A Ripon orchestra is set to host its first concert of the year.

The St Cecilia Orchestra’s concert will be held at Holy Trinity Church, Ripon on Saturday, January 29, with a programme entitled ‘Glorious Strings’.

The concert showcases the orchestra’s string section in Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, along with two shorter works: the Romance in C by Sibelius and Webern’s Langsamer Satz.

The Serenade was written around the time Tchaikovsky was working on his 1812 Overture, but the two works could not be more different in style.

It is billed by Classic FM as among the best the composer ever wrote and one of the late romantic era’s definitive compositions and is particularly revered for second movement, a graceful waltz.

To complete the programme, clarinettist Tom Verity will join the strings in a performance of Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto.

The concerto, composed in 1949 in response commission from the Three Choirs Festival, is one of Finzi’s best-known and most widely performed works and shows the composer’s particular empathy for the clarinet as a solo instrument.

Tom is currently principal clarinet of the Welsh National Opera and has performed as guest principal with many orchestras including the Philharmonia and Hallé.

His chamber music highlights include working with Stephen Hough and with the Heath Quartet, and he also plays with Klezmer-ish, a classical/world music fusion quartet, whose albums Music of the Travellers and Dusty Road have been described as ‘a joyous combination of playfulness and precision’ by The Times.

Tickets are £15 for adults and free for under 18’s. Available online from the St Cecilia website, from the Little Ripon Bookshop and Henry Roberts, or reserve by phone on 01423 531062.

In line with current guidance, audience members should wear face coverings and the seating will be socially distanced. There will be a short interval, but unfortunately no refreshments in order to minimise mingling.

The festive season is over, payday seems like a lifetime away and there is often a sense of pressure to make big life changes at this time of the year.

And all of that is made worse by the fact it is still cold, dark, wet and miserable outside, with months to go until summer comes around.

So it is no surprise that Blue Monday – the ‘most depressing day of the year’ — falls in January.

Blue Monday usually falls on the third Monday of January, which this year is the 17th.

It appears to have originated in 2005 after a press release from Sky Travel used an equation to calculate the dreaded date.

So what should we do this year to beat those Blue Monday blues?

Harrogate life coach Lisa Duffield, owner of the Lisa Duffield Centre, has four tips.

1 Comparison is the thief of joy

“I wanted to share a little insight I have found within the clients I work with.

“Individuals that are suffering from what is branded the ‘January blues’ are all so focused on comparison.

“Comparison of this month to last month, this year to last year…

“You and your family’s goals or plans, compared to the family next door, or the family who you spend all your time watching on Instagram that you will never meet. And from this insight I bring you my first pill-free prescription to beat the case of January blues.

“Comparison is the single biggest waste of your time.

“Next time you find yourself comparing yourself to others or your life to others etc. just stop take a breath and if you insist on comparing yourself at all, think about you, how far have you come, what have you learned since yesterday, last year or even an hour ago.”

Harrogate life coach, Lisa Duffield.

2 Make realistic goals

“January blues can also shine through goal setting and unrealistic expectations.

“For some reason many of us believe that when the clock strikes 12 on January 1, you change into a new person, fitter, healthier, wealthier.

“Old traditions even show that we wish our first foot “all the wealth, health and happiness” for the New Year. While this is very kind, it does not mean that you have to become an overnight fitness fad and a self-made billionaire.

“Here comes the second tip, make realistic goals that you know you are able to achieve.

“You may have a big dream and that is amazing, but break it down into incremental chunks.

“Make smaller goals that you know will get to. They could be ‘eat more green veg’ or ‘move for an extra 30 minutes per day’, rather than ‘complete a bodybuilding competition and win in three months’.”

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3 Surround yourself with positivity

“Spend time with those who make you happy.

“Over Christmas many of us spend a lot of time with family and friends, we make the effort to go and see relatives that we haven’t seen since the year previous, or we say Merry Christmas to people in the street and smile.

“This makes us happy because we have also made others feel happy. Why stop?

“You can still spend time with ones you love and you can still engage with people in the street. A simple good morning or hello will work wonders.”

