Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.
This month our MPs gave their thoughts on the partygate scandal as well as on Rishi Sunak’s wife’s tax affairs.
We asked our three Conservative MPs, Harrogate & Knaresborough’s Andrew Jones, Skipton and Ripon’s Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty’s Nigel Adams if they would like to highlight anything in particular that they have been doing this month, but, as usual, we did not receive a response from any of them.
Here is what we know after analysing their online presence.
Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.
In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here is what we found out on Mr Jones:
Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon.
In Skipton and Ripon, here is what we found on Mr Smith:
In rural south Harrogate, here is what we found on Mr Adams:
Three years ago, David Elstob had the urge to open his own auction house. It was an ambitious idea for a 34-year-old with a large mortgage and a toddler, but he felt it was now or never.
After cutting his teeth at a site in Bedale, he relocated to Ripon Business Park where he now hosts auctions every four weeks, specialising in fine art, antiques, and silver and jewellery.
It has been quite a journey. Mr Elstob opened in Ripon in December 2019 — three months before the first national covid lockdown.
But although covid decimated many start-ups, it has had a more favourable impact on auctions by hastening the transition to online bidding and more modern digital approaches, which suits a man who is considerably younger than many in the trade.
Online auctions attract more bidders, meaning higher prices and more commission, which explains why many auction houses still operate remotely post-covid restrictions.
At 37, David Elstob is younger than most auctioneers.
Elstob and Elstob allows bidders back in on sales days but whereas 100 people may have turned up pre-covid, there’s unlikely to be more than 20 these days. Fortunately this is more than offset by the number of online and telephone bidders.
Mr Elstob says:
“We’d love a room full of people again but I don’t think we will ever go back to that.
“Covid has moved things on 10 years. It’s made us work differently — it’s so easy to bid online now.”
As with many things in life, the thrill of live bidding has moved online.
Mr Elstob recalls with infectious excitement hosting the only online auction in Europe one day during the first lockdown in April 2020, when thousands of bidders worldwide competed for 600 lots. Instead of finishing by mid-afternoon as usual, the bids kept coming long into the night.
“It was a phenomenal sale. I don’t think I will ever experience anything like that again. People in Australia started logging on when it got dark over here. I brought the gavel down on the last lot at 9.45pm.”
A Tiffany orchid brooch sold for £50,000, adding to the frisson.
Like Morphets of Harrogate and Tennants Auctioneers in Leyburn, Elstob and Elstob focuses on high-end collectables rather than general items, like Thompsons Auctioneers in Killinghall and Harrogate Auction Centre, which specialise in house clearances.
His most unusual lot? A bull’s scrotum that had been made into a handbag. It fetched £30. Nostalgia-fuelled 1960s and 1970s furniture is currently fetching good money and the market for Chinese porcelain and art remains strong.
Mr Elstob, who is originally from Bishop Auckland and has a master’s degree in antiques, initially planned to “go down the surveying / estate agent route and quickly realised that wasn’t for me”.
He headed up the sales room team at Addisons of Barnard Castle in County Durham before becoming director at Thomas Watsons in Darlington.
Outside the sales room in Ripon.
A specialist in 20th century design, particularly the work of Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson, who was part of the 1920s arts and crafts revival, he is nevertheless a general valuer, who can call on a range of experts for help.
“It’s like being a GP. I might not be able to give you a figure for everything you bring in but I will be able to say if it’s authentic and point you in the right direction.”
Often solicitors get in touch asking him to conduct probate valuations. One such coin collection in Southport was worth £50,000.
Mr Elstob, who enjoys keeping fit and spending time with his daughter, employs five staff. He plans to conduct more specialist sales and online auctions and to run more eBay themed auctions, which appeal to younger people.
At 37, his youthful vigour makes him well placed to capitalise on the changes to auctioneering. But he remains steeped in the traditions of the trade and the thrill of discovering what lurks in the attic:
Ripon’s patron saint is the focus of celebrations in the city“My favourite part of the job is being out on the road. You never know what you will find in someone’s home.”
Ripon began its 1,350th anniversary celebrations in spectacular style yesterday, with a son et lumiere in the cathedral among the highlights.
Throughout the day, the work of Wilfrid, who founded the church in AD 672, was celebrated in words, artworks and music.
From the the focus on Ripon’s ancient roots, the night-time spotlight switched to Market Square, where four tribute acts performed in a free concert arranged by the city council. Rain that arrived in early evening, deterred some people from attending.
A Beyonce tribute, was one of four acts to perform on Market Square, with Craig David, Boy George and Freddie Mercury tributes also taking to the stage
Events and activities at the cathedral earlier in the day, included the first glimpse, for many visitors, of Chrissie Freeth’s series of 13 tapestries in her Beyond Words exhibition.
