth on Sunday June 5 began with the  unveiling of a plaque commemorating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Villagers watched from the opposite side of the A684 as Derrick Pickard unveiled the plaque which has been inset into a wall to join two other jubilee plaques (silver and golden) and that commemorating the coronation of George V and Mary in 1911. All the jubilee plaques have been donated by John Pickard & Son of Aysgarth. There is a plaque on a bench on the other side of the road which commemorates the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Platinum Jubilee celebration was organised by the Institute committee – and provided the villagers with a great opportunity to once again gather on the village green for fun and games. There was certainly plenty of that thanks to those who led the children’s sports (Keith and Jean Percival and Jill Metcalfe). But first, the oldest members of the community needed to check that Paddington Bear and Her Majesty were okay! From the left, Irene Pickard, Jean Cockburn and Derrick Pickard.

The games included such old favourites as the sack race and the egg and spoon race – as well as the tug of war. For the Institute there are more photos but I have only clearly shown those when parents have given their consent.

During the afternoon Derrick, Irene and Jean presented the Platinum Jubilee mugs, purchased by Aysgarth Institute, to the children. The prize for the best decorated house was won by Becky, David, Arthur and Olly Clarkson, with that for the best hat going to little Lucy Bussey. Josie Dinsdale got the highest score (20 out of 30) for the Royal Quiz.   (Below left: Aidan receiving his Jubilee mug from Derrick. Right: Becky Clarkson received her prize from Steve Hamilton who, with his wife Sandra, judged the best decorated  house competition.)

And, of course, there was plenty of food. As usual the villagers put on a great display with visitors commenting on how good the baking was. The pride of place went to the Jubilee Cake created by Jan Vaughan. Jean Cockburn, with Irene and Derrick Pickard, cut it, and Molly helped Jan (centre) to distribute it. Lesley Taylor from Newbiggin provided the accompaniment for the National Anthem on her cornet – followed by the loyal toast with bubbly provided by the Institute.  And finally – a smashing ending when all those brave enough to participate in the egg throwing competition. (I hid behind a camera! Well, someone had to record this happy occasion after being so locked away from each other.)

The Flower Festival at St Andrew’s Church, Aysgarth, to mark the Platinum Jubilee of our Queen was both stunning and thought provoking. It was entitled ‘Seven Decades: Celebrating the Reign of Queen Elizabeth II’ and many of the flower arrangements – by some who attend St Andrew’s and members of the Wensleydale Flower Club – were accompanied by the information provided by Barbara Hadlow. Below are my photographs of all the arrangements (with much of that information), and the displays created by children at the BAWB Federation of Schools.

At the main entrance: The Queen’s Green Canopy by Jan Vaughan

The Queen’s Green Canopy was created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee and invites people from across the United Kingdom to ‘Plant a Tree for the Jubilee’. As well as inviting the planting of new trees, The Queen’s Green Canopy will dedicate a network of 70 Ancient Woodlands across the United Kingdom and identify 70 Ancient Trees to celebrate Her Majesty’s seventy years of service.

The Queen joined The Prince of Wales to plant a sapling propagated from a Verdun Oak, for the first Jubilee tree planting in Spring 2021 in the grounds of Windsor Castle, to mark the launch of the initiative. Verdun trees are oak and horse chestnut trees, planted in the United Kingdom in the aftermath of the First World War. Acorns and chestnuts were collected from trees on the battlefield at Verdun and sent to England to be distributed and planted as war memorials.

Welcome Table: The Coronation  by Liz Frisby

The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, 2nd June 1953

‘The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God’ (The Queen’s Coronation Oath. 1953)

Westminster Abbey has been the setting for every Coronation since 1066. On her way to the Abbey, Her Majesty wore the George IV State Diadem, made in 1820. In the Coronation Bouquet were lilies-of-the-valley from England, stephanotis from Scotland, orchids from Wales and carnations from Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man.

During the Coronation the Queen was invested with a number of ornaments symbolising the chivalric and spiritual nature of kingship. These included the spurs, swords and armills, followed by the orb, a ring and then the sceptres. One sceptre is surmounted by a cross representing temporal power and the other surmounted by a dove representing the sovereign’s spiritual role.After the investiture the St Edward’s Crown made in 1661, was placed on the Queen’s head. It weighs 4 pounds and 12 ounces and is made of solid gold. The Imperial State Crown was worn by The Queen on her return to Buckingham Palace.

Gallery Ledge: Coronation Souvenirs by Helen Witcombe

Top l-r: cup and saucer, Preston under Scar; green mug, Essex County Council. Middle, l-r: spoon, Colwall in Herefordshire; cup, saucer and plate, Caldwell in Richmondshire; glass mug, Leeds. Bottom l-r: glass mug from Leeds; cup, Newcastle; coin, Normanby School, Teesside; and the small book from Sholver near Saddlesworth.

North Door: Trooping the Colour by Juliet Barker

The custom of Trooping the Colour dates back to the time of Charles II in the 17th Century when the Colours of regiments in the British Army were used as a rallying point in battle and were therefore trooped in front of the soldiers every day to make sure that every man could recognise those of his own regiment.

When George III became King in 1760, it was ordered that parades should mark the King’s Birthday. This impressive display of pageantry is now held on the occasion of the Queen’s Official Birthday. It takes place in June each year on Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall.

Over 1,400 parading soldiers, 200 horses and 400 musicians from The Household Division, come together in a great display of military precision, horsemanship and fanfare.

Once the Queen has arrived at Horse Guard’s Parade she is greeted by a Royal salute and carries out an inspection of the troops, who are fully trained and operational soldiers wearing the ceremonial uniform of red tunics and bearskin hats. These bearskin hats are made from the fur of Canadian black bears. The five regiments of The Foot Guards have different coloured plumes in their bearskin hats to denote their regiment as follows – Grenadier (White, positioned on the left),Coldstream (Red on the right), Irish (Blue on the right), Welsh (White/Green/White on the left), Scots Guards have no plume.

Once the Foot Guards have marched past the Queen, she rides back to Buckingham Palace at the head of the soldiers, before taking the salute again at the Palace from a dais. The display closes with an RAF fly-past, watched by members of the Royal Family from Buckingham Palace balcony. A 41-gun salute is also fired in Green Park to mark the occasion.

N W Window: 1950s – Coronation Chicken by Anne Guy

Coronation Chicken or Poulet Reine Elizabeth, was invented for the foreign guests attending a banquet at Westminster School, London, after the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The food had to be prepared in advance and food writer and flower arranger, Constance Spry, together with Rosemary Hume, a chef, who were both founders of the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London, proposed a recipe of cold chicken in a curry cream sauce to be served with a well-seasoned dressed salad of rice, green peas and mixed herbs. The recipe won the approval of the Minister of Works and has since been known as Coronation Chicken.

N E Window: 1950s – Thee Ascent of Everest by Liz Piper

When the Queen acceded to the throne on 6th February 1952, Everest had not been climbed. There had already been seven major attempts to reach the summit and a further attempt was made in the Spring of that year by a Swiss team. They were nearly successful, reaching 28,200 feet, only 800 feet below the summit.

By then, plans were already in place for another British attempt in 1953. It was led by Col. John Hunt (later Lord Hunt), who assembled a very able and experienced team of climbers. After a period of build-up and acclimatisation in April and May, two pairs of climbers were ready to make an assault.

The first pair, Bourdillon and Evans, had trouble with oxygen cylinders and had to retreat only 300 feet below the summit on 26th May. The following day, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay from Nepal made their summit bid. Using a high level camp they reached the top at 11.30 am on 29th May. They planted the Union Jack for the Queen on the highest point on earth. It took another day for the climbers to return to their support camp and for the news to be relayed back to base camp. It was then sent by runner and wireless transmitter (in code to prevent a news leak) to the British Embassy in Kathmandu. Telegrams were then sent to Britain and the news of success was released to a rapturous public on the morning of 2nd June, the Queen’s Coronation Day.

Font: 1960s – Beatlemania by Kath Spashett

Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the Liverpool rock band The Beatles in the 1960s. The group’s popularity grew in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, propelled by the singles ‘Please Please Me’, ‘From, Me to You’ and ‘She Loves You’.

The press adopted the term “Beatlemania” to describe the scenes of hysteria and high-pitched screaming by female fans, sometimes called ‘teenyboppers’ who assembled anywhere the Beatles performed or appeared. The behaviour of these fans was scorned by many and was even the subject of analysis by psychologists and sociologists! The Beatles surpassed any previous examples of fan worship and changed popular culture forever.

Pedestal by choir: 1960s – Investiture of the Prince of Wales by Juliet Barker

The tradition of investing the heir apparent of the British monarch with the title of “Prince of Wales” began in 1301, when King Edward I of England, having completed the conquest of Wales, gave the title to his heir apparent, Prince Edward (later King Edward II of England).

Prince Charles was made Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester by letters patent on 26th July 1958, but the official investiture was not held unit 1st July 1969. The ceremony took place at Caernarfon Castle.

During the investiture ceremony, the letters patent were read aloud in Welsh and stated that 20 year old Prince Charles Philip Arthur George would receive the title, style, honour and privilege of the Principality of Wales and Earldom of Chester. The Queen attired her heir with a girdle, sword, coronet, ring, rod and kingly mantle, in that order.

Prince Charles then declared: ’I, Charles, Prince of Wales, do become your liege man of life and limb and of earthly worship, and faith and truth I will bear unto thee, to live and die against all manner of folks.’

Front of altar steps: 1970s – Decimal Day by Barbara Hadlow

For centuries, Britain relied on a coinage system of pounds, shillings and pence. Twelve pennies made a shilling and 20 shillings a pound. It’s hard to imagine for those under 50, but it was a complex arithmetic that many wrestled with every day.

In 1961 a special committee was set up to think about whether Britain should introduce a decimal currency. On 1st March 1966 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, James Callaghan, announced that pounds, shillings and pence would be replaced by a decimal currency, with 100 units in a pound.

So what should those units be called? The committee had thought about cents and dollars, but eventually decided to stick with pounds and pence. They proposed five new coins, with designs and shapes that were similar to the old coinage.

Decimal Day was set for 15th February 1971 when the new coins would be introduced and Britain’s monetary system saw its biggest change for more than 1,000 years.

Altar: 1970s – Silver Jubilee by Jane Ritchie

The Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II marked the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the thrones of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. The actual anniversary of The Queen’s Accession on 6th February 1952 was commemorated in church services throughout that month.

The full jubilee celebrations began in the summer of 1977 with many street parties and parades taking place throughout the country.The Queen also embarked on a large scale tour, having decided that she wished to mark her jubilee by meeting as many of her people as possible. No other Sovereign had visited so much of Britain in the course of just three months. Official overseas visits were also made and during the year it was estimated that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh travelled 56,000 miles.

On the evening of Monday, 6th June The Queen lit a bonfire beacon at Windsor which started a chain of beacons across the country. The next day vast crowds saw the Queen drive in the Gold State Coach to St Paul’s Cathedral for a Service of Thanksgiving. Afterwards she attended a lunch at the Guildhall, in which she made a speech declaring ‘My Lord Mayor, when I was twenty-one I pledged my life to the service of our people and I asked for God’s help to make good that vow. Although that vow was made in my salad days, when I was green in judgement, I do not regret nor retract one word of it’.

Lady Chapel: 1980s – Royal Residences by Nikki Gaskell

The collage showed the two royal residences that the Queen spends holidays at: Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House.

Balmoral Castle – The Scottish home of the Royal Family. It is used as the private residence of the Queen and her family, who take residence in the castle each summer. The Castle was purchased by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria in 1852. However the castle was deemed too small and a bigger version was built adjacent to the original. Work began in 1853 and the new castle was completed in 1856. The castle sits on the 20,000-hectare Balmoral estate in Royal Deeside.

Sandringham House – It has been the private home in Norfolk of British monarchs since 1862. The house was the venue of the first ever Christmas broadcast. It remained as such until Queen Elizabeth II changed the broadcast to a televised version in 1957, filmed in the library at Sandringham. The Royal Family spend Christmas here and can be seen making their way to Church each Christmas morning.

Lady Chapel: 1980s – Miners’ Strike by Jane Ritchie

The miners’ strike of 1984 – 1985 was one of the most bitter industrial disputes Britain has ever seen. The year-long strike involved hardship and violence as pit communities from South Wales to Scotland fought to retain their local collieries.

On 12th March 1984, Arthur Scargill, president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), called a national strike against the pit closures. Britain was to witness a fierce, hard fought battle involving the government, police, press and the NUM.

A key confrontation occurred in the ‘Battle of Orgreave’ when one mass picket on 18th June 1984 was 10,000 strong and the pickets were met with police in riot gear, police horses and dogs. Thousands of miners were arrested, fined, imprisoned or sacked, some never to work again.

On another occasion a coach load of pickets arrived in our Yorkshire Dales village of West Burton – they had meant to go to West Burton Power Station in Nottinghamshire!

Lady Chapel window: 1990s – Harry Potter by Jean Styles

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J K Rowling from June 1997 – July 2007.

Since the release of the first novel – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – the books have found immense popularity, they have attracted a wide adult audience as well as younger readers and are often considered cornerstones of modern young adult literature.

The books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, making them the best-selling book series in history and have been translated into eighty languages. The original seven books have been adapted into an eight-part namesake film series.

Lady Chapel ledge: 1990s – The Royal Yacht Britannia 1953 to 1997  by Joan Ford

‘Looking back over forty-four years we can all reflect with pride and gratitude upon the great ship which has served the country, the Royal Navy and my family with such distinction’. (Her Majesty The Queen)

Britannia was the first Royal Yacht to be built with complete ocean-going capacity and designed as a Royal residence to entertain guests around the world and also double as a hospital ship in time of war. She was launched from the John Brown & Company shipyard in Clydebank on 16th April 1953 and was in service from 1954 – 1997.

For over 44 years the Royal Yacht travelled more than a million nautical miles to become one of the most famous ships in the world. When she was decommissioned on 11th December 1997, it marked the end of a long tradition of British Royal Yachts, dating back to 1660 and the reign of Charles II. Today Britannia is permanently berthed at Ocean Terminal, Leith in Edinburgh and is a visitor attraction and exclusive evening events venue.

Lady Chapel ledge: 1990s – State visit to South Africa by Barbara Hadlow

One of the highlights of the Queen’s reign was meeting Nelson Mandela in Cape Town in March 1995, when the she paid a State Visit with the Duke of Edinburgh, as the guests of the President.

The Queen had last toured South Africa as a young princess in 1947 with her parents and sister. She returned following the end of apartheid and white minority rule as British Head of State and as Head of the Commonwealth. Though she had flown to South Africa, the plan was to arrive, officially, by sea, as in 1947. Therefore the Queen joined the Royal Yacht at Simon’s Town naval base the night before. The voyage into Cape Town took Britannia past Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela had spent much of his adult life in prison; now here he was, waiting on the red carpet to greet her as she walked down the gangway!

This proved to be a highly successful tour and the Queen described it as one of the outstanding experiences of her life.The Queen and Nelson Mandela were known to enjoy a warm friendship. In fact they became so close he was one of the few people permitted to call her by her first name.

Entrance to Lady Chapel: Collage of Family Life by Margaret Proctor

South facing windows

2000s – Eat your 5-a-Day (NHS) by Eve Peacock

On 23rd March 2003. the 5-a-day campaign was launched by the government, following a recommendation by the World Health Organisation (WHO), to encourage people to increase their consumption of fruit and vegetables to at least five portions a day.The WHO recommended eating a minimum of 400g of fruit and vegetables every day to lower the risk of serious health problems, such as heart disease, stroke and some types of cancer.

2000s – Golden Jubilee by Ray Wilkinson

‘Gratitude, respect and pride, these words sum up how I feel about the people of this country and the Commonwealth – and what this Golden Jubilee means to me’.(The Queen)

A packed programme of events took place in 2002 to celebrate fifty years of The Queen’s reign. The central focus for the year was the Jubilee weekend in June which began with a classical music concert in the gardens at Buckingham Palace. There was a Jubilee Church Service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor and a National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral which followed a Ceremonial Procession from Buckingham Palace. Events culminated in a pop concert at Buckingham Palace with performers including Paul McCartney, Bryan Adams, Elton John and Shirley Bassey. The evening ended with a spectacular fireworks display and The Queen lighting the National Beacon, the last in a string of 2,006 beacons which had been lit in a chain across the Commonwealth.

2010s – 2012  Summer Olympics by Mandy Banks

The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on the evening of Friday, 27th July in the Olympic Stadium in the East End of London, during which the Games were formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II. The artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation’s culture was directed by Danny Boyle and was entitled ‘Isles of Wonder’.

The opening ceremony was immediately hailed a tremendous success and received widespread acclaim.10,768 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees participated. The United States won the most gold medals (46) and the highest number of medals overall (104). China finished second with a total of 91 medals (38 gold) and Great Britain came third with 65 medals overall (29 gold).

Nicola Adams was the first woman in history to win an Olympic boxing title and Chris Hoy is the most successful Olympic cyclist of all time. [At the 2012 Games] He won two gold medals.

The Olympic symbol is based on a design first created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1913. The five interlaced rings represent the union of the five continents of the World and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games, whilst the colours are those that appear on all the National flags of the World at the time of its inception. The Olympic rings made their first appearance at the Games of the VII Olympia Antwerp in 1920.

West window: 2010s – the Queen’s 90th Birthday by Mary Sutherland

The Queen celebrated her 90th birthday on 21st April 2016 and her official birthday on 11th June 2016. Her Majesty’s actual birthday was spent in Windsor where she met well-wishers during a walkabout in the town centre, before unveiling a plaque marking The Queen’s Walkway. Later in the evening, Her Majesty, with the Prince of Wales, lit the principal beacon which set in train a series of over 900 beacons across the country and worldwide to celebrate her momentous milestone.

On 10th June the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh attended a Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral. Prayers at the service were led by people representing aspects of Her Majesty’s life and role. Sir David Attenborough read Paddington Bear creator Michael Bond’s personal account of growing up to be 90.

On 11th June, The Queen’s Official birthday, Her Majesty was joined by members of her family at The Queen’s Birthday Parade on Horse Guards Parade, followed by an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with a Flypast.June 12th saw a huge street party and parade take place on the Mall – The Patron’s Lunch – a celebration of over 600 charities and organisations that the Queen was Patron of.

Baptistry: 2010s – The wedding of William and Kate by Susan Fawcett and Christine Tuer

HRH Prince William of Wales married Catherine Middleton on 29th April 2011 in Westminster Abbey. They first met in 2001 while studying at the University of St Andrews. They began dating in 2003 and announced their engagement on 16th November 2010. Prince William is second in the line of succession to the throne.

The Queen gave her formal consent to the marriage and said she was ‘absolutely delighted’ for the couple. She declared that the wedding day would be a public holiday throughout the United Kingdom.

Lining the aisle of Westminster Abbey were eight 20 feet-high trees – six English Field Maple and two Hornbeam. Catherine carried a bouquet of Myrtle, Lily-of-the-Valley, Sweet William, Ivy, Myrtle and Hyacinth. The Dean of Westminster conducted the service, the Archbishop of Canterbury married the couple and the Bishop of London gave the address.

Baptistry: 2010s – The Duke of Edinburgh. 10th June 1921 to 9th April 2021 by Susan Fawcett and Christine Tuer

HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from her accession as Queen on 6th February 1952 until his death on 9th April 2021 two months before his 100th birthday, making him the longest serving consort in history. He was also the longest-lived male member of the British royal family.

He retired from his royal duties on 2nd August 2017, aged 96, having completed 22,219 solo engagements and made 5,493 speeches.Prince Philip was a patron of over 780 organisations.

He launched the highly successful Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme in 1956. He was especially interested in scientific and technological research, conservation and the environment and the encouragement of sport. He played polo until 1971, when he started to compete in carriage driving, a sport which he helped to expand; the early rule book was drafted under his supervision.

In 2017, Her Majesty appointed The Duke of Edinburgh to be a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in recognition of his years of service.’He is someone who doesn’t take easily to compliments but he has, quite simply been my strength and stay all these years’ said The Queen, in a speech to mark their Golden Wedding Anniversary ‘and I owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.’

BAWB Federation Displays

School children at the BAWB Federation schools (Askrigg, Bainbridge and West Burton) created two special displays to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee

Thornton Rust Kennel Field Trust has started a 100 club as a fund raising effort to save the Kennel Field  not just for the villagers but for all those who love wildflowers and a special view over Wensleydale. (Above: Looking down from the Kennel Field to Thornton Rust)

The field, which is accessed from a footpath south of the village, acquired its name from the kennels which were used by the Wensleydale Harriers from the 1920s to the late 1970s.

The grassland in it had never been “improved” and so in spring there is a rich tapestry of wild flowers from marsh marigold in the wet areas to cowslips, early purple orchids, dog violets and pignut, the latter attracting tiny, black chimney sweeper moths.

The Kennel Field Trust was set up in 1999 to bring the field into public ownership and to restore it so that all could freely enjoy it.  Villagers have put in many hours of voluntary work including restoring and maintaining a traditional barn, the mash house and an 18th century lime kiln. The kennels,  however, were  beyond redemption.

The Trust received one of the first grants awarded by the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust and has received another grant in 2017. For the first two decades this millennial project had sound finances partly due to income from agri-environment schemes. But that is no longer the case.

As the Trust is a charity if it cannot afford to pay the insurance the field would have to be sold to the highest bidder.

“This would mean access to enjoy the flower-rich grassland and fabulous views would be gone, and without the Kennel Field link people would no longer be able to walk the circular path above the village,”  the Trust’s chairman, John Dinsdale, informed the villagers this week.

The cost of participating will be £12 a year, with the chance of winning one of three prizes at the quarterly draws.  The objective of the fund raising is to cover the cost of insuring the field and the buildings within it which now costs about £450 a year.

For more about the Kennel Field see https://www.facebook.com/KennelFieldTrust

Above: Quaker Houses at Bainbridge

For several months I have been immersed in researching the fascinating  history of the Wensleydale and Swaledale Quaker Trust.

The persecution of Quakers in the late 17^th century has left a surprising legacy in Wensleydale as the heritage exhibition at Bainbridge Meeting House from September 17^th to 19^th celebrates

The sufferings Quakers endured – including being imprisoned for not paying church tithes – led to the wealthier members of the Religious Society of Friends such as Francis Smithson of Richmond remembering the poor and homeless in their wills.

Smithson and his nephew, lead mining agent Philip Swale, left land (Smithson’s at Carperby) which provided the funding for Trusts in their names. By the late 18^th century there were five Trusts as others left land and property in their wills.

These five trusts have now been incorporated into the Wensleydale and Swaledale Quaker Trust. This has inherited eleven houses for rent in Wensleydale, some dating back to the 17^th century.

Quakers in the 17^th century had a significant impact upon local architecture one of the best examples being Countersett Hall where the founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), George Fox, stayed.

Countersett Meeting House dates back to 1710 at a time when that hamlet was mainly inhabited by Quakers who helped to finance the construction of the ‘Quaker Bridge’ at Semerwater. Hugh Dower will be at that Meeting House from 2pm to 3pm each day September 17^th to 19^th to talk about the Quakers at Countersett.

There’s still a lot more research I want to do about the Wensleydale and Swaledale Quaker Trust – but first I wanted to create a broad view of the impact of Quakers on these dales for the exhibition. I plan to be at the exhibition each day so will try, with others, to answer any questions.  There will also be a notebook in which visitors can write comments or share their memories.

One who already has done so is Pat Daykin who, with her husband, ran the Victoria Arms at Worton for many years. She has recalled how, as a young teacher in 1956-7, she helped the pupils at Bainbridge School walk to Bainbridge Meeting House to have their dinners.

White Rose Candles in Wensley has survived flooding and lockdown to celebrate its 50th birthday as a business.

These days it is run by Jane Hammond and Sandra Hewitt who are partners in the business with the founders, Jennie and Mick White. (L-R: Mick and Jennie White, Jane Hammond and Sandra Hewitt)

“I can’t believe that a pair of dozy hippies have run a small business for so long, ” laughed Jennie. For she and her husband were hippies who dropped out of university and went in search of an alternative lifestyle.

They started candle-making in a cellar in their home in Pudsey in 1971. It began when they were offered quarter of a ton of paraffin wax “at a good price”. They had never made candles or run a business before.

At lot depended upon Mick having a scientific background and being an inventor. “He’s amazing. He invents and makes things, anything from scrap,” said Jennie.

And Jane and Sandra have found him just as helpful. They described him as brilliant and said he had saved the company a lot of money thanks to his ability to create the equipment required.

“Mick will always come if we ask him to help with something,” Jane added. Jane, who lives in Wensley, began working at White Rose Candles in 2008 and it was Mick who taught her how to make candles.

But much has changed since the days when Jennie could happily create candles using dried flowers and essential oils.

Jane explained: “Years ago you could just blend your own oils together and Jennie made some marvellous scented candles with essential oils but we are not allowed to do that anymore without getting special labels done and sending data sheets off, and somebody else has got to produce the information for us to put on the label, which you then send to the printer. So it’s a very expensive way of doing things now.

“You are constantly keeping up with the different rules and regulations to make sure any ideas you have are okay.”

Now they use fragrance oils instead and have to ensure their labels list every ingredient.  They also had to stop making candles that looked like cupcakes because, according to Trading Standards, they looked too much like food and a piece might be bitten off and choke a child.

There is still plenty of creativity, however. “Sandra is incredibly creative. We tend to have our own areas of expertise and we work really well together,” Jane said.

One of Sandra’s specialities is painting  Dales’ scenes on candles which she began several years ago to mark Yorkshire Day.

The last few years have been tough. First the business was flooded in 2019 and they lost about 80 per cent of their stock. Then there was the lockdown due to Covid-19 last year.

The pandemic also put a stop for a while to their regular orders from churches and two cathedrals for advent and Christmas candles.

Another major problem was that Jane and Sandra could not work so physically close to each other, and once they could open the doors to customers they had to ensure there were never too many inside the shop at once. This means both have to be on duty on the four days the shop is open (Wednesday to Saturdays each week) as monitoring the situation and selling would be too much for one person.

And that came after surviving lockdown. They are very grateful to Jane’s daughter, Emily, who built a website for them at a reasonable price so that they could advertise their candles throughout the country. “It was a godsend. We did really well with that during lockdown,” said Jane.

Sandra, who lives in Leyburn, added: “It was surprising. We didn’t really advertise it. We had it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We tried to keep up with that sort of thing. That’s how people find you now.”

Very different to the way that Jennie and Mick advertised their candles in magazines and at country shows. Sandra commented that they wouldn’t have time now to go to country shows and Jane added that they couldn’t afford the cost of renting a stand or the insurance these days what with all the regulations about risk assessment.

They still make candles and sell them at the watermill in Wensley leased to the business by the Bolton Estate.

The Whites were invited to look at the mill around 1978 when they were searching for  premises in a rural area.

Jennie said: “It was very, very derelict. Two trees were growing out of it, the floor boards had rotted, and there was no gas, water or electricity, or windows. We were given three years rent free to repair it. But it was an enormous step of faith. We came in February and Wensley was carpeted in snowdrops.

“We could never have run the business if the Bolton Estate had been greedy. They have charged modest rents and just let us get on with it. In many ways we owe a lot to the Bolton Estate.”

For Sandra and Jane it has become a way of life. Jane described how she can get an idea of a new product at bedtime, make a note on her iPad, send it to Sandra next morning, and they would be working on it before they got together at the mill.

Jane said: “I like being able to see something from the very beginning to the very end rather than being just part of [a production line]. Sometimes you see it right from the original concept through to it going on the shelf and somebody buying something that you thought of – it’s really satisfying.”

The white Peace and red Remembrance Poppies have again been mounted on the railings outside the Quaker Meeting House at Bainbridge.

Those who regularly attend meetings there said: “Why do we wear white poppies on Remembrance Day? We wear them to remember all the victims of war, to challenge militarism, and to build a culture of peace, remembering that, today, 90% of these victims are civilians.

“The custom of wearing white poppies was started in 1934 by the Peace Pledge Union, whose aim is to work against the causes of war, finding other solutions to international problems.

“Many people suffered from refusing to bear arms, being imprisoned, and even killed, for their beliefs. Locally, “The Richmond 16” were imprisoned in Richmond Castle for refusing to bear arms. Many Quakers and other Conscientious Objectors served as ambulance-drivers and stretcher-bearers in both world wars, and the movement continues to work actively for peace around the world.

“Today, the right to refuse to bear arms in enshrined in the Declaration of Human Rights, and on the 24th October, fifty nations signed up to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adding them to landmines, cluster bombs, and gas, as illegal under international law.”

White poppy sales can be purchased from the Peace Pledge Union  https://shop.ppu.org.uk

All the stained glass windows have been installed since St Andrew’s Church was  rebuilt in 1866. Even that which had been in east window of the chancel for centuries was not re-installed.

