Final race of season at Ripon Racecourse
For racegoers, the 2020 season at Ripon has been a non-starter, with the action on course staged behind closed doors.
Today the lockdown season comes to a close with a seven-race card.
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down horseracing across the UK in March – a month before the course was due to hold its first meeting of the season.
When a curtailed calendar finally got underway on the evening of 20 June it, and all subsequent meetings, had to be held without racegoers present.
Before the coronavirus crisis dealt the horseracing industry a giant blow, Ripon’s garden course, in its 120th year at the Boroughbridge Road venue, was looking forward to a 17-meeting season.
Empty racegoer car parks tell their own story
In a normal year, the track attracts thousands of people through its gates – both local and from further afield – with the highlight of its calendar being the Great St Wilfrid Handicap in August.
As the season concludes with the 17.40 Lloyd Land Rover Ripon Apprentice Handicap, the public’s return to sporting events remains delayed, following announcements by the government.
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA), in a statement earlier this week, said that racecourses across the UK are facing a loss in revenue of between £250 million and £300 million this year, adding:
“Our industry is now facing a severe threat. We are the second most attended spectator sport in the country. Without the millions of people who normally enjoy a day at the races, many people’s jobs are at serious risk, as are the businesses they work in.
“We have kept the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments updated on the financial impact of COVID and the effects on the rural economies in which so many of our racing staff live and work.”
Read more:
Before the first behind-closed-doors meeting in June, clerk of the course and managing director of Ripon Racecourse Company, James Hutchinson told the Stray Ferret:
“There’s no point in looking back at what didn’t happen, we’d rather look forward and hope that it won’t be long before we can open our gates to racegoers once more.”
With the next season seven months away, all involved with running the course, are hoping the roar of the Ripon crowd will be heard yet again in 2021.
Pandemic poem passes test for Ripon studentA Ripon Grammar School student has won an award for her use of poetry to express feelings about the cancellation of this year’s GCSE exams.
Rebecca Edwards, 16, explained how her poem called An Epidemic of Emotions captured her feelings during lockdown. She said:
“I felt quite pointless after our exams were cancelled. After years of work and preparation we were being sent home empty-handed.”
While the daily routine of being cooped up at home was dull and repetitive, she was heartened by acts of kindness, such as the clapping for carers and small gifts and messages from friends and family:
“My friends and my community went above and beyond. I will be eternally grateful for the love and support of my friends and family at that time.”
Studying English literature, design technology, physics and maths at A-level, Rebecca hopes to become a graphic designer.
Ripon Grammar School
Former RGS student Dr Paul Hullah, professor of poetry at Tokyo’s Meiji Gakuin University and sponsor of the school’s annual Hullah Poetry Trophy competition, described Rebecca’s work as ‘magical and masterful.’
He felt the poem offered hope for the future and added:
“Let’s write ourselves out of these scary and strangest of times.”
Read more:
Rebecca’s poem was selected from the category for students. Dorothy Wood, a parent, won the community section award with her entry, My Journey’s a Day, which reflected on ageing and Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr Hullah commented:
“It made me cry. When poems do that, you know they’ve struck a chord. All the chords struck here are plangent, poignant, and greatly inspirational.”
Fleeting moments
Former RGS student Mrs Wood, from Burton Leonard, whose three older children all attended RGS, where daughter Catherine is in Year 11, fondly remembers her old English teacher Mrs Carrick, saying she was ‘inspirational.’
A qualified accountant, who now runs a gymnastics club, she said witnessing the sad decline of a relative suffering from the dehumanising and painful condition of Alzheimer’s informed her poem. She said:
“I was particularly inspired by the precious, fleeting moments when we glimpse the strong and capable person the sufferer once was, and still is somewhere deep within.”
Vandalism closes Ripon playgroundA vandal attack has caused the closure of the Grove Lane children’s play area in Ripon.
A rubberised surface designed to soften falls for children playing on the swings has been damaged and the area will remain closed for weeks until it is repaired.
All Ripon city councillors were informed of the vandalism on Wednesday, after Jennifer Love, Harrogate Borough Council’s (HBC) technical officer for parks and playgrounds, contacted the city council.
In an email, she said:
“Unfortunately I have been forced to close and lock up Grove Lane Play area due to vandalism of the safety surfaces.
“I will arrange the repairs, but it could take a few weeks to resolve and the repair will cost over £2,000.”
Anybody who witnessed suspicious activity in the area of the playground is asked to contact the police on 101.
