Plans to merge three Ripon doctors’ surgeries have been limited to two surgeries after it was revealed the third practice was in a “poor financial position”.

A proposed merger between North House Surgery, Park Street Surgery and Ripon Spa Surgery was scheduled to happen on July 1, 2024.

North House Surgery said at the time the move would improve patient care, safeguard healthcare in Ripon, enable patients to have a stronger voice and trigger economies of scale.

But a social media post signed by North House partners Dr Kate Dickinson, Dr Peter Johnson and Dr Hannah Thomas on Friday revealed only two of the surgeries — North House and Park Street — will now merge. They will become known as Fountains Health.

Spa Surgery will no longer be involved.

The post said:

“Unfortunately, during the due diligence process, Ripon Spa Surgery were found to be in an unexpectedly poor financial position. They have permitted us to share this sensitive piece of information. As a result of this situation North House and Park Street partners do not feel able to merge with Ripon Spa at this time and so they will no longer be involved in the merger process.

“This is hugely disappointing for all concerned as we have all been working closely on these plans for some time and everyone had been looking forward to working together as part of a larger combined team at Fountains Health. We still believe that a merger between North House Surgery and Park Street Surgery is a positive option for our practice, its patients and our staff.”

Ripon Spa Surgery

The merger has now been delayed until October this year due to the change in plans.

North Spa Surgery said:

“The proposed date to merge has been put back to October 2024 to allow us extra time to complete the work that is now needed to enable a smooth merger for both our patients and staff.

“To help us achieve this, there will be four afternoons over the next six months when the two practices will need to close so that staff can be brought together to complete this important work. During these times, patients will have access to the out of hours service. We will provide a further update to patients on the progress of the merger in the summer.”

No further details on what will happen to Spa Surgery patients were revealed in the post.

Park Street surgery, Ripon.

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A group of Harrogate and Ripon men linked to serious and organised crime have been jailed today (Monday, April 8) for a collective 25 years and 11 months.

The court heard how the following gang members were linked to an organised crime group who’d been involved in a dispute with a rival group.

• Rivers Lee Wilson, 23, of St Johns Walk, Bridlington, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon. He has been jailed for 10 years and two months.
• William Fuller McMillan, 24, of HMP Hull, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery and possession of a prohibited weapon. He has been jailed for 10 years and eight months.
• William Henley Davy, 20, of HMP Hull, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery. He has been jailed for three years and six months.
• Philip Dean Wilson, 45, of Nora Avenue, Knaresborough, pleaded guilty to assisting an offender. He has been jailed for 19 months.

Between Friday 6 and Monday January 9 2023,  North Yorkshire Police organised crime unit carried out an investigation into a suspected organised crime group that was active in the Harrogate district.

Image from footage captured during the arrest

According to a North Yorkshire Police media release today, police gathered intelligence suggesting a man had been kidnapped and held against his will.

It was established Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan were preparing to kidnap the victim and extort him for money, believing that he had a large amount of cash stashed in two addresses in Harrogate.

Information was obtained that Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan were planning to use force against the victim. At the time Rivers Wilson, Fuller McMillan, Philip Wilson and two other gang members had located and taken the victim using force. William Davy visited the two addresses and recovered cash from where the victim had it stored.

Philip Wilson allowed his vehicle to be used to kidnap the victim and commit the offence.  Following the kidnap Philip Wilson arranged for the disposal of his vehicle to destroy any forensic evidence.

After recovering the cash, William Davy communicated the news with Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan and the victim was then released. Intelligence indicated that the amount of cash stolen from the victim was approximately £70,000.

The investigation found evidence to show that Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan subsequently and unknowingly at the time had robbed a rival organised crime group from West Yorkshire.

Further intelligence led officers to believe that Rivers Wilson, Fuller McMillan and another gang member were arranging to source a sawn-off shotgun and live ammunition. They then jointly sourced the firearm and ammunition in order to cause fear to those who sought retribution having had their cash stolen by the gang.

The shotgun found by North Yorkshire Police

A police helicopter was deployed and used to track the gang as they were travelling with the firearm and live ammunition and believed they were getting their ‘crew’ together in readiness to confront the rival gang.