4 Try something new

“Last but not least. We’ve all heard it. ‘Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results’.

“It’s time to try something new.

“If you are looking for a different result in 2022 and maybe you are feeling a little deflated, step out of your comfort zone and try something new.

“You will be surprised the paths this teeny act can lead to, you meet new people, learn and experience new things.”

4 ways to cheer yourself up on Blue Monday – by Nina Meads

1 Go for a walk

Nidd Gorge, is one of the many scenic walks that explore nature in the Harrogate district.

In the Harrogate district, we are fortunate enough to be surrounded by stunning countryside. We really are spoilt for choice and personal favourites are Thruscross Reservoir, Nidd Gorge and Hookstone Wood. You also can’t beat a walk around the grounds at Fountains Abbey or Knaresborough waterside.

So lace up those walking boots and head out into the great outdoors. Fresh air and being amongst nature will boost your mood.

If you’re at work, grab a coffee and go for a stroll on your lunch break.

2 Pamper yourself

Rudding Park Spa.

If you want to really spoil yourself, book into Harrogate’s Turkish Baths or enjoy a spa session at Rudding Park, Grantley Hall or Swinton Park.

If money or time is tight, nothing beats a good bath and a book.

3 Do some exercise and practice mindfulness at a Festival of Wellbeing in Harrogate

A ‘festival of wellbeing’ is being held in Harrogate.

While it’s not taking place on Blue Monday itself, OneWellness, in Mowbray Square, is hosting a second Festival of Wellbeing on Saturday, January 15, to help boost mental health.

The free festival from 9am until 4pm, which is being run in association with Mind Harrogate, Sweaty Betty and Hustle & Co, will offer a range of fitness, nutrition and health classes and talks.

From mindfulness and wellbeing, relax and de-stress yoga, to Pilates, barre, and dance cardio classes, the wellbeing experts at OneWellness have tailored each lesson to suit everyone and help boost physical fitness levels whilst increasing positive wellbeing.

4 Meet a friend for a cuppa and cake

Betty’s Harrogate.

The Harrogate district has some of the best coffee shops and tearooms in the country, including lots of amazing independents and the famous Betty’s.

Arrange to meet a friend for a catch-up and lots of laughs. After all, laughter is good for the soul. Oh and don’t forget the cake. That’s essential.

Parking spaces will be temporarily reduced in Ripon from next week while resurfacing work is carried out at the city’s biggest car park.

Work on the 193-bay Cathedral Car Park starts on Monday and is scheduled to be completed by February 11.

Signs say that over the three weeks, there will be ‘restricted parking’ available.

Other public car parks serving the city centre are at The Arcade, Market Place North (except on Thursdays) Victoria Grove, St Marygate and Marshall Way retail park.

Plea for wider bays

Before local company A. E. Duffield begins the £85,000 contract, Ripon City Council has reiterated its call for spaces on the car park to be widened to accommodate the larger vehicles that many people now drive.

At Monday evening’s city council meeting, members were told by town clerk Paula Benson that Harrogate Borough Council had not as yet responded to correspondence about the request for enlarged spaces.

It agreed to make further contact with Harrogate Borough Council after council leader Andrew Williams said:

“With the work due to start next week, we need an answer from them.”

A pub in the centre of Ripon has closed for the foreseeable future.

The Lamb and Flag, on High Skellgate, looks quiet and dark today with the pub garden fenced off.

It is unclear why the pub has closed but the owners, who took over a little more than a year ago, revealed the news in a statement on their Facebook page. It said:

“This decision has not come lightly but unfortunately the Lamb and Flag will be closed for the foreseeable.

“We would like to thank everyone for their support but at this time we will be closing.

“We will update everyone if there are any changes.”

The Stray Ferret asked the pub’s owners why they decided to close and whether it would reopen. However, we had not received a reply by the time of publication.

Read more:

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A new, comprehensive bus service for Ripon could be up and running as soon as April.

Ripon is served by regular Transdev 36 buses, which link the city with Harrogate and Leeds.

But local buses are limited and Ripon City Council’s transport group has been trying for several years to create a more joined-up service.