Ward councillor and the leader of Ripon City Council, Andrew Williams, said:
“It is very sad that mindless morons with nothing better to do have closed the play area intended for local children. I welcome that Harrogate Borough Council will repair and get the play area open again, but this is council tax that could have been better spent given the current economic climate.”
The Grove Lane play area where the rubberised surface has been damaged.
The attack on the play area is the latest incident in a spate of vandalism and other antisocial behaviour in Ripon.
In recent weeks, a number of city centre premises have had windows vandalised, graffiti containing an obscenity was daubed on a wall in close proximity to the cathedral and fly tippers dumped old furniture and rubbish on a secluded green area on Stonebridgegate.
Read more:
Earlier this year, Ripon police called for parents to be more vigilant to help tackle anti-social behaviour in the city,
Making a direct appeal for assistance, Sergeant Clare Mayes of North Yorkshire Police’s Ripon Neighbourhood Policing Team said:
“Parents, please take responsibility and find out where your children have been, what they’ve been up to and who they have been with – before you receive a knock on the door from a police officer.“
Ripon’s Leeds Building Society branch to close
Sign of the times. The Leeds Building Society branch in Ripon is closing.
Ripon Post Office van receives parking ticketRipon’s Postmistress, Amy Kaur, is seeing red after the city’s mobile Post Office vehicle received a parking ticket while a customer was being served.
Mrs Kaur said she is going to appeal against the ticket – but Harrogate Borough Council has stood by the action its employee took.
The van is currently providing services in the city, following the closure of the Post Office building in Finkle Street. It was parked in disabled bays in front of So! Bar in Old Market Place, when the traffic warden issued the £70 penalty charge notice.
Mrs Kaur told the Stray Ferret:
“I’m furious. We were busily serving people and one customer was on the vehicle when the traffic warden arrived.
“We told him we would move the van, but for safety reasons couldn’t do so while a someone was being served inside the vehicle.”
The disabled parking bays where the vehicle was parked
Gordon Royle, who manages the mobile service, added:
“I could barely believe it when he continued with issuing the ticket.
“The vehicle was located in the bays because we couldn’t park immediately outside our former premises, which were being decommissioned by a team that needed access all day.”
Read more:
Mr Royle pointed out:
“With no other option, we parked in the bays, which were the only safe place for the large queue of people waiting to be served.”
With social distancing measures strictly adhered to, customers wearing masks were allowed onto the vehicle one at a time.
The mobile unit is normally used to serve people living in outlying villages in the Ripon area, but is temporarily remaining in the city until September 28 when new Post Office premises are due to be opened in The Arcade.
A spokesperson for Harrogate Borough Council said:
“We received no prior communication from the Post Office that their branch would be closing and they planned on providing a temporary solution in a regularly-used disabled parking space.
“If we had, we could have suggested an alternative that would have been better for all involved and not had an impact on those who truly need the space.
“As with any penalty charge notice, anyone who believes they have received one in error can appeal via our website at: www.harrogate.gov.uk/parking.”
Rare cabmen’s shelter to return to RiponA rare Grade II listed building, dating back to the days of horse-drawn hansom cabs and Hackney carriages, is coming back to Ripon.
Following refurbishment by specialists, the cabmen’s shelter will soon be ready for its return to Market Place.
Apart from times of restoration work, the distinctive craftsman-built Edwardian structure has stood there for 109 years.
It was constructed in 1911 by Boulton and Paul of Norwich – the company that also built huts for Scott’s ill-fated Antarctic expedition of 1910-13.
Paid for with a £200 legacy from Sarah Carter, whose father was a former mayor of Ripon, the shelter has been restored on a number of occasions, including in 1980, when the city’s Royal Engineers fitted a wheeled chassis, so that it could be moved.
The latest refurbishment work and re-installation in Market Place is costing approximately £22,000.
This is where the Grade II Listed Building will be located.
Councillor Andrew Williams, the leader of Ripon City Council, told the Stray Ferret:
“We believe that it is Britain’s only moveable listed building.”
He added:
“It’s extremely rare and the city council, which took ownership of the shelter from Ripon Civic Society in 1999, is delighted that this historically-significant structure will shortly be back on Market Place, adding to our numerous heritage attractions.”
Read more:
In the days before motorised taxis, hansom cab and Hackney carriage drivers were exposed to the elements and in 1875 the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury formed the Cabmen’s Shelter Fund, so that a place of shelter and hot food could be provided for drivers as they waited to pick up fares.