Instead that of the coats of arms of Richard, Lord Scrope of Bolton Castle and James Metcalfe of Nappa Hall was carried off to St Jude’s RC Church at Ulshaw Bridge near Middleham. The small window had been  originally placed in St Andrew’s to commemorate the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 at which both Lord Scrope and James Metcalfe led men from Wensleydale. Today there are two replicas of that window at St Andrew’s. One is in the clerestory windows on the south side of the chancel and the other on the south side of the church near the Lady Chapel.

As you enter the main entrance look left to see two windows in the Baptistry.  The window immediately on the left, on the south side of the church, illustrates the first confirmation (Acts 8:14-17) and the calling of Barnabas and Saul (Acts 13:2-3). (left)

That behind the font, on the west side (above right), illustrates the parables of the talents and going forth to sow. This and the Rokeby window were donated by Elizabeth Dunn: that in the Baptistry was in memory of her father, Lawson Dunn and  her mother.

In the Baines’s Directory of 1823 for Thoralby Lawson Dunn was listed as a portrait painter while  Morris Lord Rokeby (3rd Lord Rokeby) was living at Littleburn in the same village. There was a close relationship between the Dunns and Lord Rokeby and when the latter died in 1829 he left Hill House, Thoralby, to Lawson. Lawson died a few weeks later. Lord Rokeby left substantial legacies to the Dunn family including Lawson’s daughter Elizabeth.

To see the Rokeby Window (left) walk straight across the back of the church and look left as it is on the north west elevation.  This is dedicated ‘To the memory of the right hon: Morris Lord Rokeby late of Littleburn.’  hence being known as the Rokeby Window.

The main sections depict the healing of the centurion’s servant and the parable about the workers in the vineyard.

(Information about the Dunn family and Lord Rokeby provided by Ann Hartley.)

North side of church:

The window (left) near the War Memorial plaques is in memory of William Purchas (1841-1919) and his five sisters. The Purchas family were Lords of the Manor for several generations.

Towards the east end of the north wall is the Doctors’ Window.  (right)

This illustrates the raising of the widow of Nain’s son and commemorates the life of Dr Matthew Willis who selflessly served Dales’ folk until his death in 1871.

To the left  of this window are memorials to three of his successors including Dr William Pickles who was awarded a CBE in 1957 for his pioneering work on the spread of epidemic diseases which he carried out in Wensleydale.

East end of the church:

The East Window  is a memorial to William and Ann Robinson of Redmire and Edgley and their children. It was unusual for the period as it was generally considered ‘high church’ (i.e. verging on Roman Catholicism as it depicts the Crucifixion).

The main panels of the window show the Passion of Our Lord and the Ascension, the central panel being the Crucifixion. In the top part of the window are depicted the Lamb of God, the Dove (Holy Spirit) and the Pelican, drops of whose blood, as it pecks at its own chest, symbolise the Blood of Christ. Underneath are several figures obviously of the Apostles and Evangelists.

The dedication at the bottom is now hidden by the Reredos. It reads: ‘In memory of William and Anne Robinson of Redmire and Edgley and their children, Ralph Robinson and Isabella Robinson of The Cliff, Leyburn, and George Place Robinson of West Burton MDCCCLXVI.’

The window was given by Henry Thomas Robinson, son of William and Anne, also of The Cliff, Leyburn. It was installed at the rebuilding of the church in 1866.The red marble columns in the clerestory of the nave were his gifts also. Henry died in 1886 and his four daughters then gave the Reredos and altar in memory of him and his wife, Elizabeth, who died in 1868.

Vestry window:

This window can only be seen when a member of the church with a key is present.

It depicts the story of the Good Samaritan and was given by the Rev John Winn (Vicar from 1827 to 1873) in gratitude for his safe deliverance from a vicious attack by robbers at his home, Nappa Mill near Askrigg, in 1860.

In the Lady Chapel

East Window:  This window is in memory of George and Ann Wray, their eight sons and their sons and children who died before 1871. They include Ann Fawcett Fraser‘ The Heroine of Cawnpore’

The four musicians shown at the top, below the eagle, are a harpist, a pipe player, a violinist and another harpist

South East Window:  (left) Jesus with Martha and Mary. In memory of Melesina Wray who died in Calcutta (Kolkata)  in 1860 and her husband, George Octavius Wray, died in 1893.

South West Window: (Above right) Jesus healing the sick when a man is let down on his bed through the roof (Mark 2:2-8). This window is in memory of the Rev John Chapman of Thornton Rust and Newfoundland who died in 1851.

South West near Lady Chapel:

This window was designed in 1905 by Caroline Townshend – a British stained glass artist of the Arts and Crafts movement.

The panel on the left shows Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, and the other side depicts him blessing the children who were brought to him.

The window is in memory of Fenwick William Stow MA, vicar of Aysgarth parish 1873-1905.

Do take time to look for all the squirrels!

The famous Edwardian Rock Garden in Aysgarth, Wensleydale, now belongs to the local community thanks to it being gifted to the parish council by Adrian and Rosemary Anderson.

left: Rosemary and Adrian Anderson with Cllr John Dinsdale in the Rock Garden.

The Andersons bought the Grade II listed Rock Garden in 2012 and have maintained it and kept it  open to the public throughout the year. This year, however, they wanted to sell their house in Wensleydale and settle in York but didn’t want to put the Rock Garden on the open market in case a new owner would keep it as private land.

They had researched gifting the 0.14acre walled site to the National Trust or English Heritage but when no solution was found they approached Aysgarth and District Parish Council and its chairman, John Dinsdale.

“John has been so enthusiastic from the start,” said Mrs Anderson. “But it is a big responsibility looking after it all the time. The people in Aysgarth have been so supportive.”

Cllr Dinsdale said: “When Adrian and Rosemary Anderson approached me regarding Aysgarth and District  Parish Council taking over the control and maintenance of the Edwardian Rock Garden, I put it to the parish council and we decided we would be honoured to preserve an important part of the local history for the community.  Not only is it a unique, beautiful and calm place, but it is of national importance.”

The Andersons were invited to address the parish council in November 2019. In February this year the councillors studied an independent report on the structural condition of the Rock Garden and considered that the recommendations made in it were relatively minor and not costly.

The councillors approved accepting the Rock Garden as a gift and for the necessary legal work to be carried out.

The ownership of the Rock Garden was transferred to the parish council on September 11 and a few days later the Andersons took Cllr Dinsdale and two other parish councillors around it to explain about its management and to hand over tools.

In her book about the Rock Garden Mrs Anderson wrote: “It was constructed by the Backhouse firm of York and is a rare surviving example of their work. The Rock Garden was designed as a kind of ‘walk through grotto’ with huge waterworn limestone blocks rising to about eight metres in places, low stone lintels and narrow winding paths.

“A mountain stream and cascade add to the alpine atmosphere and at the rear of the garden the visitor emerges into an open south facing lawned area with mixed borders that provides views of adjacent fields and trees.”

It continues to be open to the public but with the request that social distancing is observed. The public enter at their own risk and it is unsuitable for disabled or wheelchair access due to the narrow and uneven paths and steps. Admission is free and there is a donation box near the entrance which is at the west end of Aysgarth village.

The Parish Council are looking for volunteers to help with weeding and general maintenance  the odd afternoon contact John Dinsdale  Tel: 07805285346.

It was the headline that caught my attention: ‘Working Men and Poultry Keeping’. During the last decade of the 19th century several articles by the editor of Fowls, the Rev G.T.Laycock, were published in The Church Monthly.

He obviously admired the men who raised chickens in their backyards: ‘The backyard poultry keeper is invariably a man of resource. He has learnt what thousands of country cottagers have yet to learn – how to make the best use of his outdoor opportunities. How ingenious are his contrivances; how excellent his plans for economising space. Everything seems against him, and yet by care, attention and ingenuity he surmounts all difficulties and his fowls in their appearance and productiveness are his reward.’ (1895)

In an article in 1892 he wrote: ‘Many of those who habitually gaze upon smiling fields and picturesque landscape would be utterly astounded could they behold many a working man’s  poultry yard in the midst of a busy town. A flagged floor instead of greensward, and walls fifty feet high in place of hedgerows. Everything against him, in fact, but one – the keen interest of the owner and a fixed determination to succeed against all odds. And many do succeed.

‘The fowls that denizen such yards are not the puny, washed-out looking creatures most would think. The egg record is pretty sure indicator of a healthy state and many a town dweller’s egg record, when compared with that of his country cousin, knocks it altogether into a cocked hat. And how useful these eggs have proved too. For breakfast, tea or supper they are never out of place. Good nourishing food and appetising withal.

‘The next-door neighbour, too, who complains about the cock crowing, can generally be consoled with a half dozen sent now and again. The shop ones, he knows, offend the olfactory sense, and a too close inspection reveals a distinct portion of an embryo chick. Chanticleer may crow and the hens cackle throughout the livelong day. Their incessant rejoicings, instead of being a nuisance, are listened to with delight: they are, in fact, regarded as harbingers of the approaching gift.’

Laycock described some of that ingenuity by quoting an article in Fowls – a a penny weekly journal exclusively devoted to poultry-keeping.

“The very  cheapest [poultry]  house we know of is a large, empty ‘sugar-barrel’. This you can obtain at any good-natured grocer’s for a small sum, 1s. 6d we should think at the outside: a price surely within the reach of any working man. Thoroughly cleanse it from all sticky matter, for your own comfort and to save your clothes from damage. Then obtain half a dozen bricks and, having laid them evenly on the ground, set your barrel on its side firmly on top of them.

“This will serve not only to keep it steady but will also prevent the damp from rising through the floor. To prevent the tub from lurching, secure it by a couple of holdfasts to the wall. In one end of the cask cut out a square hole of moderate size for the door, fix it with a couple of small hinges, and attach a clasp and padlock for security.

“Above the door bore five or six holes for ventilation. At the further end of the barrel make a nest out of a couple of bricks placed at right angles to keep in the hay, and be sure you put in a nest egg or two to encourage laying. The house is now complete.

“Now for the perch. This can be manufactured out of a good stout broom handle, sawn off to the right length and well secured. We say, advisedly ‘well secured’ as there is nothing which fowls dislike so much as a shaky roost. Let the floor of the barrel be thickly covered with fine sifted mould or dry ashes, and beaten down smooth; as this will make a splendid floor, and the dry earth and ash prevent smell.

“Roof over the barrel with a piece of stout felt. Don’t buy the cheapest; it is not the cheapest in the end. You can get the very best for about 4 1/2d. per yard. Nail it securely on, and then give it a good coat of tar and sprinkle some fine grave upon it, and you will have a roof that will last for years.”

He especially recommended keeping pure breeds as these could be sold at a higher price and were more beautiful and ornamental. He stated later that it was better to keep to one variety rather than ‘a hotch-potch of mongrel blood’.

Several pure breeds were mentioned in articles: Minorcas, Redcaps, Leghorns, Langshans, Andalusians, Black Hamburghs (sic), Buff Orpingtons,  Plymouth Rocks (left) and  Wyandottes.

The latter, he said, had a combination of all the virtues: a splendid layer ever in winter and a very good table fowl. But he added: ‘For laying purposes pure and simple there is nothing better than a Minorca.  They lay very large white eggs … and lay well all the year round.’ They were, however, only moderate table birds he said. He also accepted that the Langshans were good table birds and excellent layers of dark brown eggs.

In 1895 he was full of admiration for Brown Leghorns. He said the first Leghorns – white ones – had been introduced to England from Italy in 1872. He loved the colours of the Brown Leghorns and wrote that they had hardy constitutions, were excellent egg-layers and reasonably good as table-birds. He added: ‘They seems to thrive here, there and everywhere; on the farm, the country run, or the backyard of the workman’s cottage they will render  a good account of themselves. ‘

That year he noted that the main aim was egg production and for that a cock was not necessary. He added:  ‘This omission will save annoyance to the neighbours, over-the-garden-wall conversations, complaints to the newspapers on the cock-crowing nuisance, solicitor’s letters, and a sundry visit or two to the police court.’

By then he was also full of admiration for Brown Leghorns. He said the first Leghorns to be imported from Italy in 1872 were white. The brown ones came later and he believed the darker colours were better for small town yards.

Women and girls were, of course, also involved in taking care of chickens and in 1898 there was an article by a Mrs R Browne. She left backyards to men and instead focussed on those living in the suburbs or had a small house in the country. She also believed that a profit could be made from poultry-keeping and wrote: ‘ The keep of a hen throughout the year is on average three halfpence a week. You should make by your eggs about three or four shillings a week.’

She wrote: ‘Cochins, Dorkings, Hamburghs and Minorca fowls are all good breeds but, for a beginner, I recommend Brahma hens crossed with a Dorking cock. This breed are fast growers, surpassing in size any other breed and producing splendid table poultry. They are also hardy, good winter layers, exemplary mothers; and they seldom get out of condition . Brahma hens, if regularly and rightly fed, and warmly housed, will often lay nearly every day in the winter and, if pure bred, are known to lay 30 or 40 eggs before they want to sit.’

She advised that it was best to keep only young birds, and also described how to feed and house them. Her henhouse, however, was far more mundane. ‘A henhouse with five or six hens and a cock to start with, need not to be more than five yards square, with a slanting roof six or eight feet. It must be well ventilated, with nests on the ground and rough bark poles for perches. You must see that the boards are well tongued together and tarred, to keep out wind and rain.’

She told her readers: ‘Poultry keeping can be made a profitable and pleasant occupation for a lady provided she looks after them herself; insists on the strictest cleanliness, regularity in feeding… and does not leave them to the tender mercies of a house-boy or an over-worked maid-of-all-work.’

The illustration (below) for her article showed a girl dressed more for going out to tea than feeding hens!

Very definitely a different audience to Laycock’s working men!

The local musicians who led Dales folk dancing right through the night in the early 1900s are celebrated in a book full of fascinating detail and music published as part of the Yorkshire Dales Folk Dance and Tunes Project at the Dales Countryside Museum (DCM) in Hawes.

The author, Bob Ellis of Gayle, has entitled it There was None of this Lazy Dancing, quoting a concertina player, Sam Fawcett of Baldersdale (1878-1960). Fawcett said: “When we get a drop of beer… and got into full blast, there was none of this lazy dancing!” (Pictured on front cover are Peter and Jackie Beresford.)

And a popular accordion player, Harry Cockerill (1914-1994) who farmed in upper Langstrothdale told of how he would milk the cows on the way home from an all-night dance.

Bob doesn’t just give detailed biographies of musicians such as Cockerill, Brian and Jackie Beresford and their family, and Dick and John Wallbank, but also transpositions of their music some of which was almost certainly unique to the Dales.

He can assert this because of the meticulous research he has carried out since 2011. “Although the project was my idea, it was prompted by comments and suggestions made by Fiona Rosher [the DCM manager]. I was already playing a lot of British and European folk dance music and wanted to add a local element to my repertoire.

“I discovered there were only two people in the Dales (both quite elderly) who were still playing that type of music and that it was in danger of dying out,” he said. Those men were Tim Boothman from Threshfield whose late wife, Rosie, was the daughter of Jackie Beresford, and Sam Fawcett’s son, Septimus.

The result is the most complete record to date of Dales musicians and their music in a very easy to read and enjoyable format. Ellis has drawn together all previously published material and, through his own research, been able to add that which has never before been published. As more is coming to light he plans to post it on his website (www.dalestunes.org.uk).

The book is in A4 format which has allowed him to print a tune per page along with what is known about its history. One of Peter Beresford’s tunes can be traced back to an itinerant bagpiper in Vienna in the 17th century.

Ellis points out that most of the Dales musicians couldn’t read music. They learnt tunes by ear and then adapted them to the needs of the barn dancers.

The music begins with that of William Calvert (1780-1847) thanks to Lynn Wood of Haworth acquiring his tunebook at an auction in Leyburn in 2002.

Calvert’s family probably paid for his gravestone at Spennithorne churchyard but for the Dales Minstrel, William Bolton, friends raised the funds for his gravestone at Burnsall churchyard when he died in 1881.

Many of these Dales’ musicians came from very straightened circumstances but they provided something very important for Dales folk.

Bob comments:“Dances provided opportunities for people in the scattered neighbouring villages to meet up, exchange news, socialise and enjoy themselves. No wonder village dances were popular – few other events in the lives of Dales folk provided a relief from the drudgeries of daily life, an opportunity to enjoy yourself and socialise and, for the younger people, a chance to meet members of the opposite sex with a view to finding a partner for life.”

Bob is sure there was a Dales’ style of dance music. When quoting Sam Fawcett that there was “none of this lazy dancing”, Bob writes: “To cater for this energetic dancing, the musicians adopted a vigorous, unadorned style of playing that focused more on rhythm than melody.”

He has included a detailed section on Morris and Sword dancing in the Dales. He states: “Whilst not entirely unique to Yorkshire because isolated examples have been recorded in the Shetland Islands and on the Isle of Man, all the other known longsword dances in Britain originated in villages in Yorkshire (87 in all) or in neighbouring counties. The teams in the Dales that survived longest were at Kirkby Malzeard, Bellerby and Hunton.

“An unlikely organisation that helped some of the longsword dances to survive the lean period during the first half of the 20th century, when many teams stopped dancing, was the Women’s Institute, which encouraged the creation of women’s teams in some local villages. In 1929, for instance, Middleham W.I. …came third in a longsword competition held at Castle Howard.”

Bob (left)has been playing the melodeon since 1994, has organised Melodeons in Wensleydale weekends at the DCM as well as two traditional dance evenings for the Friends of the DCM.

His book can be laid flat so that musicians can easily read and play the tunes. And those who buy the book (£20 plus £4 postage) will be able to download and play the audio files. For more information see www.dalestunes.org.uk.

Pip Pointon

Jean Cockburn (93) and Irene Pickard (85) have been friends in Aysgarth for over 65 years and not even a pandemic can keep them apart, especially on the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

Jean slowly made her way into the centre of the village twice that day. The first time was after the National Moment of Remembrance for which she and many others stood at their doorsteps while the Last Post and Reveille were played on the speakers at Aysgarth Institute. She then joined Irene for a short walk and to sit and chat on the benches on the village green. There they watched children with their parents taking part in the Fairy Door Trail organised by James Metcalfe and which raised £30 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

At 3pm Winston Churchill’s Victory speech was played over the institute speakers. At 9pm Jean made her way into the village centre again – this time to join about 40 others who had gathered to listen to the Queen’s speech and  We’ll Meet Again  broadcast from the Institute. The activities were organised by Aysgarth Institute and social distancing was maintained.

Many had decorated their houses and windows for the occasion and these were judged by Steve Jack from Aysgarth Garage. He reported that it was not easy to judge the displays with slim margins between them but declared the winners of the best dressed house as Jane and Michel and those for the best dressed window as Max and Molly (ably assisted by their parents Rachel and Nick).  Each winning household received a box of slimline Quality Street chocolates.

It all added up to a very sociable, enjoyable and memorable day.

Above: Jean (left) and Irene meeting each other at the village green — and then enjoying a suitably distanced chat (below).

Above: Irene and Derrick Pickard with their son David. 

Below: Jean with her son Stuart just after the two-minute silence. 

Above: the VE Day celebration display created by the Pickard family.

Below: Jill and James Metcalfe, with their son Richard above.

Above: Max and Molly (at back) who, like several other children in the village, had a great time decorating their homes (with a little help from their parents). Their efforts won them the prize for the best dressed VE Day window.

Above: Lily-Anne and Aiden.

Below:  the window decorated by Charlotte and Abigail.

Above: Thomasina with her dad, Jason.

There were two French flags and the Welsh flag flying in the village that day – the former as the households had connections with France, such as Jane and Michel’s (below). Theirs won the competition for the best dressed VE Day house.

Below: And there were some who had been very busy that morning. Steve getting ready to deliver packed lunches prepared at the Hamilton’s Tea Shop to elderly people in mid Wensleydale.

Below: Scenes from around the village

From The Church Monthly: In April and May 1892 the Vicar of Aysgarth, the Rev Fenwick Stowe,  reported on how a ‘miners’ strike’ had affected the train service in Wensleydale, and the Rev Theodore Wood recounted how he had a ‘duet’ with a nightingale.

The Rev Stowe wrote in the Aysgarth Parish Magazine in April: ‘ The principal event of March in our Parish was the Confirmation on the 18th. It had been arranged for our [35] candidates to go to Askrigg, but three days before the date fixed the afternoon trains were taken off, and the Bishop of Ripon most kindly consented to hold an additional Confirmation here, as we could not vey well go to Askrigg. So the great miner’s strike was productive of some good after all. The Bishop gave a most beautiful address and everything passed off  as well as possible.’

It is likely that the Rev Stowe was referring to the closure of the Durham mines from February until June 1892. In 1891 the Durham Coalowners Association had proposed reducing the miners’ wages by 15 per cent as the low price of coal had led to a loss of profits. In January  1892 Durham Miners’ Association refused to accept any reduction in wages or to go to arbitration. So, on February 27, the owners closed the mines. The man who mediated the settlement three months later was the Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev Brooke Foss Westcott. The owners agreed not to reduce wages by more than 10 per cent and that no miners would be victimised. Bishop Westcott was known for taking a practical interest in the miners. His last sermon was at Durham Cathedral during the service for the Durham Miners’ Gala on July 20 1901 and he died on July 27.

From Rev Wood’s An April Ramble: If our ramble takes place after the 15th of the month we ought to hear the nightingale; provided, of course, we dwell in a part of the country which nightingales favour with their summer residence. It is quite a mistake to suppose that these birds only sing by night; for they sing at almost any hour of the 24, if only they are far enough removed from the dwellings of man.

I always challenge them to a competition by whistling a few soft notes, and then waiting for an answer. In a few seconds, at the most, this always comes: for the nightingale is very proud of his own vocal powers, and ever ready to enter the lists with a competitor. So we whistle and reply to one another, the bird and I, for a minute or two, and then the nightingale grows excited and comes a little nearer; and we carry on the duet until he comes nearer still, and finds out the trick that has been played upon him. And then, I regret to say, he gives vent to a perfect torrent of abuse, in tones which no one would ever have imagined could possibly have proceeded from a nightingale’s throat.

Shakespeare tells us that the hen bird is the vocalist.

‘The nightingale, if she should sing by night,

When every goose is cackling, would be thought

No better a musician than the wren.’

But here Shakespeare is wrong, for it is the cock only that sings; and his impassioned strains seem designed first to win the heart of his little brown lady-love, and then to cheer her as she patiently sits on her five olive-green eggs.

From A May Ramble: A nightingale is singing away merrily. Somewhere hard by, but so cleverly hidden that it takes a keen eye to detect it, is his nest, with his homely little mate sitting upon her eggs. So long as her labour of love continues, so long  will  he continue to cheer her with bursts and snatches of melody. But as soon as the little ones appear his vocal powers will leave him; and then for ten long months he will be as voiceless as his mate.

Here … is another nest, a hedge-sparrow’s, this time with three pretty pale blue eggs already gleaming out  upon the warm lining of moss and hair. Let us hope no wandering cuckoo will detect it, and place one of its own eggs therein; for in that case the poor hedge-sparrow will lose all hope of bringing  up her family. The young cuckoo, almost as soon as he is born, will realise that there is not sufficient room in the nest for its rightful occupants as well as himself; and, taking advantage of his superior strength, he will push them over the side, one after another, until he is left alone in the usurped dwelling. Strange to say the bereaved hedge-sparrows seem careless of the fate of their offspring, and bring all the food which should have  gone into the five  little gaping beaks to be devoured by the murderous cuckoo! The mother cuckoo, meanwhile, having laid her egg, seems to lose all further interest in it, and never comes near the nest again; so the parent and child remain for ever strangers.

I once found two cuckoo’s eggs in the same nest – a very rare event. I wondered if both cuckoos had hatched out? Probably they would first have thrown out their fellow-nestlings, and then have had a duel, in the course of which the weaker of the two would have shared the same fate. For the young cuckoo grows so fast that in a very short time there would have been no room in the nest for both; and I am quite sure that one pair of hedge-sparrows could never manage to find food enough for two such voracious little creatures.

What is that bright green inset which flew up from the patch of sandy ground just at our feet? Here is another running rapidly along a foot or two in front. We make a quick dab at it – for it takes to flight almost as readily as a blue-bottle fly – and find that we have captured a tiger-beetle. He tries his very best to bite us, and those big curved jaws look sharp and powerful enough to pierce at least the skin of our fingers; but we know how to hold him, and he has recourse to his other means of defence – a curious odour, vey much like the scent of the sweet briar, which he is able to pour out at will. Having admired his armour of green and bronze and gold we let him go, to resume his ravages among  his fellows. For the tiger-beetle is aptly named and is one of the scourges of the insect world.

For more about the Rev Theodore Wood see Memories of a beetle collector

Sources: “The Story of the Durham Miners” by Sidney Webb, The Labour Publishing Co Ltd, 1921

Wikipedia – about Bishop Westcott

“The Church Monthly” including the “Aysgarth Parish Magazine”, April and May 1892 with permission of Aysgarth PCC

The work by Thornton Rust villagers  to conserve the ecology and history of the Kennel Field has now been celebrated with an interpretation board thanks to a grant from the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT).

The interpretation board (above), produced by Shelley Designs, was installed on the renovated Mash House by Paul Sheehan of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and two Kennel Field Trustees, David Preston and Deborah Millward.

The board includes photographs of the Mash House (used to cook food for Wensleydale Harriers hounds) and a mid-19th century field barn before they were restored by villagers with the help of one of the first grants awarded by the YDMT over 20 years ago. The kennels used by the Wensleydale Harriers from the 1920s until the late 1970s were, however, beyond redemption.

The grassland in the Kennel Field had not been improved and so in spring has a rich tapestry of wild flowers from marsh marigold in the wet areas to cowslips, early purple orchids, dog violets and pignut, the latter attracting tiny, black chimney sweeper moths.

In 2017 the Kennel Field Trust won a highly recommended award of £4,000 in the Conservation, Heritage and Environment category from the YDMT when the latter was celebrating its 20th anniversary celebration.

This has been used to carry out environmental improvements in the Kennel Field, erect a new fence, purchase a wooden bench which is now near the Mash House and produce the interpretation board. The artwork engraved on the bench by Daniel Thornton-Grace was created by one of the trustees, David Pointon.

Another trustee and its treasurer, Graham Darlington, wrote much of the text for the interpretation board.

At the meeting of the Kennel Field Trust on January 22 it was agreed that, following the untimely deaths last year of David Pointon and Graham Darlington, to ask their respective widows, Pip Pointon and Penny Noake, to become trustees. Lynda Denny also agreed to become a trustee with the added responsibility of taking over as treasurer.

The Trust’s chairman, John Dinsdale, and Deborah asked Pip and Penny if they would like a tree planted in a corner of the Kennel Field in memory of the service their husbands had given. Both agreed and asked if Janet Thomson (another trustee) would also like a tree for her husband, Mike Thomson, who died in January. This offer has been accepted.

The Kennel Field Trust was set up in 1998 to bring the field into public ownership and to restore it so that all could freely enjoy it. There is an 18th century field lime kiln near the western entrance and details about how that was used are included on the interpretation board.

The Kennel Field can be accessed from the car parlk in the Outgang, the lane opposite Thornton Rust village hall. Villagers have carried out extensive restoration work at the Outgang and there is an interpretation board by the car park to explain how the area was used by farmers in the past.

Above left to right: The Rev Tom Ringland, Bishop Nick, and the Rev Penny Yeadon

There was a party atmosphere at St Andrew’s Church, Aysgarth, on Monday (November 4) as members of the Penhill Benefice churches welcomed their new vicar, the Rev Tom Ringland.

His institution by the Rt Rev Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds, was witnessed by the Diocesan Registrar Peter Foskett, the Dean of Ripon Cathedral the Rev Canon John Dobson, Area Dean the Rev Canon Penny Yeadon, several local clergy, and the Readers and Churchwardens of Penhill Benefice.

The Rev Yeadon also deputised for the Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven, the Ven Jonathan Gough, as he was too ill to attend. It was she, therefore, who placed the Rev Ringland’s hand upon the handle of the entrance door  (pictured below) and officially inducted him into ‘the real and actual possession of this church and benefice with all its rights, responsibilities and opportunities for ministry.”

He was then presented with the keys by the Churchwardens who, with the captain of the bell ringers Stuart Huntington, went with him to the tower where he rang one of the bells nine times to signify that he was taking up his pastoral charge.

The Rev Ringland had been welcomed not only by church members but also by representatives of the local communities served by Penhill Benefice. These included North Yorkshire County councillor Karin Sedgwick and parish council chairmen.

When the Churchwarden of St Martin’s at Desford in Leicestershire, Nev Hammonds, commended the new vicar to the benefice he pointed out that the Rev Ringland did face one particular challenge: “He is a keen cyclist and the hills here are a little larger…”

Quite a few from the Rev Ringland’s previous parishes at St Bartholomew at Kirby Muxloe and that at Desford attended the service although one group was left stranded in Leicestershire when the minibus it had hired did not appear.

