A Ripon Grammar School student with ambitions of flying Apache helicopters has earned a place at a leading military school.
Marcus Bartlem, 17, has won an army scholarship worth up to £18,000, which will help fund him through university and guarantee a place to train as an officer at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.
He was chosen out of thousands of young men and women from all over the country to get one of the 100 annual scholarships available.
Sandhurst’s alumni includes Winston Churchill and both Prince William and Prince Harry. Foreign monarchs, such as King Hussein of Jordan and the Sultan of Brunei, were also trained there.
Marcus said:
“I was extremely happy but also relieved when I heard that I had obtained the scholarship, as it was a long and tough process.
“I am very grateful to have been selected.”
Studying history, economics and chemistry at A-level, he will now benefit from army funding of £3,000 through his final school year and £2,000 for each year he is at university, where he will also be eligible for further army bursaries.
The Year 13 student added that he was looking forward to the leadership opportunities, alongside the prospects of adventure training and travel which army life offers.
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The application process took place over nine months. Following medical assessments, virtual interviews and cognitive tests, Marcus, whose father served as an RAF fighter pilot, was invited to the final army officer selection board, which took place over two days.
Fascinated by flying
Marcus completed a series of demanding interviews, planning exercises, cognitive and written tasks, leadership challenges and fitness tests including an obstacle course.
But it was all worth it when he was informed, three weeks later, that he had been successful:
He said:
“I’ve always been interested in the military, most likely as a result of my dad’s involvement in the RAF. I hope to join the Army Air Corps as an Apache pilot as flying has fascinated me for a long time.”
Planning to study history at university, his sporting achievements helped in the selection process.
As well as representing his school and local club in rugby, he enjoys biking and walking expeditions and is completing his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award.
Ripon council considers bid to buy Spa BathsRipon City Council is to consider bidding to buy the city’s Spa Baths as part of the campaign to keep the building in community use.
Harrogate Borough Council plans to sell the Grade II listed building when Ripon’s new pool opens at the end of the year.
It has identified an unnamed preferred buyer but last month’s decision to list the 116-year-old building as an asset of community value has put any sale on hold to give the community chance to raise funds to launch a bid.
Ripon City Council is now taking the first steps towards pursuing that option after taking part in an initial meeting with the preferred bidder.
At Monday’s full city council meeting, leader Andrew Williams said:
“We had a constructive discussion with the bidder and will continue to work with them and look at any proposals they have for community uses as part of redevelopment of the site.
“However, to ensure that we keep our options open, following Harrogate Borough Council’s agreement to list the building as an asset of community value, we need to take the process to the next stage.”
Ripon City Council is to request to be treated as a potential bidder.
Councillors agreed to a motion put forward by Cllr Williams to “submit a written request to Harrogate Borough Council to request to be treated as a potential bidder under the provisions of the Localism Act”.
Councillor Stuart Martin, who seconded the motion, was among the councillors who attended the meeting with the preferred bidder. He said:
“We will continue to talk with the bidder, but must take every step to secure Ripon City Council’s position, without putting unnecessary obstacles to further discussions in the way.”
Housing fears
The future of the Edwardian building has been uncertain since owner Harrogate Borough Council put it on the market in February, saying it would be surplus to requirements when Ripon’s new multi-million swimming pool opens.
This sparked fears the baths could be sold for housing.
The campaign to retain it for community use, led by Ripon City Council and Ripon Civic Society, received a boost last month when the building was designated an asset of community value.
The baths were converted from a spa to a public swimming pool in 1936 and has the distinction of being the only English spa to be opened by a member of the royal family.
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- Poet Laureate performs to sell-out audience at Ripon festival
- Questions asked over opening date for Ripon’s new swimming pool
Poet Laureate brings the ‘primitive magic’ of verse to Ripon festival
Simon Armitage summed up the power of poetry when he read a selection of his works to a packed audience in Ripon on Saturday.
The Poet Laureate, whose poems brought laughter and sadness to 200 people at Ripon Grammar School, said words on a page take on a different character when spoken.
Armitage, who was the star attraction at the fourth Ripon Poetry Festival, described verse as having ‘a kind of primitive magic”.
The West Yorkshire-born and bred poet told the Stray Ferret he was delighted to perform at the four-day festival, where he brought some of his own primitive magic and talked about his local connections.
