National Lottery Open Week brings cheap deals to Harrogate district attractionsDiscounted entry to Harrogate district attractions with National Lottery this weekend

National Lottery Open Week is set to offer free and discounted places for visitors across the Harrogate district this weekend.

This year’s Open Week event takes place March 9-17 and will include RHS Harlow Carr, Fountains Abbey and Nidderdale Museum.

Venues funded by National Lottery will offer discounted entry for visitors who can use their National Lottery ticket or scratch card as entry. To redeem this offer people must be able to produce proof of purchase.

Offers are available locally at:

RHS Garden Harlow Carr

Visitors can enjoy two tickets for the price of one this weekend at Harrogate’s RHS Garden, near Beckwithshaw.  The deal runs from March 11-17 and visitors can explore the gardens 2,000 plant varieties.

The Royal Horticultural Society received £4 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund towards a six-year gardening project that includes developing the world’s first centre of horticultural excellence.

The Main Borders at RHS garden Harlow Carr.

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden 

The offer is available March 9-17 for visitors to explore the monastery and estate grounds near Ripon free of charge. The National Lottery has supported Fountains Abbey in vital conservation work.

Fountains Abbey

Fountains Abbey

Nidderdale Museum 

The local and social history museum in Pateley Bridge is offering free entry on March 16. Tickets usually entry costs £5 with free accompanying children.

Nidderdale Museum has benefited from a grant from the National Lottery fund to start work to make the museum sustainable.

Nidderdale Museum

Nidderdale Museum

There are also nearby offers with Beningborough Hall and Goddards in York offering the same deal as Fountains Abbey plus Leeds Library offering free tours.

For the Harrogate district offers booking in advance is not required. Proof of purchase of a National Lottery game can be either a hard copy ticket or digital.

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Reservoir monument restored and returned to Nidderdale Museum

A stone monument built in 1913 depicting Angram reservoir has been restored and donated to Nidderdale Museum.

The reservoir was one of three built in the Nidderdale area between 1896 and 1936 by Bradford Corporation Waterworks Department.

The company also built a railway to transport people and equipment from Pateley Bridge to the three reservoirs – Gouthwaite, Angram and Scar House. 

Stonemason Robert Drummond, who was part of a team of stonemasons employed to build the reservoir, created the monument of Angram, which weighs over a ton.

It stood outside the Bradford Corporation Waterworks Office, moving several times before resting in the private garden of one of Mr Drummond’s descendants.

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In 2021, the monument was offered as a donation to the museum by members of the family, and it was accepted.

Stonemasons HA Green & Son from Ripon dismantled it and transported it to their workshop, where the monument underwent a restoration, sponsored by Yorkshire Water’s Beyond Nature Initiative.

On Friday, it was unveiled outside Nidderdale Museum in Pateley Bridge to serve as a reminder of the history of the dams in the area.

Sue Welch, chairman of Nidderdale Museum Society said: 

“We are delighted that Yorkshire Water agreed that the monument should come back to Nidderdale and be displayed so that everyone can learn more about the reservoirs and its history.”

The Lord Mayor of Bradford was in Pateley Bridge last Friday to unveil the model (pictured below).

Pictured are (left to right): Joyce Dixon, granddaughter of the stonemason; Sue Welch, chairman of Nidderdale Museum; Cllr Gerry Barker, Lord Mayor of Bradford; Jean Barker, Lady Mayoress of Bradford; Cllr David Ireton, chairman of North Yorkshire Council; Andy Shaw, head of water production for Yorkshire Water

The story of Angram

More than a thousand workers were involved in the construction work, with most of them living on site.  During the work at Angram and Scar House the accommodation built was much better than most in the local villages, with electric power, communal buildings, a school and a cinema.

Many stonemasons were employed to build the reservoirs, and one of them, Robert Drummond, created this scale model of Angram during his spare time, working with his son Duncan.

It was finished in 1913 six years before the reservoir opened.

The aqueduct built to transport the water from the reservoirs to the water filtration plant at Chellow Heights near Bradford was a major feat of engineering, transporting the water underground for over 30 miles purely by gravity.

There is no pumping involved. The system is still in operation today, providing water to the Bradford area.