During the service the Bishop told the large congregation that the teachings of Jesus, especially in the Beatitudes, showed that Christians don’t have to conform to the world. Instead they should have a prophetic witness.

“There’s only one measure of the faithfulness or the integrity of the Christian church and that is when people look at us, when they touch us, when they hear us, … they see some representation of Jesus. The church does not exist to save the church. The church exists to save the world out there,” he said.

He added that this might mean sacrificing the culture and ways of worship of the church so as to meet people where they were. And part of the job of a vicar was to enable that to happen.

After the service most of the congregation stayed to enjoy the homemade canapes and to chat with friends.

In his first letter to his new benefice Mr Ringland said he grew up near Canterbury. It was after he graduated in Geology from Durham University that he felt drawn to the Christian ministry.He volunteered in a church in the East End of London for a while and then spent a year in Sudan and Kenya in Christian relief work before beginning ordination training at Trinity College Bristol.

He met his wife, Bev, in Bristol and they were married during his first curacy in Crawley, West Sussex. The youngest of their four children is 19. During his ministry they have lived in Coalville and then, for the past 13 years, at Kirby Muxloe.

He wrote: “Bev grew up in Wharfedale, and it’s thanks to her that I’ve come to enjoy wide open spaces and long walks! We’ve also done a bit of cycling together, but the terrain in Wensleydale looks a little tougher than we’re used to.”One of their sons and their two Labradors, Islay and Skye, have moved with them to the Vicarage at Carperby.

Pte William Thomas ‘Tot’ Dinsdale;  Pte Thomas Spence;  Major Donald Herbert Rose MC and Sgt Ernest Moore; Col John William Lodge; and Pte John Percival. Plus Aysgarth Parish and WWI

Pte William Thomas ‘Tot’ Dinsdale

‘Granddad was never the same man again. He was gassed [mustard gas] towards the end of the war. When the Armistice came he was in a hospital somewhere in the Midlands. He was there for a long time. He just got out before the hospital was decimated by Spanish Flue,’ said John Dinsdale of Hawthorn Farm, Thornton Rust. (John is the chairman of Aysgarth and District Parish Council). He continued:

‘Granddad went back to farming at Sedbusk but he was never a fit man. He was always short of breath. If he did anything strenuous he was jiggered. When the lads [his sons] got to be 12 or 13 they did most of the work.

Above: Tot and Charlotte Anne Dinsdale with their children l-r Thomas (John’s father and also known as ‘Tot’), Alice, Jim, Dorothy, Jack and Margaret.

Below: The kettle presented to Tot Dinsdale by High Abbotside Parish Council in recognition of his service during WW1

Pte Dinsdale fought with the 1/4th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment throughout most of the war apart from when he was recovering from being wounded, John said.

‘He joined up at Hawes when they first started recruiting – I think there were 15 or 16 of them from the Upper Dale and then they all marched to Leyburn with the rest from the Dale. He thought it was the right thing to do. He was 19 or 20.’

The 4th Yorkshires first experience of trench warfare was during the Battle of Ypres from April to June 1915. The front line battles the battalion was involved with included Armentieres from August to December 1915, the Somme from August to November 1916, Ypres October 1917 (Tot returned to the battalion in time for Passchendaele) to February 1918, and Aisne in May 1918.

At Aisne on May 27 1918 the battalion and others fighting alongside it was decimated by a massive German attack. That was the end of the 4th Yorkshires as a fighting unit during WW1. (from 4thYorkshires.com).

Like many others who returned home after the war Tot found it difficult to talk to anyone about it other than those who had also fought in the trenches. The two he turned to were Anthony and Jack Fawcett, his brothers-in-law, from High Abbotside.

John said: ‘They would go into the far room and shut the door. I’m pretty certain they were talking about the war but as soon as anyone went in they shu7t up. They never talked to us about it. But granddad did talk to my Uncle Ernie – his son-in-law.’ (Ernest Metcalfe)

Anthony ‘Ant’ Fawcett was given a small book of Common Prayer and Hymns Ancient and Modern by his sister Annie (later Mrs Pratt) in February 1914 and he carried that with him throughout the war. From the state of the pages it is obvious that he read some of the hymns a lot such as No230. (See Penny Barker’s address in Remembrance Service at Aysgarth Church)

Family photo courtesy John Dinsdale. Other photos by Pip Pointon.

Pte Thomas Spence

Pte Thomas Spence of Walden and West Burton was one of those who did come home from WW1 but then died during the flu epidemic. ‘He was gassed and later got the flu. He died at home,’ said his grand-daughter, Frances Sledge of Leyburn.

For his wife, Fanny, and daughter, Grace Kathleen, his death meant that they had to leave their home in West Burton. Fanny took her daughter back to her family in Wharfedale. They either lived with Fanny’s parents (William and  Deborah Gill) at the post office in Buckden or they stayed with her aunt and uncle at Fold House Farm in Kettlewell.

It was to those addresses that his medals (the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and the 1914-1915 Star) were sent and the family carefully stored them in the boxes and envelopes in which they came.

Tom was born at Hargill Haw Farm in Walden where his father, John farmed. He had four siblings: Margaret, Grace, Sarah and John. In the 1911 census he was described as a 15-years-old draper’s apprentice.  By 1915 he had enlisted with the 4th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards).

On April 1 1915 he wrote to his mother, Margaret Spence,  from Newcastle-on-Tyne: “Dear Ma, I arrived safe and sound, but I got a very pleasant surprise, we are of (sic) across before the 18th of this month. Dont fret or worry I shall be alright…. Tell uncle Kit I am of but dont forget I shall come safely back again. I had a very enjoyable time at Northallerton…. Tell Mr Roulden I shall write to him soon now, to let the School children know how we get on. … I am in the Pink of health. I am  your loving son Tom. Remembrance to all at Burton.”

His battalion had moved from its home base at Northallerton and, just as Tom said, was sent to France on April 18, and straight into battle in the Ypres sector. The regiment saw action at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 which was probably  when he was gassed. He received his honourable discharge certificate and silver badge after being in hospital in August 1916.

He married Fanny Gill at Skipton registry office in August 1918 but died on April 18 1819 aged 23. He was buried in Aysgarth churchyard four months before his daughter was born.  In the 1911 census her grandmother, Deborah, then 57-years-old, was described as being in charge of the post office at Buckden.  Deborah’s husband was then 71-years-old.

“He was a shoemaker. He had a long beard and lived until he was in his nineties,” said Mrs Sledge. Below: William Gill with his daughter, Fanny Spence, and grand daughter.

Major Donald Herbert Rose MC and Sgt Ernest Moore

The Festival of Remembrance at St Andrew’s Church, Aysgarth, in November 2018 provided an opportunity for Hugh Rose of Leyburn and Catrina Cloughton of Thornton Rust to remember their father: Major Donald Herbert Rose MC (above).

Major Rose was born in 1885 in Lincolnshire, went to what was then Ceylon in 1910 and became a tea and rubber planter. He joined the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps (CPRC) in 1911. Lance Corporal (Rifleman) Rose was among the 237 from the Corps who were sent to Egypt in October 1914. They initially helped to defend the Suez Canal against Ottoman Turkish attack.

In December that year they joined the Wellington Battalion of the newly formed Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac). They made such a good impression that many were sent for officer training. Rose did his in Egypt with the 1/6 Essex Regiment. In August 1915 the regiment was sent to Suvla Bay, Gallipoli. Those who survived were evacuated in December 1915, first to guard the Suez Canal and then to fight the Turkish Army through Egypt into Gaza.

Major Rose commanded the company which was the first to enter Gaza City. From there they went to Damascus where he and his company marched into the city 200 yards behind General Allenby and Lawrence of Arabia. He finished in Baghdad and returned to Ceylon in 1919.

He remained there until the early 1950s by which time he was married. On returning to England they finally settled in Thornton Rust when his wife Joan became the assistant matron at what was then a sanatorium at Thornton Lodge.  He died in 1963.

“Trina” Cloughton also shared the sad love story of her maternal great uncle Sgt Ernest Moore.

He grew up in Tudhoe Colliery in Co Durham, the only son of John and Alice Moore. John was from a mining family but attended evening classes after he left school when he was 14. He worked his way up to becoming a mine’s inspector.  His job included making sure there was no gas in the mines said Trina.

When Ernest joined the Durham Pals (18th Battalion Durham Light Infantry) at Craken Hall on 29 December 1914 he was 20 years and 10 months old and listed his occupation as “shop assistant”.

After training the Durham Pals were sent to Egypt late in 1915 to defend the Suez Canal. They were then moved to France in March 1916 for the “Big Push”. Sgt Moore survived the Battle of the Somme but was killed in action on 19 May 1918. He was buried at Caestre Military Cemetery in France.

He had hoped to return and marry his girlfriend and had given her a bracelet as an “engagement” present before he went overseas.

Mrs Cloughton said: “He was ‘engaged’ to one of my grandma’s sisters, Emma Musgrave. He and Aunty Emma loved poetry. He sent her a book of poems each Christmas. They are suede covered and wouldn’t have been cheap.”

Emma cut out the “In Memoriam” notice in the local newspaper and stuck it on a page in one of those books. The notice read: “Roll of Honour. MOORE. – In cherished memory of Sgt. E. Moore (Durham Pals), beloved son of Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Moore, Tudhoe Colliery, who fell in France May 19th, 1918. Safe in our Father’s home until the day breaks and the shadows flee away.”

And the poem on that page was God’s Acre:

I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls

  The burial-ground God’s Acre….

God’s-Acre! Yes, that blessed name imparts

  Comfort to those who in the grave have sown

The seed that they had garnered in their hearts,

  Their bread of life, alas! no more their own….

Below: It is likely that Sgt Moore is the man with a cigarette standing at the back with his arm resting on a friend’s back. He does look older and battle weary compared to that above which was probably taken before he left England for the Western Front.

Aysgarth Parish and WWI

In December 1918 the vicar of Aysgarth, the Rev William K Wyley wrote in the parish letter: “I wonder if, in the years to come, November 11 will overshadow the 5th as a day greatly to be remembered.”

He was, however, very aware that dalesfolk were in the midst of the great Spanish Flu epidemic and that the WW1 peace agreement had not yet been signed.

Two soldiers, L/Cpl John Wood of Carperby and Driver William Metcalfe of Aysgarth, were given compassionate leave when their wives became ill with the flu. Both women died, Eleanor Metcalfe (22) before her husband got home.

Soldiers began to be demobbed in early 1919 and this led to Mr Wyley publishing an interesting ‘advert’ in the parish magazine: “The Employment Exchange at Northallerton has asked me to state that it has on its Registers women discharged from War Service and suitable for several classes of employment.”

It was acknowledged that women had an important part to play in reconstruction. The role that women had played during the Great War was recognised when limited suffrage was granted to them in 1918.

In October 1918 Mr Wyley commented: “We are approaching the time when, as a nation, we shall realize more fully what a tremendous change the war has made in the social, industrial and religious life of England.”

In that letter he reminded everyone about the great need of economy in the use of oil and especially coal. “I know that very many of us are reducing our fires to a very low minimum, and where wood fuel is available I am sure we shall be careful to ‘do our bit’ in this respect for our country.” He had regularly emphasised the need for food economy and, in June 1917, explained why (below).

WW1 had a massive impact upon the lives of everyone and not just because of the ravenous war machine in France and Belgium. The parish magazines not only listed those who had enlisted – but also those who were killed.

When war first broke out local people didn’t know how to respond. Initially events were cancelled but it didn’t take long for people to realise that they could use the church’s flower festivals and other celebrations to raise money for the War Working Parties or to be sent direct to hospitals caring for the war wounded. Concerts, jumble sales and tea parties were also held.

In May 1915 there was a bold headline: “200,000 Eggs wanted weekly for the wounded.” The National Egg Collection had been launched with the request that each household should send one each week to help the recovery of wounded soldiers. The West Burton and District Scout Troop took on the job in the parish and by late November had collected 6,144 eggs. These were sent to military hospitals in France and Malta and some to wounded soldiers at Leeds Infirmary.

Right: published in the Aysgarth section of The Upper Dales Parish Magazine in December 1917

Children helped with collecting sphagnum moss for dressing wounds, made items of clothing and, in November 1917, were encouraged to collect horse chestnuts for munitions and also waste paper. Mr Wyley reported that within two months he received half hundredweight of horse chestnuts and four hundredweight of waste paper.

The times of services had to be adjusted when lighting restrictions were introduced in February 1916 following air raids by Zeppelins. And the shortage of manpower was beginning to have an effect. In July 1918 Mr Wyley wrote: “May haytime be favourable and health and strength sufficient to tide over the shortage of labour.”

Conscription was introduced in January 1916 and in July 1917 he wrote: “I am glad to say that the local Tribunal has granted exemption to our Sexton on condition that he is released as far as possible for agricultural and other work of National importance.

The signing of the Peace Treaty in July 1919 led to celebrations throughout the country and the Empire. But in Wensleydale the hay harvest had to come first. Mr Wyley commented: “I hope that when all the hay has been led each village… will do something to mark our rejoicing over the Peace and our gratitude to the men who won the possibility of it.”

This has been edited from the Aysgarth sections of the  Upper Wensleydale Parish Magazines 1914-1918. Aysgarth parish consists of Aysgarth, Carperby, Bishopdale, Thoralby, Thornton Rust and West Burton.

Below: The peace celebrations in 1919 at The Rookery in Bishopdale  (courtesy DCM)  The Rookery no longer exists.

For more stories see the WWI section of the Thoralby Through Time website.

Col John William Lodge

The biggest military funeral at Aysgarth church during WW1 was that for Col John William Lodge with the band of his regiment and the detachments of two battalions being present. The firing party fired volleys over his grave and buglers sounded the Last Post. He was 60-years-old when, on leave at his home at The Rookery in Bishopdale, he died on 23 August 1917, after a short illness.

He had served in the Boer War and from 1906-1912 had commanded the 3rd Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment. At the outbreak of the 1st World War he had immediately returned to the battalion as a major and in May 1916 was appointed to the command of a Garrison Battalion. (Information and photo courtesy Wensleydale Remembered)

Pte John Percival

There wasn’t a military funeral for Pte John Percival but there is a military gravestone. He was 21-years-old when he died and was buried on 12 April 1918.

This obituary was published about him:

“He enlisted when he was 19, and after being trained at Rugeley Camp, went to France in April 1916, and was through the battle of the Somme, being badly wounded in the hand in September 1916. He was sent back to England for treatment, and made a sufficient recovery to enable him to return to service.

“As he was a competent motor driver he was transferred by the authorities from the Yorkshire Regiment to the Motor Transport, Army Service Corps, in June 1917. In this work he did good service until October last, when he was badly gassed, and was seriously ill. He returned to England, and was in the 1st London General Hospital, Camberwell, until November 27th, when he was officially discharged from the Army as physically unfit for further service.

“A relative went to London to bring him home. He was very weak, and while crossing London an air raid was proceeding, and the journey was several times interrupted. Arrived at Aysgarth he was very happy to see his home and family, and seemed to revive for a while, but the gas had seriously damaged his lungs and recovery was seen to be impossible.

“Though relatives and friends nursed him tenderly day and night there was no progress towards health. The funeral was largely attended by sympathising friends, and some beautiful wreaths and affectionate messages were sent.”

by Juliet Barker

The harvest was well and truly celebrated at St Andrew’s! We gave thanks to God for the beauty of our natural world and for the social ties that bring us together as friends and neighbours in a fantastic Flower Festival.

Our flower arrangers are renowned for their creativity, skill and imagination but they excelled themselves in their displays celebrating some of the local organisations in our parish. Who knew there was so much going on in  our villages? (To see more pictures click on the photo)

A children’s session of fun and games attracted a low turnout but, led by a roller-skating scarecrow (Steve Hamilton), we all had huge fun rescuing the animals in Noah’s ark, passing round the potatoes and finding the harvest mice hidden in church.

In the evening we had a full house at the Falls Café for our hog-roast and ceilidh, with music provided by the inimitable Roosters Band. It was a great joy to see so many young people, including children, join in the dancing with great enthusiasm – and then come to church the next morning to round off our celebrations with a Harvest Thanksgiving Service, led by Rev Kathy Couchman. Her moving and memorable sermon struck a chord with many of us and was much discussed afterwards.

Thank you everyone who gave their time, energy, skills and money to make our Harvest Celebrations such a success. We raised over £800 and renewed our fellowship with members of the parish – and beyond!

We will continue to collect tinned and dried food for Caring For Life until the end of October: a list of suggested items and a box for offerings can be found at the back of the church.

Photo: one mouse escaped and almost came to a sticky end on part of the Jervaulx Screen! or was an adult just playing after all the children  had gone?

Above after the service on April 7 2019 : Front Row l-r – Richard and Ann Wilkinson, Jean Cockburn and Rona Trowell. Back row – Anne Moore, Martin and Pauline Beckett and Frank Trowell.

Aysgarth Methodist chapel was full on Sunday April 7 for its final service before its official closure on April 22 2019.

The few remaining Methodist chapels in mid and upper Wensleydale were represented as well as St Andrew’s Church, Aysgarth, and the local community.

The service was led by Dr Richard Wilkinson who for many years was a local Methodist lay preacher as well as being the organist at St Andrew’s Church.

He spoke of his own sadness about the closure of the chapel which, he said, had been a wonderful centre for the village. He reflected on the history of the chapel and the local man to whom it has been a memorial – the Rev Sylvester Whitehead who served for ten years as a missionary in China and who, in 1904 became the President of the Wesleyan Conference.

The present chapel was built by local craftsmen in 1900. It replaced a cottage on the site which had been used for services since 1766.

Dr Wilkinson remembered those who had ministered there and recalled the annual nativity plays in which the village children participated. “These were a wonderful experience for all of us, led by Jean Cockburn and Rona Trowell,” he said.

Mrs Cockburn started the nativity plays in 1966 four years after taking over the chapel’s Sunday School. For 20 years or more she has assisted Rona Trowell with the nativity plays and all age worship services.

“I ‘m very grateful that I’ve had over 90 years of being a chapel member,” said 92-years-old Mrs Cockburn as she shared some of her memories (see below). She is one of the five remaining members of Aysgarth chapel who made the decision to close it.

Another was Pauline Becket who told the congregration: : “We have reached the end of a long road and we have to look for a new direction.”

She sang a solo at the beginning of the service, and there were two duets by Emma Cloughton and Colin Bailey. The organist was Diane Hartley.

After the service Mrs Cockburn was presented with a bouquet of flowers by Mary Hugill as a thank you for all she had done at the chapel for so many years.

Most of the congregation remained in the chapel afterwards for the buffet tea.

Jean’s reflections:

When Richard asked me if I would say a few words about our chapel my first thought was “No Way” – but I thought of the years I’d asked him to play [the organ] and he never refused so I had second thoughts and decided I just couldn’t refuse.

I seem to have been involved with chapel all my life, sitting with Mam firstly and then in the choir, with Dad [Cecil Riggs] playing the organ.  Occasionally Mam allowed me to take my panama hat off and put it on the window ledge, but in the 1930s not wearing a hat would have been frowned on. Everyone wore their Sunday best for Chapel, and trousers for women wouldn’t have been acceptable at all.

The heating for the Chapel was a coal boiler which Dad had to go every Sunday morning whatever the weather down the steps into the cellar to light the boiler.

Each year members and friends went round Christmas singing, always walking – Hestholme where the Vicars lived then the houses up to Aysgarth, cups of tea and biscuits at a few of them. Then the next night finish Aysgarth and Thornton Rust where Hannah at Low Gill had a lovely spread for us.

For me Christmas singing was the highlight of Christmas. It stopped a lot of years ago, maybe because everyone got older, and maybe because we’d not got Dad with his tuning fork.

Some verses from the poem Jean wrote several years ago about her memories of Aysgarth Chapel:

I learnt pretty early that Sundays were Chapel,
No playing games for me,
It was Sunday School, Chapel then Chapel again
And in the middle up to my Aunty’s for tea.

The Aldersons, Sayers, Thompsons, Pedleys
All were sat in the centre
With Grandma Riggs on the very front seat
To hear the preacher the better

Ben, Jim & Alice took Sunday School each week,
For the boys and girls of Aysgarth who were not always meek.
The boys carved names on Chapel pews and led old Jim a dance.
But faithful soul that old Jim was, he didn’t stand a chance.

The Sunday School trip was a must each year
To Redcar, the sands and the sea,
Paddling and building sand castles,
Then into a cafe for tea.

The old ones now have passed away
But still our Chapel remained
With a host of happy memories
Of many happy days.

and she has now added this final verse –
But now our Chapel’s closing,
And we all feel very sad
But we’ll trust God for the future
And thank Him for all the years that we’ve  had.

Jean and the last Nativity at the chapel

Above: Jean Cockburn (in the foreground) and Rona Trowell with the children who participated in the Aysgarth Chapel Nativity this year.

Christmas won’t be quite the same in  Aysgarth without its annual children’s nativity at the Methodist Chapel. With the chapel due for closure in 2019 the last nativity was held  on Sunday December 9.

A few days later I sat with Jean  Cockburn (92) as she searched both her father’s diaries and her own to pinpoint exactly when she started organising this very special community event.

Finally we found her notes in November and December 1966 about the rehearsals for the first nativity play in the chapel. By then she had already been running the Sunday School for four years.

“I used to go to Kendal to buy suitable plays as there was a nice little religious bookshop there,” she told me.

It was pointed out at this year’s nativity that the parents of several of the children taking part had also previously participated in the plays – and some of the grandparents too.

For the past 25 years Rona Trowell has helped to organise the chapel’s Nativity event. Both she and Jean were thanked by Frank Trowell.

In recent years Rona and Jean have introduced some very creative changes to the nativity story adapting it to the abilities of the children taking part. This year’s was a very good example with the older children (Charlotte, Thomasina, Abigail and George) providing the narration and impressing everyone with their singing.

The younger children (Sebastian, Douglas, Aidan, Lily-Anne, Jacob and Will) had great fun enacting the arrival of the nativity characters. The congregation also thoroughly enjoyed the  instrumental solos by Amy and Sophie.

Andrew Souter accompanied the carol singing on the organ. The collection of £160 was shared between the charities Action for Children and Children in Need.

In the 1950s Frank Knowles was Wensleydale’s archetypal news photographer – and until Sunday February 17 60 of his magnificent black and white photographs are on show at Tennants Garden Rooms in Leyburn. These include his favourite news picture – the one he took of the Queen Mother when her train stopped at Harrogate Station (left)

He was working for the Ackrill Group of newspapers based in Harrogate and had gone there to process the glass slides which were then used as negatives. He was asked to go to the station and try and get a photo of the Queen Mother.

“Everything was cordoned off. There wasn’t a soul on the platform but I got on alright. It was a long train and I had to go right down the platform. Eventually I found the Queen Mother. She was sat at the window, had her glasses on, her ledger open and was writing in it.

“I bowed my head to be respectful and I pointed down at the camera. She [signalled to me] to wait a minute and I thought ‘Oh, all the security people are going to come and catch me.’ She just took off her glasses, put them to one side, closed the ledger and she posed. And I took that picture. I was absolutely amazed. I thought how nice it was of her. She could so easily have waved me out of it. I was quite prepared that if she did tell me to be off I would have done so without taking a picture. I think it’s a good picture.”

Frank was 15 when he left Harrogate Grammar School and joined the Ministry of Aircraft Photographic Laboratory in Harrogate in 1943. His job entailed making 8×6 inch contact prints from whole plate glass negatives. He explained: “Many of these were photographs of new and secret aeroplanes and were subject to Official Secrets Regulations.

“When the Ministry of Aircraft moved back to London I started as a printer with the Ackrill Group.” He did his two years National Service in the Army during when he continued his interest in photography. He even took the official photos of his Company Commander, Officers and NCOs for recording purposes.

THE LIFE OF RILEY

“When I returned [to the Ackrill Group] from National Service, I started using a press camera in earnest in both Harrogate and Thirsk. Soon after this I was asked to cover the Wensleydale area. It was the life of Riley. I cannot think of any better job in the world – to be given a camera and told to go up into the beautiful Yorkshire Dales and record the people and events. I had a completely free rein as long as I sent in a supply of pictures each week.”

Those provide a remarkable glimpse into the life and times of the dale which became his home. They include house fires, train crashes, local gymkhanas and dramatic winter weather.

“Perhaps the most memorable and scary event was being with a bomb disposal team on the moors and actually touching a live 100lb German bomb prior to it being detonated,” he commented.

The bomb disposal unit from Portsmouth had been sent to Wether Fell near Hawes in 1957 to deal with the bomb. The unit took five weeks to reach it but Frank had only a fraction of a second to photograph the 200ft-high plume of debris when it exploded.

It was even harder for him to estimate the right moment to take a photograph when one of the largest prepared explosions in England took place in Redmire Quarry in 1952. His photograph showed the rock face bulging outwards due to the impact of the 3,750lbs of explosives when they were detonated inside a tunnel.

“I had to follow a lot of ambulances to get one good story,” he told me. One ambulance took him to the Blea Moor tunnel near Ribblehead station where, in April 1952, the morning express from Glasgow to London had crashed. He was the first pressman at the scene and took some moving photographs of not only the crash, complete with discarded pram, but also of a mother and her baby waiting with other slightly injured passengers for transport.

Frank didn’t chase fire engines. Instead he often beat Leyburn’s retained firemen to a fire.

“The firemen then had only basic equipment and no radio pagers,” he said. “They had to rely on the siren and if they were working out of town they couldn’t hear it. The fire engines were not much better than Green Goddesses. When I heard the siren I went to the fire station to find out what sort of fire it was. The fire engine was quite ponderous and could not go as fast as my van.”

THE FIREMAN’S ASSISTANT

One day only two turned up at the fire station, a fireman and himself! They loaded a couple of extinguishers into his press van and went to a house in Leyburn where a settee was smouldering. “The fireman and I carried it out into the garden and he put the fire out.” Not surprisingly Frank has no photographs of that fire scene.

But he did get others such as in Bedale when a car burst into flames behind Mr Brears’ ironmongery shop. The man who had been working on the car was in flames as he ran for help. Frank arrived in time to photograph people using new buckets from the ironmongery as they helped quench the flames.

“I was also involved in life and death situations,” he said. “On one occasion I helped a farmer to deliver a calf with a difficult birth. I pulled on a rope around the calf’s legs. Another time I took some photos of a fire where an old gentleman died. The photos were used by the police at the inquest – obviously they were not published.

“I was fortunate that I had a good relationship with the police. On one occasion I provided transport to take an officer on to the moor to try and rescue a swan [which had fallen] down a mineshaft. Unfortunately it had to be shot as no one could get near enough to rescue it.“

The police once asked me to keep an eye out for two young boys who were missing from home in Sunderland. When returning to Leyburn from Hawes Sports, I saw two youngsters near Bainbridge. I returned to Hawes, picked up a police officer and we caught up with the boys who turned out to be the missing pair. They had been camping near the river. I looked after one while the officer took to the other boy to their camp to collect clothes etc. I received a letter of thanks from the grateful parents.”

JUST ONE CHANCE

Photographing action shots was not easy in the days when photographers had to use heavy quarter-plate glass slides as negatives. “With a modern camera you can keep your finger on the trigger! I had only one chance – I either got it or I didn’t. You didn’t have a second chance because you had to change slides. It was quite a performance between one shot and another. I could change a glass slide in 10 seconds. You had to keep careful track of which ones were unused and which ones were used. Otherwise you could spoil the ones you had already taken.”

“With that camera I had to focus manually. It had what you call a focal-plane shutter. You had to wind a nob on the side and a shutter came down and a blind with a slot in it. You adjusted that slot as to how little or how much exposure you wanted to give it. You didn’t quite know what you were doing but you just knew by experience to put it at an eighth of an inch wide or an inch wide if it was bad light. It was quite a skill really.”

Photographing gymkhanas was a particularly difficult job. He had to decide, before a horse jumped a fence, if the rider was likely to come a cropper or not. If he aimed at photographing the final part of the jump it was possible he wouldn’t get an interesting photo at all. He did capture the moment at Bellerby one year when a competitor’s horse “carried all before him” and destroyed a jump.

In addition to carrying the large camera and a box of glass slides he also had to take a heavy pack to recharge his flash unit.“It was terrible when you were going off to take snow pictures. You had this great weight on your shoulder,” he said.

He was always expected to cover bad weather stories, however dangerous. In December 1952 he heard about a multiple pile-up outside Leyburn. As he reached the scene his own van skidded on the black ice and was damaged.

“It was happening so fast no one could run up the hill to warn people. You had to keep leaping out of the way. It was like one of those funny films,” he said. In all 11 vehicles were involved including two large Army trucks and the seven-ton army recovery lorry sent to rescue them. Above: Frank and his camera in the 1950s.