The charitable fund was used to pay for shelters initially in London, but they were subsequently paid for through other means as they were installed in cities and towns across the UK.
Ripon’s cabmen’s shelter was built predominantly from timber, with ironwork balustrade and guttering and a beechwood shingled roof. In addition to its benches, an internal feature is a decorative mini-balustrade of iron fretwork in Chinese Chippendale style.
At the time of its Grade II listing in February 2009, Historic England stated:
“It is a nationally rare and well-preserved example of a cabmen’s shelter, an important reminder of the importance of horse-drawn transport in the early 20th century, supplied by the well-known firm of Boulton and Paul of Norwich.”
Ripon’s £65,000 plan to light up ChristmasRipon City Council is going to provide a £65,000 Christmas boost for retailers, residents and visitors, with a major extension of its festive lights and decorations.
The overall scheme will create a circuit covering three miles of the city’s streets.
Council leader Andrew Williams told the Stray Ferret:
“The covid 19 pandemic has made 2020 a very difficult year for many parts of our community and we hope this gives everyone an end of year lift.”
The project will see additional money spent this year on lighting and decorations, which will be extended beyond Market Place and the central retail core to the outer edges of the city centre.
Principal gateways, including the junction of North Street with Palace Road and Princess Road, with its landmark Victoria Clock Tower, will be lit up over the festive period with lights and decorations attached to lamp posts.
New Christmas lighting will extend to Hugh Ripley Hall on Skellbank
The circuit will also include Bedern Bank, Minster Road, Water Skellgate, Park Street, Blossomgate, Marshall Way, Rotary Way, Stonebridgegate, Allhallowgate and Finkle Street.
It will also extend to Skellbank and the Hugh Ripley Hall, the building named in honour of Ripon’s first mayor.
Funding for the scheme is coming from the council’s events budget, which had originally been intended to support a programme of community events throughout the year in Ripon.
These included the 75th anniversary celebrations for VE and VJ Day, and the St Wilfrid’s Day procession, that had to be either cancelled or scaled back because of the coronavirus crisis and social distancing restrictions.
Cllr Williams said:
“It was disappointing to have to cancel so many events, but public safety is of paramount importance. “
The Mayor of Ripon Councillor Eamon Parkin, who chairs the city’s Christmas Lights Group, said:
“This huge expansion is designed to help all of our retailers, hospitality businesses and heritage attractions, by making Ripon a more attractive place for shoppers and visitors alike.”
He added:
“The covid 19 pandemic has overshadowed all aspects of life since March, but after months of dark clouds, we hope to provide a silver lining, with an investment in lights and decorations that will benefit the city this year and in future years.”
Read more:
A place of healing in the heart of NidderdaleLess than 12 years ago when Katie Kavanagh was 14 weeks pregnant, her 29-year-old husband Peter was fighting for his life with stage three bowel cancer.
For the young couple looking forward to the birth of their first child, a difficult journey lay ahead, but one which took them on the path to a new way of living.
Peter’s life was saved by the treatments and care he received at the Yorkshire Clinic in Bingley, but his recovery and return to health has come through the holistic approach that he and Katie have adopted.
Katie told the Stray Ferret:
“The Yorkshire Clinic were brilliant in the way they looked after Peter and following on from this, a fundamental part of his longer-term recovery came with changing the food he had previously been eating to a plant-based diet.”
Read more:
Now with children aged 10 and 11, they have moved on from respective careers as a financial adviser and school teacher.
Peter has built a successful renewable energy company based in Knaresborough, while Katie has used the knowledge gained in supporting her husband’s recuperation to create The Acorn Wellness Retreat on the Brimham Rocks Road at Hartwith.
As part of its work, the not for profit business has links with MacMillan Cancer Support and Breast Cancer Haven.
Referrals are received from the two charities and the centre helps a number of people each year who are recovering from illness or are carers in need of respite and rejuvenation. The cost of providing the free places is covered by the revenue raised from paying clients.
A practitioner prepares to take a yoga session. (Photograph courtesy of Acorn Wellness Centre)
The retreat provides therapies that are in tune with the nature of its green and sylvan surroundings, with the natural grain of wood and a woodland theme featuring throughout its interior, complementing the grounds with its signature sycamore tree.
Since The Acorn opened in 2016, foods including vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, seeds and legumes, and containing no animal products, have been on the menu.
