Thousands pay their respects as Ripon remembers the fallenThousands of people gathered at Spa Gardens and on nearby streets, as Ripon remembered the dead of two world wars and other conflicts this morning.
Services were held at the war memorial and in Ripon Cathedral, with both attended by the Bishop of Ripon the Rt Revd Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, the Dean of Ripon the Very Revd. John Dobson (pictured below) and clergy from the cathedral.
Spa Gardens, which like all other parts of the city has been decorated with thousands of red hand-knitted poppies created by the Ripon Community Poppy Project, provided a fitting backdrop for the ceremony at the memorial.
It was here that Andrew Cowie, president of the Ripon branch of the Royal British Legion, read out almost 400 names that appear on memorials at the gardens and in the cathedral.
Following a two-minute silence, wreaths were laid, including one on behalf of Ripon City Council, put in place by the Mayor of Ripon Councillor Sid Hawke (pictured below).
Wreaths were also laid by other dignitaries and representatives of all branches of the armed forces and the emergency services.
The service included hymns accompanied by Ripon City Band and the Last Post and Reveille played by Linda Graham, while lone piper Peter Spencer, of the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Pipe Band played the lament Flowers of the Forest. which preceded the two-minute silence.
Royal Engineers from Claro Barracks, were present, alongside retired service men and women and members of the Ripon Branch of the Royal British Legion.
Following the service in Spa Gardens 60 soldiers based at Claro Barracks led a march to the cathedral, passing Ripon Town Hall, where the mayor took the salute.
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New call for action on Ripon eyesore siteRipon councillors are calling for further action to smarten up a derelict site on one of the city’s key tourist routes.
The former Express petrol station and convenience store on Skellbank, has been empty for years.
It is located in a largely residential area of the city, on the route to Fountains Abbey and diagonally across the road from Hugh Ripley Hall, named in honour of Ripon’s first mayor.
In early 2021 Harrogate Borough Council planning enforcement officers instructed the owner to tidy the site, cut back vegetation and leave it in an acceptable manner prior to any further development.
The site as it looks today
However, as it remains in a derelict and overgrown state, city councillors at Monday night’s full meeting agreed to call for further enforcement action to be taken by HBC.
Councillor Stuart Flatley’s request for HBC to serve a Section 125 notice on the site owner was unanimously supported, after he said:
“This area is on the route to the Fountains Abbey World Heritage Site and has been in this unacceptable condition for many years and we can’t let this continue.”
City council leader Andrew Williams who seconded the proposal, said:
“As well as supporting this, I would like to go a step further and look at a compulsory purchase order for the site, so that it can be cleared and used for much-needed additional car parking spaces that can serve visitors to the city, hospital and Hugh Ripley Hall.”
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Section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 provides a local planning authority with the power to take steps requiring land be cleaned up when its condition adversely affects the amenity of the area.
If it appears that the amenity of part of their area is being adversely affected by the condition of neighbouring land and buildings, they may serve a notice on the owner requiring that the situation be remedied.
Bid to save bus linking Ripon, Thirsk and NorthallertonRipon councillors are bidding to save the number 70 bus service that links the city with Thirsk and Northallerton.
They have agreed to contact North Yorkshire County Council and call for a re-think following an email to the city council that said funding for the service will come to an end from April.
The news from the passenger transport authority was met with disappointment at Monday’s full city council meeting, at which leader Andrew Williams, said:
“The loss of this service will mean that people from Ripon will not be able to use public transport to travel to Northallerton and go to North Yorkshire’s new seat of local government.
“This seems a ridiculous situation at a time when the COP 27 conference is being held in Egypt and world leaders are talking about the need to reduce carbon emissions by using more environmentally-friendly means of transport.”
Ripon residents can currently travel on the 36 bus to attend Harrogate Borough Council meetings or deal with matters such as planning applications.
Cllr Williams said:
“With devolution, this will all change from April when the new North Yorkshire authority comes into being and Harrogate Borough Council ceases to exist.
“That’s why we need to both protect and promote the valuable number 70 service and encourage more people to use it and make it viable.”
Cllr Julie Martin-Long said:
“The service is also a means of accessing mainline trains for travel to the north of England and onward links to airports in the north east.
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Ripon museums secure more than £400,000 from Arts CouncilRipon Museum Trust has secured three-year funding from Arts Council England worth more than £400,000.
The trust operates the Workhouse, Prison and Police Museum and Courthouse museums, which welcome around 30,000 people per year.
The grant means the trust will continue to be funded through the Arts Council’s national portfolio scheme. It will receive £142,576 each year for the years 2023-26.
The funding will help pay for jobs as well as a programme of community engagement, creative programming and improvements.
Last week Harrogate Theatre , which had received just over £140,000 a year from the national portfolio scheme since 2015, announced it had missed out on an award this time.
Richard Taylor, chair of the trust, said:
“This crucial grant funding allows us not only to continue to provide a range of inspiring experiences but to also look ahead to how we can find new and innovative ways to inspire and engage our visitors both digitally and in person.
