More than 30 organisations operating in the Ripon area – including the city council, retailers, the cathedral, schools and heritage attractions – are featured on a colourful community jigsaw organised and assembled by the Jennyruth Workshops charity.

The project, in which participants were each given a single jigsaw piece to decorate with messages and logos, was made possible with a grant from Ripon City Council.

Anna Smith, Jennyruth Workshops’ publicity and media officer, said:

“Our aim was to involve as many people, places, organisations and establishments that make up the wonderful city of Ripon as we can, in creating a vibrant and unique jigsaw-style display to be showcased around various venues in the city.”

She added:

“It paints a picture of our community and all the diverse ways that we work together, live alongside each other, help and support each other and forge links together, through good times and bad.”

The Pet Shop in Old Market Place, Ripon, is the first to display the jigsaws in its window and owner Jane Fisher told the Stray Ferret:

“We are delighted to be involved with this community project. Jennyruth is a wonderful charity, doing great work and producing very high quality items.”

The jigsaws will remain in The Pet Shop window for two weeks and then move on to another prominent location in Ripon.

The Jennyruth Workshops charity was founded by Barrie and Sue Evason and provides learning through work for adults with learning disabilities.

With support from full-time staff and a team of volunteers, the workers make brightly-painted wooden goods at the charity’s base in Bridge Hewick near Ripon, with products ranging from bee homes and bird houses to Christmas decorations and bespoke goods.

One of the two community jigsaws produced by the Jennyruth Workshops charity

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Despite the coronavirus lockdown, production has continued with the workers – who are aged from 19 to 73 – working from their homes and maintaining contact through daily zoom meetings and an online newsletter.

Barrie, who raised money to set up the workshops through a series of sponsored long-distance walks with son Jonathan, died in February and his ashes will be buried later this year in an urn at a memorial garden created on the workshops site.

On an August morning in the peaceful, pastoral setting of the St Andrew’s churchyard in Kirkby Malzeard, it can feel as if time is standing still – and it is.

With a look up to the tower of the centuries-old parish church, villagers and visitors will see that the hands of time are currently unmoved and have been for more than a week.

Following the failure of a spring which saw its pendulum drop and stop swinging, the clock face froze at 11.38 and 30 seconds on Tuesday, August 18.

Parish sexton and verger Cristopher Slater at St Andrew’s Parish Church

The incident came four hours after parish sexton and verger Christopher Slater had checked the church and looked around its grounds, before opening the building for the benefit of regular worshippers and others wishing to make private prayer or simply enjoy the ancient structure.

Mr Slater’s daily visits to St Andrew’s, where he married his wife Mary 56 years ago, are a labour of love and he has particular reason for ensuring that the clock is keeping good time. In 2003, with the help of family, friends and the local community, he raised £3,000 to pay for the clock to have an electronic mechanism installed.

Mr Slater told the Stray Ferret:

“Before then, I had to wind it twice a week – with hundreds of turns each time – one to keep the clock going and the other to set the chimes. It was hard work.”

The new mechanism was installed 17 years ago, after the fundraising campaign which saw Mr Slater carrying a sandwich board around Kirkby Malzeard, containing a message calling for support from businesses and his fellow villagers.

He said:

“I had a lot of help from my friend Kevin Ward, Mary and our daughter Susan. We held raffles with prizes provided by local companies, had open gardens events and sold home-baked cakes and scones.”

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• Ripon Cathedral plans for the future
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With the target reached, RF Potts of Derby was appointed to convert the clock from one set by hand, to  an electronically-driven timepiece.

The company has carried out regular maintenance since and will be back in Kirkby Malzeard soon to complete the highly specialised work required to get the clock with its hourly chimes working once more.

In the meantime, Mr Slater will keep watch on St Andrew’s, carrying out the daily inspections, openings and closings of the building, that have been part of his life for 50 of his 79 years.

After setting up in the face of a crisis 20 years ago, Ripley Scarecrow Pigfest has been cancelled this year – because of the pandemic.

