Alongside the tribute acts who played at Ripon’s summer season of free concerts, an emerging home-grown talent took centre stage.

The first performer at the Yorkshire Day Weekend of musical entertainment, was singer-songwriter Freddie Cleary, who has a growing fan base in the city and further afield.

The 20-year-old acoustic guitarist, who lives in Ripon, hopes for a recording contract one day and his rapidly-rising career has already seen him perform at high profile events including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Tour de Yorkshire.

Freddie Cleary busking at The Arcade in Ripon

The former pupil of Grewelthorpe Primary School and Bedale High, started playing music at the age of ten after being bought a second-hand guitar by his mother Karen, who is now his manager, administrator and roadie.

Freddie said:

“I used to be addicted to Playstation, but once I received my guitar I never played PS3 again!”

His first gig came at the age of 15 when he was asked to play at the Crown Inn in Grewelthorpe and then he started busking on the streets of Masham, Harrogate, Ripon and Robin Hood’s Bay.

Freddie, who has written his own songs – Mercy, My Everything, Perfect and Talk To Me – has used facilities at the Homefire Recording Co studio in Harrogate, added:

“I take my inspiration from artists such as Oasis, Ed Sheeran, Bryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen and the Stone Roses and it is my ambition to get my own recording contract one day.”

In the meantime, the young artist has another string to his bow, as an actor and member of Ripon Amateur Operatic Society (RAOS) where he started his acting career by successfully auditioning for one of the lead roles in the musical Cats.

He is also in the cast for the RAOS upcoming performances of Jesus Christ Superstar, which run from 7 to 16 October at the society’s Allhallowgate headquarters.

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His acting ability was noticed by a talent spotter and led to him being offered a role in Amazon Prime’s Green Fingers where he plays the part of a busker!

Freddie pointed out:

“It’s great, I can just be myself and while I enjoy acting, I think that playing the guitar, writing and singing my own songs, offers the best opportunities for me.”

Ripon Races holds its final meeting of a lockdown-affected season today.

In common with other horseracing venues across the UK, Yorkshire’s garden racecourse, with its paddock-side geraniums and lush lawns, can reflect on a reined-back and restricted year of business.

From February, the Boroughbridge Road course played an important role in the fight against the covid pandemic.

Over six months, more than 27,000 jabs were put in the arms of people from Ripon and surrounding areas, who attended the temporary vaccination centre  set up in the Wakeman Bar.

With the 2021 horseracing season now at an end for the course, it will again be utilised as a centre for the delivery of booster jabs.

Ripon Races marketing manager, Jon Mullin, told the Stray Ferret:

“It was surprising to discover that for many local people, it was the first time they had been through our gates.

“We hope that some of them returned later in the year to enjoy a day at the races and they will be made most welcome if they come to join us on Saturday.”

For many years, Ripon has been known as Yorkshire’s garden racecourse

The seven-race card begins at 2.20 with a novice stakes and features the Class 2 Ripon Cathedral City of the Dales Handicap over six furlongs.

Ripon’s management is hoping for a good-sized crowd as the curtain comes down on a 17-day season.

It can look back on a difficult year, whose highlights were the William Hill-sponsored Great St Wilfrid Handicap and EBF Ripon Champion Two-Year-Old Trophy, both run in August.

Mr Mullin pointed out:

“We have been pleased to see racegoers of all ages back on course and with life steadily returning to normal, we will build on this year and plan ahead with more certainty for next season and another 17 days of racing.”

Ripon’s restricted season began in April and its first four meetings took place behind closed doors, with strict social distancing and hygiene measures in place.

As the vaccination programme picked up pace and the covid lockdown eased, crowds of up to 4,000 were allowed in the enclosures from 27 May and with the complete lifting of restrictions in July, the course began its return to business as usual.

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Ripon’s racing history

Meetings have been held at the racecourse for 121 years and the city has a rich horseracing heritage.

The first recorded races were held on nearby Bondgate Green in 1664 and over the next 236 years other venues hosted meetings.

In 1723, history was made when the first-ever race exclusively for lady riders was held in Ripon.