The intricate woven works, depicting pre-Renaissance scenes, have previously been on display at the Royal Academy, Salts Mill and in Sweden, Latvia and Finland.
The exhibition will remain in Ripon until May 25.
The medieval world in woven form, can be seen in Chrissie Freeth tapestries
Alongside a guided tour, featuring a talk on the building’s hidden history, there was an opportunity to meet director of music, Dr Ronny Krippner, to learn about the organ that is central to the cathedral’s Sung Eucharist and other services.
After playing his special arrangement of the hymn Thine Be the Glory, he told the audience:
“The organ is an orchestra in itself, able to produce the sounds of many different instruments.
“It adds to the cathedral’s splendour, air of mystery and wonderment, with its booming sound able to be increased by pulling out the stops.”
Music master and apprentice – Dr Krippner, gave children, including five-year-old Rafael, a lesson in how to play the organ
For Rafael, a pupil at Cathedral School, it was a day to remember, as Dr Krippner, instructed him on how to hold a note.
By the evening, the son et lumiere created to provide a visual representation of the seven miraculous events in St Wilfrid’s life, flooded the cathedral with coloured light.
Among those miracles, It is said that he was born in a house that was on fire, but survived without being injured.
It is also said that on the first anniversary of Wilfrid’s death, the moon and stars shone so bright that a lunar rainbow appeared over Ripon.
Hornblower Patricio Maglio, setting the watch on Market Square
While the cathedral, is a dominant reminder of the city’s patron saint, another famous person, Alfred the Great, who has shaped Ripon’s rich history, is celebrated nightly on Market Square.
Last night it was the turn of Patricio Maglio, from the team of four hornblowers, who delivered the blasts to the past, dating back to AD 886, when King Alfred awarded a ceremonial horn, in recognition of the way in which Ripon repelled a Viking incursion.
The unbroken tradition of setting the city’s watch was complete by the time the clock on the nearby cathedral clock struck nine.
Concert for Macmillan will honour Ripon man of music
Ripon’s Wendy Richardson has a personal and heartfelt reason for hoping a forthcoming concert in Sharow will be a great success.
The Last Night of the Proms event at St John’s Parish Church on Friday, June 24 is being organised by Ripon Rotary Club’s and all proceeds will go to cancer charity Macmillan Cancer Support, which cared for Wendy’s late husband David.
The former sports teacher, who died in 2019 at the age of 81, was a leading light in musical theatre, as both actor and director — first in Whitby, where he founded the seaside resort’s operatic society in 1966 and later in the Ripon area.
David is fondly remembered for his direction in 2017 of sell-out performances at Masham Town Hall of Brassed Off performed by Masham Players, accompanied by the Ripon City Band.
The fundraising Last Night of the Proms event for Macmillan, is being held at St John’s Sharow on June 24.
Within two years of those performances, cancer had spread through David’s body and he lost his sight.
While family gathered around him at Harrogate District Hospital, they heard the sound of a trombone being played by a young woman in an adjacent room and asked the nursing staff if she would be prepared to play a tune for a man whose lifelong love of music brought entertainment for thousands of people and guided young artists into professional careers.
The young woman was delighted to play for him and Wendy, told the Stray Ferret:
“It was a moment that we will never forget. She played Concierto D’Aranjuez from Brassed Off and though David couldn’t see her, a smile came over his face and we all felt that her kind act had been a comfort to him.”
Shortly afterwards, he was moved to the Royal British Legion’s Lister House in Ripon for end of life care.
David, who did national service in the RAF, spent his final days in the peaceful surroundings of the care home, where family and friends said their last goodbyes to him.
Wendy said:
“I have long wanted to give something back to Macmillan. David was treated at the Sir Robert Ogden Centre in Harrogate and they were simply wonderful.
“Their care, support and treatment, gave him an extra year of life in which he enjoyed his garden and a couple of holidays in our caravan.”
Now, as her late husband had done in Masham five years ago, Wendy hopes that the Last Night of the Proms concert at St John’s, will also be a sell-out event, with soprano Jessa Liversidge singing rousing songs accompanied by Ripon City Band.
Tickets at £12.50, which includes a glass of Prosecco and interval canapes, are now on sale at the Realitea Tea and Indian Bistro on North Street and Stuff 4 Offices on Fishergate.
Ripon’s Bank Holiday weekend of double celebration
The countdown has started to the Queen’s platinum jubilee festivities in Ripon, with decorations now in place on the town hall.
In a year of double celebration for the city, this Bank Holiday weekend also sees a packed programme of events marking the 1,350th anniversary of Ripon Cathedral.