In February 1956 he joined a post woman, Marion Bowes, from Ulshaw Bridge, to photograph her trying to deliver letters during a four-day snow storm. Together they battled their way up to Sowden Beck farm where they found Mr and Mrs Banks feeding their sheep. Marion had just one letter to deliver and when Mrs Banks opened it she commented: “You needn’t have brought that.” It was a notice of a rent increase!

Frank then had to take his slides to Harrogate for developing. “I would fight my way out of the dales and when I got to Harrogate there wasn’t a flick of snow. If I didn’t have the photographs with me they would not have believed me.”

In 1953 he married Betty Wray whose father and uncle ran the ironmongery business in the centre of Leyburn. He joined the family business in 1960 and continued to manage it, even after it was taken over by new owners, until he retired in 2004.

He will be 90-years-old on January 31 but is as determined as ever to continue taking good photographs. He uses what he describes as a glorified digital camera which has a zoom lens but no interchangeable lenses. “It’s a lot lighter,” he said with a chuckle.

Above: Frank pointing out the difference between the glass slides he used in the 1950s and, on the right, a modern SD card on which over a thousand photos can be stored. Photo by Gilly Knowles.

He also showed me his excellent action photo of cyclists racing towards Leyburn during the Tour de France in 2014.

“Even today it depends on what the photographer wants and how he is going to get it,” he commented. Both he and his daughter, Gilly, took pairs of steps with them so that they could be above the crowd to take photos of the Tour de France.

A FAMILY TRADITION

Photography has become a family tradition for the Knowles. Frank explained: “One hundred years ago my mother was employed as a photographic finisher at Davey’s, a well-known Harrogate photographer in James Street.

“My son, Andrew, was the official photographer and line artist for North Yorkshire County Council. His son, Ben, is a professional photographer and his daughter, Abi, is also an accomplished photographer. Gilly continues the theme by embarking on a degree course in photography. Four generations working with photography. I think we may have photography in the blood!”

Gilly added that, as a family, they produce a calendar every year. The photographs for these are contributed not just by Frank, Gilly and Andrew but also by Ben and Abi.

It was Gilly who introduced Frank to Leyburn Band when it was re-started in 2003. She plays 2nd horn – while Frank takes the photographs. “I must have two to three hundred pictures of the band,” Frank said.

One of the regular venues has been Tennants Garden Rooms. He described how Rodney Tennant (chairman of Tennants Auctioneers) had allowed him to photograph the band from anywhere he wanted. And it was Rodney who encouraged Frank to hold an exhibition there of his 1950’s press photos.

The curator at the Garden Rooms, Harriet Hunter Smart, worked with Frank to organise it. Together they chose 60 out of the 200 that he and Gilly have made digital copies of. One of those photos is of a crowd at Middleham and in the front is Rodney in school uniform.

Harriet was keen to have photos for which there were stories. “It was quite a job writing full captions,” commented Frank.

The exhibition includes the photo he couldn’t take – that of his own wedding.

“I must have taken over 1,000 wedding photos over that ten years,” said Frank. Some people still remind him that he took their wedding photo.

Gilly is looking forward to hearing peoples’ comments at the exhibition. Those who took the opportunity to visit on January 18 so as to meet Frank were very impressed.

ARC News Service: An application to deepen Swinden Quarry received unanimous approval at the meeting of the  Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority ’s planning committee on Tuesday December 11.

Tarmac applied to deepen the quarry by a further 50m by removing an additional 11.3 million tons of limestone. This will extend the life of the quarry from 2030 to 2039. Although restoration work would  be completed by 2041 the 144m deep lake would take 27 years to fill once pumping stopped, the committee was told. 

Tarmac’s  area director, Stephen Barker, told the committee that the appearance of the site would not be altered. He said Tarmac was determined to remain a good neighbour an stated: “We can’t deny that quarrying has an impact upon the local community but we believe much of that impact is positive.”

They had, he said, consulted extensively with the community over a two year period and made some significant changes and commitments in response to the feedback they had received.

He explained that they planned to expand the rail operations and reduce the amount of road haulage.  The company would continue to be involved with bio diversity and environmental projects in Upper Wharfedale as well as supporting community projects, he said and added:

“Early in the consultation it was made apparent to us that the potential impact to the ground water and the springs and wells that supply drinking water was a concern. We have agreed to pay Yorkshire Water to install mains water to Cracoe village and to outlying properties [including Rylstone]  following the granting of planning permission.”

One of the conditions of the planning permission is that the company will sign a legal agreement which includes funding mains water supply to local residents and the reduction in road transport from 800,000 tons in 2019 to 25,000 tons a year between 2030 and 2039.

Also included is the extension of the existing provisions for independent arbitration if there are any disputes over water supply, subsidence or blasting vibration. Adequate insurance cover will be provided to cover any remedial works resulting from any adverse impacts of quarrying.

These conditions cover many of the issues raised by Cracoe Parish Meeting. The parish meeting did, however, feel that the company’s hydrology and hydrogeology report was flawed and there were insufficient monitoring wells. A Cracoe resident Dr Richard Muir explained to the planning committee why there were concerns that the lake could become alkaline.

The parish meeting had welcomed the undertaking that there would be no heavy traffic from the quarry on Saturdays and had also asked that HGV transport should not start  until 7.30am. The hours of haulage approved the the planning committee, however, were from 6.30am to 5pm Monday to Fridays.

David Parrish, the Authority’s Minerals Officer, told the committee: “There are clearly economic benefits by extending the life of Swinden Quarry – by the direct and indirect employment and to the local economy.”

North Yorkshire County councillor Richard Welch pointed out that each day everyone depends on quarried products both within and outside our homes. He remembered the days when residents packed liaison meetings because they were so concerned about issues at the quarry. Now there was often no need to organise such meetings.

This supported Mr Barker’s statement that Tarmac took its obligations to the community seriously. Mr Barker said: “We recognise that some people object to the concept of quarrying in the National Park but there is a clear local and regional need for the materials we produce. We believe we have designed a scheme that protects the local landscape, secures local jobs and minimises our environment impact.”

The new national energy efficiency regulations for rented property will have a major impact upon Dales’ communities Aysgarth and District Parish Council was told at its July meeting.

The chairman, Cllr John Dinsdale, reported that when he contacted local estate agents he learnt that 14 properties which had previously been rented had now been sold, some probably for second homes.

“We can’t lose so many rented properties,” he said.

He had invited Bernard Spence to describe what it had been like trying to bring a rented property up to the required standard so as to obtain an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of at least band E.

Mr Spence explained that the new regulations had come into force in April this year and an estate agent had informed him that his property in Aysgarth (above) could not be advertised for let until it had been upgraded. Like many properties in the Dales this is an old stone-built house and so is especially difficult to upgrade to modern standards.

He did manage to upgrade it sufficiently but told the councillors:“Higher required EPC changes planned in the future will make it difficult for me to continue to let the property without increases in rent.”

District councillor Yvonne Peacock said she would discuss the issue with the legal department at Richmondshire District Council. “We need to keep young people living and working in the Dales,” she said. The issue will also be brought to the attention of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority by District councillor Caroline Thornton-Berry.

Reading Room. – The council was informed that at an extraordinary meeting of Thoralby Parish on June 18 it had been decided that a grant of £10,500 should be made from the Thoralby Moss account towards the cost of repairing the village Reading Room.

Cllr Brian McGregor also reported that at a Thoralby Parish site meeting it had been agreed that it was not feasible to create a car parking area in Low Green Lane as there was insufficient ground area.

Westholme. – The council received the following response from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority concerning the trees that had been felled at Aysgarth Luxury Lodge Holidays (previously Westholme Caravan Park):“After checking that this isn’t a conservation area and that there are no TPOS in force, the matter [was referred] to our Senior Trees and Woodlands Officer who referred onwards to the Forestry Commission given the amount of felled wood.

“Apparently, it is permissible to fell five cubic metres per quarter and the FC feel that no offence has been committed. The FC will, however, contact park management to give guidance on tree felling requirements, although it may be that the work is now complete. There is no breach of planning with respect to tree felling.”

Thoralby – Cllr McGregor told the meeting that Low Green Bridge needed a hand rail and netting or chicken wire as its surface was slippery. North Yorkshire County Council’s highways department reported that following an inspection it did not consider that the railway sleeper-type bridge needed to be replaced at present.

Cllr McGregor reported that the new tarmac on the road from Aysgarth Garage to Thoralby was 50 yards short of Tom Gill bridge where the road surface most needed to be repaired.

Aysgarth. – The highways department had informed the council that the speed limit sign on the west side of Aysgarth was past its sell by date and needed to be replaced. A new vehicle activated sign will be installed during the present financial year.

The clerk will ask the highways department if it will install bollards outside Flatlands or if this could be done by a resident. The council agreed that bollards are needed to stop cars being parked on the grass verge.

The highways department will also be informed about the bushes which are overhanging Dyke Hollins Lane near the Doctors’ Surgery as these were scratching cars.

The chairman, Cllr John Dinsdale, was thanked for repairing and varnishing benches. He said that the bench by the bus shelter in Aysgarth was beyond repair and so the Coronation plaque would be moved to another one.

Next meeting. – will be in Aysgarth Institute at 7.30pm on Thursday September 13.

John Warren and his wife Judith on their 60th wedding anniversary

Architect John Cecil Turnbull Warren (86) was as happy using his remarkable skills and insights for the refurbishment of West Burton CofE School as he was restoring the Royal Crescent in Bath, advising on the conservation of the Al Gaylani Mosque in Iraq or as an UNESCO World Heritage inspector advising on the suitability of a site for the Terracotta Army in China.

John was a modest man who will be remembered for welcoming everybody to Quaker meetings at Countersett and Bainbridge, where he served as an Elder, Trustee and on the Council of the Wensleydale Friends. So it was no surprise that the Friends’ Meeting House in Bainbridge was packed for his memorial service.

He was born in Surrey, attended Collyers’Grammar School in Sussex, and won a scholarship from the National Coal Board to read Mining Engineering at what is now Newcastle University. After a year he changed to Architecture.

He divided his National Service between the RAF and working as a miner at the Rising Sun Colliery at Seaham Harbour.

“He never lost his love of the colliery experience and his admiration for the men who worked underground,” his daughter, Rebecca Brown said.

In later years he captured his experiences in an exceptional set of paintings of miners at work which were exhibited at Fairfield Mill near Sedbergh in 2012. As an artist using pen and ink, watercolour and oils his work was exhibited at the Royal Academy Exhibitions on several occasions.

He married Judith Kershaw in 1957 and, after a period travelling in Turkey studying Ottoman architecture, he set up his own architectural practice (the Architectural and Planning Partnership) in Horsham, West Sussex. Over the years the practice won numerous awards, expanded to having offices from Brighton and London to Baghdad and Mumbai and, during the 1980s, employed about 120 people.

In the 1960s and 1970s, when most Local Authorities were destroying historic architecture, he was consistently involved in the conservation of historic buildings and took this expertise to the Middle East, where he both designed new buildings and conserved historic houses and mosques.

He made annual explorations of remote and inaccessible desert regions in the Middle East and India recording and researching ancient churches and mosque, some of which have now been destroyed or damaged beyond recovery.

Back in England he was also involved in preserving the vernacular buildings of Sussex and he became the founding architect of the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum at Singleton. He was fundamental to its development as one of the most important museums of vernacular architecture. One of the books he wrote was about such vernacular buildings.

This led to a close friendship with surrealist artist Edward James on whose land the museum was site. He helped James to transform his house at West Dean into a college of teaching and conservation of the fine arts which it remains today.

In the 1970s John was the joint founder of the Amberley Chalkpits Industrial History Museum in West Sussex (now the Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre). He was the chairman of the trustees in the 1980s and 1990s.

His architectural and conservation advisory roles throughout the 1980s to the 2000s included with UNESCO, English Heritage, the Built Fabric Advisory Committee for Chichester Cathedral and Nominator for the Aga Khan Awards. He was also a Fellow of the Centre for Conservation Studies at the University of York, lectured at several British universities and supervised and examined a number of PhD theses in the field of historic buildings.

When he retired to Wensleydale in the late 1990s he continued to work on architectural projects whilst also lecturing, writing and painting. He undertook several projects in Wensleydale including the internal modernisation of West Burton CofE School and advising on the conservation of Nappa Hall near Askrigg.

He was a Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and a Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute, of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Asiatic Society.

John leaves his wife, his two children, Philip and Rebecca and their spouses, and four grandsons, Christopher, Matthew, Francis and Alex.A Wensleydale Friend said: “John is missed by so many – in Wensleydale, in Britain and throughout the world.”

Judith died on January 17 2019. She will be buried next to John in the Quaker burial ground in Bainbridge on Friday February 1 at 11am followed by a memorial meeting in the Meeting House at 11.30am.

There were refreshments afterwards in Sycamore Hall, Bainbridge, where she lived and was cared for and supported over the last year of her life.

Below: The family think this was John’s selfie, in the days before mobile phones.

The Easter Sunday service at St Andrew’s Church, Aysgarth has become a great family favourite and this year there was lots of fun for the children – and a special farewell to organist Richard Wilkinson.

He has been the organist for 20 years and many contributed to the farewell gift which was presented to him by John Foster (above – L to R, Rev Yeadon, Richard and John) .

John commented: “To be a church organist is a big commitment – much more than just playing on Sundays. Richard has brought to it an encyclopaedic knowledge of church and organ music. He has served us incredibly well.”

Members of Aysgarth Methodist chapel were at the service because Dr Wilkinson has been a local preacher in the Methodist circuit since 1987.

There were also many families because of the special Easter activities for children. They and the adults thoroughly enjoyed the Rev Penny Yeadon’s talk in which she used, with the help of some of the youngsters, Easter eggs to explain the Easter story and the importance of Christ’s resurrection. Then the children had gone into the Lady Chapel to paint hard-boiled eggs and create their own miniature gardens. Some members of the church had certainly put a lot of work into making it a fun service.

When it ended everyone accepted the Rev Yeadon’s invitation to sit and listen to Richard play the Chorale Improvisation for Organ No 65 by Siegfried Karg-Elert: Nun danket alle Gott (Now thank we all our God). He was warmly applauded – and then the children with their parents and grandparents went outside to enjoy rolling the eggs they had decorated.

Later Richard (who never accepted payment as an organist) said: “I would have very gladly paid the church for the privilege of playing at St Andrew’s because it’s a marvellous organ and they are super people there. I love playing at the services.

“It is a Victorian organ but it is, in fact, remarkably like the organs of the Bach day – astonishingly similar. So it is perfectly possible to play Bach satisfactorily on it.”

The organ was installed in 1880 by M Abbot of Leeds from a design by J M Bottomley of Middlesbrough.

Richard will be playing at a few more services at St Andrew’s before he and his wife, Ann, move to Warwickshire on June 1. Geoff Hirst is now the chief organist at St Andrew’s.

Below: Richard and Geoff chatting before the service

and a little boy concentrating on rolling an egg

On August 12 Thornton Rust – one of the smallest villages in Yorkshire –  will stage its 35th country show. It might even be the smallest country show in Yorkshire, or even England.

There are always memorable floral arrangements (especially the miniatures); fascinating entries in the children’s and crafts sections; a mouth- watering display of baked cakes, flans, breads and preserves; and the produce from various gardens.

The show was started by Ron Jones and his wife, Chris. They got the idea from Rufforth where they lived before moving to Thornton Rust and Ron saw the show as a way of drawing the community together.

(Above) The late Chris Jones studying the arts and crafts exhibits in 2008

The potato competition, and the spud raising ceremony that preceded it, hasn’t been held for several years but they still have one for the longest stalk of rhubarb.

The prize money hasn’t changed since the show started in 1983: 20p for coming first in a class; 15p for being second; and the princely sum of 10p for coming third. But most people don’t collect their prize money. Instead it is left in the kitty.In 2008 the proceeds of the show, about £500, went  towards the cost of replacing the roof of the village institute. There are trophies, however, for those gaining the highest number of points in various categories.

The first trophies were presented in 1986, including that from Fred Thwaites for the resident obtaining the highest number of points overall. Below right: Fred at the 2015 show.

“It’s such a magical show” commented local artist, Roger Lofts when he and his wife visited the show in 2015

For historian and author, Juliet Barker, it was her first visit and she said: “I am absolutely amazed at the quality and quantity of what’s here. I just can’t believe that one tiny village like this has got so many talented bakers and so many talented gardeners.”

Parish councillor David Pointon, who presented the trophies this year, told everyone: “As usual it’s a magnificent display – I don’t know how it happens every year but it does.”

After the trophies have been presented the auction of produce begins, which is always a fun event. These days the auctioneer is Alwyn Spence. He took over from Tot Dinsdale in 2005. Tot died just four days after the show in 2012.

NOTE: the show is no longer being held.

Below: Tot presenting a trophy to Charlotte Mudd in 1997.

It is always encouraging when Pipspatch provides a way for people to re-connect, as happened for Graham and Mary Watts in 2016 and, in a way, for Catherine Conrad in February 2017.

In March 2016 Richie Watts, who lives in Devon,  posted this comment on the article I wrote in 2013  about Graham and Mary : “Just shown my children Finley and Matilda a picture of their great great uncle!” He explained that Graham is the brother of his grandfather, Arthur Watts.

I obtained Graham and Mary’s permission to give their telephone number to Richie and soon afterwards he sent me a photo of their family reunion. He commented: “It was great to catch up with them after so many years.”  His great uncle was also very pleased. (Above: Graham and Mary with Richie and his family)

Then, in December 2016, Alan Katanka, sent this comment concerning the same post about the Watts: “What a lovely article. Mary Watts produced a Morning Worship programme n the Leeds Belgrave Street Synagogue for Yorkshire TV (aired 1st Feb 1981) featuring my late father, Rev David Katanka, and Rabbi Dr Solomon Brown. Ever since my father’s untimely death a few years ago I have desperately been trying to find a recording of this wonderful service (I was present as a six-year-old). I was wondering if Mary would have a copy or know who would have one.”

I put him in contact with Graham and Mary and he sent them more details about that TV programme which included the name of the man who directed it – Munro Forbes. When they Googled that name they found that Munro was now in Cyprus. He is the director of the Cyprus Media School and a Sigma TV executive. The courses at the school include: stage and TV production design; media and TV; TV journalism; and shooting and editing for TV.

“When we finally got in touch with him  he said ‘you and Mary were very encouraging to me’. He was delighted to hear from us. He mailed us back in no time at all to say  he had access to the recording. He couldn’t vouch for the quality of it because it was an old VHS. He also  had a copy of the script. He managed to doctor the VHS so that he could transmit it to us.” They sent that on to Alan.

After Christmas they were in contact with another former colleague who had just had triple bypass heart surgery. He, also, was very pleased to be put in touch with Munro Forbes again.

In March 2016 I was also able to put the Watts in contact with Sue Fox who had a 90-year-old friend, Evelyn Stevenson, who wanted to renew her connection with them. She had appeared on Farmhouse Kitchen, the Yorkshire Television programme that Graham and Mary directed and produced from 1971 to 1983.

Graham died at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, on Friday June 12 – he will be greatly missed. 

Mothering Sunday flowers

Catherine Conrad, who lives on the southern Oregon coast in the United States, contacted me via Pipspatch in February 2017 because she wanted flowers delivered to the grave of Betty Hey (1928-1981) in Aysgarth churchyard.

I have a copy of the list of gravestones and memorials at Aysgarth which was compiled by Evelyn Abraham and the late Marian Kirby. I was, therefore, able to send details of the location to her so that she could place an order for flowers with Lamberts of Leyburn in time for Mothering Sunday.

Catherine explained: “Betty was a dear friend of my mother, who died recently. I think those days must have been the happiest of her life, from the way she went on about it during the last months. Literally, her heyday.”

The Young Archaeologists’ Club based at the Dales Countryside Museum celebrates its 10th birthday on December 3. As could be seen at the club meeting in November the young people have a lot of fun experiencing the past for themselves.

At the November meeting they worked with potters clay to try and reproduce Bronze Age beakers (above: like that created by Kathryn Lindsey) and reconstructing broken pottery. A Friend of the museum had the job, the day before, of smoothing down the edges on the shards of pottery.

In the latest edition of the Friends’ annual magazine, Now Then, Helen Schofield has an article about her ten years as a club member. She explained that their theme this year was prehistory.  “Over the years we have done many activities including  making butter, gas masks, and stonehenges. We’ve also had guest speakers who did talks on topics such as medieval archery, and Roman military techniques. Due to our outstanding leaders past and present, and their connections in the archaeological world, we have had the opportunity to participate in multiple digs. We have also been to a few festivals such as the Burnsall Viking Festival and the York Viking Festival, which were great fun.

“Overall my time with the Young Archaeologists’ Club has been a great experience and I have learnt a lot of new things from it. I would highly recommend it to anyone  interested in history…”

Below: Jane Filby showing Roland Hodgson how, during the Bronze Age, string was used to decorate pots.

My visits to the museum also gave me the opportunity to see how the new mining exhibit is developing under the road arch. As the museum  manager, Fiona Rosher, reported in Now Then, there was quite a varied team of volunteers who helped at the recent working day.

“The team, which was made  up of those who rescued the material originally, those who were involved in the [Yorkshire Dales] Mining Museum and our own  Dales Volunteers, was hugely enthusiastic and achieved everything within the day. It was wonderful to see knowledge and skills being shared in this way. We will be holding more working days as and when we are able to progress the re-assembly of the Providence Mine water wheel.”

The Yorkshire Dales Mining Museum based at Earby closed in the summer of 2015. It was agreed that the extensive collection relating to Dales mining industries between 1750 and 1910 could be moved to the Dales Countryside Museum. At present most of it is stored away in boxes. Each item will have to be checked and catalogued and new display cases will be required. The museum is seeking funding and grants so that changes can be made to the Goods Shed gallery so as to accommodate the mining display.

Below: David Carlisle, of the Earby Mines Research Group, cheerfully sharing his expertise and knowledge with Dales volunteers during the working day. From left: Mason Scarr, Stuart Armstrong, David Carlisle and Gill Robinson.

Once the track was laid the wagons, also brought from Earby, were put in place.

For more information about the Young Archaeologists’s Club and the museum why not buy a copy of this year’s Now Then. It costs only £2 and is available from the Dales Countryside Museum.

“It’s brilliant – spot on. It’s far more realistic,” Eleanor Scarr announced when she saw the way the traditional Dales Kitchen  at the Dales Countryside Museum had been re-vamped by Lottie Sweeney of Feasts of Fiction.

While the museum was closed in January Lottie  had prepared fake pies that would never age and worked on the fireplace to make it more three dimensional. She explained that she had been contracted in January 2015 to make replica havercakes (oatcakes), butter and cheese for the kitchen. At that time she had commented that she could make the whole display much more effective and so had been invited back this year.

“You want it to tell a story,” Lottie said. And she does a lot of research so that she can create authentic replicas.

Eleanor regularly gives talks in the museum’s traditional Dales Kitchen.  For many years this was done by Ann Holubecki who, like her sister José  Hopper, was a stalwart of the Friends of the Dales Countryside Museum.

Eleanor explained: “Ann was in her late 70s when she said to me ‘Now look – what’s going to happen to my kitchen when I’ve gone because there’s nobody younger who knows what they’re doing. I want somebody to look after it.’  So I helped her for quite a number of years. I learnt a lot because she could just talk from memory and I didn’t really know as much.”

Ann then encouraged Eleanor to join the Friends of the DCM committee in her place. Now Eleanor also helps in the museum’s Research Room, assists with cataloguing the books in the Mcfie-Calvert collection, and is on the editorial panel of Now Then.

The Dales Kitchen originated in the 1950s  after Ann Holubecki’s mother, Margaret Hopper, helped at an event at Bolton Castle to celebrate the Festival of Britain.  Ann wrote later: “The castle was brought back to life as in Tudor times: the year 1568, to be exact – when Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned there.

“My mother was in charge of the kitchen tableau. She was ‘Mistress of the Stillroom’ and I was the ‘First Still Room Maid’ (i.e. skivvy). It was great fun.”

After the Festival Mrs Hopper inspired others to donate items and the collection of Victorian furniture and utensils from the Dales grew. Eventually the then Lord Bolton allowed them to create a Dales Kitchen at Bolton Castle and this was formally opened in April 1965.

It was an interesting attraction for many years but by the 1980s Mrs Hopper was no longer able to care for it as well as she had. Hurricane Charlie finally put the “tin lid” on it in 1986 when the castle roof was damaged and water poured into the Dales Kitchen.

“After its 22 years at the castle, it now seemed a good idea to remove it and salvage what we could,” wrote Ann. “The kitchen display from Bolton Castle eventually became the foundation of the ‘new’ Old Dales Kitchen in our museum at Hawes. The Kitchen was re-opened at the Dales Countryside Museum in 1994.”

Her daughter, Janina Holubecki, wrote in her postscript to Ann’s account which was published in Now Then  in 2014: “For many years, until her death in 2013, Ann Holubecki continued to be closely involved with the Museum – in particular the Dales Kitchen. She had regular ‘demonstration days’: Washday, Baking, Butter and Cheese-making, Pig Killing and Preserving Time. She passed on her knowledge of those old domestic tasks to younger museum volunteers – such as Eleanor Scarr, Evelyn Abraham and Brenda Watering – so that the Dales Kitchen demonstrations could continue.”

Cleaning Day

Armed with mops, dusters and paint brushes several volunteers set to work on Friday, January 29 2016, to clean the Dales Countryside Museum at Hawes ready for it to re-open on February 1.  As a Friend of the Dales Countryside Museum I went along not just to take some photographs but to join the cleaning brigade.

Marcia Howard, David Wright. Donald Brown and Tony Dobson were in the train carriages. I didn’t recognise Marcia at first in her workman’s hat and white overalls. Like David she was repainting the doors and walls so that they were sparkling white again.

Armed with a duster I joined Sue Foster (chairman of the Friends of the Dales Countryside Museum) and Eleanor Scarr and began cleaning the exhibits in the main display rooms. It was certainly a much closer encounter with old knitting machines and weaving looms than I had ever experienced before. I couldn’t help wondering who had carved their names or initials on the old loom.

I certainly didn’t dust the mining or peat cutting exhibits – that would have robbed them of that look of authenticity!

Sue and Eleanor had a much bigger job cleaning all the items in exhibits showing the work of tinsmiths, cobblers and shoe makers in the past.

It was Sue who enlightened Eleanor, Lottie Sweeney and myself about the tar pot in the “sheep pen”.

“I used to do that job when I was a little girl,” she said. “When they were sharing the sheep by hand I had the tar brush. When they nicked the sheep by mistake we put a bit of tar on the cut. It worked – it kept the flies off and that sort of thing and they healed up very quickly.

Eleanor commented: “It’s a blue iodine spray now.”

We didn’t have to dust in the traditional Dales kitchen because Lottie was cleaning up after completing her re-vamp of that display.

Once our work was done we gathered in the small room beside the museum’s own kitchen for tea, coffee and cake.

Click here for pictures taken on January 29, 2016

After four years of searching for solutions West Witton parish council and village residents witnessed the official opening of their LN Communications microwave broadband network by Rishi Sunak MP on Friday, November 6. This is a first for Wensleydale – which like many other dales suffers from a “postcode lottery” when it comes to the provision of super fast broadband.

John Loader explained: “It was realised a couple of years ago that the BT fibre to the cabinet paid for by BDUK via SFNY (Superfast North Yorkshire) would not be any use for us as our cabinet was in Wensley and, therefore, too far from us to give any better speeds than we were experiencing – around 2 MB/s down to 0.75 with irregular down times.

“In June 2014 I spotted in the trade press that BDUK was sponsoring six trials of solutions that would enable super fast to reach the last five per cent of the population. With a great deal of help from North Yorkshire County Council and SFNY I managed to get one of the two North Yorkshire trials in West Witton, an ideal example of a linear village.

“From then it took until October 18 to get the first person connected via a chimney mounted book sized aerial to a mast in the pub car park to a mast a few hundred feet further up Penhill to an access point to the Virgin network in Darlington. I had the first installation and this was used to test the installation process using contractors. “

Dramatic increase in broadband speed

Since then, he said, the hard to spot rooftop aerials have been sprouting. Those who have benefitted include a graphic designer who now has 10 times the upload speed for his creations, an internet wholesaler of football souvenirs who has over 30 times the previous speed, and a B&B owner who wants his guests to get the same speeds as they do at home. In addition the Fox and Hounds pub is now a free WiFi spot.

Two of those who have signed up for this new service, including an 80-year-old, had not even had computers before let alone broadband. At least 28 have signed up for this improved broadband service so far but a lot of people are stuck with long contracts with wire-based companies that they can’t get out of*.

It is now planned to extend the microwave service to the North side of the river (Preston under Scar and Castle Bolton) and from there back to Swinithwaite possibly by the end of 2015.

LN Communications, trading as ilovebroadband, has now replaced Airwave Solutions as the provider of this microwave broadband service. LN Communications is funded by David Hood, the entrepreneur who started the set top box maker, Pace, and now has an executive jet and helicopter business.