“This is good news for Ripon and the wider community of North Yorkshire. It will help to raise the cultural profile of our city and everything it has to offer.”
Applications for funding were determined against criteria laid out in the Arts Council’s Let’s Create strategy, which requires organisations to demonstrate how the work they do will contribute to the principles of inclusivity and relevance, ambition and quality, dynamism, and environmental responsibility.
Trust director Helen Thornton said:
“It is hugely exciting to be part of Arts Council England’s next portfolio and to be able to respond to Let’s Create. It’s a vote of confidence that what we are doing here has real impact and potential to grow our cultural offer.
“We hope to be able to reach out to and work with new communities, strengthen and develop what we do for our local communities, our volunteers and the general visitor – to ensure they have a really creative and inspiring time in our museums”.
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End in sight for Kirkby Malzeard’s long-awaited wall repairMore than 32 months after part of St Andrew’s Church wall in Kirkby Malzeard collapsed, repair and reconstruction works costing almost £500,000 are ongoing.
In addition to rebuilding and reinforcing the 10-metre section that fell onto Church Street following heavy overnight rain in February 2020, a further 30-metre length is being refurbished and reinforced.
The road, which runs past St Andrew’s and is part of a route from the village to Masham, has remained closed since the collapse.
Harrogate Borough Council initially earmarked £250,000 to fund the project, which was given planning approval in February this year.
However, the final bill will be almost double that amount at £491,670 after council officials said the cost reflected the “volatile nature of the construction market at the moment”.
The increased cost is set to be funded from the council’s investment reserves.
The collapsed section of wall, which is being rebuilt and reinforced.
A report to the council urgency committee in May said:
“The work was not able to be contracted until the planning process was concluded and permissions put in place.”
The repair works which have followed came after residents and parish councillors frustrated by more than two years of delays, urged the council to end the “farce” of the church wall.
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City council opens funding scheme to more Ripon organisationsCommunity groups in Ripon are being invited to apply for funding up to a maximum of £3,500.
Ripon City Council has reviewed its partnership funding scheme to allow more organisations to apply for assistance covering an extended period, rather than making repeat annual applications via the council’s small grants scheme.
Funding will be approved for the council’s current term of office and will be subject to agreed outcomes defined in service level agreements and a regular review.
The partnership funding scheme will no longer be limited to those organisations who have previously benefited from it on a year-on-year basis.
Local not-for-profit, charitable and community organisation are invited to submit applications by November 30.
The partnership funding scheme, which was launched in 2016, was designed to provide core annual funding to a number of local organisations.
It has previously run alongside the small grants scheme, for which the council has regularly received repeat applications from other local groups and organisations that require additional funding to allow them to carry out their work.
The partnership funding scheme is designed to be a medium-term pledge of financial support to local organisations.
It is open for applications from any Ripon organisation which has charitable status or which runs as a not-for-profit, community organisation where membership is open (i.e. 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 scheme is funded by the precept money collected through the council tax levied on Ripon residents.
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Blessing ceremony is held at Ripon Garden of RemembranceRipon’s week of events to remember and honour the dead of two world wars and other conflicts, began today at the Royal British Legion Garden of Remembrance next to the cathedral.
Canon Ailsa Newby led prayers at a ceremony of blessing for the garden, which was created by the Ripon branch of the RBL in 2018.
The event, attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of Ripon Councillor Sid Hawke and his wife Linda, saw representatives of all armed forces gather, along with standard bearers (pictured below) veterans and members the Ripon branch of the Royal Engineers Association.
Canon Ailsa said:
“In this coming week tokens of remembrance will be placed in memory of those who fell in the cause of freedom for our country.
“In the name of the Royal British Legion we pledge ourselves to help, encourage and comfort others and to support those working for the relief of the needy and for the peace and welfare of nations.”
The ceremony included a two-minute silence and afterwards small wooden poppy crosses, were placed near the RBL plinth in the garden by a number of attendees.
A serving officer with the Royal Engineers puts a poppy cross in place
Remembrance Sunday
Attention now turns to Ripon’s Remembrance Sunday service, which will be held on November 13 at the war memorial in Spa Gardens.
There will be a two-minute silence before wreaths are laid in honour of the fallen, by civic dignitaries, members of the armed forces, the RBL and representatives of other organisations.
Those planning to attend are asked to arrive by 10.30am.
On completion of the service at the war memorial, the civic party will proceed to the town hall where there will be a march past and salute.
The march past, including members of the Royal Engineers, standard bearers, veterans, Ripon City Band, cadets, scouts and guides and representatives of other organisations, will head down Kirkgate to the cathedral, where a service will be held.
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Permission sought to demolish Ripon homes affected by subsidencePlanning permission is being sought to demolish a block of four empty Ripon homes in a perilous condition caused by subsidence and sinkhole issues.
The properties at Bedern Court and Skellgarths were evacuated in October 2020, after being deemed unsafe for habitation.