At this point, armed response officers actioned a hard stop of one of the vehicles and detained three members of the gang which included Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan and recovered both their vehicles.

Rivers Wilson, Fuller McMillan and another gang member were ordered to get out the vehicle at gun point and were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to kidnap.

Both Rivers Wilson and Fuller McMillan’s vehicles were forensically examined, and a long package was recovered in the back seat of Fuller McMillan’s vehicle. Examination of this package showed that it contained a sawn-off shotgun, with four live shotgun cartridges.

The shotgun was heavily wrapped in a bin bag and paper. In a further search, seven more shotgun cartridges were found wrapped in a balaclava within a boxing glove in the vehicle.

NPAS police helicopter footage

Detective constable Helen Quaife, of North Yorkshire Police’s serious and organised crime unit, said:

“We have seen nationally how the use of weapons used by feuding gang members can devastate families and communities. This type of crime will not be tolerated in North Yorkshire.

“The sawn-off shotgun was viable and along with its ammunition was intended to be used.

“This investigation was conducted meticulously with a large number of enquiries conducted dealing with witnesses, forensics, CCTV and specialist expert evidence. The sentences imposed on these gang members illustrates just how serious these offences are taken. I hope this will be a warning to others who think the use of weapons will be tolerated within our communities.  We will intervene, and people will be punished, to keep our communities safe.”

Read more:

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• Police officer suspended after violent incident in Harrogate district 
• Moped youths arrested in Knaresborough 

Readers’ Letters is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. 

This letter is in response to two stories. The first being about recent vandalism on Harrogate’s Parliament Street, which prompted a letter from a reader feeling ashamed of the town’s appearance.

Vandalism anywhere is wrong. I can’t understand why the Parliament Street building was vandalised and it makes me annoyed.

I moved here from Bradford in December 2022. Where I used to live, there was constant noise from balaclava-wearing youths riding quad bikes or off road bikes with no lights or reg plates and boy racers driving their cars down my road like it was a racetrack.

Bradford and Harrogate are like chalk and cheese when compared. I felt like I was in Narnia. The trees on the Stray were lit at night and not just for Christmas. Everywhere I walked I was in awe, and still am, of the magnificent buildings, the history and the open green spaces.

In addition, the ever changing flower displays; the shopping and hospitality choices; Harry’s walking tours and the events organised by the Harrogate BID and Harrogate International – and so much more – are brilliant.

I take pride in Harrogate, and I wasn’t even born here. I wonder how many residents, whether born and bred here, or incomers like me, either take it all for granted or don’t even notice the great things that surround them. If only they were to take their eyes off their mobiles for a minute and look up.

I can appreciate that the roads are not paved in gold (I am not going to rant about the potholes) and not everything is wonderful, like anti-social behaviour, county line drug dealing, homeless and street beggars.

I know these issues can be seen in towns and cities throughout the UK, but I find it sad knowing and seeing how much wealth there is in some areas of Harrogate and yet so much poverty in other areas. More social affordable housing needs to be developed and not just another conversion of a former office building.

Richard Coulter, Harrogate

Harrogate’s overflowing bins give a ‘dire impression’ of the town

The following two letters are in response to a story published this week about overflowing bins in Valley Gardens. North Yorkshire Council denied the claims, but the images were pretty damning.

How indescribably irritating it is to hear that as far as the council are concerned “there are no reports of bins overflowing”.

Frankly, it’s a routine sight in Harrogate, despite the new bins being installed. People are trying their level best to dispose of waste appropriately, but the number of times I’ve seen bins crammed to the hilt is too often to count. It’s now the norm, not the exception.

At the risk of sounding vicious… your staff are clearly lying. Because the fact of the matter remains that we constantly see bins overflowing in and around the town. It creates a dire impression and clearly indicates whatever measures are in situ are wholly inadequate.

Don’t rely on staff to report their own efficacy – go out and see the mess for yourself!

Mark Fuller, Harrogate

I have just read the article concerning rubbish bins in Valley Gardens. We are currently in Japan where there are no litter bins and no litter.

Everyone takes their litter home for disposal. We are simply a dirty and uncaring people.