The following is from the brief that Mr Loader gave Mr Sunak:

This village is around 8km from the telephone exchange in Leyburn which has meant historically poor speeds. The equipping of a fibre cabinet at Wensley had no effect as we are around 5km from that and BT has a policy they call “sweating the copper” which means that they have tonnes of cable in the ground they want the last penny from.

Service has also been generally unreliable given the length of lines and their age. BT did trial a cut down version of their one solution fits all of fibre and copper called Fibre to the Remote Node, getting the fibre closer to remote customers, and a pilot was installed at East Witton. However for the limited number of customers to be served, it proved very expensive.

DCM&S had recognised that getting high speed broadband, thought essential to rural and isolated communities, would probably not be possible using the current virtually 100 per cent BT solution and around five per cent of properties would miss out. So they announced in June 2014 that six different technology trials would be held around the UK and North Yorkshire would trial microwave to the property which was capable of speeds similar to fibre systems and £1.5m was allocated.

I immediately lobbied Ian Marr at North Yorkshire Council who oversaw their Company, NYNET, and Superfast North Yorkshire, and although he had no direct involvement as this was a BDUK rather than SFNY managed project, I think influenced the decision for West Witton to be one of the sites. Airwave Solutions, the provider of communications to the emergency services nationwide were the chosen network suppliers.

All started well and survey teams scoured the village and a presentation was made to the village in February of the solution. This required four masts and would be rolled out by May and triallists would encouraged to join with free access.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park wanted to refuse planning permission for two of the masts but with our County Councillor and District Council chair on the planning committee plus strong support from the then District Councillor and many residents, we won the day.

The first install, mine, took place on November 15, 2014, with a phone service included in the package. They are offering a choice of 10, 20 or 30Mb/s at increasing prices plus their phone service where existing numbers can be ported and very low call charges. Thus I pay £19.99 per month for broadband and £6 a month for “line rental” for my phone with called display included.

Town dwellers and those with a cabinet nearby can get Superfast speeds relatively cheaply comparatively with or without BDUK funds. And even, as with us, when this subsidy is provided, the cost of joining the internet Superhighway is a postcode lottery – West Burton, Kettlewell and Thoralby for example all have fibred cabinets that they can connect to at far lower cost than West Witton. BDUK should look again at this lottery and make it fair to all.

*Mr Loader was informed by BT when he terminated his agreement: “We can’t refund your upfront payment for BT Line Rental Saver. If you’ve paid up to £194.28 in advance for 12 months’ line rental, we can’t refund any of it as it was a special discount for paying upfront. Thanks for being a BT customer.”

I’ve had a fascinating couple of weeks searching my garden for herbs. It all began when I saw that among the schedule of classes for this year’s Country Show at Thornton Rust was a “bunch of mixed herbs with a list of names” and they had to come from one’s own garden.

At first I felt a bit sad because my parsley had disappeared, my nasturtiums had taken one look at my garden and decided on a “go slow”, and my rosemary bush had died a few years ago. I have one of those gardens in which plants either seed themselves and grow like weeds (like the violas) or make a quick, ungracious exit.

But this year the pineapple mint has decided to fight the violas for space – and the spearmint is as invasive as ever. In addition I do have apple mint, marjoram, lemon balm and chives. And aren’t stinging nettles a herb?

So I turned to the Collins Gem Guide on Herbs for Cooking and Health written by Christine Grey-Wilson. Suddenly a whole world of herbs opened up and some of the lowliest weeds became little treasures.

I ended up with a bunch of 26 herbs. Somewhat amazed I checked the Oxford Dictionary to make sure I had got it right. The definition given there is: Herb – any plant with leaves, seeds or flowers which can be used for flavouring, food, medicine or perfume.

Here’s my list:

Blackberry – has medicinal uses besides having nice fruit to eat.

Chives

Clover – leaves and flowers of the white clover can be used in salads

Dandelion – can be used for medicinal purposes, and the young leaves can be put in salads or in soups. You can even dry, roast and grind the roots to make a coffee-like drink.

Deadnettle – young leaves as vegetables, or with soapwort to make a shampoo

English Lavender

Feverfew – infuse as a hot bath to alleviate aches and pains… or in a tea for headaches

Fern (Male Fern) – ground dried rhizome as treatment for worms.

Foxglove – digitalis

Goosegrass (Cleavers) – eat as a spring veg or make a broth to cure overweight! Roast fruits ground to make something like coffee.

Herb Robert – dressing for cuts and wounds

Lady’s Mantle – a soothing bath herb, or use the dried leaves ‘to make a useful tea for all female complaints’

Lemon Balm

Lily of the Valley – produces a milder version of digitalis

Mints : Spearmint, Apple mint, Pineapple mint. I infuse apple mint in hot water to make my favourite herbal tea.

Nasturium – can use the leaves in salads and the seeds can be pickled.

Pot Marjoram – that’s definitely becoming a weed in my garden and the bees love it.

Rhubarb – originally grown for its ‘mild astringent and purgative actions’

Rough Comfrey – Comfrey oil is used to heal bruises, and pulled muscles and ligaments etc

Sage

Stinging Nettle – ‘tops are delicious as a vegetable and in soups’ (wrapped in a foxglove leaf – see below)

Yellow Flag – seeds once used for a drink similar to coffee. Roots used to make black dye, flowers for yellow dye

Yellow hopclover – good source of protein. Flowers and leaves can be eaten raw, drunk as tea, or the flower heads can be dried and ground into a nutritious flour.

Plaintain – medicinal uses as antibacterial and anti-inflammatory. Leaves and seed heads can be dried for tea. Young leaves can be used in salads.

In 2002 I interviewed the late  Alan Harker about the Burning of the Bartle tradition in West Witton.  The article I wrote was published in The Dalesman in 2003. Below is a slightly amended version.

Above: The “Burning of Bartle” Doggerel as written for me by Alan Harker.

Ghostly memories of harsher times when sheep stealers faced summary justice at the hands of local people are remembered each year in Wensleydale, with the ancient and unique ceremony of Burning the Bartle.

The oral history for the centuries-old event (was) held by 75-year-old Alan Harker who could remember following the Bartle when he was about four-years-old. In August each year he and his small team made the effigy of the Bartle, stuffing trousers and a shirt full of straw and giving it a head. Then, at 9pm on the last Saturday in August, the 45-minute parade through West Witton began, starting from the west end of the village and ending at Grassgill where the Bartle was once again ceremonially burned.

“Some have said it’s a harvest ritual which to me is daft because we had to plough out in wartime to grow corn and it didn’t grow because the climate wasn’t right. I believe he was a sheep stealer as what I was told by George Smorthwaite,” said Mr Harker.

The late Mr Smorthwaite had been born in the village but later worked in London as a schoolteacher. He had collected some historical records about the village and the Bartle but these were lost in a fire. Fifty-one years earlier, when Mr Harker was asked to help with the ceremony, Mr Smorthwaite told him that it was already over 400 years old.

By the time Mr Harker was seven he had learned the doggerel chanted at the ceremony off by heart from men like Bert Spence and George Stockdale who were then in their 50s. To him it spoke of a local man, chased down from Penhill and then executed.

The term ‘Bartle’ he believed came from St Bartholomew’s Church. He was told by Mr Smorthwaite that the man, once caught, was probably tried at the village church court and that was why his effigy was traditionally burnt during the patronal festival.

In the 1920s there were 70 children in the village school and all enjoyed the feast of St Bartholomew which included two sports days as well as the Burning of the Bartle. “It was a busy little village then,” Mr Harker remembered.

There were about seven shops including the post office, grocer, baker, cobbler and joiner and there was plenty of work around for the local men, whether in the quarries, with the railway company or on the farms.

“There was very little traffic then. There were only two or three motor cars in the village. It’s a bit dodgy now because of the traffic and some don’t keep the speed limit,” he said.

Not only does the Bartle parade now become entangled with cars but one year a vehicle was even parked in the middle of the burning site. It had to be moved because Mr Harker was determined that all aspects of the ceremony must be retained.

“It’s an old custom that’s gone on all these hundreds of years and it wants carrying on,” he said. “It’s quite popular now but the feast nearly fell through.” In the 1980s there were sometimes only three people at the meetings to plan all the feast activities, including Burning the Bartle.

Of the latter Mr Harker commented: “We don’t want it to die out. Gareth Robson is a new recruit. He’s been with us a few years now and is in training for the future.”

The team in 2003  consisted  of Mr Harker; his brother Robert, who had been helping for 26 years; his son, John, who after 16 years was the chief executioner, and Mr Robson.

Along the way they were  plied with drinks and chanted the doggerel, to the accompaniment of the Bartle’s flashing eyes.

“When I started he had just one eye and we used a flashlight for it, switching it on and off,” Mr Harker said. Now they have a battery poked in one of the Bartle’s back pockets and have two eyes peering out of a plastic mask.

Another innovation during Mr Harker’s 50 years had been to use a sheep’s fleece for the Bartle’s hair and beard. “It’s changed quite a bit but it is still a bag of straw when it’s done,” said Mr Harker.

Above: Alan Harker fixing the face on the Bartle in 2002, while his brother, Robert, holds the straw effigy. Below: Robert Harker and Gareth Robson testing the “eye lights”.

Below: John Harker burning the Bartle in 2003

I hold the copyright for this article and also for the photographs – even if some have been posted on other websites (without my permission).

Many gathered at St Andrew’s church, Aysgarth, on Friday, April 10, to say goodbye to Hilary Kathleen Davies (1933-2015). The Wensleydale village of Thornton Rust where she had lived for so long, was almost empty as so many of the residents attended the service of thanksgiving for her life.

Here is what the Rev Canon Sue Whitehouse, former vicar of Aysgarth, told us about Hilary.

Several of Hilary’s friends have contributed their thoughts and memories to this service – not least Cordula from Germany. Over the last years she and Hilary have been very good and close friends and although Cordula is not able to be with us today I know that she is putting aside this hour to be here in spirit.

And so we come to say our farewell to someone who from 1972 – when the then headmaster of Wensleydale school took her on a tour of the outlying farms to show her where some of the pupils lived  – she was totally committed to Wensleydale: to its young people and families; to church and choirs; and to its countryside and nature.

The photograph on the front of the service sheet (above)  shows a Hilary of earlier days: always busy, coming home from school, taking Honey (her dog) up the Outgang in Thornton Rust, having tea with her parents, and then  out to meetings or choir practices.

And, in the early days of retirement she was still busy: at the Citizens Advice Bureau, as churchwarden at St Andrew’s, at the Mission Room in Thornton Rust, with the diocese and the deanery synod, and with various choirs, courses and expeditions abroad. Or she was looking after her parents in to their very old age. As she became more and more physically limited she found life very hard and frustrating and difficult to accept. And so it was, of course, difficult for those around her.

A sustaining faith

But throughout her faith sustained her and she was prepared for her dying. She often spoke with Cordula about death – peacefully and without fear.

I’m reminded of a painting by Salvador Dali where a girl stands at an open window looking beyond the familiar harbour to an unending vista. A description of the painting says of the girl: “Fully attentive she is ready to recognise and greet a hope-filled future.”

So as we come to hand Hilary back into the arms of her Maker we do so in sadness as we remember times past, in gratitude for having known her and in trust of God’s promise in Jesus’ death and resurrection of eternal life for her, now in God’s nearer presence, and for ourselves, as we continue our earthly journey.

Her early life

Hilary was born at Low Fell in Gateshead in 1933. During the war when Gateshead was in danger of being bombed she stayed with her Grandma Sharman in Stocksfield, County Durham. And, although her love of Wensleydale became deeply ingrained she still always held a light for the north-east and the Lambton Worm was one of her party pieces.

Animals were always an important part of her life, culminating in Sam (Samson) – rescued as a kitten from a wall, I think, along Thornton Rust Road, and (became) very much part of her life at The Bield (Hilary’s home in Thornton Rust).

Her love of music was fostered at Gateshead Grammar School according to her friend, Ann.  Hilary went on to read Botany and Bacteriology at King’s College which became Newcastle University. As a child Hilary had poor health and Betty Cawte remembers that her mother worried about her taking part in field expeditions. Hilary, of course, continued to organise school field trips when she was teaching.

Her first post was in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, where she taught with Margaret Bottle. Margaret left some years before Hilary but she and Ted went back to visit…

On one occasion Hilary needed some flower specimens for a lesson at school and so took them to Ditton Priors. Nearby was a “hush hush” secret naval base which had been served by a now overgrown branch line. Ted, a railway buff, explored the line while Hilary and Margaret gathered the flowers.

The next day at school, Hilary was visited by two men who, on a tip-off, had travelled up from London in order to question her as to why she had been in the area of Ditton Priors. They fortunately accepted her explanation!

In 1964 Hilary moved to Cartwright School, Solihull, and then in 1972 to the Wensleydale School where she became a Deputy Head and helped to steer the school through some difficult and stressful times. She was always a devoted and loyal member of staff who was understanding and encouraging. She continued to take an interest in all her former pupils, several of whom recently cared for her in hospital and at Sycamore Hall (Bainbridge).

Her love for others

She was generally interested and concerned about people. She delighted in her family – her cousins and their families: Sybil and Michael; Donald, Christina, Joseph and Erin; Neil, Penny, Martha and Peter; Paul, Judith, Owen and Hugh; Valerie and Eric and their family, and latterly, in particular, enjoyed and talked about their visits. She was a kind and caring godmother and had a great capacity for friendship.

Margaret Carlisle from the States said that “though there were thousands of miles between our homes – when we saw each other we would share endless cups of tea from the little blue teapot, as we laughed and cried together, consoled and advised each other, and caught up with all our news.” And, for others too like Cordula, the “little blue teapot” was an important symbol of a special friendship.

Hilary always remembered people. When Jackie was helping her to sort out decades of theatre and concert programmes, Hilary would always know who had been performing in the play or concert and which friends she had been with to see a performance.

In her last years she was grateful to friends and neighbours like Ian at Thornton Rust and the staff at Sycamore Hall who helped her through difficult times.

Her vision of God’s Kingdom

Hilary’s faith was a constant throughout her life but it was not static. As a member of St Andrew’s and Thornton Rust Mission Room she worked indefatigably on practical matters but also had a vision of God’s Kingdom beyond the parochial. She looked to build on the past and move forward into the future. There was always an integrity and wisdom in her thinking and in all aspects of her life as sense of “One who serves”.

Her spirituality was, I think, both nurtured and expressed through her singing, her artistic talent and her love of nature – using her gifts in praise and thanks to God.

Her love of music

Over the years she sang with many choirs: the church choir at St Andrew’s where she encouraged youngsters in their RSCM awards; the North Yorkshire Chorus with whom she went on tours in Finland, East Germany, South Carolina and France; the Harp Singers; and in the 1990s there were special pilgrimages to the Ancient Churches of Asia Minor, Rome and in the footsteps of St Paul with the BBC Pilgrim Choir.

She missed her singing with choirs very deeply and used to sing along to familiar works on her CDs.

She was always interested in discovering and exploring the natural world. At Sycamore the birds coming to the feeder at her window gave her great delight every day and indeed she was sitting looking out of her window when she died.

Resurrection life

Her artistic talent was put to use in children’s work and displays for the church. The toddlers’ rainbow of glue and tissue paper was in her airing cupboard for three days before it dried out. It is poignant at this Easter season to remember that the egg rolling that took place this last Sunday was originally Hilary’s initiative – a symbol particularly for her of resurrection life.

For all of us the Easter message of freedom, release from the restrictions that hold us back from the full life that God offers begins in the here and how. For us there are still earthly boundaries but for Hilary (there is) the wide vista beyond the known harbour.

Psalm 126, in a translation from the German version, says: “When the Lord will release the prisoners of Israel, we will be like people who are dreaming, our mouth full of laughter, our tongues full of praise.”

We are called to lead our earthly lives within the dimension of the promised state – for Hilary it is now a reality.

Thornton Rust institute now proudly displays a public access defibrillator (PAD) box on the front of the building. And on Saturday, September 13, many residents attended the coffee morning in the institute to learn more about the defibrillator (defib) and how and when it could be accessed.

Left: Ian White (right) and Dave Jones beside the PAD box outside Thornton Rust institute.

Dave Jones, the community defibrillator officer for West Yorkshire, explained that the box containing the defib could be opened by obtaining the code for the keypad from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service. So, in an emergency, the first step was to ring 999 and the ambulance call handler will ask a series of questions to ascertain what was required.

It is vitally important to give the ambulance service an address to which to send a fast response car, an ambulance and (if one was available) a community first responder. As a first responder I’ve often been very grateful that a Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) fast response car has arrived soon after I have reached someone suffering from chest pains.

Once the call handler knows where the patient is they will want to know how many people are available to help. Dave emphasised that it is important that one person stays with the patient and the call handler will give advice about how to administer chest compressions. “The call handler will talk you through it,” he assured everyone and warned: “The window of opportunity when there has been a cardiac arrest is just four minutes.”

But compared to administering chest compressions a patient’s chances of survival can be increased from below five per cent to over 50 per cent if a defib is used soon after someone has collapsed. So, if another person is available to help, they will be asked to run and get the defib, following the instructions provided by the ambulance call handler.

When encouraging residents to make use of the defib Dave commented: “You can’t get it wrong – just have a go.” He said that the defib provided both spoken and visual advice on how to use it.

Dave not only explained how the defib worked but also demonstrated how to give chest compressions using a dummy. Afterwards he had time to chat with residents and answer more questions while I, as member of the Carperby and Aysgarth volunteer community responder team, watched while some used the dummy to practise chest compressions. Practising chest compressions on ‘Little Anne’.

The Carperby and Aysgarth team is short of members now and is finding it harder  to provide almost 24/7 coverage in mid Wensleydale as we are willing to go beyond our four-mile radius.

Ian White organised the installation of the defib box at Thornton Rust. The  boxes and defibs for Aysgarth and Thoralby have been deliverd and that for Aysgarth has been installed on the front wall of the village institute thanks to Kevin Hails and James Metcalfe.

But, even though Thoralby was the first village in the Aysgarth and District parish council area to raise the funds for this equipment it is likely to be the last to have a box installed.

This is because Thoralby village hall is a listed building.  This means that permission has to be obtained to install a box on an outer wall and the Yorkshire Dales National Park planning officer has suggested it should be at the back of the building. This upset many people in the village who felt that the building was not “an attractive feature which contributes significantly to the quality of the village” and that equipment which has the potential to make the difference between life and death ought to be clearly visible. (See Aysgarth and District parish council report)

Dave, however, said that having the defib box at the back of the hall was not a problem as the ambulance call handler would give clear directions as to its location and signs could be provided.  When I asked him about this later he said that a PAD box had been installed on the back of another listed building in North Yorkshire.

The box needs to be on a publicly funded building with an electricity supply as the defib must be kept warm during the winter months.

The cost of the equipment at Thoralby and at Thornton Rust was met from the funding received through the Defra environmental stewardship schemes for Thoralby Moss and Thornton Mire. Aysgarth, as well as West Burton and Preston under Scar plus two villages in Swaledale received assistance from Richmondshire District Council’s Communities Opportunities Fund.

The Leyland family of Wensleydale have links with the Battle of Waterloo, World War 1 and World War 2. John “Peter” Leyland‘s widow, artist Janet Rawlins, lent a bugle to Askrigg village for their commemoration of the start of World War 1. She commented afterwards:

“It was an amazing and very moving occasion – huge crowd all with lanterns, a still evening, Christine (Hallas) explained about James Preston and Mary Rose read a poem. The bugler blew, standing up on the cross (I cried my eyes out – doubt if it had been blown like that since Jim Preston). The King’s Arms provided free whisky for all – and a piper played. The church was full of candles and the two brass vases in memory of James Preston and another were filled with poppies.”

James Graham Preston of West End House, Askrigg, was a member of Askrigg church choir, a Sunday School teacher and a pupil teacher at Askrigg day school. He then attended the Beckett Park Teacher Training College at Leeds with his cousin, Dick Chapman, and won several awards for swimming and running.

He volunteered for the Army in 1915 and twice turned down a commission preferring to remain a private. He transferred from the Royal Field Artillery and became a bugler with the 18th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers. On his 20th birthday on October 22, 1917, the Battalion was pinned down by enemy fire in the Houthulst Forest in the Ypres Salient. Preston’s lung was pierced by a bullet and he died in hospital on November 2.

His bugle was returned to West End House and is now in the care of Janet as her late husband, Peter, was James Preston’s nephew.

The bugle has been part of the peace and remembrance display at the Bainbridge Quaker Meeting House which is open from 10.30am to 12.30pm on Wednesdays. Messages can be left on the Peace and Remembrance Wall outside.

The first Wensleydale men to be killed during WWI were: Pvt Frederick Cockett from Hawes on October 29, 1914; Capt Hugh C Chaytor from Spennithorne on October 31 (both in and around Ypres); Lt Commander Percival van Straubenzee of Spennithorne, when his ship was blown up during a battle with German cruisers off coast of Chile on November 1; and Leading Stoker John R Leake from East Witton on November 3, whose submarine hit a German mine after protecting Great Yarmouth from an attack by German cruisers. Information about these men and James Preston from Wensleydale Remembered by Keith Taylor.

Peter’s father, John, (1890-1942) served with the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) in WW1.

See also Peter Leyland’s story of his experiences with the  FAU China Convoy in World War II. And for details of the family’s connection with the Battle of Waterloo see Peter Leyland and the Tipladys.

The theme “Music and Song”, as Lady Bolton said, gave those preparing for the Wensley Flower Show at Wensley church in mid August lots of scope to enjoy themselves. That enjoyment shone through every arrangement from the luxurious depictions of Swan Lake and The Blue Danube to those illustrating nursery rhymes.

But none more so than in Lord Bolton’s own pews for, hidden behind the red curtains was a life size cardboard cut-out of the “King” himself. Gary Lewis had lent this portrait of Elvis Presley and it was transported to the church in an animal trailer.

The celebration of rock and roll and the Swinging 60s was centred round Lord Bolton’s pews. Leading up to them was The Wedding March – so applicable seeing that the wedding of Gary and Sarah Simpson was held in the church hours before the flower show preview.

This meant that the couple walked along an aisle decorated to illustrate the hymn Love divine all loves excelling.

Their guests may have missed the preview but Lady Bolton was sure many returned during the weekend to see the flowers.

Over 15 women assisted Lady Bolton with preparing for the event and one of them, Doreen Moore, said: “We do enjoy arranging flowers and it’s a nice time for everyone.”

They were delighted that their efforts raised over £2,000 for the church. The Churches Conservation Trust maintains this 13th century church but not its organ. So the parishioners have been fund raising for several years to have this renovated.

As the church is officially closed there are only six services a year there but Mrs Moore commented: “For us it is a living church and we care for it a lot. We are trying to keep the church alive.”

That is very evident at the beautiful biennial flower festivals. Click on the photograph above to see more of this year’s festival.

At 100-years-old Anne Barlow of Aysgarth had a lot to teach us about enjoying life. This was very obvious at her birthday party at West Burton village hall on Saturday, June 21. And also in the way she so joyfully participated in all the fun of watching the Tour de France Grand Depart pass through her village. (click on the photo to see the way she enjoyed her birthday celebrations.)

Aysgarth and District parish council had ensured that the bench outside her home had been repaired and her friends and family made sure it was in the best place for her to view the peloton. She was even more impressed by the helicopters hovering over Aysgarth.

She was so pleased that over 90 friends and family, some from as far away as France, had joined her at West Burton village hall for her birthday party. Her close family there included her grandsons, Edward, William, Louis and Jed.

Her son, Roger, especially thanked his daughter-in-law, Helen, for the creative ideas which helped to make the party so memorable – and his son, Guy, and his wife, Sue, for assisting with the preparations.

One of his special memories of his mother was the amount of Eccles cakes she used to make – and so his wife had made a tower of them. He told those at the party: “You have to have at least one Eccles cake!”  The actual birthday cake was decorated so as to celebrate his mother’s dressmaking and gardening skills.

Roger told them that his mother was born into a coal mining family at Atherton in Lancashire – the sixth of eight children. After she left school she worked as a clerk and then as a secretary.

She married Edward (Eddie) Barlow in July 1939 just a few months before he joined the regular army. In 1945 she wrote to Winston Churchill: “My husband has been fighting in Europe for five years – how dare you send him off to India and Burma to fight the Japanese!”

After the war Mr Barlow worked as an electronics engineer in Leeds and she became a medical secretary at the neurological unit at Leeds General Infirmary.

“I had a very happy life with him,” Mrs Barlow said wistfully about her husband who died in May 1992.

While working in Leeds they bought a holiday cottage in West Burton, and when they retired they moved to Blades Cottage at Aysgarth.

She was very grateful to all who helped to make her to remain living there so long. As her son said – she continued to use her energy and enthusiasm to live life to the full, including going on a world tour when she was 84-years-old.

She had a great sense of humour and a zest for life – and was delighted that she was able to witness such a “once in a lifetime event” as the Grand Depart coming to Yorkshire.

Epilogue: Anne died on January 23 2018.

After months of preparation the cyclists in the Tour de France Grand Depart rushed through Aysgarth on July 5 – and left us all wondering where all the crowds were. Many communities like those in Bainbridge, Hawes, Muker, and Leyburn had worked hard to welcome this “once in a lifetime event” – as I saw when I went on a photographic tour a few days before the Grand Depart.

Click on the first three photos to see the albums on Flickr:

Le Tour cyclists passing through Aysgarth:

Aysgarth on the day of Le Tour:

Carperby’s market cross was dressed for the occasion even though the village wasn’t on the Le Tour route.

Wednesday, July 2

Like many others I thought it would be fun to go and see how our villages were celebrating this big event – and also make sure I did my shopping  before all those expected hordes of visitors descended upon us. Many residents had worked hard to decorate their villages and hamlets before this “once in a lifetime” event.

In Leyburn I found that many other local residents had also decided to do their shopping early with some items either being out of stock or very low. It was also obvious that the cafes and pubs were doing a roaring trade thanks to all the cyclists needing refreshment after their long haul over the Buttertubs and along Moor Road.

The barriers were going up as I approached the Tour route through Wensleydale.

Thursday, July 3

Like many others I was busy baking – both for the flower festival at Aysgarth church (June 4-6) and for the refreshment stalls being organised by Aysgarth Institute.  I did make a tour of Aysgarth to take some photographs – for as a friend pointed out to me in Hawes, I couldn’t leave my own village out.

The chocolate fudge cake I made was, in parts, too (gorgeously)  fudgy to cut up and take to either the church or the institute. We just had to eat much of it ourselves!

Friday, July 4

That morning I did a two-hour shift at Aysgarth church – welcoming anyone who came to see the floral displays that had been created to celebrate  Le Tour to Wensleydale.

On leaving the church I found the roads teeming with cyclists – they came from every direction on every road. And back at Aysgarth I found that a portaloo had been placed right in the centre of the village,  as planned by one of the parish councillors and originally with the approval of Aysgarth and District parish council. But not in accordance with the wishes of the villagers who very quickly took action to move it.

In the end it found a home beside another portaloo in the car park at the George and Dragon. Below: Unwanted of Aysgarth.

At 4pm many villagers converged on Aysgarth institute carrying bags of homemade cakes and cookies to join in a very happy communal event, expertly overseen by Karen. Within an hour or so 250 packed lunches had been prepared, with the sandwiches safely stored in fridges ready to be placed in the bags tomorrow, alongside bottled water, apples, and biscuits.

The big question was: just how many people would converge on the village before the roads closed at 7am the following morning?

Saturday, July 5

My first job was to check the secondary Community First Responder kit that had been delivered to me. Then I packed myself  some food that I could eat as I would be based at the institute as a community first responder for most of the day.

When I got into the centre of the village at 10am I found that all of those crowds of people we had been told to expect just hadn’t materialised – kept out by those barriers. It certainly was easy to watch the Tour de France cyclists but sadly a lot of food did not get sold.

I was very grateful that there no medical emergencies and I could enjoy the spectacle. The ‘caravan’, however, was a big disappointment. The drivers may have honked their horns or blasted us with other unmelodious sounds, but they drove through our village as fast as they could and shared little with us. Just one police motorcyclist stopped to share a high five with a small girl. The  helicopters overhead as Le Tour cyclists passed through gave a better show than the caravan.

As a family we watched some of Le Tour on television that afternoon – and had a good laugh at the bad pronunciation of the names of Yorkshire towns and villages by the commentators who even confused the Yorkshire Dales with the North Yorkshire Moors. That, and the limited knowledge of Yorkshire revealed by the stewards brought in from southern England, said a lot about the North South divide in this country. Those poor stewards certainly did not expect it to be that much colder up in the hills of the North.

Sunday, July 6

David and I had a very enjoyable, restful day at the classic car rally at Corbridge, while Eddie battled through the crowds in York to get another view of Le Tour. Eddie commented later that it had been more enjoyable watching Le Tour in Aysgarth.

Monday, July 7:

My niece, Helen, and her son Jack, watched Le Tour as it left Cambridge – as a way of celebrating the memory of “Granddad Bob” , my brother who died at this time last year.

