Ripon’s festive season gets into full swing on Saturday, with the switch on of the city’s Christmas lights, combined with an afternoon of family entertainment.

The illuminations will come on at 5pm and before then, Market Square will be a hive of activity from 1pm onwards with Santa and his reindeer, free fairground rides and live music between 3pm and 6pm.

The event is being organised by the city council, with support from Ripon Business Improvement District.

Festive lights on Fishergate are ready for Saturday evening’s city-wide switch on

Enhancements have been made to the city council’s decorative displays thanks to £4,000 of funding from the BID and the £7,000 raised through the Christmas Lights Appeal, run by Councillor Eamon Parkin during his three consecutive years in office as Mayor of Ripon between May 2019 and May 2022

The year-on-year improvements ensure that the city centre and adjoining streets will be lit with festive lights throughout the season.

For the second year running, the BID has paid for the production and distribution of 25,000 brochures, promoting Ripon as an attractive retail destination for both residents and  visitors.

The brochure, which is being delivered to homes in the city and surrounding areas, highlights a strong mix of independent traders, while providing details about the events that will be happening in Ripon, between now and New Year’s Eve.

Main picture: Santa and his reindeer are due to arrive at 1pm

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Residents of a Ripon street that is a favourite destination for driving instructors have raised concerns about vehicle emissions affecting their health.

Marjorie Sanderson and Geoff Haldenby (pictured), who are neighbours  on South Grange Road, took their plea for assistance to Ripon City Council and councillors agreed to take action, in a bid to stop drivers parking near their houses and those of other residents with car engines running.

Mr Haldenby, who suffers from the lung condition pleural plaques, told the Stray Ferret:

“In the three years that I have lived here, I’ve had five bouts of pneumonia and that made me think that there may be a correlation between my worsening health and  exposure to exhaust fumes.”

He added:

“Having spoken with Marjorie and other neighbours who are also concerned about the impact that emissions have on health, we decided to seek support from the city council and we were very encouraged by the response that we received.”

At Monday’s full council meeting,  Ms Sanderson, pointed out:

“We have instances of driving instructors teaching other instructors, who park up on the road for long periods with their engines running, either to keep their cars cool in summer or warm in winter.

“This is a regular occurrence and with engine idling an offence under Section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, we want to see the law enforced.”

After approaches were made to North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe and North Yorkshire Council, Ms Sanderson and Mr Haldenby, contacted  the city council and both spoke at Monday’s meeting.

Council leader Andrew Williams, said he was aware that many driving instructors use  South Grange Road and other neighbouring streets on their training routes.

It was unanimously agreed that he would raise the issue of engine idling with both North Yorkshire Council and North Yorkshire Police and request that enforcement action is taken when an offence is committed.

The Royal College of Physicians estimate that 40,000 deaths per year in the UK are linked to air pollution, and engine idling contributes to this, because vehicles give off higher emissions when stationary than when they are moving.

Ripon will discover later this week if a £630,000 road resurfacing scheme will be included in North Yorkshire Council’s capital funding programme for delivery next year.

City councillors have been calling for many years for the sets of paving blocks on Market Place East and Market Place West, which have become damaged and uneven, to be removed and replaced with a tarmac surface.

At last night’s full city council meeting, leader Andrew Williams, told members:

“The North Yorkshire highways team is preparing designs in anticipation of allocated funds to resurface areas of the road network surrounding Market Square.

“It is being considered for funding as part of the wider capital funding programme and if approved will see a scheme delivered next October.”

Tarmac patches have been put in place on some of the worst affected areas of the city centre roads.

Cllr Williams, who represents the Minster and Moorside division on North Yorkshire Council and is a member of the the Conservative and Independent Group, added:

“I’ve been in regular communication with the highways team about the proposed scheme and the process is going to take a little longer than hoped for and will cost more than initially anticipated.

“This is due to the fact that site investigations carried out by highways engineers, showed that the sub core under Market Place East is sand and every time it rains the road surface moves.”

The need to put new foundations in place before the new tarmac surface can be laid has seen the projected cost for the scheme rise from £500,000 to £630.000.

North Yorkshire Council has confirmed that in preparation for the proposed scheme, necessary site investigations have already started and will commence further later this month.

This will involve road closures on separate days of Market Place East and Market Place West and a traffic management plan associated with the works will be communicated to the local stakeholders and the public, once dates are finalised with the contractors.

Both Market Place East (main picture) and Market Place West will be resurfaced next autumn if the scheme receives the go-ahead.

The search for Cocker Spaniel Ella is being stepped up across Ripon and the surrounding area, a month after she went missing in woodland off Clotherholme Road.