Yes, the bins should be larger and emptied more frequently but we need to take some responsibility for our lovely town and gardens.

Cheryl Johnston, Harrogate

Perhaps the Dean should focus on Ripon residents – rather than one-day tourists

This letter is in response to the ongoing Ripon Cathedral annexe saga. The Stray Ferret has covered the topic extensively.

What’s wrong with the present toilet facilities which are a few yards away from the cathedral that would benefit from a smartening-up? The Dean appears to be the only person who is embarrassed about the cathedrals facilities that appear to have been accepted by most Ripon people for many years.

And if there is a concern with the running costs of the cathedral, why don’t they make an entrance charge as does York Minster?

A previous knowledgeable correspondent asked how do they expect to cover the overheads of the new annexe – which are bound to be very large.

Why wasn’t the Old Deanery, which is right on the doorstep and stood empty for many years, considered for the cathedrals expansion? It is such a magnificent building inside and out, and now leased as a restaurant.

Maybe it should have been time to give up when Historic England refused to back the south-side proposal for the new annexe – rather than ruin Minster Gardens with a huge carbuncle. It is beautiful, restful area with mature trees.

Rather than gaining funding from extra tourism from people who will be here one day and gone the next, maybe the Dean should be more concerned about looking after Ripon‘s city and its people, and invest its £8 million into more rewarding projects.

Gordon Lund, Sawley

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

Read more:

• Readers’ Letters: The ‘scruffy’ state of Harrogate makes me ashamed of my town
• Readers’ Letters: ‘Abusive beggars’ and intimidating teens in Harrogate
• Readers’ Letters: Harrogate is short of social housing – not luxury apartments

This week’s photograph was taken by Gary Calland from Wormald Green, capturing Comet 12P/Pons-Brook over a lone tree on Fountains Road, just next to How Hill Tower near Ripon.

Photo of the Week takes centre stage in our new-look nightly email newsletter. The newsletter drops into your inbox every evening at 6pm with all the day’s stories and more. To subscribe, click here.

(Image: Gary Calland)

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.

Last week the Stray Ferret explored how many people are rediscovering the joy of physical books – and this reading renaissance goes hand-in-hand with an increase in the amount of independent bookshops on the UK’s high street.

In 2022, the Bookseller’s Association reported a record amount of indie stores opening their doors, a number then surpassed in 2023, with 51 shops starting to trade.

North Yorkshire has always been a hotspot for independent businesses, and bookshops are no exception to this rule – here are just some of the highlights to pop into for a browse.

Castlegate Books, Knaresborough

(Image: Castlegate Books)

Tucked into a corner of Market Place, Castlegate Books has been a firm fixture on the Knaresborough high street since 2008.

Owned by Gary Cooper, the shop stocks new books online and in store, as well as selling a range of greeting cards and postcards of the local area. National book tokens are also redeemable in-store.

According to the Castlegate Books website, there’s over 100,000 titles available online, with free UK delivery offered.

Castlegate Books is located at 13 Market Place, Knaresborough, HG5 8AL.

Reading Roots, Wetherby

Reading Roots

Reading Roots joined Wetherby’s collection of thriving independent businesses in 2022, when Kiera Andrews was visiting family and spotted an empty store in the town.

Located centrally, the shop sells a diverse selection of fiction and a non-fiction books, including travel, sport, history – and a section all about Yorkshire.

The shop even offers work experience placements, collaborating with local schools in the area to inspire the next generation.

Reading Roots is located at 29 Market Place, Wetherby, LS22 6LQ.

Little Ripon Bookshop, Ripon

The Little Ripon Bookshop

It’s Little Ripon Bookshop’s 15th anniversary this year – a true testament to an enduring love of books. A family-run enterprise, it first opened their doors in 2009, and expanded into the shop next door in 2018.

Stocking a range of new releases and old classics, as well as children’s titles and a range of stationary, cards and gifts, the bookshop is a firm fixture of Ripon’s independent retail scene.

It also hosts book clubs for adults and children, plus evening talks by local authors.

Little Ripon Bookshop is located at 12-13 Westgate, Ripon, North Yorkshire. HG4 2AT.

