Cruise company in ‘near miss’ on Ripon CanalInvestigation: How seriously does the Environment Agency tackle reports of pollution in the Nidd and Ure?Plaque marks Ripon Canal’s 250th anniversaryVisitors to Ripon Canal now have a permanent reminder of its long history after a plaque was unveiled at the weekend to mark its 250th anniversary.
The canal basin off Bondgate Green/Boroughbridge Road, was bathed in warm sunshine on Saturday as groups, organisations and members of the public were invited to a festival to celebrate one of the city’s hidden gems.
In addition to the formalities, carried out by the Mayor of Ripon Councillor Sid Hawke, there were displays by organisations including Ripon Civic Society, the Canal & River Trust, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, the RSPB, Inland Waterways Association and Ripon YMCA.
All have a keen interest in the canal for reasons ranging from built heritage to wildlife habitats and use of the waterway as a leisure and wellbeing asset.
Lizzie Dealey, partnerships manager for the Canal & River Trust, told the Stray Ferret:
“It’s remarkable to think how this waterway, which lay derelict for decades after the arrival of the railways, has been transformed, through the efforts of so many people, into a treasured facility.
“There are now more boats on our canals than at the height of the Industrial Revolution, with more than 10 million people using the network each year.”
Those who visited the Ripon Canal Basin on Saturday as part of the free Heritage Open Days programme which runs until Sunday (September 17) were treated to some free entertainment provided by a team of Appalachian clog dancers (pictured above) before a performance by Ripon singer/songwriter Freddie Cleary.
Nigel Rawlinson, president of Ripon Civic Society
And people who wanted to find out more about the canal’s heritage were able to speak with Nigel Rawlinson, the president of Ripon Civic Society and Richard Willis, the owner of Ripon Scenic Cruises and a former secretary of Ripon Canal Society.
Both societies played key roles in the canal’s protection and restoration between the 1980s and 1996.
The unveiling of the plaque was carried out by the Mayor of Ripon, Councillor Sid Hawke, attended by Mayoress Ms Linda Hawke along with Lizzie Dealey, partnerships manager of the Canal & River Trust and event organiser Richard Willis, owner of Ripon Civic Cruises, which operates on the waterway.
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Hazardous response team rescue person from Ripon CanalSpecialist paramedics and other emergency workers came to the rescue of a person on a boat on Ripon Canal last night.
Firefighters from Ripon were summoned to Boroughbridge Road, which runs alongside the canal basin, at 12.23am.
They were responding to a request from paramedics to help move a patient from a boat, according to North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Its incident report said:
“Crews assisted to move the casualty into a seated position to allow paramedics to carry out an assessment.”
The report added firefighters then liaised with paramedics and staff from Yorkshire Ambulance Service’s hazardous area response team, which provides emergency treatment in precarious rescue operations.
The report said:
“Crews then assisted the casualty from the boat to the pontoon and left them in the care of ambulance crews.”
No further details have been released.
The canal held an open day yesterday to celebrate its 250th anniversary.
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Ripon Canal to celebrate 250th anniversary with open day on Saturday
Ripon Canal, one of the city’s hidden historic gems, will celebrate its 250th anniversary on Saturday with a day of festivities, including displays and live music.
The festival is part of the Heritage Open Days programme running from tomorrow (September 8) until Sunday September 17, which will see dozens of venues across the Harrogate district take part, offering free entry to anyone wishing to visit.
Saturday’s open day at the canal basin runs from 11am until 3pm and at 1pm the Mayor of Ripon, Councillor Sid Hawke, will unveil a plaque to mark the waterway’s landmark anniversary.
The day, which has been organised by Richard Willis , owner of Ripon Scenic Cruises with support from Ripon Civic Society, will be attended by representatives from organisations including the Canal & River Trust, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, the RSPB and civic dignitaries.
The picturesque approach to the canal basin
The history of Ripon Canal
The canal opened in September 1773, principally to bring coal by boat from the mines of West Yorkshire for domestic use in Ripon and to carry cargos of wool and lead ingots from the Dales for use in Yorkshire’s cloth and heavy manufacturing industries.
However, 75 years after its opening, the canal became virtually redundant overnight with the arrival in Ripon of the railway and the opening in June 1848 of a station to the north of the city centre.
Barges could not compete with the new rapid delivery service and with the loss of trade, the canal’s fate as a commercial enterprise was sealed.