A section of Peacock’s Passage, which is adjacent to the site, has been blocked off ever since.
In a document confirming his support for demolition of the block, Harrogate Borough Council’s principal building control officer Darren Sykes said:
“We have been involved with these buildings as a dangerous structure in recent months so we are aware of the concerns regarding their stability.”
The application also seeks demolition of these steps and walls, where the effects of subsidence can be seen
A report prepared by Architecture:AB on behalf of Bedern Court Ltd, which manages the 29-unit residential development, says:
“Bedern Court Ltd are seeking consent to demolish 1, 3 and 5 Bedern Court and 17 Skellgarths because of damage to the building’s structure caused by subsidence.”
The report adds that the buildings have been monitored by structural engineers for more than a decade after subsidence occurred on an adjacent site.
With movement in the structure continuing, residents had to vacate the properties, which have been deemed unfit for habitation.
Last November, councillors at a full Ripon City Council meeting called on North Yorkshire County Council as highways authority to intervene and bring about an urgent demolition of the stricken block.
At that time, city council leader Andrew Williams, said:
“The movement of the affected block caused by sinkhole activity in the area is gaining speed and the implications for public safety are enormous.
“The block fronts onto the public highway and pavement and the potential impact of collapse and possibility of opening up of more damaging sinkholes in neighbouring areas cannot be ignored.
“If the perilous state of the building means it’s not safe to walk along Peacock’s Passage, it can’t be safe to walk or drive past it on Skellgarths. It needs to be demolished as quickly and safely as possible.”
Harrogate Borough Council will decide whether to give permission for the demolition in the coming months, with the date for the decision yet to be confirmed.
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Business Breakfast: National award for Harrogate founder of community pub schemeBusiness Breakfast is sponsored by Harrogate law firm Truth Legal.
The Harrogate founder of a not-for-profit organisation has received a national award for his work.
John Longden OBE, chief executive of Pub is the Hub, was given the Industry Champion Award by the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) at its annual dinner.
It was presented in recognition of his work to help pubs diversify and support local communities by providing essential local services.
So far, the organisation has helped more than 600 pubs to diversify, with almost 200 of those receiving help from its community services fund. Diversification can provide village shops, community cafes and libraries, as well as allotments and even cinemas.
Receiving his award, Mr Longden said:
“You have no idea how special this is. This is also for the family of Pub is The Hub and to our family of supporters.
“We all enjoy collaborating and helping publicans in their local areas. For every £1 invested in a shop, community café, village garden or play area it creates between £8 to £9 of social value. It is the social value that helps to bind us together in this wonderful industry.”
“We believe we can inspire 1,000 projects over the next three years and we have over 50 expressions of interest at this time.”
Emma McClarkin OBE, chief executive of the BBPA, added:
“This time last year we hoped we were done with ‘unprecedented times’ but here we are again after another year of surprises, challenges, and once-in-a-lifetime events.
“And throughout all of it our pubs and brewers have remained at the heart of villages, towns, and cities across the countries, providing a place of solace and community for so many and it’s why I am really proud to stand here tonight representing our brilliant industry.”
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Early festive plans as Ripon businesses join forces
A group of Ripon independent retailers are joining forces later this month to take part in a special Christmas event, where a gift hamper worth more than £100 will be won by a lucky shopper.
The businesses – seven of them on North Street and one on Fishergate – will be open from 10am until 8pm on Thursday November 17.
There will be discounts at selected stores and shoppers are invited to enjoy a glass of fizz and a festive treat while they browse the goods and services on offer.
The participating retailers are The Castle, The GreenHouse, Memorable Moments, Carlton Couture Bridal, Absolute Bliss Health & Beauty, Eastwick, St Michael’s Hospice Shop and Halls of Ripon.
Details about the discounts and how to enter the prize draw for the hamper can be found by clicking here.
Bins causing access problems in Ripon car park to be relocatedTwo new bins that have created access problems for wheelchair users at Sainsbury’s car park in Ripon are to be relocated.
Harrogate Borough Council recently installed the waste and recycling bins on a footpath with drop kerbs that provides a link from The Arcade to the supermarket.
But they leave little room for wheelchairs, or people with prams and pushchairs, to pass safely.
After being contacted by fellow wheelchair users and parents with young children, Jeremy Dunford, a trustee of Ripon Disability Forum, raised the issue with North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council.
The bins leave little room for manoeuvre for people with limited mobility.
He told the Stray Ferret:
“We have been looking at this area for some time, because cars, even when legally parked, have been encroaching on to the path on either side, making it hard to get along with mobility equipment and wide buggies.
“The addition of the bins made the position even more difficult.”
In response to Mr Dunford’s request for urgent action over the bins, a spokesperson from Harrogate Borough Council, which has installed many large new bins across the district lately, said:
“We’re in the process of having them moved and are working with local partners to find a more suitable location.”
Mr Dunford said:
“I would like to thank the council for their swift response. By working with organisations like the disability forum, we can hopefully avoid issues like this from arising in the future.”
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