The event was due to celebrate its 20th anniversary with plans to stage the biggest and best festival to date.

It was launched in 2001 to attract people back to the village and wider countryside in the wake of the foot and mouth crisis. Now, in an ironic twist, another crisis means it will not go ahead this year.

Organiser Karen Evans, who lives near Ripon, came up with the idea for a scarecrow hunt, featuring pig-headed characters with imaginative names given by their creators.

For consistency of look she has, in the previous 19 years, made the papier mache heads for each Pigfest character – providing a subtle nod to Ripley’s boar’s head emblem.

Karen told the Stray Ferret:

“Unfortunately, we have become victims of our own success and couldn’t risk public safety, with hundreds of people in the confined space of the village.”

Boarglar Bill, one of the imaginatively-named characters who has featured at Ripley Scarecrow Pigfest

It has also brought another financial setback for the All Saints’ Church fabric fund which, over the years, has benefitted from donations of thousands of pounds raised through the entry fee for participants.

Karen, who is a warden at the Ripley church, pointed out:

“Combined with the fact that we have not been able to have the Wednesday cafe at All Saints’ open this summer, we have seen a loss of revenue totalling around £11,000.”

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Rather than bemoan the losses, she decided to literally get on her bike to provide another means of raising money, both for the church and the Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre at Harrogate Hospital, which is dear to her heart, having been treated there herself.

Between September 21 and 24, Karen and friend Judith Nickols will do a 137-mile sponsored cycle ride starting from Whitehaven on the west coast and finishing in Tynemouth on the east coast.

Both are keen cyclists and are training hard in readiness for the challenging and hilly coast to coast course.

Anybody wanting to sponsor Karen can find further details about her fundraising for All Saints’ Church Ripley and The Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre on her justgiving page.

A host of angels made from many different materials has started appearing around Dacre Banks and other neighbouring parishes in Nidderdale.

Rachel Ferneley, whose husband the Rev Alistair Ferneley is the vicar of Holy Trinity Church, has inspired parishioners and local people to make the angels as a means of thanking those who have helped others during the crisis and thinking of those who have died or are ill.

As well as being on display in gardens, windows of homes and businesses, they are decorating Holy Trinity itself.

At 10am tomorrow, the people who have made them are invited to bring their creations to the church for a socially-distanced open-air service led by Rev Ferneley. A rainbow of hope made up of the different written intentions will also be at the service.

Part of the Nidderdale Angels display at Holy Trinity Church in Dacre Banks.

Mrs Ferneley told the Stray Ferret:

“During the coronavirus crisis, the local community has pulled together and helped one another in many ways and I thought it would be appropriate to have a means of marking this with the Nidderdale angels.”

She added:

“This can be a way of thanking people who have acted like angels with help during the crisis, or a way of remembering loved ones who have died, or who are unwell.”

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The call for angels has sparked the imagination of the local community as the designs have come in many shapes and sizes, from the small cherub made out of chicken wire at the entrance to Holy Trinity to one made out of corks. More life-like are the two mannequins dressed in angelic clothing inside the church.

Mrs Ferneley is delighted by the response to the bank holiday event and pointed out:

“All we need now is for the angels to help us by bringing some dry weather on Sunday morning for our outdoor service!”

Plans to create Ripon’s first community arts hub have taken a significant step forward.

During the covid-19 lockdown, members of Ripon Amateur Operatic Society (RAOS) have been working behind the scenes to develop proposals that will transform their Allhallowgate headquarters and make them fully accessible to people with limited mobility.

Other objectives are to increase the versatility of the venue and make its space more suitable for the creative arts.

The work is estimated to cost £60,000 and in its quest to raise the initial £20,000 of its target, RAOS is working on a crowdfunding initiative with help and advice from the Aviva Community Fund.

The society is aiming to crowdfund an initial £5,000 over seven days and is asking supporters of its proposals to make donations online.

