Ripon renews its search for fourth hornblowerRipon City Council is looking to recruit a fourth hornblower to perform the 9pm setting of the watch – an event held daily for 1,134 years.
The world-famous hornblower ceremony has not been seen or heard on Ripon’s Market Square for six months.
Social distancing requirements that came into effect at the end of March have meant that the current hornblowers – Wayne Cobbett, Richard Midgley and Allison Clark – have shared the nightly task with four blasts of the horn at their own homes.
Allison Clark, one of the three current Ripon Hornblowers
The behind closed doors ceremony has been broadcast by each person on Facebook.
George Pickles was the last person to singularly hold the hornblower office. When he retired in 2015, a team was recruited to share the duties.
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The Mayor of Ripon, Councillor Eamon Parkin, told the Stray Ferret:
“We have been looking to appoint a fourth member of the team for some time, but the coronavirus lockdown interrupted the process.”
Applicants have until 12 noon on Monday 26 October to put their names forward.
The job description, which can be found on the council’s Facebook page, says candidates need to be available for regular duty for up to three nights per week.
According to tradition, the successful applicant will be required to sound the horn with:
“One blast at each of the four corners of the plinth of the obelisk and then provide a brief history of the horn blowing ceremony for the public in attendance.”
The job also involves sounding of the horn outside the mayor’s house each evening and attendance at civic events.
The duties described on the council’s Facebook page will only apply when the Ripon hornblowers return to the Market Square and Cllr Parkin pointed out:
“We don’t know when that is going to be but we need to be ready.”
The ceremony dates back to AD 886 when Alfred the Great, king of the Saxons, awarded a horn to the local people of Ripon in gratitude for the way in which they fought off a Viking attack.
Setting of the watch, or curfew, has survived the Norman Conquest, the Black Death, the English Civil War and two world wars.
The city council is determined to ensure that it will also survive the Covid pandemic.
Ripon Post Office moves to new premisesAfter more than 60 years in Finkle Street, there’s a new forwarding address for Ripon Post Office.
The team of four counter and mobile service staff headed by postmistress Amy Kaur, has moved to The Arcade, just off Market Place.
The Mayor of Ripon, Councillor Eamon Parkin, was on hand for the official opening yesterday and gave the new premises his stamp of approval.
He told the Stray Ferret:
“The post office provides services that are vital to the whole community, from people sending letters and parcels, to those collecting their pension or doing business banking.”
The former premises in Finkle Street
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Cllr Parkin, added:
“With level access from the street, it will be a lot easier for people with limited mobility and parents with prams and pushchairs to gain entry.
“I wish Amy and her team every success in their new location.”
The former post office premises had steps and no ramp and Mrs Kaur, said:
“We have been wanting to move for some time to a more accessible place.
“In addition to selling postage stamps, accepting parcels for delivery, paying out pensions, handling passport and driving licence applications and car tax renewals, we provide financial services ranging from travel currency to business banking and cash and cheque transactions.”
A key element of the service provided is also expanding – as the mobile post office unit managed by Gordon Royle now covers 22 towns and villages in the Ripon area, with the possibility of further locations to be added.
Mr Royle said:
“During the current coronavirus crisis, when many people living in rural communities remain isolated in their homes and unable to travel to Ripon, the mobile service has grown in popularity.”
As well as providing the full range of post office services, the new site also includes a value store.
Ripon organisations can apply for £1,000 council grantsRipon City Council has more than £17,000 ready to award to charities, not-for-profit and community organisations.
Town clerk Paula Benson, told the Stray Ferret:
“The council has a fund of £20,000 available in its small grants scheme
“However, just three organisations have made applications so far for awards totalling £2,567.”
This year the activities of many groups and organisations in Ripon have been either disrupted or put on hold because of the coronavirus crisis.
Organisations applying for grants need to be based in Ripon
With this in mind, the council has decided to keep the fund open beyond the original closing date and invite more applications for grants of up to £1,000.
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Unlike in previous years, there will be no closing date and applications will be received by RCC at each meeting of the council for review and a decision.
The fund will remain open for applications until all of the £20,000 has been awarded.
Applications will be accepted from registered charities, not-for-profit and community organisations based in the city.
Organisations wishing to apply must have membership that is open, with no discrimination on the grounds of gender, race, religion or sexuality.
Funding applications must clearly be of benefit to the people of Ripon as the council’s small grants scheme has been funded by an increase in the precept – money collected through the council tax levied on Ripon residents.
The council will not consider applications from commercial organisations, individuals, political groups or for projects of a directly political nature.
If the applicant is not a wholly Ripon-based organisation it may be necessary to ringfence any grant from the council towards a Ripon-based event, project or activity.
All valid applications will be considered by full council and applicants will be contacted after their application has been reviewed at a meeting of council.
Further details area available on: http://riponcity.gov.uk/small-grants-scheme/index.html
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.”
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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.”
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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.
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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.”
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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.”
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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.”
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