Penhill Benefice celebrated Easter with many events in April 2014. But why is Easter so important?

Many years ago a Muslim man left me almost speechless when he asked one short but very important question.

I respected that man a great deal for he was a very sincere Muslim who prayed five times every day, fasted during Ramadan, and gave alms, as well as having been to Mecca.

And yet he asked me: “What can I do about the bad things inside me – the things I can’t seem to change no matter how hard I try?”

I replied:  “That’s why Easter is so important to Christians.”

He wanted to know more so I explained what Jesus had achieved for each one of us by choosing to be sacrificed on the cross for us. When he rose from the dead three days later he made it possible for us to also start a new life and to change those aspects of our life which we hated. (Above  – the cross of flowers at Aysgarth church after the Easter Sunday service.)

One of the people who lived a beautiful life was Dorothy Walker. I have added the Rev Graham Dear’s speech to my tribute to show why.

In Penhill Benefice we had a busy time celebrating Easter in 2014 – from the processions at Redmire and West Witton churches on Palm Sunday, to the Stations of the Cross throughout the benefice on Good Friday, to the Easter Sunday services.  At Aysgarth church many children enjoyed decorating eggs and biscuits – and then the egg rolling afterwards.

Pictured below: the Palm Sunday procession to Redmire church; and the procession to West Witton Church led by the Rev Penny Yeadon; Stations of the Cross at Carperby on Good Friday; egg rolling at Aysgarth Church on Easter Sunday. There are more photos – if anyone wants a CD contact me at pip.land@btinternet.com.

It was an honour and a pleasure to have known Dorothy Walker who died at Brentwood Lodge, Leyburn, aged 108, on April 2. Her enjoyment of life, the twinkle in her eye and her Christian faith were inspirational. When she retired as a teacher from Bellerby School in 1971 (14 years before it closed) the vicar, the Rev T F Unsworth, said she had a Peter Pan like quality – and she retained that throughout her life.

She grew up in Selby and when she was 21 was appointed to teach the 20 or more children at the primary school in Bellerby. It was a cold, grey evening when she got off the train in Leyburn and, as she wasn’t able to find a taxi, she had to walk the two miles to the village. By then it was snowing and as she searched for accommodation she believed she would not stay long in Bellerby.

But she did and married a local man, Fred Walker, who died about a year after their golden wedding anniversary in 1995. “I have enjoyed all my years in Bellerby and I am very grateful for all the help I have been given,” she said. (Above – with school children at Bellerby)

She was 99-years-old when she retired as the organist at St John’s, Bellerby, and a year later young pianists were still going to her home for piano lessons. As the Rev Unsworth said, she awakened the love of music in several generations of children in and around Bellerby.

Dorothy told me that she loved children too much to want to be a head teacher. Instead she took on all the music teaching at the school as well as doing needlework with the seniors.

It was the sudden departure of a head teacher in 1928 that led to her long involvement with the Wensleydale Tournament of Song for she was asked to prepare the pupils for this annual event in Leyburn.

Just days before her 100^th birthday she said: “I love the tournament.” (Above: being filmed at the Tournament in 2006) She was delighted when she was made one its patrons in 2000. In Bellerby she had organised choirs for the ladies, the WI, the children, the church and the Glee Club to sing at the tournaments. By the time she was 100 she had trained the highest number of pianists who had taken part in its junior music classes.

She had celebrated her 96^th birthday in hospital after fracturing her hip. But that did not stop her attending the tournament to see her student, Laura Reeks (pictured with Dorothy in February 2006), win a cup for playing the piano.

In March 2008 her good friends, Mary and John Storr, held a birthday party in their home for Dorothy and Beattie Tupling  (above)as both were celebrating their 102^nd birthdays. Mrs Tupling’s son, Trevor, and her two grandsons were taught by Dorothy. “We have been friends for 80 years,” Mrs Tupling said. And Dorothy commented:“We only have happy memories – we have never had a wrong word between us. We have both found a lot of happiness in this village.” Mrs Tupling died in January 2009. (Below: Dorothy with her son Dick on the right and John Storr)

Dorothy was delighted when one of her favourite writers, Gervase Phinn, visited her in Bellerby in May 2009 and they swapped yarns about teaching local children.

In 2010, after her 104^th birthday she commented: “I don’t understand how I have lived this long. My doctor said I was not strong enough to train as a nurse and so I became a teacher instead.”

©P Land

Her chief mourners were her son, Richard (Dick), his wife, Ann, her grandchildren Tony and Rachel and her great grandchildren Logan and Blake. But as the Rev Graham Dear noted at the service of thanksgiving for her at St John’s, Bellerby  on Thursday, April 10, there were many others who had counted her as a special friend, and who had helped to care for her in the latter part of her life. He thanked the staff at Brentwood Lodge Care Home in Leyburn for the way they had made it possible for her to continue to be the person all knew and loved until she died.

Rev Dear’s address at the service:

Dorothy was born 108 years ago as Dorothy Mary Wilkinson in Caton Bay, near Scarborough and by the 1st World War she and her family had moved to Selby where they attended church at Brayton.

There she enjoyed being part of a very happy, church going family where music played a very strong part. Her mother was the first to teach her to play the piano. Her father, Wilfred, had a very fine voice and so, especially on a Sunday, they would gather around the piano to sing.

Her mother, Elizabeth, was always affectionately known as Mums. Mums was one of those people who was quietly there right to the end of Dorothy’s life as an example to her. After school and college at the age of 21 her first teaching post was here in Bellerby at the Church of England school.

When she came here in 1928 the village had three shops, two pubs and a post office. They were very hard days. People and families living in very cramped accommodation and it was difficult at first to find a place to live and to have room for her preparation, as well as later to find a home for her piano. It was a godsend when in the post office she learned that Miss Davison at The Lilacs was looking for a paying guest. This provided the ideal situation not just for herself but later for Fred and for Richard.

Aunty Madge – Miss Davison – remained was one of Dorothy’s lifetime inspirations. Her faithful attendance at Mass, her ability to always find something good to say about somebody strengthened Dorothy’s own faith and her character.

Coming to grips though with life in a somewhat insular community with its own particular dialect caused initial difficulties but the young Miss Wilkinson quickly began winning the children round. The headmaster was keen to include music and Dorothy was very soon taking children on the bus to Leyburn to take part in the Wensleydale Tournament of Song.

As the years went by she organised choirs both for children and ladies, the WI, St John’s and then the Glee Club. Often she saw these pick up awards as far away as Harrogate.The school children from Bellerby became very much the stars at the Tournament of Song and soon any rival didn’t have to give any other explanation for their failure than to just shrug their shoulders and say “Oh well you had Mrs Walker of Bellerby”.

For by then Miss Wilkinson’s heart had been won by Fred Walker of Wensley – they met at a dance in Leyburn. They had their golden wedding anniversary just a year before Fred died in 1995. From then on quietly whatever came she was ready to go home to be with Mums and with Fred – that gave her the serenity that we all marked and rejoiced in.

She was a keen walker all her life. She had walked with the children six miles to Richmond to visit the cinema. Fortunately for their sakes, if not for hers, they were able to catch the bus back. She also organised outings on the bus for picnics, walks and a paddle at Aysgarth Falls.

Distances on foot seemed no problem. Fred was a keen cricketer and she had gone to watch him play in a match at Masham. The game was still going on but she said “I think I’ll just slip away. You’ll catch me up on the road”. Well – he never caught her up. She walked all the way back to Bellerby from Masham.

Shortly before she left the village she was still walking around the village much to everyone’s concern. She remained independent to the last though appreciative to have somebody’s arm to lean on for the final lap home.

She was an early fan of flight and she went to France with one of her girlfriends quite early on. Sadly she never learnt how to drive. She had a rather interesting initial foray with Fred which nearly ended up in a ditch. However much Fred tried to persuade her to get behind the wheel again it wasn’t on.

It’s incredible to think that she retired from the school as long ago as 1971 after 44 years. She then taught music for another eight years music at the Convent of the Assumption at Richmond. She was still of course teaching her pupils at home way beyond her 100th birthday.

Dorothy loved to keep in touch with her old pupils and colleagues. As the years went by quietly but proudly Dorothy was rewarded by being made patron of Wensleydale Tournament of Song , by receiving cards from the Queen which she never dreamt she would receive, by opening the Leyburn Medical Centre, by the Swaledale Festival organising a violinist to play for her at her home; and by swapping yarns with Gervase Phinn.

She shared that marvellous childlike wonder that she had right about the world and all that went on in it to the end of her days.

St John’s was very much her spiritual home. She was very proud of having played the organ for over 70 years especially as she had initially been asked to stand in “just for a few weeks until they got a proper organist”.

Here at St John’s and later in Brentwood she was able to receive Holy Communion – following the pattern set in Selby which would last her all her life. No week was complete for her without sharing in Holy Communion. For the Vicar and me it has been my joy to see the look of gratitude on her face – a look of joy – when on each occasion this simple act so faithfully shared brought together over 100 years of experience.

In her later years the Methodist chapel at Bellerby proved a blessing to her as well. The Mothers’ Union also played a great part in her life, both in Bellerby and beyond.

I think everyone here will have a memory of Dorothy – that marvellous twinkle in her eye, the gentle pat on the back of the hand – she loved us dearly and we dearly loved her. She appreciated us graciously and perhaps made us more gracious people.

The prayer that she loved best alongside the Lord’s Prayer comes towards the end of the Holy Communion service and I think it summarises very well her experience of her Heavenly Father and her wish to share his love through Christ Jesus with others:

“Father of all, we give you thanks and praise that when we were still far off you met us in your Son and brought us home. Dying and living he declared your love, gave us grace and opened the gate of glory. May we who share Christ’s body live in risen life. We who drink his cup bring life to others. We whom the Spirit lights give light to the world. Keep us firm in the hope you have set before us, so we and all your children shall be free and the whole earth live to praise your name through Christ our Lord, Amen.”

I edited Peter Leyland’s story about his family in Bainbridge from his talk to the Friends of the Dales Countryside Museum and the oral history recordings I made in 2008. This was first published in the Now Then magazine in 2009. This annual magazine is published by the Friends of the Dales Countryside Museum. Peter died in 2010. His widow is the artist Janet Rawlins.

My great great grandfather was called Alexander Tiplady, or Alec Tiplady, and he was born in Askrigg. He fought in the battle of Waterloo and, when he came back, he married an Askrigg girl called Mary Metcalfe and decided to open a shop in Bainbridge.

He started the general store with groceries and draperies and so on in 1816 and this was carried on by his son John Tiplady. John married Mary Ann Routh from Hawes and they had one daughter, Mary. (Below: John and Mary Ann Tiplady. Drawn by Janet Rawlins from a photo.)

They didn’t go to cash and carry in those days but had commercial travellers who came round touting their wares. A lot of them used to come on the train to Askrigg and they would walk on to Bainbridge carrying their bags and take orders from the shop. One of these commercial travellers, although I don’t think he ever called himself that, was John Leyland from a firm in Bradford. He married Mary and they carried on with the shop after my great grandfather died.

My father was born in 1890. My grandfather died in 1918 just before my mother (Isobel Chapman) and father were married. They were married in 1919 and I was born in 1920. My given name was John because the eldest son of the family for three to four generations had always been John. But my parents wanted to call me Peter and did so. So my nickname is Peter in this part of the world. In the outside world I was called John.

My parents lived (for many years) in the house by the shop on the north side of the road just before the bridge. It was called Tiplady House but in my young days I always remember it being called Tippledy House.

My grandfather started the Bainbridge Electric Supply company in partnership with John Cockburn, the owner of High Mill. They invited W H Burton and Son to create an electricity supply system in Bainbridge. So in 1912 the Bainbridge Electric Lighting Co was established and W H Burton installed a water turbine, manufactured by Gilbert Gilkes of Kendal, in the disused mill wheel house.

This turbine drove a generator producing 6 kw at 110DC. (Later converted to 240volts AC). The old mill leat had been taken from the River Bain by a channel cut in the limestone bed of the river. In 1912 it was taken under the wall of the mill garth to a header tank with a galvanised grid (still there) from which the water was carried in a 15 inch diameter ceramic pipe down past the present Unicorn House and into the mill wheel house.

Half way down the mill garth the pipe runs under an old millstone inscribed “JS 1798″. The original account book shows “Total Cost of Installation of Electric Light in Bainbridge Village being Value of Turbine, Battery, Generator, Cable and Works £415.14.2″. (John Leyland and John Cockburn contributed half each. The prices of electricity per unit were: 6d (2.3p) 1914-1919; 7d (3p) 1920; 8d (3.33p) 1920-23; and 9d (3.75p) 1924-48.

After she remarried and moved to York Isobel still came back to take the meter readings and keep the accounts, having W H Burton and Sons looking after the technical side. It was very astute of her in 1947 to anticipate the nationalisation of electricity by negotiating with Dick Cockburn, son of John Cockburn, to buy his continuing half share for the sum of £400. But it took her six years to reach an agreement for compensation with the newly established Electricity Authority. They finally settled at £1,415 which she found very satisfactory at the time.

I remember as a boy in the 1930s that in autumn the grid on the header tank tended to become blocked by leaves. When the village lights started to dim as a result of the reduced flow of water my brother, Peter, and I were then told to get the brushes and go and sweep the leaves off.

The Tiplady’s shop c 1920s

The other business my grandfather and father developed was as cheese factors.  The cheeses were produced on the farms individually by the farmers. My father used to say that the best cheese came from Coverdale. We used to go to farms in Coverdale, Swaledale and Ravenstonedale to buy cheeses. We were cheese wholesalers really.

I remember a lot of cheeses were mail ordered. They used to wrap them in brown paper and tie them up with strong string and post them. We had a little cart and would drag this to the other end of the village to the post office. I remember going along to Askrigg station with parcels of cheese to deliver to retailers, I suppose, around the country.

Just after the First World War we had an old Austin pickup. I can remember going on a camping holiday with this to Kilnsey. We piled everything into this Austin pickup and went down to Aysgarth and up Bishopdale and we stuck in the middle of Kidstones. So my father turned it round and we went up backwards because reverse gear was lower.

Later on we had a rather more sophisticated van – a huge Willis Overland. It was almost like a converted small bus. We also used to deliver goods (mostly groceries) to all the farms around and my father used to go out every week on a different route (eg Raydaleside including Countersett and Stalling Busk; Aysgarth, West Burton, Newbiggin and part of Bishopdale; and Hawes and Apersett). In those days the road to Raydaleside was really rough, the tracks were potholed, and in bad weather it was terrible. My father would (visit) mainly farmers and bring back the orders on Thursday.

On Friday they would make up the orders (packing them) into little wooden boxes and deliver them on Saturday. This was very good business but it was very hard work. They worked to 7 o’clock in the evening every day except half day on Wednesday and they didn’t work on Sundays.

In the shop there was no self service. You stood at the counter and gave your order. Even in those days Allens in Hawes was a much bigger enterprise than Leylands in Bainbridge. People also went to Leyburn as there was a bus service – the Northallerton Omnibus Service.

The market towns Hawes and Leyburn, were meccas then more than they are now. (When I was small) there were two grocers shops – ours and Alex Chapman’s at the top of the village. And there was a butcher’s. I can’t remember any other shops.

The farmers didn’t come out much then. So the delivery of heavy groceries like sugar was quite a service to them. My father would go into the kitchen of the farmhouse and sit with the farmer’s wife. She would have to give the grocery order for a month. The farmers had horse and little light traps and sometimes would bring their wives and other members of the family to town.

When my father died in 1942 my aunt Edith carried on with the shop with the help of an old stalwart employee Sam Peacock until she retired in… (She died in 2003 aged 104). She had been working in the shop all her life and particularly ran the drapery side. I remember her telling me that she went to Bradford to study millinery and, after she came back, she used to design and decorate hats for the ladies.

My family were the small entrepreneurs of the village with the cheese, the electricity, the grocery and the drapery. They were quite prosperous and my parents sent their two boys and two girls to the Quaker school at Ackworth.

The connection with the Quakers came through the Rouths of Hawes. Mary Ann Routh (my great great grandmother) had a sister, Rebecca, who was housekeeper at Ackworth School until 1910. She was a rather formidable lady and it was quite clear that she was very influential on my grandfather. My parents joined the Society of Friends in the 1920s.

I went to the elementary school in Bainbridge on the green at the top of the village. At the age of 10 my parents put me on the train at Askrigg station and I was told to change at Northallerton and York and find my way to Pontefract. It was a benign world for young travellers. I came back for holidays and at the age of 16 my father sent me off by train to London where I was articled to a firm of chartered accountants. I enjoyed my time in London – it was so exciting to live away and have this independent life at such an early age.

For the story of his work with the Friends’ Ambulance Unit in China during the 2nd World War see https://www.pipspatch.com/2008/08/08/memories-of-war-time-china/

On the wall by the south west exit from the Lady Chapel in Aysgarth church is a small brass plaque commemorating the life of Lieut. Colonel Alban Wilson D.S.O. who died at West Burton in April 1928. He spent the majority of his military service as an officer with the 44th Gurkha (Rifle) Regiment (later 8th Gurkha Rifles) helping to secure the British empire’s northern borders on the India sub-continent, especially around Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh and in Nagaland. That certainly doesn’t explain how he came to hold an extremely rare medal awarded by the German princely state of Waldeck and Pyrmont (below)

His full name was James Alban Wilson and he was born in Warrington. Lancashire, in February 1865. It is likely that he attended Uppingham School in the early 1880s¹ and in 1885 joined the 3rd Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders militia.

He gained his first commission with the Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, the Duke of Albany’s) in 1887 and became a 2nd lieutenant in November 1887. Two years later he transferred to the 44th Gurkha (Rifle) Regiment of the Bengal Infantry of the Indian Army². From then until the 1st World War gained promotions and honours by taking part in punitive expeditions against unruly tribesmen in the North East and North West of India.

In 1895 he and the 44th Gurkhas were sent to Burma (Myanmar) to take part in counter-insurgency operations. The British had annexed Burma in 1886 after the 3rd Anglo-Burmese war but had not been able to stop the insurgency which followed. And so in 1895, working from an extensive system of small military police posts, small lightly equipped columns were sent out to chase insurgents and punish any villages which harboured them. Villages were burned and property confiscated and by 1895 these punitive expeditions had brought the country fully under British control³.

Wilson was involved in similar campaigns on the N West Frontier of India between 1901 and 1902 but the biggest one of all was that against the Abor (now known as the Adi people) in 1911 to 1912 in the North Eastern enclave the British had claimed which bordered on Tibet, China and Burma. By then the 44th Gurkhas had been renamed the 8th Gurkha Rifles.

The Abor expedition⁴  into what is now part of Arunachal Pradesh was described as a classic punitive expedition to subdue and settle tribesmen who, in their jungle and mountain retreats, were used to being independent. To the nearby Assamese they were savages who raided their farms on the plains beside the young River Brahmaputra. The Abors also attacked saw mills.

The British found it impossible to recruit cooks, sweepers or water carriers in Calcutta when it became known that the campaign would be in Abor Hills, and in Assam it proved just as impossible to recruit coolies. Instead the British turned to another tribe which had not yet fully accepted colonial rule – the Nagas. The Nagas, who were more dreaded that the Abors because of their head-hunting activities , offered to sort out the Abors themselves so long as they could take over the land.

The British had tried a few punitive expeditions before against the Abor but none as large as that led by Major General Hamilton Bower in 1911. This was in retribution for the murder of two British men – an Assistant Political Officer and a doctor – plus some of the coolies who had been travelling with them.

Angus Hamilton in his book about the expedition reported that the Gurkhas made up the bulk of the troops and added: “The Gurkha is the ‘handy-man’ of India, and Gurkha sepoys are deservedly most popular figures with the ‘man in the street’. Short and sturdy, they are as active as cats on the hills, and take to bush warfare instinctively.”

And Bower would comment later: “A better corps for jungle warfare it would be hard to find.”

That was fortunate as the Abors, much to the frustration of the British officers, relied mainly on guerrilla tactics rather than pitched battles. The British led columns faced raging torrents, avalanches, booby traps and arrows tipped with either the poisonous powdered root of the wild aconite or with blood.

Bower was very careful to protect his lines of communication and supply as the columns moved through the thick jungle and up into the hills. Heliographs were in constant use and the sappers laid telephone cables. Wilson (by then a Major) and a couple of companies of the 8th Gurkhas cleared the route for the main column to the first halting place beside the Kemi River en route to Pasighat. Hamilton commented: “A pleasant camp was laid out by the gallant Major’s merry men.”  (Below – Wilson in a camp during the Abor expedition. He is in the foreground with back to the camera.)

From there they could see the jungle and the snow-capped mountains. The Abors believed that their villages were inviolable because the forest was so impregnable with almost impassable undergrowth. On occasions it took an hour to move an army column just one mile and the biting insects and leeches proved to be as difficult and elusive enemies as the Abors.

The sappers and miners used elephants and even dynamite to clear the jungle. And as they moved up into the mountains they had to build bridges across rocky gorges and blast paths out of the precipitous slopes. In one place it took three days to clear two miles.

As it was so difficult to protect a single file of coolies in the forest they were very limited in what they could carry. Officers and civilians accompanying the expedition including a botanist, zoologist and an anthropologist cum geologist were allowed 60lb or even less later in the expedition. Some discarded their pillows for suits of “Burberry’s indispensable Gabardine” and others chose to include their Kodak cameras and films.

The officers personally carried: a Sam Browne belt; a sword, kukri or shotgun; field glasses, revolver and ammo; map, compass; emergency rations; first aid dressing and brandy flask; haversack; water bottle; regulation waterproof; rations for two days; whistle; knife and notebook.

Once they reached the area of the most inhospitable tribes the soldiers had to clear the way themselves as it was too dangerous to send the road making parties ahead even if they had guards. The Abors waited in their stockades perched high above the track ready to rain down arrows and rocks upon the column. In one such attack even Bower was injured.

The British expedition forced the Abors to retreat and there was an attempt to hold peace talks. One of the Abors leaders, however, was killed when en route to the talks. So Major Wilson with 300 Gurkhas was sent to avenge his death. But the Abors fled.

Peace talks did begin after a major village had been burnt and those who had murdered the political officer and the doctor were captured. Wilson was among those who was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) after that expedition.

Bower reported: “He (Wilson) commanded when Lt Col Murray was invalided and carried out his duties to my satisfaction. He has shown energy and enterprise throughout, and has commanded detached bodies on several occasions.”

In February 1913 Wilson led a successful punitive expedition into Nagaland to exact reparation for an attack on a Military Police station. In 12 days with a column which included 216 8th Gurkha Rifles and 250 Military Police, six villages which had been involved in the attack were burned and all the livestock and property destroyed. Over 130 Nagas were killed. It was predicted afterwards that the Nagas in those areas would not defy the Government again or attack any of its representatives⁵.

Following that expedition Wilson was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and in June 1914 he was appointed a Commandant with the 8th Gurkha Rifles. His battalion was sent to Mesopotamia in March 1916 a month before the fall of Kut (now in eastern Iraq). This was one of the most crushing defeats experienced by the British Army with 23,000 British and Indian lives being lost either in Kut or in the attempt to break the siege by the Turkish Army. Those of the 2nd Battalion 8th Gurkhas were among the 8,000 troops taken into captivity during which about half died.

Major General Stanley Maude was much more careful about his supply lines when he took over command of the British Army in Mesopotamia and led a very successful campaign which included recovering control of Kut and then capturing Baghdad in March 1917⁶.

Wilson was put in command of the 21^st Infantry Brigade in May 1916 and returned to command the newly formed 3rd Battalion 8^th Gurkha Rifles in July 1917.

After he retired in May 1918 he began writing. The most collectable of his books is his Trout Fishing in Kashmir which was published in 1920. He also wrote Sport and Service in Assam and Elsewhere, published in 1924.

By the time he died in April 1928 in WestBurton, N Yorks,  his daughter, Dolores, had divorced her first husband and in September 1927 married William Westenra which meant she became known as Baroness Rossmore of Monaghan. She died in 1981⁷.

There’s nothing in his service in India which explains how Wilson managed to acquire a collection of 300 Polynesian spears, bladed paddles, axes, clubs, daggers and blowpipes. Nor why they were donated, in the 1930s, to the Royal Canadian Military Institute in Toronto⁸.

Nor is there anything to explain how he came to be entitled to wear the Waldeck and Pyrmont order of merit 3^rd class. Only 111 of these medals were awarded between 1878 to 1897 by that small Princely State in Germany⁹.

Sources and  notes:

1.Census return of 1881 – from Ancestry.co

2. My sincerest thanks to Gavin Edgerley-Harris, curator of the Gurkha museum, for providing details of Lt Colonel James Alban Wilson’s military career including the medals he was awarded.

3.Wikipedia

4.Details and photograph from Angus Hamilton’s book In Abor Jungles published by Eveleigh Nash, London, 1912 (a year before Hamilton’s death). Hamilton joined the Abor expedition as the correspondent for the Central News Agency. There was also a Reuter’s correspondent. Now available on openlibrary.org (https://archive.org/stream/inaborjunglesbei00hami)

5.The 1913 Nagaland expedition (known as the Totok Punitive Expedition) –  details from the PhD thesis by Joseph Longkumer submitted to the Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth University in India, doctorate awarded in 2011. http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/2478/7/07_chapter%203.pdf

6.The First World War Mesopotamia Campaigns: Military Lessons on Iraqi Ground Warfare, by LCDR Youssef Aboul-Enein, MSC, USN, Strategic Insights, Volume IV Issue 6 (June 2005), published by the Centre for Contemporary Conflict

7. www.thepeerage.com

8.http://www.rcmi.org/index.php?action=display&cat=15

9.On the Wikipedia sites providing information about the princely state of Waldeck and Pyrmont there is no guide to how an Indian Army Gurkha officer came to be awarded that medal. But it was interesting to see that the present hereditary prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont is Wittekind Adolf Heinrich Georg-Wilhelm. He was born in March 1936 and his godfathers were Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler. His father, Josias, had joined the Nazi party in 1929 and became a member of the SS in March 1930.

For more about those from mid Wensleydale who served during WWI see the Roll of Honour on Thoralby Through Time.

Memorials at Aysgarth church reveal many connections with India, including the “Heroine of Cawnpore” – Ann Fraser who, before her marriage, was Ann Fawcet Wray. Also remembered among the Wray Memorials in the Lady Chapel of that church (see below) is her uncle, Lieutenant Thomas Fawcet Wray, who was killed during the storming of Badajoz in Spain in 1812, 17 years before she was born.

In the nave there is another memorial to Lt Wray of the 7th Fusiliers erected in his memory by his fellow officers of the Loyal Dales Volunteers. On that it states that he died, aged 25, on April 2 1812. But other sources, including another tablet in the Lady Chapel, give his date of death as April 6 – the day that 4,800 allied soldiers were killed storming Badajoz. This has been described as one of the bloodiest battles during the Napoleonic Wars.

The Earl of Wellington had reached Badajoz on March 16, 1812, and had 27,000 allied soldiers – British and Portuguese – under his command. They laid siege to Badajoz where 5,000 French soldiers were garrisoned. The walls were bombarded, tunnels were dug and extensive siege earthworks built until the Allies managed to breach the walls in two places. One more breach in the walls was created and, on the night of April 6, Wellington gave the order to make a surprise attack but a French sentry raised the alarm. French soldiers rushed to defend the city and Wellington’s force was almost routed.

In the morning, when the British soldiers who had taken the city looked back at the piles of their comrades bodies, they went on the rampage, looting, getting drunk, raping and killing. They even killed any of their officers who tried to stop them. It took three days to bring them under control and in that time 4,000 Spanish civilians had been massacred. It was said that the British soldiers “resembled a pack of hell hounds.”¹

Lt Wray’s youngest brother, Octavius (i.e.the eighth son) would have been about 19-years-old, by then and may have started his medical training. By mid-1831 he was in India as a surgeon with the Bengal European Regiment and his daughter, Ann, was eighteen-months old. He died of a fever in Agra in 1836 leaving five children, the youngest, Thomas Charge Wray, being just two-years-old².

Ann married Lt George William Fraser in November 1850 and seven years later they became caught up in what was then called the Indian Mutiny³. To escape being killed in Delhi she had hired a small coach and travelled from Delhi to Cawnpore (Kanpur). Captain Mowbray Thomson, one of the four survivors of the massacres at Cawnpore reported⁴:

“Two or three days after the arrival of the tidings from Delhi of the massacre which had been perpetrated in the old city of the Moguls, Mrs Fraser, the wife of an officer in the 27th Native Infantry, reached our cantonments, having travelled dak from the scene of bloodshed and revolt. The native driver who had taken up in in the precincts of the city brought her faithfully to the end of her hazardous journey of 266 miles. The exposure which she had undergone was evident from a bullet that had pierced the carriage.