He said:
“My auntie lives in Ripon and I have many memories of visiting here and going to the cathedral and seeing the hornblower.”
The festival anthology of poems (left) and programme.
Poetry boom
Talking about lockdown, he said:
“Sales of poetry books have done well during the pandemic, as people have had more time to reflect.
“Many recalibrated their lives and decided they were not going back to the way things were before.”
Lockdown also gave Armitage, who was appointed to the 10-year office of Poet Laureate in May 2019, the opportunity to focus on his work.
He said:
“It gave me the time to complete my translation of the long medieval poem The Owl and the Nightingale.”
Saturday evening’s audience was given a taste of the epic poem, which focuses on the quarrelsome conversation between the two birds, as they show their mutual dislike.
The newly-published work featured recently on BBC Radio 4’s hit podcast, The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed.
There were also readings from Magnetic Field: The Marsden Poems, a collection that provides a guided tour in verse of the village where Armitage grew up.
Ripon festival success
His lines, which paint a picture of home-town life and experiences, were very much in keeping with the theme of the festival.
Andy Croft, who was one of the organisers of the four-day event, that included 17 sessions at venues across the city, said:
“We are pleased to report that we are now the biggest festival of its kind in Yorkshire.”
Testimony to the growing popularity of poetry was the fact that this year’s festival anthology, The Other Side of the Looking Glass, contains 92 poems covering a broad spectrum of styles and based on a wide range of subjects, including life in lockdown and the environment.
Mr Croft pointed out:
“It contains poems from people of all ages, who live locally and is the largest edition we have published.”
Star of Scotland shines bright in a Sharow churchyard
Where, in the Ripon area, can you find an internationally-famous astronomer buried in a grave marked with a small pyramid-shaped monument and why?
The answers can be found in the churchyard of St John’s Sharow, where Charles Piazzi Smyth was laid to rest following his death on 21 February 1900.
Smyth was born in Naples on 3 January 1819. At the age of 26 he became the youngest-ever Astronomer Royal for Scotland — a title given to the director of the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh.
Smyth, who held the position for more than 40 years, was also professor of astronomy at Edinburgh University.
He has the distinction of being the man behind the introduction of Edinburgh Castle’s one o’clock gun, which is fired six days a week as a guide to shipping.
In an era of unprecedented industrial growth, which saw polluted skies obscure the stars, Smyth literally took his career to new heights when he and his wife climbed the mountains of Tenerife and used a 7.5 inch refracting telescope to view the night sky at altitude.
His pioneering work demonstrated the need for observatories to be located on high ground to achieve best results and he set the standard for astronomers across the globe, which saw him named as the ‘father of mountain astronomy’.
St John’s Sharow, the last resting place of Charles Piazzi Smyth and his wife Jessie
Move to Ripon
Claims made in his 1864 book The Great Pyramid: Its Secrets and Mysteries Revealed, including a conclusion that its construction was ‘guided by the hand of God’ were criticised and rejected by many of the scientific community and 10 years later, he resigned from The Royal Society.
Following his retirement in 1888, Smyth and his wife left Scotland and moved to a house called Clova, in Clotherholme Road, Ripon, where they lived in relative obscurity, away from members of Edinburgh’s scientific elite, who had turned their backs on him.
Smyth, who was also an accomplished photographer, artist and meteorologist, shares his grave in Sharow with his wife, Jessie, who died four years earlier.
A snapshot of their remarkable time together is captured in the words of a weather-beaten epitaph on the pyramid.
It says that Jessie was:
“His faithful and sympathetic friend and companion, through 40 years of varied scientific experiences, by land and sea abroad as well as at home, at 12,000 feet up in the atmosphere, on the wind swept peak of Tenerife, as well as underneath and upon the Great Pyramid of Egypt.
The reference to the Great Pyramid at Giza provides the reason for their unusual memorial.
In his epitaph, where key words are emphasised by capital letters, a posthumous message conveying the hurt feelings he took to his grave can be seen.
It says:
“As Bold in enterprise as he was Resolute in demanding a proper measure of public sympathy and support for Astronomy in Scotland, he was not less a living emblem of pious patience under Troubles and Afflictions and he has sunk to rest, laden with well-earned Scientific Honours, a Bright Star in the Firmament of Ardent Explorers of the Works of their Creator.”