With Christmas just over three months away, Ripon is gearing up for further expansion of the city’s seasonal lights.

Ripon City Council has unanimously agreed to support moves to create a new festive feature on the front of the town hall.

Costing £5,400, it would consist of a sequenced multi-coloured lights display that can be programmed to include seasonal and other messages.

Harrogate Borough Council, which owns the Grade II Listed building in the Market Place, needs to approve the proposal.

Last year, in a festive season affected by covid lockdown and restrictions, £65,000 set aside for public events that were subsequently cancelled, was used to enhance and extend Ripon’s Christmas lights.

The lights covered three miles of city centre and adjoining streets, including all major gateways and this year, in addition to the town hall plan, improvements will be made to light displays on High Skellgate and Westgate.

Kirkgate – the approach to Ripon Cathedral – was part of the three-mile display of lights last Christmas.

Ripon City Council leader Andrew Williams said:

“A multi-coloured curtain of light across the town hall, which can incorporate messages, will have a wow factor and create a focal point for Ripon’s Christmas and New Year celebrations.”

Councillors were told that this would be be a temporary display and, if approval is received from Harrogate Borough Council, its installation will be timed to ensure that it does not clash with the Remembrance Day poppies display at the town hall.

The technology employed enables the lights to change colour and feature a range of pre-programmed messages.

Ripon Motor Boat Club marked its 90th birthday at the weekend with celebrations involving members, friends and the local community.

Established eight years before the outbreak of World War II, it is one of the largest inland waterway private boat clubs in the UK.

Based at Canal Lane, Littlethorpe, it has 143 berths and continues to grow through new development and the hands-on involvement of members.

Since its foundation in 1931, the club’s aim has been to provide affordable family boating.

Ripon Motor Boat Club secretary Anne Foster (left) and vice-commodore Karen Riddiough at the open weekend

Among those who have helped with the development are Mike and Elsie Grainger, whose boat Mojo is moored at the club’s marina.

Mr Grainger told the Stray Ferret:

“We have had many hours of enjoyment at this club. It is very family-focused and friendly and everybody has joined in to bring about improvements to the facilities.”

The Grainger family has enjoyed many epic journeys from Ripon via the canal and river network on holidays and boating trips.

The moorings have expanded as the club’s popularity has grown.

Mr Grainger said:

“Over the years that we have been members, we have set off from here on journeys that have collectively taken us thousands of miles, including one trip down the Thames and under Tower Bridge.”

Karen Riddiough, the club’s vice-commodore, said:

“Our focus is on actively promoting the joys of boating, with a member-run, co-operative approach.”

This approach has enabled money to be raised to create a clubhouse and other on-going improvements.

Started with a barge called Enid

With events throughout the year, a shared investment by all club members in the maintenance of the marina and a continual commitment to its development, the club has come a long way from the days when its clubhouse was an old barge called Enid.

The club was established in 1931, when two boats – the Onaway and Vagabond – set off on their travels from the River Derwent.

Following an eventful journey that involved navigating a collapsed lock gate, they found themselves mooring in Ripon Canal.

While in the area, they met the Nicholson family, who have remained supporters of the club, playing a key role in its development by allowing the purchase of plots of land to facilitate the club’s improvements and expansion.

Clergy are going virtual to make up for the loss of a service that traditionally takes place on the eve of the Nidderdale Show.

The agricultural show, which was due to take place in Pateley Bridge tomorrow, was cancelled in June for the second year running due to covid.

An open air ecumenical service has been held at the Bewerley Park showground for many years on the Sunday before the show.

This prompted Nidderdale vicars the Rev. Alastair Ferneley and the Rev. Darryl Hall, along with Methodist minister the Rev. Mike Poole and Jean Marshall, a member of the congregation at Providence United Reformed Church in Dacre, to produce their ‘No Show Service’.

Rev Ferneley, Vicar of Dacre with Hartwith and Darley with Thornthwaite, told the Stray Ferret:

“This Sunday is when we would have held the open air service but in the absence of the show for the second year running, a number of members of The Church in the Dale decided to produce a video.

“We hope that as many people as possible will watch it.”

