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One of the most notable days in Ripon’s annual calendar occurs on Saturday with the St Wilfrid’s Procession and celebrations on Market Square.
Crowds line the streets and create a carnival atmosphere for the historic annual event, which is held in honour of Ripon’s patron saint and founder in 672 AD of the city’s iconic cathedral.
The procession’s origins date back to 1108 when King Henry I granted a royal charter to Ripon to hold an annual fair in celebration of Wilfrid’s life and work and the tradition has been maintained by a hard-working committee made up of volunteers.
Led by an actor on horseback, playing the role of St Wilfrid, the procession, which sets off from Studley Road at 1.30pm, will be accompanied by the award-winning Ripon City Band and will include 20 decorated floats with designs created by businesses and organisations.
A map showing the route.
The 26-stage procession, which covers 7.5 miles, will circle the city centre and outlying streets, before finishing at the cathedral, where a celebratory service will be held at 4.30pm.
The route, which will see numerous temporary road closures, can be seen by clicking here.
In addition to the procession, there will be free family-friendly activities on Market Square between 1pm and 6pm, followed by musical entertainment on Minster Gardens, where Time Machine and Alannah Creed will be among the performers.
Teenagers in Ripon have said they are glad they can continue using the city’s skatepark during the summer holidays.
While large areas of the Camp Close site on Knaresborough Road have been fenced off for safety reasons, access to the skatepark and basketball court remains open.
One teenager skateboarder spoke for his friends when he said:
“It’s a bit of a pain having to walk all the way around the outside to get here, but I’m pleased we can still use it.”
The skatepark and basketball court are adjacent to the 28-year-old leisure centre building, where remediation works on unstable foundations are under way.
The playing fields at Camp Close are now an active building site where large machinery is in use, carrying out the £3.5 million project behind large yellow hoardings.
There are numerous signs warning the public not to enter the area, while other signs call for parents to keep children out. CCTV cameras are also in operation.
However, as well as the many warning signs, construction company Willmott Dixon has installed one showing the route into the skatepark.
When the works began in June, North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for culture, leisure, archives and libraries, Jo Ireland, said:
“By addressing these historic issues, it allows us the opportunity to ensure future generations will be able to access modern sport and leisure facilities in their city for many years to come.
“Once the works have been completed the original leisure centre facility can be refurbished as planned – which includes an extended gym, two new activity studios, a spin studio as well as meeting facilities – and complement the 25 metre, six-lane swimming pool that opened last year.”
Work is scheduled to go on until spring 2024 and in the meantime a temporary gym will remain in use on the car park near the entrance to the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre.
The £300,000 facility, operated by Brimhams Active on behalf of North Yorkshire Council, includes Technogym equipment.
Customers are able to use the changing and shower facilities at the swimming pool as well as the sauna and steam suite. Group exercise classes continue to be provided at Hugh Ripley Hall.
Read more:
- Ripon children invited to join the free summer Funfest
- Temporary gym installed at Ripon leisure centre
Ripon-based singer-songwriter Freddie Cleary will provide the entertainment when The Salvation Army holds its Yorkshire Day celebration next week.
The event on Tuesday August 1, is being held in the church hall on Lead Lane from 10am until 2pm and is free to attend.
Church leader Pat Clark, said:
“We hosted a Yorkshire Day celebration pre-pandemic and it proved a great success, so we decided to organise another one this year.”
She added:
“It’s a way of reminding all members of the local community that we are here for them all year round, not just as an emergency service for those who find themselves in difficulties.
“On the day there will be lots of reasonably priced refreshments including home-made cakes, sausage rolls and sandwiches, scones provided by Morrisons and icecream.”
In addition to the refreshments, brand new or good as new gifts, household items and toys will be on sale and there will be a uniform swap.
Families wanting to be involved in the swap are asked to take good clean items of uniform to the church hall in advance of Yorkshire Day. The hall is open from Monday to Wednesday between 9:30 am and 3 pm.
A civil engineering company involved in the installation of a £46 million all-fibre broadband network in the Harrogate district has ceased trading with the loss of 165 jobs.
Leeds-based Makehappen Group Limited, which was working for CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent fibre infrastructure provider, appointed administrators Interpath Advisory last week.
The huge installation programme covering Harrogate, Knaresborough and latterly Ripon, was announced in 2020 and has been carried out on a street by street basis.
In response to the news, a spokesperson for CityFibre, said:
“We have been made aware that Makehappen Group has entered into administration.
“We would like to assure residents that work sites have been made safe, and we will remain in close conversation with our local authority stakeholders while we review our plans.”
Neil Morley and Howard Smith from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators of Makehappen Group Limited on July 18.
