Ripon Archives - Page 79 of 201

Ripon man wanted by police believed to be in Harrogate

North Yorkshire Police has appealed for help locating 32-year-old Dwaine Layton, who is wanted in connection with a serious assault.

The force said today Layton is believed to be in the Harrogate area.

It added:

“If you have any information which could help to locate Layton then please call 101 or if you wish to remain anonymous, you can call Crimestoppers on 08000 555 111.

“If you have an immediate sighting, then please dial 999.”

The reference number is 12230099771.

Hunt is on for the best photos of the Skell Valley

The winners of a new photography competition are to have their pictures included in an exhibition in Ripon this autumn.

The competition, which has been launched by the Skell Valley Project in collaboration with the National Trust, Nidderdale AONB, Ripon Museum Trust and Ripon City Photographic Society, is for people of all ages and abilities.

Entrants must submit impactful images taken somewhere in the Skell Valley that capture its landscape, wildlife and nature or its cultural and historical features. A map of the area is provided with the competition information to locate where photos are taken.

Map of the Skell Valley, running from Dallow Moor in the west to the city of Ripon in the east.

A map of the area is provided with the competition information to locate where photos have been taken.

Stuart Ward, president of Ripon City Photographic Society, said:

“The landscape around the River Skell offers great raw material for taking inspiring photographs – from the wild moorland of Dallowgill at the top of the valley through to rolling farmland in Nidderdale AONB, Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal World Heritage Site, Hell Wath Local Nature Reserve and the historic City of Ripon – it’s a photographer’s paradise!”

The Skell Valley Project is a four-year scheme led by the National Trust and Nidderdale AONB to rejuvenate the 12 miles of the River Skell.

The project is working with local partners, landowners, farmers, and volunteer groups to improve the landscape’s resilience to climate change, help nature to thrive, protect and conserve its heritage and increase people’s access to green space following the coronavirus pandemic.

The £2.5 million project is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, European Regional Development Fund, Wolfson Foundation, Royal Oak Foundation and other funders and donors.

Josie Campbell, senior project co-ordinator of the Skell Valley Project, said:

“Whether you’re a smartphone user that takes the odd snap or a more experienced photographer who’s a dab hand with a macro lens, we’re looking for entries from anyone inspired to capture the unique character of the River Skell and its surroundings.”

Competition entrants are welcome to submit a maximum of three photographs to skellvalleyprojectteam@nationaltrust.org.uk. The closing date for entries is midnight on Tuesday, August 1, 2023. For more information about the competition and how to submit photographs, see the National Trust website.

Entries will be judged by a panel including members from Ripon City Photographic Society, Skell Valley Project and Ripon Museum Trust.

The 20 winning photographs will be displayed as part of an outdoor exhibition at Ripon Workhouse Museum between Saturday, September 23 and Sunday, November 5, 2023.

Read more:

Axed bus service for Ripon and Masham cost £15.57 per passenger

A picture has emerged of the scale of losses sunk on the axed flagship rural bus service for Ripon, Masham and Bedale.

North Yorkshire Council announced last week it would abandon the YorBus on-demand bus service, which it had hoped to roll out to numerous rural areas poorly served by buses. The 14-seater minibuses will cease to operate at the end of the month.

The council claimed future transport services would be shaped by lessons learned from YorBus.

But councillors from across the political spectrum sounded a less upbeat tone about the outcome of the pilot at a meeting of the council’s Skipton and Ripon area constituency committee yesterday.

A report to councillors revealed Yorbus had seen a further £224,000 of taxpayers money pumped into it after disappointing first year figures.

Despite changes to try to improve uptake, the high-profile service carried just 14,208 passengers over 12 months, at an average cost per passenger of £15.57 across the year.

This is significantly higher than that for fixed timetable bus routes in the area which are around £6.50 per passenger.

Sustainability warnings

Within months of YorBus being launched, public transport experts had said it was unsustainable and needed a major overhaul to attract more passengers.

The authority’s hopes of extending demand-responsive transport were dealt a further blow last year when the government rejected the county’s £116m Bus Back Better bid in its entirety, citing a “lack of ambition” — a claim the council has rejected.

The committee heard how YorBus had often been seen driving around with few or no passengers. One Conservative member claimed following disappointing YorBus figures for the first year, officers had worked “to try and prove the concept”.

Cllr Andrew Murday

Cllr Andrew Murday, a Liberal Democrat who represents Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale, questioned why the council had not abandoned the trial after the first year, adding:

“Obviously the project has failed and there are better ways of providing public transport.”

The meeting heard the trial had been extended for a further year largely to test if changes to the booking system improved take-up.