Nidderdale Museum, in the Old Workhouse, Pateley Bridge is a volunteer-run independent museum with 12 rooms full of items and information from the past 200 years of Nidderdale life.

It is open from 1.30pm to 4.30pm daily except Mondays over summer.

 

Free entry to Harrogate district attractions starts tomorrow

Several Harrogate district attractions will be offering free entry in the days ahead as part of National Lottery Open Week.

The lottery has raised more than £47 billion for good causes since it started in 1994. To thank players, it runs an annual week in which organisations it has funded are invited to provide free entry and special offers.

This year’s open week begins tomorrow (Saturday) and ends on March 26.

The following offers in the Harrogate district apply to anyone who presents a National Lottery ticket or scratchcard, digital or physical.

For the terms and conditions click here, and check the venue listings for dates, times and other terms and conditions. You can search for events here.

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Free entry tomorrow at Nidderdale Museum in Pateley Bridge

Free entry is available to Nidderdale Museum in Pateley Bridge tomorrow.

The museum, which is housed in a former workhouse, contains a huge array of displays and artefacts about traditional Nidderdale life. It will open tomorrow from 1.30pm to 4.30pm.

It has 13 themed spaces devoted to areas such as leisure, agriculture, industry, religion, transport and costume, plus an original cobbler’s shop, a Victorian parlour room set, a general store and schoolroom.

Nidderdale Museum

Founded in 1975, the museum is run entirely by volunteers.

Charles Andrew, a trustee, said:

“To get the New Year off to a good start, we’re doing free entry on January 1.

“It is, after all, Nidderdale’s largest and finest indoor attraction, with a collection of over 31,000 items and 13 themed spaces that each showcase a different aspect of local life, and 15 life-size re-creations.”

The museum is usually open from 1.30pm to 4.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays only during the winter months. It opens far more frequently from spring onwards.

More information is available here.

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Nidderdale Museum granted £54,800 to sustain heritage

Nidderdale Museum in Pateley Bridge has been awarded £54,800 as part of a project to sustain the heritage of the area.

The volunteer-run museum has a collection of over 32,000 items, including costumes, artefacts and photographs.

The funding, secured from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, will help to fund a 15-month project called Sustaining Nidderdale’s Heritage.

The project aims to ensure the museum can continue to preserve and display local heritage.

It will enable the facility to expand its volunteers and set up recruitment and training programmes.

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A part-time project manager will be appointed to oversee the scheme, which will start in May. There will also be an opportunity for a young person to be taken on as part of a trainee placement.

The museum, which receives more than 6,000 visitors a year, also hopes the grant will help it to put measures in place to secure Arts Council England accreditation, which would enable it to apply for future funding.

Sue Welch, chairman of the Nidderdale Museum, said: 

“We’re delighted to receive this funding, which will mean we can safeguard the future of Nidderdale’s heritage, and give more people the opportunity to learn about it.  

“We’re grateful to all those who, by buying lottery tickets, have made this funding possible.”

The museum expects to re-open on May 21, and will then be open from 1.30 – 4.30pm every Friday, Saturday and Sunday throughout May and June.  

Nidderdale Museum delays reopening with volunteers in self-isolation

Nidderdale Museum had planned to reopen next month but many of its volunteers are self-isolating or shielding.

Without its regular supply of volunteers, it will likely stay closed until October and even then just on weekends for three hours.

The museum had put in a one-way system and pause points as well as hand sanitising stations and a self-service contactless payment system.

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Now the museum has launched an appeal for volunteers between 16 and 69 years old. They have asked volunteers to get in touch before August 8.

Sue Welch, chairman of the Nidderdale Museum, told The Stray Ferret:

“There are various other museums in Yorkshire that are saying they are likely to have the same problems because many of their volunteers are over 70. I am afraid it is a known issue. People that volunteer are often older people and particularly museum volunteers. Although this is an immediate need we are hoping it will bear fruit for the future as well.”

The government gave the museums the go-ahead to reopen from July 4. However, many may be in the same position as Nidderdale Museum.

Nidderdale Museum had been working towards an exhibition celebrating the 700th anniversary of the Markets and Fair Charter to Pateley Bridge but may need to delay until 2021.