Imagined Things, Harrogate

Imagined Things

Imagined Things opened its doors on Montpellier Parade in 2017 to much fanfare and rightly so; it was Harrogate’s first independent bookshop stocking new books in nearly twenty years.

A lifelong bibliophile, owner Georgia worked as a radiographer at Harrogate District Hospital for six years before deciding to pursue her passion for all things literature.

The shop stocks an eclectic range of genres to suit different tastes, and can post books to anywhere in the UK.

Imagined Things is located at 21 Montpellier Parade, Harrogate HG1 2TG.

Criminally Good Books, York

(Image: Pixabay)

Criminally Good Books is a relative newcomer to the York streets, but due to its unique twist of stocking all things crime-related, it has already built up quite the reputation.

The quirky window sticker depicting the classic chalk outline of a body – surrounded by books of course – sets the theme and is an eye-catching to the shopfronts along Colliergate.

Whether you’re a fan of a thriller, or prefer a non-fiction deep dive, there’s a diverse range of authors and subjects to choose from. The first floor boasts an events space, hosting book clubs, author meet and greets, and even a burlesque show.

 Criminally Good Books is located at 14 Colliergate, York, YO1 8BP.

The Stripey Badger, Grassington

(Image: Instagram @thestripeybadger)

If you’re looking to browse the books and have a bite to eat, The Stripey Badger ticks both of those boxes.

An award-winning café and bookshop all rolled into one, it’s located in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales village of Grassington – or as All Creatures Great and Small reboot fans might know it, the fictious Darrowby.

The shop is filled with many different genres, including children’s books, and they regularly host open mic poetry nights, book clubs and more.

The Stripey Badger is located at 7 The Square, Grassington, BD23 5AQ.

Books For All, Harrogate

Books For All

Looks are deceptive with Books For All in Harrogate – while the shopfront gives the impression of being small, there’s actually three floors crammed with a vast array of second hand books.

First opened in 1998, the shop reports to be the oldest, and only, second hand bookstore in the town centre.

It’s estimated they have over 20,000 to choose from – alongside a selection of vinyl and CDs – but they’re always looking for new titles to add to their collection.

Books for All is located at 23A Commercial St, Harrogate, HG1 1UB.

Read more:

• ‘Reading an actual book is a welcome change’ – are people returning to print?
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You know how it is — one minute you’re enjoying a street party in Ripon, the next minute you turn around and the Prime Minister is there too.

It actually happened on Easter Monday when Rishi Sunak joined fellow Tory, North Yorkshire mayor hopeful Keane Duncan, in the city.

It was Mr Sunak’s second local visit in as many months, following his trip to Starbeck to support Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones in February. Anyone might think an election is looming…

Who is the man in the background and what was he saying?

Mr Sunak, however, had to play second fiddle to a village idiot in the Stray Ferret reader popularity stakes this week. Our article about the arrival in Harrogate of Andy Smith, a YouTuber who calls himself The Village Idiot, was the second best read this week.

The most popular was a feature about Thompson’s Auctioneers in Killinghall, whose director Kate Higgins talked about the joys of rummaging through possessions and selling them under the hammer.

But perhaps the most bizarre was the disappearance of a 30-foot cockerel in Bishop Monkton. It seems the bird had grown so big it was no longer manageable.

Pic: Bishop Monkton Today

Harrogate’s Tourist Information Office has also vanished from its former premises in the Royal Baths complex. It now exists as what appears to be little more than a desk at the Royal Pump Room Museum. Its apparent downgrading has prompted concerns about whether it will be able to promote local businesses.

By contrast, Harrogate Town has well and truly arrived in recent years. The club is enjoying a golden age under father-and-son owner and manager combination Irving Weaver and Simon Weaver. It’s hard to believe the Sulphurites are in a league above York City, have just thumped Bradford City and are on the fringes of the League Two play-off race.

But newly published accounts this week revealed how much the club depends on Irving. Good luck to Town against Notts County this weekend. Let’s hope the good times keep rolling for a while yet.