Operators of the new mode of transport that caused the canal’s demise soon became its owner, as the waterway was purchased by the Leeds and Thirsk Railway in 1844, which subsequently became part of the North Eastern Railway in 1855.
Decades of dereliction followed and at one stage Ripon City Council mooted the idea of filling in the canal to create an extension for the Dallamires Lane Industrial estate.
Prior to this suggestion, the British Transport Commission had obtained Royal Assent for the abandonment of Ripon Canal in 1956.
Regeneration and conservation
Calls to regenerate the canal to realise its potential as a leisure and tourist asset for local residents and visitors proved successful, gaining momentum through the formation of the Ripon Canal Society, of which Mr Willis was appointed secretary in 1982.
The waterway reopened for navigation as far as Littlethorpe Road Bridge in 1986 and was officially reopened right into the centre of Ripon in September 1996, with the assistance of the society and local authorities and with funding from English Partnerships.
Further improvements have been brought about through work carried out by Ripon Motor Boat Club, which has its marina and clubhouse on a section of the canal at Littlethorpe.
The waterway is now managed by the Canal & River Trust, which is the charity that succeeded British Waterways. It was awarded a Green Flag for its water quality in July 2018 and the improvements brought about by conservation volunteers and the Environment Agency have attracted more wildlife to its banks, while otters are regularly spotted hunting for fish.
Mr Willis told the Stray Ferret:
“The festival provides the opportunity for people to find out more about Ripon Canal and the role it has played, first as an industrial transport route and now as a leisure and recreational asset that attracts both visitors and wildlife into the heart of the city.”
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Vandals ground canal boats in RiponCanal boats in Ripon were grounded when vandals drained the water between two lock gates.
Ripon Scenic Cruises skipper Jon Eyles discovered the company’s boats and all other vessels were “stuck in the mud” early on Sunday.
It appeared someone had drained the area overnight leaving the boats stuck and unable to be moved until the canal was refilled.
It took until late into the evening to refill the affected area on the canal. This meant all booked trips on the river that day had to be cancelled.
Canal boats were hampered last year when water shortages prompted the Canal and River Trust to close the locks to conserve water.
Ripon Scenic Cruises said in a statement:
“There’s been no word of whom may have done this from the police or Canal and River Trust.
“We hope that this was an isolated incident. As a small local business we struggled through last year and we don’t need it to be made more difficult by action of unthinking vandals.”
The company runs afternoon tea cruises and also has narrowboats available for private hire.
The canal will also be celebrating it’s 250th anniversary this September.
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Photo of the Week: The Lock HouseThis week’s photograph was taken by Mike Smith, looking down the Ripon Canal at sunrise to Lock House.
Mike Smith
Photo of the Week celebrates the Harrogate district. It could be anything from family life to capturing the district’s beauty. We are interested in amateur and professional photographs, in a landscape format.
Send your photographs to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk for a chance to be featured next week, we reserve the right to adjust and crop images to fit into our format.
Christmas market cruise heading to RiponRipon Scenic Cruises is set to host its second Christmas market on the city’s canal.
Victoria Whitehead organised the first, which was held in 2018, and the second which is set to be held on December 17 and 18 from 11am to 3pm.
Richard Willis, father of Victoria, said:
“We’ve got the boat sat there, we’ve got the space why not put on a Christmas Market and cruise?”
So far Victoria and Richard estimate they have sold over 40 tickets for each day of the market and they hope to expand next year.
The firm will also be providing a ‘winter warmer cruise’ with mince pies and mulled wine at £8.50 a ticket.
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The cruise will travel down the Ripon canal and can hold up to 12 people.
The market is expecting at least five different stalls from local businesses and live music.
Tickets for the cruise can be bought on the day or at the Cathedral View Cafe at 2 Bedern Bank, Ripon HG4 1BS.
Ripon riverside reveals how previous generations of children learnt to swimDecades before Sylvia Grice MBE started teaching generations of Ripon children how to swim in the city’s Spa Baths, the lessons were more rudimentary.
Among the overgrown trees, grass and plants that crowd a bank-side section of the Ure, retired postman John Heselton, has uncovered a rusty riverside relic.
The mystery object serves as a reminder of childhood experiences in Victorian and Edwardian times that would be frowned upon in today’s more safety-conscious society.
He pointed out:
“I discovered from a couple of people in their 90s, who were among Ripon’s first ‘wild’ swimmers, that their introduction to the waters of the Ure was literally a case of sink or swim.”