The other key ingredients in the holistic approach to achieving wellness are mindfulness sessions, various types of yoga, massage, sleep and relaxation therapies, supported with the use of herbal medicines, essential oils and use of rare earth stones.
Katie added:
“We have a dedicated team of practitioners who work together with the aim of creating a wheel of wellness within a calm and relaxing setting, where clients benefit from the sights and sounds of the natural environment.”
As well as helping people to recuperate after serious illness, the centre has clients who come either on their own or in groups, to relax by getting in tune with nature.
With social distancing requirements arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people receiving treatment at any one time is currently restricted to a maximum of six.
Mobile unit serves Ripon’s Post Office customersBusiness was brisk at the Post Office mobile unit in Ripon as market day shoppers brought increased footfall to the city centre.
The city’s Post Office in Finkle Street, which has been serving customers for more than 60 years, closed its doors on Wednesday evening, as preparations progress for a relocation to a unit in The Arcade off Market Place.
The mobile unit, which will be located in Old Market Place until September 28, normally serves outlying villages in the Ripon area, but will stay in the city until the opening of the new premises.
Opening hours are 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and 9am until 1pm on Saturday.
Ripon Postmistress Amy Kaur, outside the new premises in The Arcade
Postmistress Amy Kaur told The Stray Ferret:
“We are looking forward to opening in The Arcade. It’s a better location for us, because it has level access. The steps outside the old premises made access difficult for the elderly, disabled, wheelchair users and people with children in prams and pushchairs.”
Read more:
As well as providing the full range of Post Office services, the new location will include a Quidz In value store.
The mobile Post Office unit, headed by Gordon Royle, now covers more than 20 towns and villages in the Ripon area and will be back in the outlying areas from September 28.
Gordon said:
“During the current coronavirus crisis, when many people living in rural communities remained isolated in their homes and unable to travel to Ripon, the mobile service has grown in popularity.”
Hotel closures deliver blow to Ripon tourismThe Old Deanery Hotel’s closure early next year, combined with the closing of Ripon’s Spa Hotel, is a double blow to the city’s tourism sector.
As the city slowly emerges from lockdown, concerns have been raised about its future tourism prospects with a reduced choice for overnight visitors.
Tourism in Yorkshire and Humber is worth more than the whole tourism expenditure in Ireland or Denmark, while the number of people in the region employed in the sector is approximately 250,000.
Visitors are drawn to Ripon’s ancient church of St Peter and St Wilfrid, known as the Cathedral of the Dales, and the city’s heritage includes the world-famous nightly Hornblower ceremony.
As operators of visitor attractions look to the future, there are concerns about the loss of the bed spaces that they provided.
Ripon’s Prison and Police Museum
Helen Thornton, director of Ripon Museum Trust, which runs The Workshouse Museum, The Prison & Police Museum and Old Courthouse Museum, told the Stray Ferret:
“Covid-19 has impacted all tourism sectors and it is perhaps too early to say what the long-term picture will be. The closure of two hotels in Ripon is very sad and the decision must have been really hard but understandable given the circumstances we have all faced.
“I think it has long been acknowledged that a tourism city like Ripon could do with more hotel beds to develop the cultural and heritage tourism offer further. Undoubtedly Ripon as a whole would benefit from more hotel beds.”
The trust re-opened its heritage attractions in mid-July and secured the Visit England’s ‘Good to Go’ kitemark for all the Covid-19 safety measures put in place to keep visitors, staff and volunteers safe.
Helen added:
“We are cautiously pleased with our performance in August. We didn’t know what to expect in terms of numbers but so far so good! We certainly did have tourists visiting who were ‘staycationers’, staying in the area in a variety of accommodation types.”
The trust has benefited from Heritage Lottery funding and works with organisations including Welcome to Yorkshire, Visit Harrogate and we other attractions in Ripon and the surrounding area, to promote the city-wide offer.
Read more:
Richard Compton, the owner of Newby Hall on the outskirts of Ripon, is also saddened by the loss of two hotels, but remains optimistic.
He said:
“There are many new ways nowadays through which people stay in a particular place to enjoy the tourism offer – AirBnB for example – and I hope that the hotels will re-emerge in some form or other as places that welcome visitors to stay so that they can service Ripon’s tourism offer.”
The Stray Ferret asked Ripon’s MP Julian Smith if he had any support to offer to operators of tourist and visitor attractions in his constituency, but no response was received by the time of publication.