A statement from Interpath Advisory said:
“In recent months, Makehappen experienced significant pressure on cashflow after a number of contracts were withdrawn by their customers.
“As a result, the company was unable to continue trading and service its liabilities as they fell due, so after considering their options, the directors sought the appointment of the administrators.
“The company ceased to trade shortly prior to the appointment of the administrators. With no prospect of trade resuming, it is with regret that the joint administrators have made all of the company’s 165 members of staff redundant.”
Meanwhile, Mr Morley, said:
“There continues to be a number of opportunities, but also challenges for businesses involved in the building of fibreoptic broadband infrastructure across the UK and unfortunately, Makehappen was the latest casualty of these challenges.
“As we commence an orderly wind-down of the business, our priority will be to provide support to all of Makehappen’s employees, including providing them with all of the information they require to make claims from the Redundancy Payments Office.”
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Ripon’s children invited to take part in free summer activities
For the third successive year, Ripon Together and its partners have arranged a programme of free activities for young people this summer.
The four-day Funfest starts on Monday August 14 and offers something for everyone at locations across the city and at Studley Royal Cricket Club.
Activities range from storytelling to juggling, mindfulness and formal sports coaching in cricket and football.
While the events are free, those planning to attend need to book for many of them and further details can be obtained by clicking here
At Studley Royal Cricket Club on Monday, August 14, there will be relay races and an obstacle course, alongside coaching from Ripon Runners and cricket coaching.
On the same day, Ripon Library will have a smoothie bike in place, so that people can use pedal power to make their own healthy drinks. There will also be stories and games for young children, followed by a film evening for teenagers.
On Tuesday, August 15, in addition to the cricket and athletics at Studley Royal, Ripon Spa Croquet Club will also be running a come and play session.
Spa Park is the venue for August 16, where there will be football coaching, circus skills training and crazy golf.
The Funfest finale will be staged Studley Royal Cricket Club on Thursday August 17 with a large inflatable obstacle course in place, sumo wrestling and croquet.
Inspire Youth will be providing mindfulness, table tennis, football penalties and other activities. There will also be free food.
David Ingham, a director of Ripon Together, said:
“We are massively grateful to our local councillors, Morrisons, The Jepson Trust and Ripon Girls Club for our funding. The programme is also a great example of how Ripon Together can bring the community together to deliver for the city.
“Studley Royal Cricket Club, Ripon Spa Croquet Club, YMCA and others have been so supportive in delivering this programme for the children of our city.”
The winning entry in a new competition introduced in honour of the late Daphne Peters, was announced at the landmark 950th meeting of Ripon Writers’ Group.
The group was set up more than 40 years ago by the internationally-famous children’s author and poet, whose work was published under her maiden name Daphne Lister
Group secretary and former chair, Maggie Cobbett, told the Stray Ferret:
“As we reached another milestone, it seemed a fitting occasion to announce the first winner of our Writing for Children competition, inaugurated in memory of Daphne.”
She added:
“Our adjudicator was Claire Thompson, outreach librarian for Ripon and Pateley Bridge, who has a special interest in children’s literature and literacy, who said that she had thoroughly enjoyed reading the entries.
“The pieces submitted had been so diverse that it had been difficult to compare them, but she selected Ros Swaney’s Dusty the Cupboard Monster as the winner, with second place going to Pip’s Story by Ella Benigno and St Wilfrid written by Peter Page in third.”
Last week’s meeting was also the final one for writers’ group chair and award-winning author Ian Gouge, before he and his family move to Lincolnshire and attendees thanked him for his significant input to the group’s programme.
Family and friends gathered in Littlethorpe at the weekend to celebrate the 90th birthday of one of the Ripon area’s most inspirational women.
Over 50 years, Sylvia Grice taught an estimated 250,000 people to swim, including Olympic diving champion Jack Laugher, who won gold and silver medals at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro and bronze at Tokyo 2020.
Her lifelong devotion to teaching a much-needed skill in a city with three rivers and a canal, earned her an MBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours and Freedom of the City of Ripon in 2019, but that’s just part of her remarkable story.
Sylvia Grice, pictured with Jack Laugher after his medal-winning success at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.
Daughter Helen Mackenzie, herself an accomplished swimmer and swimming teacher, told the Stray Ferret:
“Mum suffered a broken leg when she was three and was in hospital in traction up until the age of eight, but she didn’t let that hold her back.
“She learnt to swim when she was 15 and married my dad, Jim, the love of her life, when she was 20.
“When my sister Alison and I came along she regularly took us to swim at Ripon’s Spa Baths and caught the eye of the manager Fred Windsor.
