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30
Nov 2023
Council spends £850 on photographer for Ripon hornblower
North Yorkshire Council spent £850 on a photographer who captured images of the Ripon hornblower on the River Thames.
The council revealed the sum following a Freedom of Information request by the Stray Ferret.
Allison Clark, the city’s first female hornblower, represented Ripon and North Yorkshire’s tourism industry at the World Travel Market event this month after Ripon City Council granted a special dispensation.
As part of this, she "called the watch" on a City Cruises boat on the River Thames.
The event was jointly hosted by North Yorkshire Council, Visit York, Visit Leeds and Herriot Country Tourism.
The council told the Stray Ferret it spent £1,658 of taxpayers' money on the trip.
More than half of this — £850 — went to the photographer, who took other images of the City Cruises event besides the hornblower.
Read more:
- Council plans to bring North Yorkshire leisure services in-house
- Ripon hornblower ‘calls the watch’ in London for first time in 1,000-year history
The council contributed £500 towards commissioning the cruise.
It also spent £175 on a standard room at a Premier Inn, including breakfast, plus rail fares for the hornblower and a representative of Ripon City Council, which cost a further £132.
Asked if the trip had been beneficial to local tourism, a spokesperson for North Yorkshire Council said:
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