“Her flight from Delhi was but the beginning of the sorrows of this unfortunate lady, though she deserves rather to be commemorated for her virtues than her sufferings. During the horrors of the siege she won the admiration of all our party by her indefatigable attentions to the wounded. Neither danger nor fatigue seemed to have power to suspend her ministry of mercy.

“Even on the fatal morning of embarkation, although she had escaped to the boats with scarcely any clothing upon her, in the thickets of the deadly volleys poured upon us from the banks, she appeared alike indifferent to danger to her own scanty covering; while with perfect equanimity and imperturbed (sic) fortitude she was entirely occupied in the attempt to sooth and relieve the agonized sufferers around her, whose wounds scarcely made their condition worse than her own. Such rare heroism deserves a far higher tribute than this simple record.”

The Indian soldiers (sepoys) at Cawnpore rebelled on June 4 and the British commanding officer, Major General Sir Hugh Wheeler, moved the British soldiers and the women and children to  a hospital and the thatched building adjacent to it around which an earthen entrenchment had been built. He had expected that the sepoys would go to Delhi to join the mutiny there but instead the local “ruler”, Nana Sahib,  persuaded them, using money from a treasury that the British had left in his care, to attack the British, Europeans and Anglo-English in Cawnpore.  Until then Nana Sahib had been very friendly to Wheeler and his officers.

The siege of the hospital barracks began on June 6. Somehow the small contingent of about 300 British soldiers held out until June 23 but by then there there was little shelter left to protect the women and children from the blazing heat of an Indian summer. Water was in very short supply as those at the well were under constant attack even during the night.  During the siege there was only sufficient food for one very small meal a day and with just three days of rations left Wheeler, for the sake of the women and children, agreed to the treaty offered by Nana Sahib. One mother wrote: “It is not hard to die oneself but to see a dear child suffer and perish – that is the hard, the bitter trial.”

Nana Sahib said he would give them safe passage down the River Ganges to Allahabad on June 27. Thomson described the scene early that morning: “Never, surely, was there such an emaciated, ghostly party of human beings as we. Sixteen elephants and between seventy and eighty palanquins composed the van of the mournful procession, and more than two hundred sufferers had thus to be conveyed down to the river. We loaded and unloaded our burdens ourselves; and the most cautious handling caused much agony to our disabled ones. The women and children were put on the elephants, and into bullock carts. When we reached the place of embarkation, all of us, men and women, as well as the bearers of the wounded and children, had to wade knee-deep through the water, to get into the boats, as not a single plank was provided to serve as a gangway.”

The boats were over-crowded, stuck in the mud, and the thatched roofs laced with hot charcoal. As soon as everyone was on board they were fired upon from the opposite bank. Many were killed by Nana Sahib’s men as they jumped from the boats and tried to get back to the shore.

Those who made it to shore were separated. The men were lined up and shot and the women and children taken back into Cawnpore and later housed in what became known as the Bibigarh. The women were scantily clad for they had given up most of the material from their dresses and petticoats to dress wounds.  Over 200 women and children were crammed into the Bibigarh where the conditions were very bad and it was reported that 25 died in one week from dysentery and cholera.

And then, on July 15, the order was given to massacre those who remained. The sepoys refused to carry out that order and so butchers were sent in to do the job. Thomson, who had managed to escape on June 27, stated: “Mrs Fraser is reported to have died from fever before the terrific butchery that immediately preceded General Havelock’s recapture of Cawnpore.”

Mowbray stated that lynch law prevailed after the British retook Cawnpore and found the well full of bodies. Any sepoys who were captured were hanged for rebelling and also for not stopping the massacre at the Bibigarh. Many Indian civilians were also killed for not doing anything to save the British women and children.

One of the memorials to the Wray family at Aysgarth church states that Mrs Fraser’s  husband also died during the mutiny. But there is a report that he survived, rose to the rank of General, married two more times, and had nine children⁵.

Source and Notes:

1. Information about the Siege of Badajoz mainly from Wikipedia. Lt Fawcet is listed on Glosters Tripod.com as being killed during the storming of Badajoz on April 6.

2. Information about the Wrays from

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~akrb61/people/charge/d5.htm.  Thomas Charge Wray became a Colonel in the 2nd Bn. Royal Irish Regiment. He died in Murree, India, on July 22, 1888, aged 54. He had served in New Zealand in 1866 and in Egypt in 1884 (http://glosters.tripod.com/offzdiedw.htm)

3. Also known as India’s First War of Independence, the Sepoy Rebellion, the Revolt of 1857 and the Uprising of 1857.

4. Mowbray Thomson, The Story of Cawnpore, R Bentley, London, 1859, https://archive.org/details/storycawnpore00thomgoog. His account about Mrs Fraser is on pages 26-28.  Picture of the scene at Sati Chaura Ghat on June 27 1857 is from Thomson’s book.

5. Glosters Tripod.com lists Lt Fraser as being missing in action on June 8, 1857. The alternative story is detailed on

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~akrb61/people/wray/d11.htm#i2652

WRAY MEMORIALS IN THE LADY CHAPEL AT ST ANDREW’S, AYSGARTH

Several members of the Wray family served in India as can be seen from the memorials. That on which Ann Fraser is listed as the “Heroine of Cawnpore” is under the East window (below) in the Lady Chapel and is hidden behind the altar table. The window illustrates the life of Jacob.

Brass plate under East window: To the memory of George Wray of Thoralby Town Head in this parish Esquire who died 14 October 1806 aged 50 an Ann his wife who died 17 March 1795 aged 28 also of their eight sons and the wives and children who died before 1871 of such of their sons as were married namely 1. George Wray of Cleasby in this county Captain Bengal European Regiment born 1785 died 1838, Isabella his widow died 1848 and their third son Christopher Wright WRAY H.M. 87th Royal Irish Fusiliers Surgeon born 1825 killed by an avalanche in the valley of Wardhum in Cashmere 1853 unmarried. 2. Thomas WRAY born 1785 died in infancy. 3. Thomas Fawcet WRAY Lieut. H.M. 7th Fusiliers born 1786 killed at the storming of Badaios 1812 unmarried. 4. Jonathan WRAY born 1787 died 1801 unmarried. 5. John WRAY born 1788 died 1810 unmarried. 6. James Taylor WRAY of Cliff Lodge near Leyburn in this county Esquire born 1790 died 1845 and Sarah his first wife died 1827 also Julia his widow died 1860. 7. Septimus WRAY of Brixton in the county of Surrey M.D.M.R.C.P. Lond. Born 1792 died 1869 his first wife Frances died 1846 and their daughter Fanny Julia born 1831 died 1852 unmarried. 8 Octavius WRAY Surgeon Bengal European Regiment born 1793 died at Agra in the East Indies, 1836, Sarah his widow died 1870 and their eldest daughter Anne Fawcet “The Heroine of Cawnpore” wife of George William Fraser 27th Bengal Native Infantry died at Cawnpore in the East Indies 1857.

Other Wray memorials:

Brass plate: Here lies the body of George WRAY of Thoralby who departed this life January the 14th in the 78th year of his age and the year of our Lord 1785 also of Jane his wife who departed this life April 16th in the 80th year of her age and in the year of our Lord 1788.

Brass plate: In memory of Jonathan Wray of Easthome who died on the 17th January 1780 also of Mary his wife who died on the 28 November 1803. Tablet: In memory of George Wray Esq of Townhead House Thoralby who died October 14 1806 aged 49, Anne his wife who died March 17 1795 aged 27 also of their sons Thomas Fawcet who died an infant December 13 1785, Thomas Fawcet killed in action in Spain April 6 1812 aged 25, Jonathan who died April 26 1801 aged 13, John who died February 18 1812 aged 23. This monument was erected by George, James, Septimus and Octavius surviving sons of George and Ann Wray.

Tablet: In memory of Jonathan Wray late of Eastholme Gent. Who died 1 august 1811 aged 51 years. Also in memory of Agnes widow of the above who died January 21 1843 aged 82 years and of their only child William Robinson Wray of Eastholme who died May 2nd 1861 aged 70 years.

Brass plate: To the Glory of God and in memory of Melesina wife of George Octavius WRAY formerly solicitor and Magistrate of Police in Calcutta in which city she died on the 23rd day of July AD 1860. This brass is also in loving memory of the George Octavius Wray LL.D. formerly of Calcutta afterwards of Hestholme in this parish and of the Inner Temple, London. Barrister-at-Law. In 1872 he took Holy Orders and was Vicar of Brockenhurst in Hampshire for 8 years. He died at Surbiton in Surrey on the 18th March 1893 and his remains are buried outside this window.

Brass plate: In memory of Alfred WRAY the beloved son of the Reverend George Octavius WRAY LL.D. and Caroline Elizabeth his wife formerly all of Hestholme in this parish. He was born at Cambridge 18 August 1867. He died at Bedford 15 August 1885. ‘My grace is sufficient for me for my strength is made perfect in weakness.’

Brass plate: In loving memory of my husband George Crofton WRAY eldest son of the late Rev. Geo. Octavius WRAY LL.D. and of Melassina WRAY who died October 5th 1914 aged 54 also of our darling only child Sisselle Vivien wife of Col. G.Stanley BRIGHTEN D.S.O. who died February 19 1918 aged 22 ‘Jesus Mercy’

The Lady Chapel was furnished by members of the Wray and Winn families.

Until 1865 the stained glass window which commemorated the Wensleydale contingent at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415  – led by  the Third Lord Scrope of Bolton and James Metcalfe of Nappa – was in the East window of Aysgarth church. But then the Scrope (pronounced Scroop) family rescued it and took it to Ulshaw Bridge near Danby Hall and East Witton to be installed in St Simon and St Jude’s Roman Catholic church. Left: The window at St Simon and St Jude’s with the Scrope shield at the top.

When restoration work began on St Andrew’s, Aysgarth, in 1865 it was found that the walls were in such bad condition that the church had to be almost completely rebuilt. That commemorative window with the shields of the Scropes and the Metcalfes was found outside and carried away. When it was inserted into a window at St Simon and St Jude’s the inscription underneath explained that the shields were “rescued from destruction when (Aysgarth) church was pulled down and were placed together again …. by Simon Conyers Scrope of Danby and John Henry Metcalfe lineal descendants of the said Richrd (sic ) Lord Scrope &  James Metcalfe AD 1897.”

By the early 19th century Danby Hall – just a mile from Ulshaw Bridge – had been replaced as the centre of Roman Catholic worship in Wensleydale by St Simon and St Jude’s. For centuries Roman Catholics had worshipped in secret because of the harsh penal laws instituted against them in the 16th century.

Until the reign of Elizabeth I the Scropes (or Scroopes as they were previously known) held such high offices in England as Lord High Chancellor, Chief Justice and Archbishop, as well as being earls, barons, Knights of the Garter and Wardens of the Marches. All that changed when the Scropes of Danby decided to remain Catholics after 1559 and so became known as recusants. During the years of penal law Catholics could be fined each week for not attending Anglican services; could not be commissioned into the army or navy; could not work as solicitors or become Members of Parliament; and could not buy, sell or own a horse worth more than £5.

“They had to keep their heads down, but they had a happy time as country gentlemen, farming and hunting. Danby Hall has had hard times, but they held on by the skin of their teeth, and it has never been sold,” the late Simon Scrope of Danby Hall told me in 2009. He added: “We were always Catholics. There has been an unbroken Catholic succession in this house since the Scroopes came here in 1561.”

In her book The Catholic Missions of Danby Hall and St Simon and St Jude  Sally Doyle showed how the story of the Scropes was intertwined with the survival of Catholicism in Wensleydale. She wrote:

“The Scroopes achieved this by taking in and maintaining priests at risk of their own lives, and Danby became the heart of the small and secret community of Catholics in Wensleydale. Mass was covertly celebrated in a room in the tower on the east side of the house before it was safe to make a chapel in a large room on the ground floor, now the drawing room.”

Many of the priests were employed at Danby Hall under the aliases of grooms or gardeners and two hiding places (priest holes) were created in the Hall – one in the roof space of the tower and the other behind the hall fireplace.

“It is said that six, or even eight priests – the number is uncertain – are buried under the drawing room,” said Jane Scrope. “Well, I was brought up on that story,” commented her husband.

By the 18th century the penal laws had become unenforceable and so it was possible for Catholics to worship more openly even though they were not fully emancipated until the passing of the Catholic Relief Act in 1829.  A discreet Roman Catholic chapel at Ulshaw Bridge was built by 1788  and the Scropes who had been interred in the family vault at Spennithorne church were moved to its crypt.

Below right: The door to the crypt is behind the tombstone in the foreground. Mr Doyle commented: “The crypt tantalised Sally and eventually she got someone to saw off the old padlock because Simon said he didn’t know where the key was. So she got in – it was a great day for her.”

Mr Scrope said that it was possible that the crypt contained some of the oldest brickwork in the area and may be the site of the cock fighting pit which was almost the downfall of Simon “The Cockfighter” Scrope in the late 17th century.  His sons were so incensed about how he had spent their inheritance that after his death they took his portrait outside (the one of him holding a cock) and used it for target practice.

That crypt delineates the site of the original 18th century chapel and the width of the central section of the present church. Joseph A Hansom (of Hansom cab fame) was commissioned by the Scropes in 1865 to rebuild the church in Byzantine style. It even had a bell tower – which meant the church was no longer hidden behind the house which became the presbytery. Hansom was also involved with the redesigning of the family chapel at Danby Hall which had been moved to one of the upstairs rooms.

Today the presbytery is a private  home for St Simon and St Jude’s is now one of the rural parishes associated with that in Leyburn and so part of Middlesbrough diocese. The Scropes fully supported the church until it was handed over to the diocese in 1948.

The Low Mass at 8.30am on Sundays at St Simon and St Jude’s has become quite popular with up to 60 attending. Mrs Doyle loved the informality of that service.  She was charmed, her husband Tony said, by the church’s style, architecture, location and  the way it was connected with the  Scrope family.  She won Mr Scrope’s support with her enthusiasm and he lent her catalogues and checked her text. Her daughter, Shelagh, helped her with proof reading when she was ill with cancer of the colon and she saw it when it was ready for printing before she died in June 2008.

©P Land 2013

Notes:

Mrs Doyle also co-authored, with Ann Hartley, The Catholic Missions of Danby Hall, West Witton and Ulshaw Bridge,  Middlesbrough Diocesan Archives: Occasional Publications No 4. Mr Doyle assisted with the fund raising which made it possible to renovate St Simon and St Jude’s over the past 20 years.

Simon Egerton Scrope died at Danby Hall in March 2010. I interviewed him in February 2009.

After Aysgarth church was rebuilt (1865-66) replicas of the shields of Richard, Lord Scrope, and James Metcalfe were placed in one of the clerestory windows. There is another copy of the Metcalfe arms on a panel in the centre window in the South aisle.

James Metcalfe was knighted after the Battle of Agincourt and for his shield (“pedigree”) chose the symbol of the three black calves on a silver background. He died in 1471.  (metcalfhistory . com).

The ashlar and rubble bridge at Ulshaw, built in 1674,  is scheduled as an ancient monument (britishlistedbuildings. co.uk).

Below: the interior of St Simon and St Jude’s; the exterior of the church from the east; and the bell tower visible above the roof of what was the presbytery.

From ghostly worm eaten legs to theatrical pews Holy Trinity church in Wensley has all the rich ingredients for storytelling. Which is why this summer Ian Scott Massie chose Wensley church on the A684 in mid Wensleydale for his exhibition of paintings and prints entitled Tales of the Dales.

His book with the same title includes stories about this medieval church which is now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust. He commented: “A lot of these stories are stories and not necessarily historical truth.”

Nothing illustrates this more than the enduring story about the plaque in memory of Peter Goldsmith MD. A few years ago a group of excited people rushed into the church on the anniversary of Nelson’s death to see this plaque as they believed Goldsmith was the surgeon with the admiral at the battle of Trafalgar in October 1805.

Penny Seckerson, who was on duty at the church that day, said: “I hadn’t the heart to tell them that it wasn’t so. I showed them where the plaque was and thought ‘I’m going to keep quiet’ – they were so enthusiastic. She explained: “If you look in the church safe you will find the letters from the Admiralty saying that there is no-one of that name recorded with any of Lord Nelson’s fleet (at Trafalgar).”

She continued: “There are little things which intrigue me about this church. Like why were there two lots of windows in the vestry? I found the answer to that.”

She learnt that in the past the rectors had so many churches that they would send curates to take services for them. The curates were not well paid and had to find cheap accommodation. And what was cheaper than turning the upper part of the vestry into a bedroom!

“And why do we get people married on the blue stone?” she wondered – and added: “You also get buried from the blue stone unless you are Lord Bolton and then you go up into the chancel.” The blue stone commemorates two 15th century rectors at Wensley – the brothers Richard and John Clederow. The traditions involving the blue stone date back over 100 years but no-one knows when they started or why. Above: The blue stone is in the centre foreground. On the left is one of the pillars on which there are the remnants of medieval paintings, and then the Powlett Pews – see below.

One of Penny’s enduring memories is of Richard Lord Bolton’s funeral in August 2001. This was attended by three retired clergy. So the officiating minister used the Bishop’s chair while the other clergy sat in the triple Early English style stone sedilia (below). “I thought you probably would never see that again. I like the sedilia – I think they are very beautiful,” she said.

Another beautiful feature of the church is the medieval screen with its heraldic carving illustrating the various alliances of the Scrope family. But Penny wondered how did that and the reliquary, said to contain relics of St Agatha, come to be in Holy Trinity church.

These were at St Agatha’s Abbey at Easby near Richmond until the monasteries were dissolved by Henry VIII in the 16th century. The Barons Scrope of Bolton in Wensleydale had close links with that abbey from the 14th century.

The present Lord Bolton (Harry) is descended from Thomas Orde-Powlett, the 1st Baron Bolton, whose peerage was created in 1797 and who was a descendant of the last Baron Scrope of Bolton. Harry does not know exactly how the screen and reliquary came to Wensley but commented: “I have always assumed that as Patrons of Easby (the Lords Bolton) either brought ‘The Screen’ or the salvage rights at the time of the dissolution and moved the screen to Wensley, of which they were also Patrons.” They were also the Lords of the Manor with their castle (Bolton Castle) nearby.

The screen is beside the pews (below) used for so long by the Lords Bolton. Harry explained: “They are the Powlett pews. They were brought by the 3rd Duke of Bolton and were the opera boxes from which he ogled his mistress to be – Lavinia Fenton – who played Polly Peachum in the first run of John Gray’s The Beggar’s Opera.”

That run of the opera began in 1728¹ and Lavinia soon became the Duke’s mistress. He married her in 1751 following the death of his wife that year. Harry continued: “I am not sure at what date the pews were put in the church. I don’t think he spent very much time in them because he spent most of his time in France with his mistress. There is a glorious account in one of the archives about his taking his mistress and his four illegitimate children to Bath for the season. And the town sent trumpeters out to herald their approach because of the great excitement about the money they were going to spend.”

He believes that the folly called Polly Peachum tower which can be seen from Wensley church pre-dated the installation of the pews and isn’t convinced about the story that “Polly” went there to sing so as not to disturb her husband.

Left: remnant of a medieval mural still visible on the north wall.

To him as a historian Wensley church has a fabulous history. There are the medieval wall paintings including one of the oldest surviving depictions of the legend of the Three Living and the Three Dead, complete with worms hanging from decomposing legs. In this story three dead people return to beg those who are still living to repent – for in death all are equal.

But as Penny pointed out at Wensley there is a sad reminder that not always were the dead seen as equal. For when the village was ravaged by the plague in 1563 those who died were not buried in the churchyard but in pits directly west of the church still visible as pale areas of grass on the north bank of the River Ure.

She explained: “People then felt that those who died of the plague were evil and therefore could not be buried on consecrated ground.”

Inside the church there are many reminders that even if death was a great leveller the rich could pay to be remembered. Just beyond the 16th century carved oak stalls and in front of the communion table is a superb Flemish brass – but for a long time no-one knew who had paid for such a splendid memorial. The small inscription states that Oswald Dykes, a rector at Wensley in the 17th century, was interred there.

It was the Rev James Raine² in the mid-1850s who solved the puzzle of who was the first occupant of that grave. For Dykes had requested in his will that he should be interred under the stone where “Sir Symond Wenslow was buried”. Sir Symond Wenslow was Sir Simon de Wenslegh upon whom the valuable and important rectory of Wensley was conferred by the Scrope family in the 14th century.

For Penny, however, there is at least one very modern puzzle to solve. Why has the congregation grown from nine to about 35 since the church was made redundant in 2006 even though the faithful regulars stick to using the traditional Book of Common Prayer (BCP)? Only six services can be held there each year now that it is cared for the Churches Conservation Trust.

“As far as I am concerned the Churches Conservation Trust is absolutely brilliant. They have spent thousands on this church and completely re-roofed the tower. They are all so kind – and you are kept informed,” Penny said.

The church is still very much part of the community with events like the biannual flower festival, christenings, weddings and funerals being held there.

And the link with the Lords Bolton also continues. Harry commented: “ I think we attach too much importance to buildings. Christianity is about people and how we interact with each other. It’s about how we give space to everybody and tolerate everybody. That is what religion is.”

But he added: “I think it is important to continue being a church warden because there’s my family, my Scrope ancestors who endowed the church in the first place and have been very involved with it throughout – including the memorials in the church.”

So if you are passing through Wensleydale take time to stop at Wensley and visit Holy Trinity and see which stories you want to weave around the history of this fascinating church. And also take time to enjoy the footpaths through the large Bolton Hall estate with its wonderful vistas across the dale.

Sources:

1. The first run of The Beggar’s Opera began at Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre in January 1728. This theatre was abandoned in 1732 when the new Covent Garden Theatre was opened (Wikipedia).

2. Notice of a Remarkable Sepulchral Brass of Flemish Design, in the church of Wensley, Yorkshire, by Rev James Raine, principal of Neville College, Newcastle upon Tyne, published in The Archaeological Journal, vol 12 in 1855. He stated that the brass “represents an ecclesiastic with a chalice and the host laid upon his breast. The priestly vestments are most beautifully executed…” Raine noted that as so many wanted to be interred in churches this was not unusual and that altar tombs and stone coffins appeared to be used again “without the slightest scruple”.

http://www.archive.org/stream/archaeologicaljo12brit/archaeologicaljo12brit_djvu.txt

also  with acknowledgement to :

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/NRY/Wensley/Wensley90.html

Above: One of the fascinating animals to be found on the 16th century oak stalls in the church.

Below: Scott Massie at Wensley Church in August.

Scott Massie’s exhibition Tales of the Dales can be viewed until January 5, 2014, at Farfield Mill which is on the A684 between Hawes and Sedbergh.  It is also possible to buy copies of his book which combines magnificent pictures with fascinating stories. These range from legends about saints, witches and fairies to forbidden tracks and haunted ravines. Definitely an unusual guide to the Yorkshire Dales!

A visit to All Saints church at Ripley inspired Doreen Mason to create a magnificent and awe inspiring mobile for Aysgarth church depicting the life-changing message of Pentecost.

“At Ripley Angela Moore and I saw this mobile of angels in their belfry which was absolutely stunning,” said Mrs Mason. When they asked Karen Evans, who created that mobile, if she would mind if they did something similar she actively encouraged them. Mrs Mason and Mrs Moore decided they would like to do something in time for Pentecost and before the vicar, the Rev Sue Whitehouse, retired.

And so Mrs Mason designed a mobile using over 500 white doves and flames. The message alongside the mobile reads: “Pentecost – ‘the fiftieth day’ was a Jewish festival to celebrate the giving of The Law on Mount Sinai. It was at this festival that the Holy Spirit (represented here by doves) descended amid tongues of flame and a rushing wind. This excited everyone and filled the Apostles with new confidence and is often referred to as the ‘Birthday of the Christian Church’.”

Mrs Mason involved many others in creating the mobile. She explained: “Most of the ladies in the congregation and the children at three local schools – at Askrigg, Bainbridge and West Burton – contributed by cutting out doves. And then Paul Markie made us a very, very nice round wooden structure to hand them from. I strung most of them and lots of people helped to put it up. And it was up before Pentecost. And then Colin Bailey lent us the floodlight.

“I am very happy with the result. If I did it again there are certain things I would do different like putting the flames in different places.”

Even so people visiting St Andrew’s do experience that Wow factor on seeing that amazing mobile. Mrs Evans visited with her husband and left a congratulatory note as have some other visitors. And one from a military base in Malta commented: “I love the children’s participating by way of collages, paintings, mobiles etc.”

For details of services at St Andrew’s, Aysgarth, see Penhill Benefice.

Photographs: Above: Mrs Mason adding “flames” to the mobile. Below: Working on the mobile, and the finished display.

Two gloriously sunny Sundays meant that the visitors who flocked to Wensley on May 26 and June 2, 2013, could thoroughly enjoy the chance to explore as much of the 17 acres of gardens at Bolton Hall as they wished. Click on the picture above to see more photos.

This was the first time the gardens had been open for several years. Lord and Lady Bolton did not charge much for admission but even so over £1,600 was raised for local churches and a hospice. (Sadly, Lady Bolton died on May 16, 2016 – truly a lovely lady and much missed. See below)

On May 26 £830 was raised for Redmire and Castle Bolton churches, and the following Sunday £750 for St Teresa’s Hospice. In addition the hospice volunteers raised £420 by selling scones and teas to those visiting the gardens.

“These are not manicured gardens – they are fun gardens,” said Lord Bolton. For these days they rely on just one estate gardener – Jason Hanslip – to help them compared with 25 when the Georgian garden was created.

There were two gardeners when Lord and Lady Bolton moved into the Hall in 2002 and began restoring the gardens. Of the Italianate garden then Lady Bolton said: “You could not distinguish the lawn from the borders and the path. We rediscovered the side borders ..and we replanted the big borders by the terrace.”

On the first of the three terraces they created a vegetable patch because the old kitchen garden was about half a mile away. She loves to grow herbs and vegetables from the seeds she has collected herself. “It is really satisfying. You feel you have achieved something,” she commented.

The two gardens which needed the most work were the “secret garden” and the arboretum. They found the latter overgrown with self-seeded trees which Lord Bolton cleared. For the open days that old Pleasure Garden was awash in bluebells and many other wild plants including primroses, daisies and red campion.

The “secret garden” with its small waterfall, ponds and the almost tropical exuberance of its plants again enchanted visitors. It was in 1905 that the then Lord Bolton decided to change part of the Italianate garden into a rock garden and made it his own secret place. But in 2002 it was completely overgrown and the pond had silted up. The rocks and paths were hidden by weeds and debris.

Lord Bolton helped with the heavy work and removed fallen and damaged trees. This had then made it possible to see the magnificent great Cedar of Lebanon trees on the west side of the garden.

A group of friends (Helen Francis, Hilary Stirling, and Eithne Cunningham) joined Lady Bolton in the painstaking work of clearing the overgrowth. Some of the ferns in the original rock garden had survived, including the unusual Royal Fern.

Those who visited the gardens this time thoroughly appreciated how that garden had developed – and the way in which care had been taken to retain as many wild flowers as possible.

Below: Lord Bolton giving directions to a visitor. 

Farewell:

Over 650 people gathered at Wensley Church on May 26, 2016, to celebrate and give thanks for the life of Lady “Pip” Bolton. It was a beautiful service graced by some haunting solos by Charity Schofield.

The church has so often been graced by the floral arrangements prepared by Lady Bolton for the flower festivals there. For me the most inspirational – and the one I thought about so much during the service – was that she created in 2003 (shown below).

Her son, Nick, read the poem, “You Can Shed Tears That She is Gone.” One verse states: “Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her, or you can be full of the love you shared.”

Those who accepted the invitation to go to Bolton Hall afterwards were surrounded by the beautiful gardens she helped to create. But even in giving thanks for a life so fully lived, often in raising thousands of pounds for charity and in helping others, it was still difficult to accept that she had left so soon.

Harry Lord Bolton died on Jun 10 2023, aged 69. He is survived  by his second wife, Valerie, whom he married in 2019, and by his three sons, Tom, Ben and Nick  and eight grandchildren.

I feel honoured to have known – and become a friend of – Boris and Clare Anderson. Their small cottage in Aysgarth became a haven for me when I first settled in this village in Wensleydale in 1990. And they were both delighted to act as ad hoc tutors when I began my Open University studies. It didn’t take long before they shared with me their passion for Taiwan and Taiwanese self-determination. Below are the obituaries I have written for our local newspaper about them. (Photo:  Boris and Clare in their back garden in March 2008)

The Rev Dr Boris Anderson  (August 1918- April 2013)

Senior representatives of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan (PCT) flew to England to attend the funeral and thanksgiving service at Zion United Reformed Church in Northallerton for the Rev Dr Boris Anderson (94) on Friday, April 26. They joined many from in and around Aysgarth, Wensleydale, where he had lived for over 30 years.