Councillor Peter Horton, who chairs the transport group, said plans to create a more integrated bus timetable for all parts of Ripon were being put out to tender by North Yorkshire County Council.

He told Monday’s Ripon City Council meeting:

“The integrated passenger transport authority now has monies available from the Doublegates housing development to help fund the comprehensive scheme we put forward.

“This would serve our growing city up to six days a week.

“The hope is that the service could be operating by April, but that will depend on the response to the tender from bus operators.”

New housing developments in Ripon have enabled the parish precept charged to council tax payers in the city to be frozen for the second successive year.

The parish precept is charged on top of the tax paid to North Yorkshire County Council, Harrogate Borough Council and the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

It means residents living in a Band D property will pay a parish precept of £71.89 for the year. People in Bands A to C properties will pay less and those in Bands E to H will pay more.

At last night’s meeting of Ripon City Council, the draft budget for 2022-2023 was unanimously approved after independent council leader Andrew Williams told members:

“Because of the increased number of new houses built in Ripon, we are able to raise a levy of £410,902, at no extra cost to the charge payer.”

Hugh Ripley Hall

The figure represents a 3% increase for the parish council budget, which stood at £400,000 last year and Cllr Williams explained:

“As we are collecting from a larger base, we are able to freeze the precept for the second year running.

“We believe that this is the right and proper thing to do, at a time when families are under greater financial pressure through increased fuel and other costs.”

The bulk of the money will be spent on the queen’s platinum jubilee celebration in June, other public and civic events during the year and items including town hall rent and the management and upkeep of Hugh Ripley Hall and Ripon’s team of hornblowers.

Conservative councillor Mike Chambers, who represents Ripon at city, district and county council level, said:

“I am delighted that there will be no increase in the parish precept and I lend it my support.”

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Ripon Farm Services is set to celebrate its 40th anniversary with the return of its annual show next week.

The New Year Show will be held over two days at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate on January 19 and 20.

The show, which is one of the key events on the northern agricultural calendar, will feature the largest combine harvester in Europe and the new John Deere 6R tractor.

More than 5,000 people are expected to attend.

The event was cancelled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

There will be some measures in place to prevent the spread of the virus, including a requirement for proof of full vaccination together with negative lateral flow tests.

Richard Simpson, commercial director of Ripon Farm Services, said the team had thought long and hard about whether to go ahead with the show. He said:

“In the end we believe the farming community needs and deserves our support.

“Farmers can’t cancel lambing time, they can’t cancel milking or cancel harvest, they have to carry on, no matter what.

“The nation relies on them. So it would be unfair of us to let farmers down.

“After last year’s cancellation, which was unavoidable, we are delighted to be back with one of the very finest shows we have ever held.”

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Dan Robinson, who is heading up the preparations for the show, added:

“Apart from those two headline machines, we will be showcasing everything we do, including a huge range of used equipment which will be available to buy.

“This is the very best opportunity to see all the very latest and best farming machinery in one single location.

“The show is housed in the warm and dry Yorkshire Events Centre at the Great Yorkshire Showground and there is no better place to see all that we offer.

“Our specialists across all sectors will be available to answer any questions during the two days, and there will be seminars and presentations

“So the event is ultimately a one-stop shop for farmers across the north of England.”

Harrogate Borough Council is being urged to return assets such as the town hall and spa gardens to local ownership in Ripon before devolution comes into effect next year.

Harrogate Borough Council took control of the assets when it was created following local government reorganisation in 1974.

At the same time the Municipal Borough of Ripon was abolished and the city reduced to parish council status under the authority of Harrogate Borough Council.

Now, with another major shake-up of local government looming, Ripon City Council is calling for the city’s town hall, Hugh Ripley Hall, Market Square (pictured below), Spa Gardens and Spa Park to be transferred back to local ownership.

It says provisions in the Localism Act, designed to protect assets of community value (ACV), should be used to achieve this prior to the formation of the new North Yorkshire unitary authority next year.

Moves are already underway to retain community use at Spa Baths, after the city council successfully applied in September to have the historic building listed as an ACV.