Councillors were told while the development of public transport was a key part of the council’s economic development plan, particularly to boost tourism, more rural bus services, including a regular service to the Yorkshire Dales gateway town of Grassington, were under threat.

Some councillors suggested the council should look to facilitate taxi or car-sharing through localised social media accounts before others pointed towards passenger safety concerns.

Residents ‘horrified by the cost’

Calling for more innovative solutions, Settle and Penyghent councillor David Staveley said:

“Most residents who don’t use these public service buses, and don’t have any inclination to, would be quite horrified by the cost per journey that this has incurred. It’s a lot of money that’s coming out of the public purse.”

However, other councillors argued the reason behind residents’ reliance on cars was due to the lack of a sufficiently frequent and direct bus service.

The meeting heard villages without public transport were being “condemned to death”, as planning rules banned building “unsustainable” homes, while post-pandemic many of the county’s elderly residents had not gone back to using buses.

Referring to the trial, executive member for culture and housing, Cllr Simon Myers, said:

“It’s regrettable it hasn’t worked, but somehow we have to change people’s attitudes to public transport. How do we encourage the public back to using the services that are there? That’s a real challenge.”

Helmsley Conservative councillor George Jabbour said he believed from next year the incoming mayoral combined authority would have the additional funding needed to invest in public transport.

Cllr Jabbour added:

“This experience should not make the council less bold in its drive to explore new creative and innovative ways to improve public transport in our county.”

Award supports restoration at historic Ripon church

St Wilfrid’s Catholic Church in Ripon has received a £4,000 boost from the Yorkshire Historic Churches Trust (YHCT).

The award, which will go towards the restoration of the three altars at the eastern end of its nave and aisles, comes just weeks after the Grade II* listed building was attacked by vandals who damaged leaded windows.

St Wilfrid’s, in Coltsgate Hill, was built in 1862 and is recognised as one of the finest parish churches in England, featuring ornate reredos screens designed by the renowned Victorian church architect Edward Pugin.

Parishioner Barrie Price, who chairs the restoration appeal, said:

“We were delighted to receive this grant from the YHCT. The church opened its doors over 160 years ago and continues to be a special place for all who visit.

“Preserving this Yorkshire jewel for future generations is a daunting task, but with the help and support from organisations like to the YHCT, and the fundraising efforts of the local community, we are able to undertake the much-needed restoration works.”

Tom Ramsden, chair of the YHCT said:

“As well as being a place of worship, many of Yorkshire’s churches and chapels provide much needed support services to the local community.

“Many parishes face severe challenges in keeping their buildings open and in good repair, but thanks to the generosity of our friends and donors, we are delighted to be able to help preserve these wonderful historic buildings and help secure their future”.

In summer 2021, St Wilfrid’s reopened following the first phase of a £500,000 restoration, which took two years and was held up by the covid 19 pandemic.

The money for the the work was raised by churchgoers, supported by awards from trusts and boosted by a £75,000 grant from Historic England.

In 2022, YHCT awarded £93,000 to 24 places of worship across Yorkshire. Grants continue to be available for urgent repairs, restoration and maintenance to churches of any Christian denomination, including feasibility studies to help churches develop longer term projects.

Ripon businesses prepare to host theatre festival events

Ripon businesses are preparing to host events across the city as part of the second theatre festival.

Across a five-day period, Ripon Theatre Festival will hold over 50 events, with a variety of pop-up performances, plays and music.

The festival reported audiences of more than 2,500 people at its inaugural event last year. Now, the organisation aims “to build on the incredible first year response” this year.

Fountains Abbey and The Old Deanery are among the larger spaces that will hold performances, while the Market Place, Minster Gardens, and Ripon Spa Gardens will be transformed into festival zones to bring attendees a range of activities, from street theatre to circus acts.

The event aims to cater for a range of ages, with The Little Ripon Bookshop and the Crypt in Ripon Cathedral putting on puppet shows and storytelling.

Katie Scott, festival director, previously told the Stray Ferret:

“A key aim is to make the festival as affordable and accessible as possible with a wide range of free entertainment popping up at locations across the city centre.”

In line with the festival’s aim, pop-events will be free of charge or “pay what you can”. The festival will also include ticketed theatre performances with many taking place in Ripon Arts Hub.

Ms Scott added:

“The festival is also working with charity Ripon Dementia Forward to provide a sensory theatre show brought directly to two local and friendly community spaces.”

The event will take place from June 7 to 11.

Hot Seat: leading the Ripon firm that keeps Britain’s roads moving

Jonathan Lupton started out power-washing muck spreaders when he joined Econ Engineering aged 15 in 1983.