Read more:

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• Ripon man admits impersonating a police constable in Harrogate
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A village between Harrogate and Ripon has been left in a state of shock after its most famous sight — a 30ft topiary cockerel — was cut down.

Bishop Monkton has crowed about its magnificent bird for more than 100 years.

Standing proudly in front of a 300-year-old home known as Cockerel Cottage, it attracted visitors and even national media coverage.

Photos on local history website Bishop Monkton yesterday show the bird outside the cottage, whose proper name is Burngarth, in the 1920s.

Pic: Bishop Monkton Yesterday

But it disappeared this week, leaving some villagers horrified, and wondering what had led to its demise.

The Stray Ferret spoke to Gary Cross, landlord of the Masons Arms in Bishop Monkton, to find out more.

Mr Cross said the cockerel had been one of the main talking points in the pub in the days since it was cut down on Tuesday.

But he said that, contrary to appearances, it was not an act of wanton vandalism and could even return, Phoenix-like, after its shearing.

Mr Cross said he knows the owners, who we have not named, and understood the cockerel’s size and proximity to the house caused problems including blocking light  and was difficult to maintain. He added:

“It was a pretty big object and attraction. Some residents are very upset about it. But they don’t have to live next to it.

“With the beck flooding, a lot of their garden was subject to flooding and it held pools of water, which was difficult to deal with. The owners have been there two or three years and tried to work with the cockerel but it had just become so big.”

Mr Cross said a leading topiarist was hired to prune the bird down to its roots so it could regrow, although this would take years. He said:

“Some people are being rude and vicious but it has not been butchered, it was carefully cut.

“Most people think it’s a shame but when you pose the question ,’would you want to have to maintain it?’, the answer is usually ‘no’.”

Read more:

• Local business raises concern about new Harrogate Tourist Information Centre
• Ripon man admits impersonating a police constable in Harrogate

North Yorkshire Council is set to remove two air quality management areas in the Harrogate district after levels of nitrogen dioxide dropped.

The council currently monitors air pollution on Low and High Skellgate in Ripon and York Place in Knaresborough.

Both management areas were introduced to review levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which are caused by traffic levels.

Monitoring of NO2 has been in place on Skellgate in Ripon since 2010 and on York Place in Knaresborough since 2017.

Both were declared after beaching the legal limit of 40 micrograms of annual NO2 per cubic metre of air.

However, a report due before the council’s transport, economy, environment and overview scrutiny committee on April 10 says both air quality management areas are due to be revoked.

It said the areas had not breached the limit for more than five years and are now planned to be removed.

In its annual air quality report in 2023, the council said the Ripon management area had gone six years under the limit.

It said:

“This is the sixth year that there have been no exceedance of the objective, in line with the above we propose to revoke the AQMA.”

Read more:

• Air pollution at Bond End in Knaresborough meets legal limits for first time
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Meanwhile, air quality management areas in Harrogate on Wetherby Road and Bond End in Knaresborough are set to remain in place.

Both were implemented for breaching the limit for NO2.

However, despite both areas being under the 40 micrograms for this year, the council intends to keep them in place.

The UK government requires local authorities to take action to improve areas with particularly bad air pollution.

In September 2018, North Yorkshire County Council replaced traffic lights at Bond End with a double mini-roundabout to reduce congestion and improve the flow of traffic.

Projects focused on nature, the environment and carbon reduction were to the fore at last night’s Ripon Civic Awards.

Three months after Ripon Civic Society held its biennial awards in April 2022, North Yorkshire Council declared a climate emergency and planned steps that it would take, alongside stakeholders, to tackle the issue of climate change under its strategy Beyond Carbon.

Since then, incidents such as the criminal felling of the Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumbria and council-sanctioned removal of trees at other locations across the UK, have increased both public and corporate awareness of the role that the natural environment plays alongside the built environment,

Prior to last night’s awards ceremony at the Workhouse Museum in Allhallowgate, civic society co-chair Richard Taylor, told the Stray Ferret:

“There was a common green thread running through the majority of entries considered by our panel of judges for the 2024 awards.

“We saw environmental consideration at the heart of the planning and delivery of developments and projects, ranging from the construction of a single private residence to Econ Engineering’s world-first multi-function E-QCB electric gritter, invented here in Ripon.”