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Ripon Operatic Society returns with Jesus Christ Superstar
Ripon Amateur Operatic Society will stage its first major production since covid tomorrow when it performs Jesus Christ Superstar.
The award-winning musical will be performed at various days over the next two weeks in the newly-refurbished theatre at Ripon Arts Hub on Allhallowgate.
The 120-seater theatre underwent a major refurbishment when it was forced to shut last year.
It has a new ventilation system, new seating, improved sound and lighting and a modernised bar.
The newly-refurbished Ripon Arts Hub.
Shows will be held on selected days over two weeks — October 7 to 9 and October 14 to 16 — with evening performances at 7.30pm and additional 2.30pm matinee shows on Saturday 9 and Saturday 16 October.
The rock opera, which follows Jesus’ last two days through the eyes of Judas Iscariot, is set to music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice.
It includes songs such as “I Don’t Know How to Love Him”, “Superstar” and “Heaven on Their Minds”.
Ripon Arts Hub re-opened in September after 18 months of fundraising by volunteers behind the scenes,
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The upgrade of the premises, which are owned by the society, was partly funded by a £54,339 grant from the government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund, launched to help cultural organisations and heritage sites to recover from covid.
As well as being the setting for the society’s own productions and rehearsals, the re-vamped venue provides Ripon’s first community arts space.
Tickets are available at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/riponoperatics
Dean’s banquet raises £16,000 for Ripon CathedralThe Dean of Ripon’s annual banquet has raised £16,000 for the city’s cathedral.
Last year’s event was cancelled due to covid but the 2021 evening of feast and fundraising was attended by 150 guests, including sponsors, local businesses, parishioners and members of the public.
The Very Rev John Dobson, said:
“What a pleasure it was to welcome the guests to the 2021 Dean’s banquet in the spectacular surroundings of Ripon Cathedral.
“For over 1,300 years people have gathered in this sacred space to celebrate life’s joys and blessings. I am extremely grateful for the remarkable levels of generosity that have been shown by the community, particularly over the last year.”
Dean John said thanks for the generosity shown.
The sparking evening was supported by business partners Raworths solicitors, in Harrogate, and wealth management firm Brewin Dolphin, Leeds.
A champagne reception welcomed guests back in to the cathedral once more and a four course dinner, provided by the Yorkshire Party Company, was followed by a live auction conducted by John Tennant and a silent auction.
A number of high value raffle prizes were donated, including dinner for two at Grantley Hall, two cases of wine and a family season pass to Newby Hall.
The prize draw proved popular, raising £1,170 on the night. The vouchers and prizes were donated by local businesses keen to support the cathedral as it recovers from the financial impact of the pandemic.
Guests were entertained by magician Rob Hutchinson and danced to a silent disco wearing headphones.
The date of next year’s banquet will be Friday 14 October to mark the end of the 1,350th anniversary of St Wilfrid celebrations, which will be taking place throughout 2022.
For further information about how to get involved or to pre-book places contact margarethammond@riponcathedral.org.uk.
Ripon playground remains closed due to rats
Three weeks after rat infestation closed a children’s play area in Ripon, the gates remain chained up.
Vermin control measures are in place at Quarry Moor playground, which is owned and operated by Ripon City Council.
To tackle the problem, the council has been clearing discarded food waste and put up signs asking visitors to the adjacent nature reserve to take their rubbish home with them.
Discarded food items attracted rats to the area.
The playground will remain closed until the rat problem, which poses a threat to public health, is eradicated.
Among those monitoring the situation and removing dead rats from the site is Trevor Welbourn, who regularly visits Quarry Moor park with his Labrador, Sparky.
Mr Welbourn told the Stray Ferret:
“Before the pest control measures were put in place, I was here one morning and there must have been at least 20 rats in the car park, eating discarded food.
“I come most days. I’ve removed 16 in the past week.”
Helping to rid the area of rodents — Trevor Welbourn and Rocky.
A statement by the city council when the park closed on September 15 said:
“The rat problem is worse than ever this year and we have unfortunately had to take the decision to close the playground on the grounds of public health.