“He encouraged her to become a qualified swimming teacher and over the years she went through all of the grades to become an Amateur Swimming Association tutor and then a Fellow of the Institute of Swimming Teachers.”
Sylvia used her qualifications to help people of all ages and abilities, from toddlers having their first visit to the pool to her mother-in-law Florrie, who learnt to swim when she was 58.
She taught people to swim at Ripon Grammar School and at Ashville College in Harrogate, where she set up Triton Swimmers and away from her busy teaching schedule, found time to run the Spa Gardens cafe, be an active member of Ripon Lions and raise money for numerous charitable causes.
£500,000 scheme in prospect to improve Ripon city centre roads
The long-awaited renewal of damaged and uneven roads that run alongside Ripon Market Square is finally in sight.
A scheme costing an estimated £500,000 is being drawn up by North Yorkshire Council’s highways department in readiness for public consultation this autumn, with the aim of being included in the capital programme for 2024-25.
City councillors have been calling for many years for the sets of paving blocks on Market Place East and Market Place West to be removed and replaced with a tarmac surface.
At last week’s meeting of the full city council, leader and North Yorkshire councillor for the Minster and Moorside division Andrew Williams, said:
“I’m pleased to report, following a visit to Ripon by North Yorkshire highways officials on June 16, they have confirmed that a scheme involving the lifting of sets and replacement with tarmac will be designed and then put out to consultation.
“I understand that the work will cost about £500,000 and will be included in next year’s capital programme.
“If all goes to schedule, work could start after next year’s Easter holiday.”
In recent years North Yorkshire Council has carried out temporary repairs by putting tarmac over the worst-affected sections, leaving the surface looking like a patchwork quilt.
Read more:
- Councillors call for urgent resurfacing of Ripon Market Place roads
- Plans refused for 80-bed Ripon care home
Ripon military heritage trail plans backed by city council
Ripon councillors have given their unanimous backing to proposals for a heritage trail focused on the city’s unique military history.
At Monday’s full council meeting, Guy Wilson and Jane Furse of Ripon Military Heritage Trust, provided an update on work that the charity is doing in a bid to save buildings and bridges at the the Ripon barracks site, where Homes England has planning consent to build the 1,300 homes development known as Clotherholme.
The trust wants to ensure that heritage structures that tell the story of the crucial role that Ripon played in World War II and the Cold War are not destroyed.
These include a number of rare huts on the Deverell Barracks section of the site that date back to 1939 and are among only a handful still in existence.
The trust wants to preserve seven of the huts for future relocation to a site next to the Laver Banks training area.
But to do this, they need approval for the buildings to to be dismantled and kept in the storage depot at Deverell Barracks.
The trust’s plan also involves the phased development of a military heritage centre alongside countryside trails which will interpret the city’s unique military heritage, while providing a gateway to the Clotherholme scheme.
Trust chair Mr Wilson said:
“We have presented our ideas to Homes England and are now seeking the support of the city council.”
Councillor Stuart Flatley said:
“These plans are mind blowing for Ripon. Military history is massive and this has to be good for the whole community.”
Councillor Pauline McHardy added:
“This is a wonderful idea. Many people who live in Ripon used to serve at that site and have a lasting connection to it.”
The proposals were welcomed by city council leader Andrew Williams, who said:
“We share the aspirations of Ripon Military Heritage Trust and will continue to offer it our full support.”
It was agreed that North Yorkshire Council planners will be called upon by the city council to ensure that heritage infrastructure on site is protected and preserved.
The prolific knitters of Ripon Community Poppy Project have stepped up a gear with their latest imaginative creation – a multi-coloured quilt for a car!
Designed to catch the eye, the vehicle with its hand-crafted fitted cover will be on display on Ripon Market Square for three days starting tomorrow (July 14) and a further three days from July 21, before featuring in the St Wilfrid’s Procession on July 29.
Hazel Barker, co-founder of RCPP and organiser of the project’s Knit and Natter Group, told the Stray Ferret:
“We came up with the idea as a means of publicising the Ripon Old Cars Classic Gathering at Ripon Racecourse on July 30, which will raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK and 10 local charities.”
The car with its knitted quilt
She added:
“The event has been held for almost 30 years and proceeds from it have been donated to charities and local good causes.”
Following the 2022 gathering, Guide Dogs received an award of £5,000 and previous beneficiaries include the Motor Neurone Disease Association, the Teenage Cancer Trust and Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
The Knit and Natter Group, which meets each week at Hazel House on Allhallowgate and other knitters who work from home, have had a busy year so far.
They have created themed city centre decorations for the Easter holiday and the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla, while continuing to knit thousands more poppies that will be in place for this year’s Remembrance events in Ripon.