The doors of the iconic building open this morning at 9.30 and, up until 12.30pm, Hazelsong Theatre, will be offering free activities for families, ranging from calligraphic bookmarks to showing how manuscripts were made.
From 10.30am, there will be a guided tour, on which an experienced guide will talk about the cathedral’s hidden history and between 11am and 11.30am there will be an opportunity to meet the organist and have a go at playing the cathedral’s historic organ.
The sound of mini-bells will be heard from 12.30pm, with an exhibition of campanology in the nave.
Art In Churches producer Chris Bailey will talk between 1.30pm and 2.30pm on the specially-commissioned art celebrating the work of Wilfrid, Ripon’s patron saint, who established the church in AD 672.
Ripon is getting dressed up in readiness for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
The organist meeting will also take place at 3pm and between 3.30pm and 4.30pm, professor Joyce Hill will give a lecture on medieval manuscripts.
Following the evening prayer service between 5.30 and 6pm, at 8pm a Son et Lumiere themed on Sunday Wilfrid’s miracles will be held. Tickets can be obtained from Eventbrite
At 9pm, a hornblower will carry out the setting of the watch ceremony at the obelisk.
Tomorrow, the Festal Eucharist service from 10.30am until 12 noon, will be followed by a guided pilgrimage between 1.30pm and 3pm.
The opportunity to raise a toast, or two, to the Queen’s jubilee year and the start of the 1,350 programme and will come on Monday with the return of Ripon Cathedral’s famous beer festival, with drinks and food served in Dean John Dobson’s garden. Tickets can be purchased on line on this link.
Is there a part for you in Ripon Theatre Festival project?
Ripon residents are being given the opportunity to play a part in an innovative community project being created for the city’s first theatre festival.
At the Workhouse Museum on Allhallowgate between 11am-1.30pm today, would-be actors, scriptwriters, set designers and props handlers are invited to find out more.
The aim is to recruit people who would like to have a role in Jubilee at the Workhouse — a living history project by Fell Foss Theatre Company, under the direction of Mark Cronfield.
Participants will develop scripts with the museum’s volunteer research group alongside local writers and specialist script writer Simon Kirk of Time will Tell theatre company, long-time collaborators with English Heritage.
The finished production will reflect on previous royal celebrations in Ripon, such as Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, which was marked a year later, when the clock tower at the junction of Palace Road, North Street and Princess Road, was officially opened in front of a huge crowd.
Performances will take place on the final afternoon of the festival (Sunday June 26) when a promenade of colourful characters, will interact with the audience, as they make their way through the museum’s historic spaces.
The theatrical venture is being made possible through a collaboration between Ripon City Festival Trust and Ripon Museum Trust.
Festival co-director Katie Scott, said:
“This is our inaugural year and we are so pleased that we have been able to include this project in our plans.
“The festival aims to celebrate the unique city of Ripon through live performance and our ambition has always been to programme original and site-specific work alongside visiting companies. This is a creative and thought-provoking way to begin”.
Dr Laura Allan, community curator at Ripon Museum Trust, added:
“The historic spaces of the Workhouse Museum will be transformed into a stage with volunteers and the local community at the centre of the story. We are asking the local community to give it a go and get involved with this special jubilee performance”.
The festival runs from June 23 to 26, with a wide variety of performances from street theatre and puppetry to dance, storytelling and open-air Shakespeare
Tickets go on sale next month.
Environment Agency called to investigate potential Ripon pollution
The Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water are being called upon to investigate a foaming discharge into the River Ure in Ripon.
There are fears the discharge could be potentially harmful to humans, aquatic life and water fowl.
The Stray Ferret contacted the EA incident line after seeing the discharge yesterday and understands that the stretch of river near the Duchess of Kent Bridge on the A61 Ripon bypass has been affected since the weekend.
James Thornborough, an internationally-recognised authority on spillage on land and water, reported the incident to YW and said it would be normal practice for them to share the information with the EA.
The expert, who lives in nearby Sharow, told the Stray Ferret:
“I pass this part of river, which can be seen from the Dishforth Road, on a regular basis and on Sunday noticed the foaming on the water coming from a drainage outlet that feeds into the Ure.
“In my opinion this is not normal occurrence for this part of the river and that is why I reported it.
“It certainly warrants scrutiny by the EA to find out what exactly is being discharged and whether it is benign or potential harmful to people and animals.
“If it is discovered to be harmful, urgent remedial action will need to be taken.”
The drainage outlet (top right on the photograph) has been the source of the white foaming substance.
Mr Thornborough added:
“The EA, as the national competent authority for protecting the natural environment of the UK, is bound to assess any reported pollution incident and I would urge anybody who witnesses something like this, that looks out of place, to report it as soon as possible.