“We will work with our partners at Harrogate Borough Council to address the pest problem and will explore all options available, including the use of poison, with both HBC and Natural England.
“We will make changes to the way rubbish is death with on site, all bins will be removed and we encourage all visitors to take their waste home with them.
“The volume of waste collected on site is huge. We usually collect a minimum of eight bags of rubbish per day, which is a constant food supply for the ever growing rat population.
“We will trial a metal trade waste bin in the car park in the short term but ask everyone to take their rubbish home.”
Read more:
- Ripon leisure scheme is more than £3 million over budget
- Can Kirkby Malzeard pub campaigners resurrect the Henry Jenkins?
The city council announced a refurbishment of the park this year, funded by council taxpayers through their parish precept.
The park, just off the A61 on the southern approach to Ripon, was donated to the city in 1945 by Alderman Thomas Fowler Spence.
Ripon’s delayed leisure scheme more than £3m over budget
The Stray Ferret can reveal that Ripon’s new swimming pool and leisure centre is more than £3 million pounds over budget.
The running total for the scheme is now in excess of £13.5 million and that figure is likely to increase.
Details of the spending so far and monies allocated for payment, were obtained by Ripon resident and chartered civil engineer Stanley Mackintosh, following Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to Harrogate Borough Council (HBC).
In its FOI response to Mr Mackintosh HBC said that:
- Money already paid for construction and associated works is £12,936,235.55.
- A further £619,427.06, is allocated for payment.
This means that at £13,555,662, the cost for delivery of the high-profile project is more than £3.3 million over budget.
The original 17-month contract signed with construction company and principal contractor Willmott Dixon was for £10.2 million, with a completion date of May this year – but a delay until November was announced last autumn and last week HBC said the new pool will open ‘towards the end of the year.’
There has been growing concern over the project after Mr Mackintosh along with leading geologist Dr Alan Thompson, an expert on Ripon’s gypsum deposit and sinkhole issues, voiced concerns about the suitability of the site and the costs of works to make it safe. A year ago a ‘void’ was discovered while digging foundations at the entrance of the leisure centre.
Councillor Pat Marsh, the lib-dem leader on HBC, has called for a safety investigation which was supported by independent cllr Sid Hawke, who was one of eight councillors on HBC’s planning committee that approved an application two years ago.
Stanley Mackintosh says his concerns about the swimming pool development ‘fell on deaf ears’
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- Ripon Leisure Centre history – grounds for concern
- New Ripon pool may not open in November
- Expert raises concerns about site of Ripon’s leisure scheme
An insight into the extent of ground stabilisation activity (known as grouting) already carried out on the site, was given in July when HBC reported:
“A total of 441 grouting sites received 3,043 tonnes of grout which, along with the casting of a reinforced concrete slab, provides the foundation for the new swimming pool building.”
Mr Mackintosh has endeavoured to find out the finished cost of the project from the council. However it is not revealing details of additional costs it is budgeting for its completion.
HBC said:
“Disclosure of allowances for works not yet agreed would likely put the Council in a commercial disadvantage in its ability to negotiate efficiently in the future.”
Mr Mackintosh told the Stray Ferret:
“I am totally in favour of a new swimming pool and leisure centre for Ripon, but along with others, including councillors and Dr Thompson, I have argued over many years that the Camp Close site, with its known history of ground instability, was not the right place for it.”
Mr Mackintosh, pointed out:
“I made my case as soon as Camp Close was identified as the location for the new pool and also before the planning meeting in June 2019 when it was approved and afterwards, but my words fell on deaf ears.”
Meanwhile, the council, which gave itself planning permission to proceed with the multi-million pound scheme, maintains that keeping the final costs under wraps, ‘outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.’
HBC said in its response to Mr Mackintosh:
“There is significant public interest in not prejudicing the commercial interests of the Council in ensuring that we can operate efficiently in our role by relying on the services of the businesses we have a relationship with.”
Bitter battle over former Kirkby Malzeard pub enters new phase
The bitter battle between a community campaign group and the owner of a now-derelict pub in Kirkby Malzeard rages on.
More than 10 years after the last pint was pulled at the Henry Jenkins Inn, the fight has entered a new phase.
Campaigners want to refurbish and resurrect the centuries-old inn and see it return as a community-owned and run pub, restaurant and coffee shop.