The Rev Jen-Kuei Lo, the Vice Moderator of the General Assembly of the PCT, explained that Dr Anderson had given the best part of his life to Taiwan, spoke beautiful Taiwanese, loved that country more than the Taiwanese did, and firmly believed that Taiwan did not belong to either Japan or China. His tribute was translated by his wife, Li-Ju Lo.

Dr Anderson and his wife Clare had been sent as Presbyterian missionaries to Fujian Province in China in 1946 following their marriage in 1945. But they were moved to Taiwan in 1948 at the request of the Rev Dr Shoki Coe who was the principal of the Tainan Theological College and Seminary following its re-opening after the 2nd World War. Dr Anderson became the vice principal and taught New Testament studies.

The Rev Lo said they were modern missionaries who refused to live apart from the Taiwanese. They fully supported Dr Coe and Taiwanese self-determination even in times of danger. The present Dean of the college, the Rev Dr Chhong-Fat Chen, said that Dr Anderson had contributed to both the church and society in Taiwan.

But as soon as a Taiwanese was academically ready to take over Dr Anderson stepped down and returned with his family to England in 1963 where he became the secretary of the Presbyterian Church’s Overseas Mission Committee.

The Rev Ray Adams told the congregation that Dr Anderson had played a key role in defining the way the United Reformed Church related to churches overseas when the Presbyterians and Congregationalists merged in 1972. The Andersons, he said, led the way in showing that missionaries could work under the leadership of nationals, supporting their work whole heartedly, and never being isolated or superior. And as he travelled around the world attending international church meetings Dr Anderson was sympathetic and often prophetic. He was committed to justice and peace, and he and his wife continued to support the Taiwanese in their quest for self-determination.

Dr Anderson’s son-in-law, Philip Spencer, commented: “He was a remarkable man. It was a great privilege to talk to him, to listen to him and to learn from him.” The service included poems read by Dr Anderson’s grandchildren, Reuben and Rosa, and tributes from friends in Australia and former students in Taiwan.

Then his daughter, Jane, spoke of how he had been born in Hull in August 1918 into the family of a Presbyterian minister. From his father he gained a love for theology but it was from his artistic, well-read mother that he acquired his love for music, literature and art. He learnt to play the flute well and could quote large passages of Shakespeare (and Chaucer). One of the most formative experiences in his life was living in Jarrow at the time of the great march, for his father became the minister to a church there in 1934.

He studied at Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1937 to 1940 and then theology at Westminster College at Cambridge. It was at the latter that he met Clare and Dr Coe. His friendship with Dr Coe was strengthened when he was studying Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

The Andersons two children, Jane and Robin, were born in Taiwan and his daughter recalled their happy childhood there. They enjoyed his adventurous approach to life and she added: “He was such a warm, intelligent, funny person – and an enthralling story teller.” (Robin died in June 1976.)

After Dr Anderson retired he and his wife visited many of the Presbyterian churches and old friends overseas. He was an inspiring preacher and his ministry was much appreciated at Low Row United Reformed Church in Swaledale and at Aysgarth Methodist chapel. The Andersons took part in many village events but as Clare’s health deteriorated he dedicated himself to caring for her. She died in May 2008.

His daughter especially thanked those who had helped him during the last few years: the staff and doctors at Aysgarth surgery; his friends in the Wensleydale and chapel communities; and the carers who were with him each day.

The Rev Lan Ting Fang, the managing editor of the Taiwan Church Press, attended the service as a representative of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan and as a reporter. There will be a memorial service for Dr Anderson at Tainan Theological College and Seminary on May 26.

The Rev Malcolm Smith officiated at the services at Darlington Crematorium and at the church in Northallerton.

Clare Anderson (June 1923- May 2008)

Courageous, clever, zany, funny, generous and stylish were all used to describe Clare Anderson at her funeral at Northallerton United Reformed Church on Friday, May 16, 2008. Her bravery was seen not only in how she battled against ill health in the latter part of her life but also in how, as a young woman, she travelled with her husband, the Rev Dr Boris Anderson, to a remote part of China in 1946 and later supported the Taiwanese in their fight for democracy and independence.

Those from mid Wensleydale who attended the funeral were fascinated to hear about her life before she and her husband retired to Aysgarth in 1983.They heard Ms Yuehwen Lu, the representative of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, thank those in England who had sent such wonderful, dedicated missionaries to her country.

Mrs Anderson was born in Angel, Islington in June 1923. Her father was a Presbyterian minister and his family moved with him to Chalfont St Giles, Nottingham and then to Birmingham. During the 2nd World War while she was studying Classics at Newnham College, Cambridge, one of her brothers was serving with the Friends Ambulance Unit in China. She first met Dr Anderson while at Newnham College and they married in 1945.

Dr Anderson had been studying Chinese in preparation for work as a Presbyterian missionary to Fujian Province in China. It took them a year to find single berths on a troop ship. After two years in China they were transferred to Taiwan where Dr Anderson was appointed vice principal of the recently re-opened Tainan Theological College and Seminary.

While Dr Anderson lectured on New Testament theology Mrs Anderson taught New Testament Greek and Shakespearian poetry. This led to an invitation for her to lecture in Greek and Latin classics at Cheng-Kung University. Taiwan at that time was a virtual police state under the KMT government and Mrs Anderson knew there were political spies in her classes. In Taiwan she is now famous for having courageously gone ahead with lectures on Sophocles’ Antigone with its message about the rights of an individual in a totalitarian state.

She also became famous for how she, with others, made sure that the truth about the “Formosa Incident” in 1979 was widely reported. She published a small book under a pseudonym in support of the democracy and independence movements in Taiwan and the release of political prisoners. By then the Andersons were back in London having left Taiwan in 1963.

In the mid 1970s she moved from teaching to community work, first with Ghanaians and then with the Chinese community. They bought the cottage in Aysgarth in 1969 and the friendships they developed there and in London helped them through the devastating loss of their son, Robin, in a drowning accident in June 1976, aged 21.

Mrs Anderson regularly played the organ at Aysgarth Methodist chapel until forced to stop due to ill health. They enjoyed making music both together and with friends. She also loved walking in the dales and continued her hobbies of collecting fossils and stones and gardening. In her 70s she successfully took up photography.

At the funeral those who described her life and her warm generosity which won her so many friends were her sister, Alison Smith, and her daughter, Jane. Two of her poems (from her book Sad, Mad, Good, Bad published in 1999) were read by her grandchildren, Rosa and Reuben. The Rev Malcolm Smith officiated and read the Bible readings.

More facts:

Dr Anderson was secretary of the Overseas Mission Committee  of the Presbyterian church of England from 1964 to 1983, and then secretary of the World Church and Mission Department of the United Reformed Church from 1972 to 1983.

In 1972 he wrote The Future of Taiwan; and in 1994 he edited Shoki Coe’s Recollections and Reflections.

Clare wrote Taiwanese Voice in 1980 to provide information in English about the Kao-hsiung Incident (the ‘Formosa Incident’) in December 1979. This was published by the British Council of Churches under her pseudonym of Anne Ming.

In England both worked closely with the “Taiwanese Christians for Self-Determination” movement.

Below: The Andersons outside their home in Aysgarth. Boris enjoyed telling the story about a local man visiting them soon after they bought the cottage who told them that it was the worst dwelling in the village. They turned it into a cosy, friendly home.

Graham and Mary Watts directed and produced the very popular Farmhouse Kitchen series on Yorkshire Television from 1971 to 1989. Mary edited several cookbooks using the recipes collected for that series including The Complete Farmhouse Kitchen Cook Book. On February 24, 2013, they held an all-day party at their home in Askrigg, Wensleydale, to celebrate Graham’s 90th birthday. I later interviewed them about their life together: –

Mary was thoroughly frustrated. “It took me six hours to get travel insurance,” she commented. And all because her husband, Graham, had just had his 90th birthday. As if that stopped them from wanting to fly to far-away places or to go sailing on the high seas this summer.

They sailed around the world – just the two of them – in a 36ft steel boat when Graham was 73-years-old. The two years spent meticulously researching that journey helped him come to terms with retiring when he was 70-years-old. By then he and Mary had lived and worked together for nearly 35 years.

The Complete Farmhouse Kitchen Cook Book, that Mary edited from recipes sent in for the cookery series they created for Yorkshire ITV in the 1970s is still getting five star reviews on Amazon. Mary, who originally trained as a typist, began her career in commercial television in Australia.

After moving to England she worked her way up from being production assistant and secretary to the Religious Advisory Committee at Yorkshire TV to being a researcher and then the producer of the cookery programme of which Graham was the director. “It was our programme really from start to finish,” Mary said. It became very popular because it showed people how to make good, decent nutritious food economically.

They started that programme about the time that they got married and bought Gaudy House near Hawes in Wensleydale. “It was without electricity, without telephone and without TV unless we ran a cable from the battery in the car,” Mary remembered. They sold Gaudy House in 1999 and moved a few miles across the dale to a house in Askrigg.

Back in 1983 they had gone freelance and set up their own production company. This proved to be so profitable that they could work in the winter and spend their summers sailing. That lasted until Graham retired but he commented recently about his directing work: “I would love to have a go again now.”

Graham’s career began inauspiciously as he left school with no qualifications. He did, however, have a great interest in radio and his father got him to apply for a job at the BBC in late 1940. After a short while with the BBC he joined the radar section of the Army’s Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. At the end of the war he worked with the Forces Broadcasting first in Germany and then in Sri Lanka. He rejoined the BBC in 1947.

When ITV started he joined Rediffusion TV, the first commercial television company in Britain and by the time he was 30 he was a programme director. He thoroughly enjoyed producing and directing a wide range of programmes, including outside broadcasting, of major events, coverage of Budgets and planned the entire ITV set-up for Winston Churchill’s funeral. He regularly worked 12-hour days seven days a week. “I don’t think I have ever worked so hard,” he said about his early years in commercial TV – and added: “We enjoyed it all”.

If his directing years are behind him his sailing days certainly aren’t. They now have a 38ft boat and he explained: “We can manage that between the two of us. If we are making longish trips involving overnight we like to have a third person with us.”

So, after they have visited friends and relations in Australia and New Zealand, they will be, with the help of friends, sailing to Norway, Denmark and Sweden where Bill, his son, makes films and has a family.

Graham died at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, on Friday June 12 – he will be greatly missed.

The memorable crossroads in the life of Elizabeth Anne Brett were remembered at her Thanksgiving Service at St Andrew’s Church, Aysgarth, on Tuesday, 5th February 2013.

Elizabeth was just two years old in 1924, the youngest of five girls, when her father died and her mother sold their fruit farm in Paarl, South Africa, and took up a position as matron at the Diocesan College (Bishops), a boys’ public school in Cape Town.

She lived with her mother at the school and this was where she met and fell in love with the head boy who was sadly killed on active service with British Forces during the war.

Some years later, a young army Captain, Harold Brett, whose brother taught at Bishops, passed through Cape Town en route to Burma. Elizabeth corresponded with Harold for three years and in 1945 she bravely and clandestinely boarded a troop ship en route to England. She was only given 12 hours’ notice of the ship’s secret departure and could not tell anyone because the Japanese were still bombing Allied shipping. They were married that same year at Church Stretton in Shropshire.

Harold remained in the regular army until 1951 when he and Elizabeth bought a farm on the Isle of Wight. There they spent six years working hard together, and raising three children. In the following years they made three more moves before settling in Harrogate.

In 1978 they moved again – this time to Yoredale House in Aysgarth. Harold stocked what was then the village shop with everything everyone could possibly need while Elizabeth ran a successful bed and breakfast business and catered admirably for weary travellers, lone walkers and the happy families who visited year after year.

In 1982 they retired to Green Bank in West Burton but Harold died six months later. When the upkeep of Green Bank became too much, Elizabeth acquired the neighbouring field and had her final home built – Field House. It was there that she died on 27th January aged 90.

The Rev Canon Sue Whitehouse remembered her wonderful smile and her mischievous sense of humour and recounted that she rarely thought of herself but was always caring for the happiness and well-being of everyone around her.

Elizabeth was a kind and gentle lady, warm and welcoming to all, with a smile that warmed many hearts. She was good at all those ‘mother’ crafts – cooking, baking wonderful cakes and fudge, sewing and knitting. She designed her own tapestries and became an accomplished painter of watercolours.

She loved all animals and was never without her beloved spaniels. A keen gardener, she grew all manner of plants, in particular the lavender and everlastings which were used to make many flower arrangements.

Close family at the Thanksgiving Service were her son Michael, her two daughters Sue and Barbara, and her grandchildren Dan and Lizzie.

Above: An animal depicting the evil of back biting.  Click on this photograph for more pictures of  the flowers and animals in the frieze of the Jervaulx Screen.

The medieval Jervaulx Screen is one of the most fascinating and beautiful objects at St Andrew’s church, Aysgarth. When studying it closely I can’t help wondering what those in the Ripon School of Carvers had in mind when they created some of the fabulous animals and fruits that have been included in its frieze.

By standing on the Victorian choir seats and using a 70-300mm lens I got a completely new perspective and appreciation of their craftsmanship. It is believed that the frieze was intended to impress upon the lay brethren at the Cisterician monastery at Jervaulx the perils of falling into the sins of the world such as back biting and being caught up in the snares of lust.

Even all the beautiful foliage and fantastic fruit were a warning about sin. In his essay about the Screen, which is on sale at St Andrew’s, Barry Thornton explained: “The leaves represented untamed nature and therefore Sin. The idea that nature represented God’s handiwork as in ‘All things bright and beautiful’ was a 19th century perception. In medieval times nature’s creatures were seen as red in tooth and claw, a vicious world where animal characteristics could be applied to man.’

And so the dragon, representing evil, is also shown sticking out his tongue. This was intended as a reminder that people ought to be quiet in God’s house. A creature is shown biting and therefore tasting the leaves of sin, and antelopes have their horns entangled in the bushes of sin. These would have been warnings to avoid the evils of strong drink and other sins.

To those in medieval times all the animals would have had meanings. These were so well known throughout Christian Europe that there no complete written record was made of them. So much was, therefore, forgotten once ordinary people could read the Bible for themselves and didn’t depend upon priests and craftsmen to explain or illustrate the “message”.

The barrel (tun) shown in one of the photographs of the intricate carving on the screen was the rebus (logo) of William de Heslington who became Abbot at Jervaulx in 1472. So it is possible that the screen was commissioned – as a Rood Screen – during his tenure as Abbot. This rebus was also carved on the Vicar’s Stall which is now at Aysgarth church.

For more about how the Jervaulx Screen and the Vicar’s Stall came to be at Aysgarth church see  A personal view.

Below: In medieval times it was believed that an elephant had no knees and could carry a castle on its back.

For the school children of Wensleydale and Swaledale the visit of the Olympic Torch to Aysgarth Falls on June 20 was a very special occasion thanks to the torchbearers, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, the Police and many others, including parents and teachers.  The torchbearers at Aysgarth Falls were Lucy Gale  (left), Caroline Curtis and 89-years-old Maurice  Collett.

Official school groups from Arkengarthdale, Reeth with Gunnerside, Bainbridge and West Burton lined  part of the National Park’s car park above those famous falls along with some of the children from Askrigg school who had been brought by their parents. And children from Middleton Tyas CofE Primary School also had a chance to see the torch at Aysgarth Falls thanks to their parents (below).

One of the big surprises was how the Police motorcyclists, in their leathers and fluorescent jackets, took time off from their duty of providing those rolling road closures (or rolloing as it was shown on the sign at Aysgarth) to enjoy themselves as impromptu cheer leaders (below).

The other surprise was to find that Caroline Curtis was not mentioned on the official London Olympics website. Only Maurice Collett and Lucy Gale, who carried the torch into the car park and on to the photo call overlooking the middle falls, were listed as being at Aysgarth. Thankfully the BBC news site did mention Caroline and showed a fantastic photograph of Maurice handing over to her on the bridge overlooking the river. For many of the children Caroline was the star of the show in the way that she spent time with them. Both she and Maurice took time to let the children touch the torch and to answer their questions.

Above – Maurice with Richmondshire District Councillor Yvonne Peacock behind  him.

The Chief Executives of the YDNPA, David Butterworth, and of Welcome to Yorkshire, Gary Verity, were there to see what an exceptional job had been done  to make it so special for the children.

The community spirit was in full swing in mid Wensleydale as dales folks prepared shared meals, organised tea parties, and just had a great time together to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond  Jubilee on Tuesday, June 5, 2012.  For more pictures click on the photo above.

In Aysgarth everyone enjoyed the sports events from the children who took part to those who watched. Our oldest residents, Anne Barlow (almost 98) and Boris Anderson (93)  were there for a while but, although it didn’t rain, it was a bit cold for them.

Many of the houses in Carperby were decorated while Doreen Mason, with the help of David Bains,  turned the village cross into a regal affair. They even did some recycling for the crown was fixed onto a section of a shower overflow tank. At Carperby and at Askrigg children received jubilee mugs specific to their own villages.

The festivities in Askrigg lasted all weekend with special church services, children’s sports and a fancy dress parade on the Monday and then the street party on the cobbles outside the church on the Tuesday. It was fun walking around the village following the scarecrow trail.

In Redmire Phil Oliver rescued a crown from his attic which last saw the light of day on the Queen’s last jubilee. And at Thornton Rust a Morris Minor proudly waited outside the village hall while its owners and most of the villagers enjoyed a jubilee bring and share tea.

Leeds Morris Men organised their own diamond jubilee tour of the Yorkshire Dales on the Saturday and Bank Holiday Monday which included other groups. The Briggate Morris female dancers (below) came to Aysgarth twice, accompanied by the Whitchurch Morris Men and Heartsease, the ladies group from around St Neots.

Above: The founders of Leyburn’s Dales Festival of Food & Drink with Richard Whiteley in May 2004. From the left (the late) Keith Knight, (the late) Richard Whiteley, Ann Hodgson, Margaret Knight and Gerald Hodgson. Below is a feature I wrote in April 2003 about how the festival began, followed by photographs  from 2002, 2003 and 2004.

The Festival was so successful that from 2004 until 2015 it was held in a field on the east  side of Leyburn. It was then moved back into Leyburn Market Place  but in March 2020 the partnership which organised the event issued this statement: “The event had remained popular with the public but the absence of an entry charge made it impossible to cover costs.

“The directors of the Leyburn and Mid Wensleydale Partnership wish to thank the festival’s supporters, many generous sponsors and an army of volunteers, whose efforts enabled the event to happen and to be the big success it was for many years.”

Driving into Leyburn in Wensleydale for the first day of the Dales Festival of Food & Drink in 2002 was an amazing experience. The town centre was so full of people that  one little boy commented: “It’s just like London.”  During the foot and mouth epidemic the year before Leyburn had been almost like a ghost town and a pall of smoke and depression had hung over Wensleydale. But four local people were determined to help kick start the dales economy.

Over 15,000 attended that first festival and it has become an important annual event in North Yorkshire and beyond. I interviewed Keith and Margaret Knight and Gerald and Ann Hodgson in April 2003 for their story about the founding of the festival and this was published in the Darlington and Stockton Times.  To mark the 10th anniversary here is that story:

Good friendships and the hands-on approach were major factors in the success of the first Festival of Food and Drink in Leyburn, Wensleydale, in 2002. And at the heart of the team were four people with a vision: Ann and Gerald Hodgson and Margaret and Keith Knight. It all started with Ann being irritated by the way urban politicians and planners viewed the countryside.

“I got terribly upset listening to instructions to farmers that they had to change their lives and that the countryside should be a large pleasure ground for the tourists. And all these farmers were going to have to change their way of life by applying for grants. That upset me again. Most of the farmers were born around here. They love and understand the land and how to use it, and have great animal husbandry skills. All this knowledge is so important and not to be just packaged up and changed. We have this wonderful countryside – let’s use it.

“Let’s tell everyone we are good farmers, that we provide excellent food and everyone can come to Leyburn and buy it. We should have a food festival I said. I was thinking more about the flower and wine festivals in Europe. I used Gerald as a sounding board.”

This was just after Margaret Knight started her two year stint as chairman of the Leyburn and Mid Wensleydale Business Association. So Gerald told her about Ann’s idea. They also shared it with Richard and Jacqueline Wells who told them there was an annual food festival at Ludlow. At their own expense, the Hodgsons and Knights headed for Ludlow just a few weeks later.

“We had a lovely time and were very impressed,” commented Mrs Knight. “I walked around with a pad of paper and if I saw a good idea I would make a note of it. Those notes were the foundation of our planning.”

“But we never thought we could do as well,” added her husband, Keith.

“That festival had been running for eight years and had worked up to 12,000 visitors,” said Mr Hodgson. “It had clearly had a considerable impact upon the town of Ludlow which has become a nationally renowned centre for good food. We noted good ideas and added our own. It was held in the centre of the town and that seemed very important because that created a great atmosphere. They had made only a small effort to involve the farming community but we wanted to involve the farmers in a more meaningful way.”

They also wanted to make sure that all local businesses benefited. But they never thought they would do as well as Ludlow in their first year. “We expected a total of 8,000 people and we got 15,000,” said Mr Hodgson.

Mrs Knight, as chairman of the business association, got the ball rolling by organising an open meeting. Among those invited were representatives of the local churches. “We thought we had done a fair amount of work but St Matthew’s scored four tries,” said Mrs Knight. “They suggested the band concert, flowers in the church, refreshments and that lovely cookery book. The Methodists also organised food and a pudding tasting competition.”

“The business association was a great help because they said they would bank roll it. Without that we would not have been able to go ahead,” said Mr Knight. They decided to look for funding because with that they could plan with more confidence, including ordering the marquees. In the end they received £20,000 from various agencies as they emphasised the need to counteract the devastating effects of the foot and mouth epidemic in 2001.  Even so, as Mrs Hodgson said, it was an ambitious decision to go for a three-day event. “People could not envisage what we were trying to do. They could not believe it. That was the worse moment for me. I thought it was going to fail.”

“In January and February 2002 we debated if we should pull the plug on the whole thing,” said Mr Knight. “We had no idea how many people would come. It was a leap of faith.But all were used to facing tough times.

Mr Knight had been a train control system consultant and they had lived quite a transient life before moving back to England after five years in the States. They looked at properties in the Lake District and the dales and found something suitable in Leyburn.At first they had a bread and breakfast business but this almost came to a standstill during the miners’ strike. They were facing bankruptcy when the local vicar pointed out there was a need for good quality residential care for the elderly.

“It was a complete gamble,” commented Mr Knight. But it worked well right through to their retirement in 2002. The Hodgson’s retired in 2001when they sold Copley Decor in Leyburn to their long term business colleague, Bruce Storr.

“We first came to Leyburn 25 years ago and started that business in an outbuilding beside our house,” said Mr Hodgson. When that was moved to a premises on Leyburn business estate Mrs Hodgson was busy developing a special idea of her own in those same outbuildings. She came from a textile background in Bradford but as a young woman was thoroughly frustrated that the whole wool trade only employed women as secretaries or tea makers.

In the dales she was fascinated by the Wensleydale Longwool sheep. “They have a magnificent fleece. Its probably the world’s finest  lustre wool,” she said.  At that time the breed was in decline. She said that the main way to promote it was to use the wool. And so she started the Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Shop, which is now run by Ann Bolam and Ruth Tombleson at Garriston near Leyburn. Under Ann’s guidance the shop twice won an International Quality award from the British Wool Marketing Board.

The Hodgsons and the Knights were also encouraged to keep going in 2002 by the rest of the steering committee set up to organise the festival. “David Berry, Alistair Davy and Elizabeth Hird were just great,” commented Mr Hodgson. “Another major contributor was Mavis Parry who joined the team as the representative of Leyburn Town Council.” In the end about 35 people were involved besides the small army of volunteers who helped throughout the festival.

“Ann worked immensely hard to persuade people to come,” said Mr Hodgson. “It was a very big commitment for small businesses as they had to spend three days at the festival.”

His wife added: “They had to make all the preparations beforehand and there was a lo t of clearing up afterwards. We were trying to give confidence to everyone to go ahead.  But we had to proceed with it. It was really worthwhile not just for us but for the whole area.” And all their hard work did pay off for not only was that first festival a big success but everyone who had a stand in the food hall last year returned in 2003. And more booked to join them.

“I would love to see the festival being automatically included on everyone’s calendar just as the Yorkshire Show is,” said Mrs Hodgson.  To which Mrs Knight added: “We also want the local people to have a good time.” Their ultimate aim was summed up by the Hodgsons: “We want Leyburn to become nationally recognised as a centre of good food based on the wholesome production of the surrounding countryside.”

Margaret Knight spent most of the first festival wearing an apron as she was so busy making sure that the theatre marquee was clean and tidy for each demonstration. She was still cleaning up the day after the festival – and was spotted “shut in” the market shelter. Her husband and the Hodgsons all helped with tidying up afterwards – and for the Hodgsons that included moving a rather sorry looking “sheep”.

Among the special guests  in 2002 were Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott who signed copies of their books. Derek Kettlewell of Raydale Preserves has been among those who have regularly had stalls in the main marquee. And Andrew Thwaite had his Wensleydale family there to help at his chocolate stall including his grandmother, Isabel Robinson, and his mother (right) Gillian Thwaite.

Richard Whiteley joined Andrew Thwaite in the theatre marquee during the 2003 festival for lessons in how to make chocolate much to the delight of a packed audience. “It was great fun. I’ve never made chocolates before and I thoroughly enjoyed myself,” Mr Whiteley said.

Below: Rick Stein was one of the guests at the 2003 festival where he enjoyed sampling the roast pork at the Mainsgill Farmshop stand and trying his hand at Craske’s traditional shooting gallery. Gerald Hodgson took good care of him during his visit to Leyburn.  Also pictured: Local estate agent Brian Carlisle with all those balloons, and the young four-legged star of the farming marquee.

The festival in the field east of Leyburn

After the 2003 festival it was decided to move to a field on the outskirts of Leyburn for the festival had already outgrown the town’s market square. This new site has proved to be a big success as it provides plenty of space of the large marquees as well as room (on warm, dry days) for families to sit on the grass and relax.

Also photographed in 2004: Richard Whiteley after a cookery lesson with Peter Ball of Darlington College; Gervaise Phinn book signing; and Ffion Hague tasting honey watched by her husband, William Hague MP.

To many in Wensleydale Irene Morton, who died aged 59-years on March 4, 2012, will be remembered for the way she supported so many local groups during the 30 years that she lived in that dale. But her family and friends will especially remember her bravery and great sense of humour during the time that she had motor neurone disease.

Irene was born in Clifton, York, in August 1952 and attended Queen Anne’s Grammar School before going to Farnborough College to do business studies. She then worked for three years at the office of Dunlop Tyres UK at Newcastle. In 1975 she was able to move back to York when she successfully applied to the Gofton’s accountancy firm. It was there that she met John Morton and they set up home together in April 1979.

In 1980 Gofton’s took over an accountancy firm which had offices in Leyburn and Thirsk and the Morton’s moved to Wensleydale. The links with the York office were severed a few years later and a new partnership was formed. Irene retired from the Barker Partnership in November 2010 due to the onset of motor neurone disease.

During her 30 years in Wensleydale she had not only been extremely supportive of her husband in all that he did including as a member of the local Round Table and Rotary clubs but also of all the activities that their son, Toby, was involved in such as the Beavers, the Scouts and Leyburn primary school. She served the Wensleydale Ladies Circle as secretary, treasurer and chairman at various times, and then as president for a while after she became a member of the Wensleydale Tangent Club. She was passionate about gardening and the new house they moved into at Wensley 1985 gave her ample opportunity to enjoy  creating a beautiful garden and home.

The Morton’s moved in 2010 to Leyburn into a bungalow altered to provide her with many facilities and much enjoyment and it was there that she died very peacefully on March 4. The Mortons were a couple who worked and played together. They enjoyed skiing and sailing holidays and for many years had part shares in boats, firstly on Lake Windermere and then at Menorca and finally in Greece. They also loved visiting Madeira. They were members of the National Trust which provided her with an opportunity not only to see great houses but also to explore beautiful gardens. She never lost her love of watching nature programmes on TV, nor of those about house buying and renovation.

At the funeral service at Holy Trinity church, Wensley, on March 15, the Rev Sue Whitehouse thanked, on John’s behalf, the friends and carers who had helped his wife during the past two years. Half of the collection at the service was given to the Motor Neurone Disease Association. The close family at the funeral were: John Morton (husband); Toby Morton (son); Linda and Michael Rheinberg (sister and brother-in-law); Rita Walls (sister), her daughter Lisa Walls, and grandson Denzil; and Jackie and Malcolm Coggan (sister-in-law and her husband).

John has provided some more photographs: Irene at her 55th birthday party; with her sister Linda during a sailing holiday around the Greek islands; at Catherine Ford’s wedding, l-r Ruth Biker, Joyce Sunter, David Ford (with Joan Ford behind him), Irene and John; at one of her favourite places – St Katarina’s Gardens in Madeira overlooking the port; and with friends George and Helen Bennett and Linda and David Milner. I took the photo of her in late 2011 with Jacky Warden and Jacky’s granddaughter, Keira.