The Rev. Alastair Ferneley plays guitar and sings in the video.

The video, recorded at St Michael and All Angels in Wilsill, opens with a view of the Nidderdale countryside and the sound of a guitar being played by the Rev. Poole, who is then joined by fellow guitarist the Rev. Fernley

Rev Hall, Vicar of St Cuthbert, Pateley Bridge, which covers six parishes, said:

“Though this year we again sadly have no Show due to the pandemic, the churches of Church in the Dale are still very much praying for our local
area and farming community.”

The 15-minute ‘No Show Service’ can be seen on Youtube here.

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Launched in 2007, The Church in the Dale is an alliance of churches of different denominations across Nidderdale.

It includes the Pateley Bridge Methodist Circuit, the Anglican parish of Upper Nidderdale, the Anglican parish of  Dacre with Hartwith and Darley with Thornthwaite, Providence United Reformed Church, the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady Immaculate, and Holy Family RC parish at RAF Menwith Hill.

A new horn is being commissioned for the Ripon hornblowers to celebrate next year’s Platinum Jubilee.

The original Charter Horn was a gift of gratitude from Alfred the Great, recognising the way in which local people fought off a Viking incursion.

Further horns were added to the collection, including one presented to the city in May 2019, by Councillor Pauline McHardy, shortly before the end of her third term in office as the Mayor of Ripon.

The McHardy Quest Horn – so named because it came from a bull called Seterrington Quest – has been in regular use at the setting of the watch ceremony performed daily at 9pm on Market Square.

Ripon’s hornblowers at the obelisk on Market Square – from the left: Allison Clark, Patricio Maglio, Richard Midgley and Wayne Cobbett

The proposal to commission the new horn to mark The Queen’s 70 years of service to this country, was put forward by city council leader Andrew Williams and received unanimous support:

He said:

“This will be a fitting and lasting way of marking The Queen’s jubilee and will be considerably cheaper than the clock tower built to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.”

Cllr Williams, added:

“There are practical reasons as well, that mean we need to retire and replace our 17th century horn, which is becoming a bit the worse for wear.

It will be kept safe alongside Ripon’s other historic treasures.

As we have four hornblowers, each of them needs their own instrument to meet with covid and other hygiene regulations.”

The Alfred the Great Charter Horn of 886 remains a prized possession in the Ripon collection.

Ripon’s St Cecilia Orchestra will return to the city’s cathedral next month with its first performances since March last year.

Two hour-long performances will be staged on Saturday, October 2 at 4pm and 7.30 pm.

The concert will feature Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, which in April topped the Classic FM hall of fame chart for a record eleventh time.

Violinist Charlotte Scott will join the orchestra for the performance which marks 100 years since The Lark Ascending was first performed in its orchestral version.

The audience will also hear Wagner’s symphonic poem Siegfried Idyll and Beethoven’s light-hearted Symphony No. 8.

Ms Scott said:

“It’s always a joy to be asked to perform The Lark Ascending.

“I love searching each time I play this masterwork for new colour and lines in the music that truly represent the lark and its surrounding nature: the possibilities are endless.”

Charlotte Scott. Picture: Matthew Johnson Photography

The Wagner and Beethoven represent a more intimate performance than might usually be seen by St Cecilia in Ripon Cathedral, which last year saw the performance of Mahler’s epic second symphony.

To ensure audience and orchestra safety, the concert is shorter than usual and there will be no intervals.

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Conductor Xenophon Kelsey, who founded the orchestra and has been with it throughout its 26-year history, said it was excited to be back:

“I can’t wait, It’s going to be fantastic to see our wonderful players together again after 18 months of no concerts.”

Tickets are available online (www.st-cecilia.org.uk) or in-person from the Little Ripon Bookshop and Henry Roberts and will also be sold on the door.

Ripon’s bounce back from the covid lockdowns continues, with two new city centre openings today.

The Claro Lounge opens in its prime location next to Ripon Town Hall.

It will be the 149th Lounge opened in the UK by café-bar-restaurant operator The Loungers Group.