Market Square

With Harrogate Borough Council due to be scrapped in April next year, independent Ripon city and district councillor Pauline McHardy told the Stray Ferret:

“There’s absolutely no reason for Harrogate to hang on to assets that rightfully belong to us.

“Not a penny was paid for them when they were handed to Harrogate in 1974 and we want them to be transferred back.”

Cllr McHardy put forward a notice of motion, seconded by fellow Ripon independent councillor Sid Hawke, which was due to be discussed at Harrogate Borough Council’s full council meeting in December, but the meeting was cancelled.

The motion calling for the return of the assets, is due to come before next month’s full meeting of HBC.

Cllr McHardy, pointed out:

“We will continue to press for the freehold of key assets in the city to be handed back to Ripon.”

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Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith has said the supply of covid tests is improving after complaints that the system is in “chaos”, with health workers and residents left empty handed.

Mr Smith was told at a North Yorkshire County Council meeting on Friday that there have been no lateral flow tests available at Skipton’s pharmacies with staff at the town’s vaccination centre also unable to get tested as demand soared over the festive period.

Conservative councillor Mike Chambers, who represents the Ripon North division, described the system as being in “chaos” after people in the city have struggled to get test kits.

Mike Chambers

Independent councillor Andy Solloway, who represents Skipton West, told the meeting the shortages were putting a strain on the local economy and had also led to some residents launching abuse at pharmacy staff. He said:

Conservative MP Mr Smith said the government recognised there has been a surge in demand for tests and that while supply chains were improving, he would write to Health Secretary Sajid Javid to highlight the issue.

He said:

“The government is aware there was a big crunch point just after Christmas and they are now more confident on supply.

“This is an important issue as we need to get people confident to go to their workplaces, particularly health workers and others on the frontline.”

Read more:

• Andrew Lupton, sales director of Ripon firm Econ, dies suddenly
• Ripon sets aside £105,000 for four-day platinum jubilee extravaganza
• Can you get a lateral flow test kit in the Harrogate district?

‘Ridiculous situation’

Friday’s meeting also heard complaints from Conservative councillor Stuart Martin that health workers – including a family member – had been unable to get tested.

Stuart Martin

Councillor Martin, who represents Ripon South and is also chairman of the county council, said:

“My daughter is a paramedic and some of her colleagues came to my door over the Christmas break as they were unable to access any testing kits whatsoever.

“Luckily we had a couple of tests that we were able to give them, but this is a ridiculous situation.”

It comes as the government has said the current Plan B covid restrictions will remain in place for now.

Changes from tomorrow

It has also been announced that people who test positive with a lateral flow test do not need a follow-up PCR test if they do not have symptoms. These changes come into force from tomorrow.

Mr Smith told Friday’s meeting that he believed the Plan B rules – which include working from home, face coverings on public transport and in public places, and NHS covid passes – were “relatively soft” and that the decision to stick with them was “proportionate”. He said:

“It feels as if that judgement has been correct, but obviously there are still very strong crosswinds on parts of the NHS.

“We are not out of the woods yet and we all need to do whatever we can to encourage the following of the rules.”

Ripon firm Econ Engineering has paid tribute to its “much-loved” sales director Andrew Lupton, who has died.

In a statement this morning, Econ said Mr Lupton had died “suddenly and unexpectedly” yesterday.

Mr Lupton, 56, ran the second-generation family business alongside his brother and co-director Jonathan Lupton and finance director Bev Shepherd.

The statement added:

“His untimely death has come as a terrible shock, and will take some time for us to come to terms with.

“Our thoughts at this incredibly sad time go out to his family and all those who knew Andrew, either professionally or personally.

“Andrew worked with immense passion and enthusiasm. It was his drive and determination that helped grow Econ into the business it is today.”

The company has set up a JustGiving page in Mr Lupton’s memory for people to pay tribute. The money raised will go to Harrogate Hospital & Community Charity.

The JustGiving page says the intensive care unit at Harrogate District Hospital cared for Andrew in his final hours.

Econ is the UK’s leading manufacturer of gritters and highway maintenance vehicles.

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