Aviva has assisted a wide range of community activities and facilities across the UK by providing practical and financial assistance, with its 16,000 employees playing a role in deciding which projects will receive money from the insurance company’s fund.

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RAOS committee member Hannah Ruddy told the Stray Ferret:

“Our aim is to create the Ripon Community Arts Hub. This would be an accessible, versatile and creative space, available to all, bringing together all arts disciplines including music, theatre, comedy, dance and also visual and sensory arts, such as art and photography exhibitions.”

Part of the £60,000 plan is to create new changing and toilet facilities for young actors (Photograph courtesy of RAOS)

The society, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, has presented its proposals in a three minute video, which can be seen via the fundraising page.

Hannah added:

“Lockdown has allowed us to look into what we can do with the space and what’s required for it to reach its full potential.”

To achieve its ambitions, the society plans to install a lift for wheelchair users and people with limited mobility, along with a further toilet for disabled people and improved visual and audio aids in the building.

Other planned enhancements include provision of separate dressing rooms and toilets for boys and girls to meet safeguarding requirements, along with a backstage toilet for performers with disabilities.

Plans for the £6 million extension of Ripon Cathedral have gone on display at a public exhibition inside the ancient building.

Running until the end of September, the exhibition is designed to enable all interested parties within the community to view the plans and provide comment, which will help in the preparation of a formal planning application for submission to Harrogate Borough Council.

If successful, plans would see the first major extension in hundreds of years, for a building containing the oldest built fabric of any English cathedral –  St Wilfrid’s Crypt – dating back to 672 AD.

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The church attracts visitors and pilgrims from around the world and in autumn 2019, launched the Ripon Cathedral Renewed project.

Key elements of  the plan are the provision of toilets. which will include Ripon’s only adult changing room; a cafe and creation of rehearsal space for Ripon Cathedral Choir, which currently rehearses in a former burial vault.

With the provision of new storage space, it is also intended that large areas within the cathedral will be opened up to the public for the first time in centuries.

The plans are part of the cathedral’s strategic vision Growing God’s Kingdom which aims to see the cathedral as a force for good, serving both the church and wider community – locally, regionally and nationally.

This aerial view of the model shows the L shaped extension to the south side of the cathedral

When the Renewed project was launched, the Dean  of Ripon, The Very Revd John Dobson, said:

“It is clear that the development of the cathedral is vital to bring this national treasure into the 21st century.

“As custodians of this fantastic building we are only too aware of the legacy we uphold. We have this ancient history, this wonderful architecture – what we haven’t got are the facilities that people need.

“Each generation has, over 13 centuries, taken on what has been handed to it and made its own contributions. We take none of this for granted and we have a responsibility, in our generation, to make our contribution now.”

He added:

“Over the last few years it has become increasingly obvious to a growing number of people that the development of Ripon Cathedral is vital as we seek to serve the communities of the region now and in the future.”

Covid 19 may have hampered the progress of the the Ripon BID, but it is hoped it will be back on track when businesses have emerged from lockdown.

In an online update for those engaged in the Ripon process, BID chair Richard Compton said that with the global pandemic, businesses are facing unprecedented challenges. He added:

“We must regroup and adjust to the ‘new normal’, when released from lockdown.”

Last year, a feasibility study was carried out and a task group formed, but the coronavirus crisis brought a temporary halt to the BID process in March.

Subsequent activities have been affected and a revised timeline published on the BID website has April next year as the target for a planned start of the Ripon BID.

Before then, a campaign will be conducted to present plans drawn up by the task group and a ballot of businesses carried out. If the majority vote ‘yes’, all businesses within the BID area will be required to pay a levy on their business rates to fund the project, with the cost to each worked out on a pro-rata basis.

Fountains Abbey

The Ripon Business Improvement District will cover a large area and, while the city centre is the principal point of focus, it also embraces heritage, hospitality sporting and visitor attractions within the wider Ripon district.