For her distraught owners Andy and Jo Coombs, the round-the-clock search, which began on Friday October 13, has been extensive, with hundreds of people lending a hand.

Banners featuring Ella have been put in place at a number of key locations. Picture: Jo Coombs

Now, with thousands of leaflets printed for delivery by friends and volunteers to homes in Ripon and remote farms in outlying rural areas, the couple are hopeful that someone will come forward with a confirmed sighting that can be followed up.

Mr Coombs, told the Stray Ferret:

“We are not giving up hope, because there have been instances of dogs being found weeks, sometimes months, after they went missing.”

He added:

“Ella, received gun dog training when she was younger and is fully used to the countryside and capable of surviving on her own instincts.”

Still searching – Andy Coombs with Ella’s three-year-old sister Holly

The search,  which is being Co-ordinated by Mandy Butler of the Lost Dog Trapping Team Search & Rescue Network, has involved the use of tracker dogs, drones with thermal imaging equipment, monitoring of live cameras, checking cctv footage, the production and installation of hundreds of ‘missing’ posters and an appeal for assistance on social media

Anybody with information that may help in the search is asked to contact Ms Butler on 07947 866 582 or via Ella’s Facebook page that can be accessed by clicking here.

Eight-year-old Ella has been missing since October 13. Picture: Andy Coombs

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An estimated 3,000 people gathered at the War Memorial in Spa Gardens and along Ripon’s ancient streets and Market Place, as the city paid its respects this morning to the fallen of two world wars and other conflicts

Wreaths were laid as Andrew Cowie, president of the Ripon Branch of the Royal British Legion (pictured below, left), read out almost 400 local names from Akers to Young, who gave their lives in the service of this country.

Deputy Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Richard Compton, representing King Charles III and Mayor Councillor Sid Hawke representing the city, were among the first to put wreaths in place.

Later, they took the salute outside the town hall (pictured above) as Ripon City Band led the march past along Market Place South and down Kirkgate to the cathedral, where a civic service of remembrance, attended by members of the city council and other dignitaries, was held.

The service was led by the Bishop of Ripon, the Rt Revd. Anna Eltringham, who had earlier been with the Dean of Ripon the Very Revd John Dobson and Canon Matthew Pollard, for the Remembrance Sunday prayers and hymns in Spa Gardens.

Ripon’s Royal Engineers (pictured above) who have had the Freedom of the City since 1949, were among the service personnel, Air Cadets, Army Cadets and members of uniformed organisations who took part in the parade.

Main picture: The Mayor of Ripon Councillor Sid Hawke, laid a wreath on behalf of the city at this morning’s Remembrance Service at Ripon War Memorial.

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Ripon’s St Cecilia Orchestra opens its 2023/24 season on Saturday (November 11) with a programme, featuring the work of three major composers.

Beginning with Grieg’s ever-popular Holberg Suite and culminating in Tchaikovsky’s virtuosic tour-de-force for strings: Souvenir de Florence, the concert at Holy Trinity Church will also include Benjamin Britten’s atmospheric song cycle exploring the calm and sinister aspects of night: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.

The Holberg Suite  harks back to the music of the 1700s but with a distinctly Romantic twist. It is one of most readily recognisable pieces of the string orchestra repertoire, with its rhythmic and driving opening Prelude, lyrical Sarabande and boisterous Rigaudon (featuring sparkling solos from the first violin and viola).

Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings was composed for his partner, Peter Pears and horn player Dennis Brain, who premiered the work together in 1943.

The 6 sung movements draw on poetry from across the ages, from an anonymous writer in the 1400s through to Blake, Keats and Tennyson, framed at the opening and close by two movements played by the horn alone.

St Cecilia Orchestra will accompany soloist performances from Yorkshire tenor, Nicholas Watts, known to local audiences for his work with Opera North and French horn player, Catherine Hewitt, who enjoys a busy freelance career across the north of England.

After the interval the orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence. Originally composed for string sextet, but often played by full string orchestra, this is a hugely challenging work, which reflects the composer’s delight in writing for string instruments.

A real virtuosic tour-de-force, promises to send the audience away musically fulfilled and uplifted

Tickets for the concert priced at £20 for adults and free for under 18s can be obtained online from Ticket Source (www.ticketsource.co.uk/st-cecilia), They can also be purchased in person from Harrogate Theatre and the Little Ripon Bookshop, or can be bought on the door from 7pm on Saturday.

The choice of music signals a busy Saturday evening for the string section of the orchestra (pictured above) Picture: St Cecelia Orchestra

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Ripon Civic Society has welcomed plans to rejuvenate the city’s historic Spa Baths, which have fallen into disrepair since being closed two years ago.