“Rivers collect water naturally from the atmosphere (rainfall), surface drainage (run off), ground waters, and underground aquifers.
“Unfortunately rivers must also cope with Industrial waste. Controlled industrial discharges are subject to license conditions. Uncontrolled industrial discharges occur due to operating controls failures, accidents or deliberate intention (criminal behaviour).”
Mr Thornborough said he expected the EA to analyse water samples. He added:
“Industrial pollution can reduce the concentration of bio dissolved oxygen in the water phase which can cause fish kills.
“At the very least, the biodiversity of the River Ure in the surrounds of this foaming event, has likely been impacted and microscopic marine organisms will have been killed upsetting the food chain.
“With this in mind, all stakeholders – from business operators, to the public and compliance organisations such as the EA, have a role to play in ensuring that our precious water resources are safeguarded.”
Ripon supermarket submits plans for car valeting pod
Morrisons supermarket in Ripon could be getting a car valeting pod.
The supermarket hopes to offer a ‘wash whilst you shop’ service in the store’s car park.
Morrisons would remove 10 car parking spaces to create the pod, which could be a prefabricated single-storey structure.
Services offered would range from a basic wash to upholstery and seat cleaning.
Plans have been submitted to Harrogate Borough Council this week and will be decided at a later date.
Documents submitted on behalf of the supermarket said:
“Wm Morrison Supermarkets Ltd would also add that car park valet offer a service which is highly valued by Morrisons customers and firmly aligns with their plan to bring more and more popular and useful services to the communities that they serve.”
Archbishop of York presents long-service medal in Kirkby Malzeard
The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, made a rare visit to St Andrew’s in Kirkby Malzeard to honour one of the church’s most loyal servants.
In what was the first visit by an archbishop to the church in living memory, he presented a specially-commissioned silver medal to Chris Slater.
Mr Slater retired from his unpaid role of parish sexton and verger at the church near Ripon last year.
The award was in recognition of his work over more than six decades, which included meticulously caring for the grounds at St Andrew’s while keeping the building’s fabric in good condition and the clock on time.
Chris Slater, wearing his silver medal for long-service, is pictured at St Andrew’s.
Mr Slater married his wife Mary at St Andrew’s 58 years ago and the church, where they and their daughter Susan were christened, has been supported by the family for decades.
Mr Slater, who is 81, told the Stray Ferret:
“This church has been my life for more than 60 years and I looked after it in the way I have looked after Mary and Susan, with care and devotion, taking great pride in everything I have done there.
“It was a surprise, when I heard that the archbishop was coming to Kirkby Malzeard and I was honoured to receive the long service medal from him.”
As well as looking after the grounds and the fabric of the church, Mr Slater attended, without fail, funerals there while his wife and daughter prepared the church for wedding services.
An indication of his dedication to St Andrew’s came in 2003 when he raised £3,000 with the help of family and friends to pay for the installation of an electronic mechanism to wind the church tower clock and its chimes.
He said:
“Before then, I had to wind the clock twice a week – with hundreds of turns each time – one to keep the clock going and the other to set the chimes. It was hard work.”
The presentation of his medal was made as part of the Plough Sunday service at the church.
Exhibition shows Fountains Abbey’s natural and man-made beauty
The raw force of nature is captured in this snow storm photograph by Joe Cornish.
Mr Cornish’s work can be found at Fountains Mill and the follies throughout the water garden and a free exhibition map can be obtained at entrances.
The map will guide visitors on a journey that, through his lens, illustrates how both man and nature have sculpted the landscape.
From the elegant manicured surroundings of the water garden created in the early 18th century by the Aislabie family, to the naturally-formed designs found in fallen trees around the site.
The Temple of Piety is one of the exhibition locations.
In addition to the exhibition map, a trail has been created for children, which aims to engage their imaginations by encouraging them to explore the whimsical themes in Mr Cornish’s work, such as hunting for hidden weather-beaten faces found in the bark of trees.
The Fallen series focuses on a number of trees which have a powerfully sculptural quality. The title given to this aspect of the exhibition, acknowledges the on-going job they do, providing a refuge for many species of tiny creatures, fungi and microbial life.
The children’s trail encourages young people to look for faces in the bark of trees.
Root and branch – the photographs of Joe Cornish feature some of the extraordinary trees at Fountains Abbey and the Studley Royal Deer Park.
Within the ornate alcoves of the Banqueting House there are two large-scale panoramic photographs of the sweeping views in the water garden and the Octagon Tower is the venue where visitors can view a series of six photographs themed ‘The Fallen’.
These provide a close-up look at the shapes that nature formed over centuries, on trees felled by storms and other incidents, that remain in situ and provide a wildlife habitat for many different varieties of creatures.