These include the Fountains Abbey World Heritage site, Newby Hall, Lightwater Valley and Ripon Racecourse.

Government social distancing requirements have put greater emphasis on the use of local shopping, leisure and exercise facilities, as travel to larger centres has reduced. Mr Compton said:

“It is therefore important that we are in a position to engage and retain this market. Our competition, whether it be for retail or tourism, will not have gone away and will be fighting hard for their share.”

Since September 2004, more than 300 bids have been developed in the UK, bringing more than £100 million of new finance for towns and cities including Harrogate, Northallerton and York to improve and promote their locations, with a view to attracting more shoppers and visitors.

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Read more:

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Next month, a church in Nidderdale will, over 13 days, host an unusual world record attempt and fund raiser for deaf people.

The Rev Michael Sabell, a retired vicar who has been helping in the parish of Dacre with Hartwith & Darley with Thornthwaite, is doing a ‘signathon’ to raise deaf awareness and funds for a sign language translation of the Bible.

To claim the record, the vicar, who was born severely deaf, plans to do 13 hours of signing the Bible and is aiming to beat his own world record – set 33 years ago, when he signed non-stop for 12 hours.

The Rev Michael Sabell (photograph courtesy of the Church of England Diocese of Leeds)

However, his age will not permit that kind of marathon any more, so from Sunday, September 13, at Holy Trinity Church in Dacre, Rev Michael will do an hour of signing every day for 13 days – reading from the Old Testament.

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His record attempt is designed to raise awareness of the issues deaf people face, and help raise funds for the British Sign Language (BSL) Bible Translation Project.

The project aims to produce the first real translation of the Bible from the Greek and Hebrew texts to BSL using deaf presenters, Bible scholars and translation experts, to provide a video-based Bible in sign language for deaf people to have independent access to scripture.

The Rev Alastair Ferneley, Vicar of Dacre with Hartwith & Darley with Thornthwaite, said:

“I think it’s wonderful, and perhaps a move of the Holy Spirit, that Michael still feels fired up enough about this issue to want to do again what he did many years ago, to raise funds and awareness to support the deaf community.

“With his deafness and hesitant speech he has faced challenges many of us can only dimly understand, and yet he has done his best to serve Christ – sometimes ministering to the deaf community, sometimes in regular parish ministry.

“Unless you’re part of the deaf community you might not realise that there are a whole group of people, in our own country, in that community, who do not have a translation of the Bible in their first language.”

Anybody who would like if to support Rev Michael, is asked to contact Rev Alastair at irreverend@btinternet.com.

Nidderdale Museum is planning to reopen over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Reopening of the award-winning museum, which is housed in the Old Workhouse in King Street Pateley Bridge, has been delayed because many of its volunteers remained in self-isolation when the government gave permission for heritage attractions to open in early July.

Now, however, the museum reports that after a good response to its plea for more volunteer stewards, work carried out to make the building COVID secure and some financial help from Museum Development Yorkshire, the reopening is scheduled for 1.30pm on Saturday, August 29.

The museum is located in The Old Workhouse

Beyond then, the visitor attraction – a past winner of the National Heritage Museum of The Year  Award – plans to continue to open every Saturday and Sunday throughout the autumn and winter, depending on government restrictions on social distancing and availability of stewards.

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Last month, Sue Welch, chair of Nidderdale Museum, told the Stray Ferret about the practical issues faced by organisations that are heavily reliant upon volunteers to remain open. She said:

“There are various other museums in Yorkshire that are saying they are likely to have the same problems because many of their volunteers are over 70. I am afraid it is a known issue. People that volunteer are often older people and particularly museum volunteers.”

Visitors will be required to wear face coverings, a one-way system will be in place, and only one group of visitors will be allowed in each of the museum’s 10 rooms at any one time, ensuring contact with others will be minimal.  All groups will be asked to sign in with their contact details.

Nidderdale Museum has a collection of exhibits, illustrating different aspects of life and work in Nidderdale through the ages.