To support their case, they have launched a petition calling on Harrogate Borough Council to restore Asset of Community Value listing, so it covers all of the building in Main Street.
They hope that the petition will contain 500 or more signatures when it is presented at the full council meeting next Wednesday.
Also preparing an approach to the council is David Fielder, owner of the western portion of the building, which was the original pub before an eastern annex was added.
He told the Stray Ferret:
“I am going to apply for a change of use from public house to residential.”
Flashback to how The Henry Jenkins Inn looked before it closed
Fielder Holdings, Mr Fielder’s pub company, sold the eastern part of the building to his business associate Justin Claybourn, who subsequently applied for a change of use to allow conversion to a single dwelling.
The council’s decision to refuse the application was overturned at a planning appeal in December.
At the online hearing, planning inspector Helen Hockenhull said:
“I am not persuaded that the loss of the annex would make the remaining pub unviable for an alternative community use.
“The scheme would therefore not result in the unnecessary loss of a community facility reducing the community’s ability to meet its day to day needs.”
‘No prospect of reopening’
In making her decision, Ms Hockenhull took into account the fact that Kirkby Malzeard already has a pub – The Queen’s Head, as well as Kirkby Malzeard Mechanics Institute, which is also licensed to sell alcohol.
In a hammer blow to campaigners, she concluded:
“There is no reasonable prospect of the public house reopening.”
However, the campaign group thinks differently, though its ambitions are reliant upon securing the purchase of the whole site from its two owners.
In May, they offered £200,001 for the entire Henry Jenkins building, saying it would use £237,000 of pledges made by supporters to fund the deal.
Richard Sadler, press spokesman for the Henry Jenkins Community Pub group, said:
“It’s vitally important that this pub is recognised for what it is: The Henry Jenkins has been an essential part of the fabric of this village for hundreds of years, the overwhelming majority of villagers want it back as a pub and community facility – and they’ve put their money where their mouth is.”
But Mr Fielder said:
“Both my part of the former pub and Mr Claybourn’s eastern annex remain for sale. For the whole site any purchaser would need around £500,000 to secure a deal.
“We’ve always been willing to speak with the campaigners, but there is a significant difference between their valuation and our own.”
Possible £250,000 support
If the campaigners, who have the support of Kirkby Malzeard Parish Council, district ward councillor Nigel Simms and former MP and now pub campaigner Greg Mulholland, are successful in their application to obtain ACV listing for all of the Henry Jenkins, Mr Sadler, claimed:
“The group would be well placed to qualify for up to £250,000 under the government’s new Community Ownership Fund.”
He does, however, admit:
Talks planned in battle to save Ripon’s Spa Baths“If the whole of the pub is not recognised as an ACV, that could sink our chances.”
“That’s why we’re calling on the council to do the right thing. It never made sense to delist half a pub just because it has changed hands – the council should be helping local communities rather than private developers.”
Councillors in Ripon are hoping to meet soon with Harrogate Borough Council’s preferred bidder for the city’s Spa Baths.
The future of the Grade II listed building has been uncertain since owner Harrogate Borough Council put it on the market in February, saying it would be surplus to requirements when Ripon’s new multi-million swimming pool opens.
This sparked fears the 116-year-old baths could be sold for housing.
The campaign to retain it for community use, led by Ripon City Council and Ripon Civic Society, received a boost this month when the building was designated an asset of community value.
This gives communities a right to bid to buy the building before it is sold on the open market.
The identity of Harrogate Borough Council’s preferred bidder is being kept under wraps due to commercial confidentiality but city council leader Andrew Williams said he was looking forward to constructive discussions.
Replacing Spa Baths: Ripon’s new swimming pool, which will open this year.
He told the Stray Ferret:
“We met with the borough council last week following our successful application to have the baths listed as an asset of community value.”
“At that meeting, we were told that the preferred bidder intends to include an element of community use as part of wider redevelopment of the site.
“We are keen to find out what that community use would be and if there is a way forward that is acceptable to all involved.”
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The 116-year-old building was converted from a spa to a public swimming pool in 1936 and has the distinction of being the only English spa to be opened by a member of the royal family.
A civic society plaque near the entrance records the fact that Princess Henry of Battenburg performed the opening ceremony in 1905.