ECON’s E-QCB electric gritter was highly commended at last night’s awards.

Mr Taylor and fellow civic society co-chair David Winpenny played video footage as they described each of the shortlisted entries, before the winners were announced and trophies presented by Mayor of Ripon Councillor Sid Hawke.

Justin Scully, the National Trust’s general manager at Fountain’s Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, received, on behalf of the Skell Valley Project, the sustainability award, and also the Helen Whitehead Award for best overall project.

The four-year scheme, which received £2.6 million funding to tackle climate change-related flooding issues along a 12-mile stretch of the river that runs through Ripon and the world heritage site, was launched in 2021 and has seen collaboration between 16 organisations on 15 different environmental enhancement schemes.

Mr Scully said:

“We are extremely grateful for this recognition of our work, which has been made possible through a huge volunteer input and I’m pleased to report that just five percent of the funding monies has been spent at Fountains and Studley Royal, meaning that the entire valley has benefited from this initiative.”

Justin Scully receives the Helen Whitehead Award from mayor Sid Hawke

There was also recognition for other volunteer-supported environmentally focused projects, including the work carried out by the Lower Ure Conservation Trust at Nosterfield, where former sand and gravel pits have become transformed into habitat for an abundant range of wildlife through the re-introduction of threatened native species of plants grown in a nursery on site.

Mr Winpenny said:

“This project ticks every box in terms of its aims and the detailed thought that has been put into its planning and delivery over many years,”

Simon Warwick, director of the Lower Ure Conservation Trust and project officer Emma Higgs, receive the Younge Rosebowl Enviromental Award.

The Ripon Community Link walled garden is, through its on-site and community-based activities, enabling 60 adults with mild or moderate learning disabilities to grow and reach their full potential with the support of volunteers.

Their work  was boosted last year with the opening of a new cafe and shop, which provides training opportunities and last night they received the John Whitehead Award,

The new cafe and shop at Ripon Walled Garden

The Hazzard Cup for best new building went to the owners of Maple Nook ,a custom-designed and built private residence on Heckler Lane in Ripon, which includes many eco-friendly features, while the Price Flagon for Best Building Restoration, was presented to the Westholme Road Barns on the Swinton Estate in Masham, where the use of reclaimed materials was central to bringing redundant farm buildings back to life.

The craftmanship award was received by Barrie Price on behalf of St Wilfrid’s Catholic Church on Coltsgate Hill, Ripon, where the second phase of its £500,000 restoration involved the creation of a porch extension to the south of the Grade II star listed building.

Judges were impressed by the use of stone, tiles, green oak timber and glass in sympathy with original design of the 160-year-old building, which now includes a much-needed accessible toilet for the use if parishioners and visitors,

A stone’s throw from the church is the Ripon Inn, which earned the Taylor Plate for City Centre Revitalisation.

The Inn Collection’s multi-million pound investment, which has transformed the former Spa Hotel, is welcomed by the civic society and Mr Taylor (who pointed out that the plate prize is not in his name) said:

“We now hope that the revitalisation of the Spa Quarter can soon be completed through the planned redevelopment of the nearby Spa Baths, which is in desperate need of restoration.”

The Ripon Inn

Just when it was thought that all the prizes had been presented, a new award was announced for the person who has made an outstanding contribution to Ripon Civic Society.

The inaugural winner Neill Clayton (pictured above with Mayor Sid Hawke) who will be known by many for the railway that he has created in his Dallamire’s Lane garden, which can be seen by people on scenic boat cruises along Ripon Canal.

Mr Clayton has an encyclopedic-knowledge of Ripon’s industrial history and is a long-term member of the society.

He has played an important role in providing accurate background information for heritage open days and also participates in them by allowing members of the public to see and ride on his railway.

He said:

“The industrial development of Ripon is something that we should all be proud of. It is a living thing that goes on, as we have seen tonight with ECON’s world-leading invention of an electric gritter.”

Main picture: The Mayor of Ripon Councillor Sid Hawke, with award winners and civic society co-chairs David Winpenny and Richard Taylor.

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