With the Skell, Laver and a canal adding to Ripon’s network of natural and man-made waterways, there has always been a need to teach children and adults a skill that could one day save their life or the lives of others.
John Heselton, with a black and white photograph of the pavilion, is pictured next to the pulley that was used as a safety device.
But pre-1936, when Ripon’s first public baths were opened, how did people learn their first strokes?
Mr Heselton, pointed out:
“For novice swimmers, a rope was wrapped around their waists before they took the plunge.
“If they showed any signs of getting into difficulties, the pulley that the rope was attached to, was wound back in by the adults on the bank who arranged and supervised the regular learn to swim and swimming sessions.”
He added:
“When I was a boy I learnt to swim, like thousands of other Ripon children, at Spa Baths, but it’s remarkable to think that generations before I was born, my ancestors are very likely to have been among those taught in this more basic way.”
Though the teaching method was basic, the same does not apply to the swimming pavilion itself, which was a grand purpose-built facility, as Mr Heselton discovered.
A detail in a wall (pictured below) first indicated to him that it was more than a boundary to a riverside residence.
He said:
“I have past this structure on hundreds of occasions over half a century – first as a keen club runner and more recently while out walking my dog Ruby – but it is only in the last couple of years that I realised it is a surviving remnant of a historically-significant facility.
“After rooting through the undergrowth, I saw that at ground level the wall includes a salt-glazed course of bricks, not there to let air in, but to drain water out, when the swimmers got out of the river to change back into their clothes.”
Like all good detectives, Mr Heselton looked for further evidence on the other side of the wall and the pulley system provided another vital clue about the previous use of this area, where the Ure broadens out to form a natural lido.
The ‘sink or swim’ childhood experience was confirmed by local people he had come to know during the 20 years that he served as a postman in Ripon.
Now, the missing pieces of the jigsaw have been put into place in a fascinating compilation of facts and photographs that the history and nature lover has painstakingly assembled.
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Festival plans ahead as Ripon canal boat makes its returnAlongside Ripon’s iconic cathedral and historic market, canal cruises are on the list of visitor and tourist attractions on a sign guiding motorists to the city centre.
Many of those tempted for the first time to make the turn off the bypass to ‘stay awhile amid Ripon’s ancient charms’ may not realise that this place is also a waterway wonderland, with three rivers, a wetlands area with lake and the hidden gem of a canal.
The arrival of the railway at the height of Victorian Britain’s industrial revolution, spelled the end of the line for the man-made navigation. But far-sighted people in the city saw its environmental, leisure and recreational potential and saved it.
Now there are plans in hand to celebrate the canal’s 250th anniversary in September 2023 — an event that will also give visitors a chance to enjoy Ripon’s wealth of watery assets.
The Ure, Skell and Laver each have their own characteristics and attractions, including wooded walks, along river banks linked by iron, stone. concrete and wooden bridges.
A wooded walk along the River Skell, which runs parallel with Ripon Canal
There’s a ford crossing the Skell that is safe to drive through when water levels allow and stepping stones, which are popular with pedestrians and dog walkers.
Otters have been spotted in the city’s rivers and canal, signalling the fact that water quality has been dramatically improved, thanks to the work of conservation volunteers, the Canal and River Trust and Environment Agency.
The canal’s 250th anniversary
Richard Willis, who owns and operates Ripon Scenic Cruises and provides trips from the canal basin off Bondgate Green, is planning the festival that will celebrate the waterway’s notable milestone.
Richard Willis is planning a festival in the canal basin in September 2023
In this, his 16th season of offering scenic journeys aboard his custom-made Pride of Ripon canal boat, Mr Willis is already looking forward to next year.
He told the Stray Ferret:
“This is a magnificent opportunity for Ripon to put itself in the UK spotlight for enthusiasts and people who enjoy the gentle and idyllic pleasures of waterside or waterborne leisure activities.”
The picturesque approach to the canal basin
He is well-placed to speak about the magnetic attraction that brings people back time and again after they have had their first cruise.
Mr Willis said:
“We have regular customers who have been coming to us for years from across the Harrogate district and further afield.
“They come specifically for a cruise and while here, they visit the cathedral, museums and other attractions in the city – all good for the tourist economy.”
He added:
“The Pride of Ripon was tied up for a lot of last year because of the covid lockdown, but once restrictions lifted in July, we were busy every day.
“At the end of the season we were able to reflect on our best-ever year of operating here.
“That’s why I am so confident that a canal-focused festival in the basin will be a great success.”
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