Ripon-based investment and development company Sterne Properties Limited has proposed creating a hospitality-led development, which would see the spa building retained and refurbished.

The new-build element of the scheme would include four residential flats and a single-storey glazed extension, with a landscaped courtyard area linked to the adjacent Spa Gardens, providing a new public access to the parkland area.

This would replace the swimming pool building introduced before the Second World War, when the spa was converted into a public baths.

In response to the planning application, the civic society said:

“We give this scheme our strong support as being the best chance of allowing the site to survive.”

Mindful of the dilapidated and vandalised state of the grade two listed building, the society added:

“We would urge a speedy grant of planning permission and listed building consent to allow work to begin as soon as possible.”

Spa Baths closed two years ago and the building is in a state of disrepair.

Regarding the new-build element of the scheme,  the society said:

“Overall, it is a sensitive approach with historic structures cleansed of later inferior additions (including the 1936 pool) and with new-build done in an unashamedly modern but complementary style and materials.”

The society’s response, which can be seen along with other documents on the North Yorkshire Council planning portal, added:

“The society very much welcomes this scheme which proposes to conserve and provide new uses for an important historic building in the city.”

The civic society, which accepts the need for a residential element in the scheme to make the development viable, said it supports the application in principle, subject to clarification on a number of points of detail, largely relating to the retention of decorative features dating back to 1905 when the spa opened.

The main picture is an architectural perspective viewed from Park Street, which shows how the spa building will look after renovation. Image: Architecture:ab

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A major programme of tree and whip planting will take place over the coming weeks at Hell Wath Local Nature Reserve in Ripon.

Volunteers are being sought to assist with site preparation taking place from 10.30am tomorrow morning (Wednesday November 8) and to help with the planting of 50 native tree saplings and more than 800 whips, scheduled for Friday, December 8 and Saturday, December 9.

Organisers the Friends of Hell Wath (FOHW) have received support from North Yorkshire Council, which is funding purchase of the saplings and The Conservation Volunteers, which is donating the whips.

FOHW secretary Jeremy Dunford said:

“Most of the saplings — Field Maple, Alder, Holly, Crab Apple, Wild Cherry, Bird Cherry and Rowan — will be planted to fill in gaps along the existing tree line or be used to create interest and height within new hedgerows to be planted out using the whips.

“These saplings will replace some of the dead/dying trees that are evident in the local nature reserve. The species have been selected to provide shelter and food for birds and provide colour and interest throughout the year for visitors to Hell Wath.”

He added:

“The remaining saplings, a dozen Hazels, will be used to create a small coppice near the pond. There are already two mature hazel trees in the area so the additional saplings will create a very nice habitat here.”

The whips, comprising a selection of native species, will be used together with the tree saplings to fill in gaps in the existing tree line running alongside the River Skell.

The remaining whips will be used to create three new hedgerows across the lower meadow within the local nature reserve – leaving gaps for the designated footpaths.

The objective is to create wildlife corridors to enable bats, birds and small mammals to move between the upper tree line and the lower tree line to/from the river without crossing large expanses of meadow.

The new hedge lines will create meadow zones which will be actively managed to increase biodiversity within the Local Nature Reserve.

The photograph features a riverside walk at Hell Wath: Picture by Ripon Photographic Society

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Halls of Ripon department store has welcomed three new independent retailers to its Fishergate premises, while two other businesses have doubled their size.

Operations manager Barry Cooper told the Stray Ferret:

“We now have 16 independents under one roof selling goods ranging from clothing to customised works of art.”

Mr Cooper, (pictured below) added:

“This is the strongest mix of retailers that we have had since we opened in the summer of 2021 and we are looking forward with confidence to our third Christmas of trading here.”

The new entrants include Crazywood, which sells the original works of contemporary pyrography artist Simon Wright, whose wife Tricia (main picture) said:

“The art and craft of burning images into wood is an ancient practice of skill and patience.

“With these skills, along with modern styles and the use of watercolours, stains, textures and oils, amazing reproductions of literally anything can be created.”

Also new to Halls is Janey Mays, a business run by Jane and Mark Coombes, which specialises in steampunk, goth and fantasy goods, including giftware made from upcycled materials.

Jane Coombes, pictured at the Janey Mays stall she runs with husband Mark.

Neighbouring the Janey Mays stall is third new entrant Kimmy Gowland, an artist whose original patterns are printed onto fabric, wallpaper and other materials.

In addition to the businesses taking space for the first time at Halls, Red Buttons Jewellers, run by Mr Cooper and his father Mike, has doubled the size of its presence, as has Robin Gifts, which sells ladies fashion and accessories

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