Also opening today  in The Arcade, is a Yorkshire Cancer Research charity shop (below) in a large unit formerly occupied by Fultons Foods.

The opening of the Claro Lounge has seen the creation of 25 new jobs and staff will be encouraged to develop a relationship with the Ripon community by supporting local fundraising activities.

In addition to the new openings, Mountain Warehouse has doubled its floorspace with a relocation from Fishergate to Market Place East, where it took over premises formerly occupied by Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

Mountain Warehouse at its new location

A tidy-up is underway at a central Ripon location where a sinkhole prevented new homes from being built.

The Stray Ferret understands the area in Allhallowgate will remain as green open space for the public to enjoy. Further details are expected shortly.

Grey hoardings around the site were taken down yesterday as part of the proposed makeover.

Harrogate Borough Council was set to build 17 homes to replace a block of flats in poor condition on Allhallowgate.

However, serious ground stability issues came to light during demolition of the existing properties and the project was scrapped in 2019.

The proposed scheme was backed with funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government but the sinkhole made the development economically unviable.

The site, pictured in February before the tidy-up began

The area remained dormant. Hoardings were erected and an entry gateway was chained and locked.

In February, Ripon councillor Mike Chambers, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for housing and safer communities, told the Stray Ferret:

“The area is going to be tidied up, levelled, re-seeded and greened to improve its appearance.

“It has become overgrown and the hoardings are a bit the worse for wear.”

With the removal of the hoardings, the extent of the tidy-up operation has become evident.

Bushes and overgrown foliage have been cut back and grass is starting to grow.

Removal of the hoardings started yesterday

Residents of the demolished block were all permanently re-housed by Harrogate Borough Council and funding has been allocated for extensive refurbishment and improvement of the remaining Allhallowgate block, which is due to start shortly.

Ripon’s gypsum issue

Ground instability problems caused by the soluble nature of gypsum have been seen in many parts of Ripon.

The Stray Ferret reported in October about the evacuation of a residential block at Bedern Court, caused by subsidence in the area.

In February 2018, a sinkhole opened up on the car park of Ripon Leisure Centre, off Dallamires Lane. A further void discovered near the leisure centre entrance a year ago is under investigation.

In 2016, a dozen homes in Magdalen’s Road were evacuated after a 66-foot wide sinkhole opened up.

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Ripon City Council is seeking a ‘constructive partnership’ with Harrogate Borough Council as it bids to keep Spa Baths as a community facility.

City councillors voted unanimously last night to adopt a two-pronged approach in their attempts to maintain the Grade II listed building for public use.

Their bid to prevent the site being sold for private development received a major boost last week.

Harrogate Borough Council confirmed the city council’s application to have the building listed as an Asset of Community Value had been successful.

This gives the local community six months to put together a bid to buy the building.

Councillor Graham Swift, Harrogate Borough Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development, will be invited to meet with the city council at the earliest opportunity to discuss matters.

In tandem with this, consultants will be invited to submit expressions of interest for drawing up a business plan and development brief looking at options for the building, which is part of the city’s Spa Quarter.

The Ripon Civic Society plaque underlines Spa Bath’s historic importance.

At last night’s meeting, city council leader Andrew Williams, said:

“Harrogate Borough Council was attempting to plough on with its plan to sell Spa Baths without any proper consultation.

“However, we now need to draw a line under this and move forward in a constructive partnership with them to decide what’s best for Ripon and the future of this city, with its growing population.

“Cllr Swift has indicated his willingness to meet with us and we welcome this and hope the meeting can be arranged as soon as possible.”

The 116-year-old Edwardian spa, whose use was converted to a public swimming pool in 1936, was put up for sale for an undisclosed price by Harrogate Borough Council in February.

It was deemed ‘surplus to requirements’ with a new swimming pool scheduled to open at Camp Close, off Dallamires Lane in November.

At last night’s meeting, Councillor Pauline McHardy, said:

“It’s sensible for us to have two strings to our bow — six months can quickly pass by and we need to act now.”

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A number of potential community uses for the building have already been put forward by members of the public and Councillor Stephen Craggs, added:

“Future use of the building should take into consideration the needs of young people in the city.”