Being one of three sons of founder Bill Lupton, he was always likely to rise through the ranks.

But it has been quite a journey. Mr Lupton has laid sand on The Mall in London during one of the late Queen’s jubilees and overseen the growth of a business that started in a farmyard barn 50 years ago to one that now employs 250 staff and has a turnover of £44 million.

Econ sells and leases gritters, salt spreaders and pothole-fixing hotboxes to local authorities and private contractors. As the firm likes to say, ‘our fame is spreading’. It’s no idle boast: Econ is Ripon’s biggest employer and has 85% of the winter maintenance market in Britain as well as selling into eastern Europe.

It manufactures the machines at a nine-acre factory on the outskirts of the city, where the workforce includes a robot welder. Apart from the chassis, all components are made here. It’s like a mini-Steel City where plates of alloy are cut and moulded into the gritters and snow ploughs that keep Britain’s roads moving in winter, including here in North Yorkshire.

Last year Econ opened a £7 million site in Sowerby, near Thirsk to hold its burdgeoning 1,000-strong fleet. It also has small depots in Cardiff in Wales and Alloa in Scotland.

Econ’s new site at Sowerby

This local success story is rooted in humble — and at times slightly zany — origins. Founder Bill Lupton, a longhorn cattle breeder who liked to invent things, initially sold farming products. His creations included a mid mounted hedge and verge trimmer followed by the first spinning salt distribution gritter.

Jonathan chuckles at the memory of his dad, who he says was “better at inventing things than patenting them”. Bill’s legacy continues to loom large over the company he founded in 1969, but in the late 1980s it pivoted away from agriculture to highways. Jonathan became a director in 1998 and for years ran the business alongside his brother, Andrew.

Together they developed Econ to the point where its latest accounts, for the year ending 31 March 2022, showed turnover of £43.7 million and profit of £10.41 million.

Made in Ripon

This year has been tougher, with the doubling of steel prices posing a huge headache on top of the standard energy and price rises all businesses have encountered. Brexit hasn’t helped either. Jonathan says:

“In hindsight it’s probably been a bad thing for us because it’s hampered us selling into Europe. I voted for it but it was the wrong call.”

But everything pales in comparison with the terrible weekend in January last year, when Jonathan lost both his brothers. He recalls:

“I buried my younger brother on the Friday and then Andrew had a massive heart attack that night. In the early hours of Saturday morning we were at Harrogate hospital and we lost him in the early hours of Sunday morning.”

Staff are raising £20,000 for the British Heart Foundation this year in Andrew’s memory.

The launch of Econ’s British Heart Foundation fundraising partnership this year.

Jonathan, who lives in Galphay, is very hands-on at Econ. Has losing both brothers made him consider selling-up and taking more time to pursue his passions for cycling and motor racing or walking the dogs on the beach at Sandsend? He says:

“It’s made me more determined to keep it going. My brother would have wanted the legacy to continue.”

Econ’s shareholding is now split between Jonathan and Andrew’s estate. Andrew’s son, Thomas, works for Econ and Jonathan says without hesitation Econ will remain a family-run business.

Looking ahead, he predicts hotboxes, which local authorities use to fix potholes. will account for a larger proportion of businesses.

Councils are also under pressure to reach carbon reduction schemes, and this week Econ launched its first electric gritter at the Cold Comfort 2023 trade show in Harrogate.

People love to berate the state of the roads — but this company in Ripon does more than perhaps anyone else to keep Britain moving in winter.

North Yorkshire Council to axe YorBus service

North Yorkshire Council will axe the YorBus service next month nearly two years after it was launched.

The service, which operates between Ripon, Bedale, and Masham, was launched as a pilot scheme by the council in July 2021 to offer rural residents low-cost journeys on demand.

The service could be booked by residents via an app.

However, council officials have decided to axe the service as it had become too expensive to run. As a result, it will end on June 30.

The authority added that the cost per journey of YorBus was “significantly higher than the traditional, timetabled bus routes”.

The pilots costs around £230,000 to operate annually, but latest figures suggest YorBus journeys cost over twice as much as a scheduled service.

A YorBus service, which operates in Masham and Ripon.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for highways and transport, Cllr Keane Duncan, said:

“We launched the YorBus pilot two years ago to enhance our existing public transport network.

“It has allowed us to gather valuable information about the costs and benefits of running a digital demand responsive bus service.

“Without sufficient additional funding being available to expand the service so YorBus can benefit residents across North Yorkshire, and with costs per journey remaining so high despite efforts to improve value for money, the pilot will come to an end as planned next month.”

When discussing the service coming to an end, he added:

“This will allow us to be fair to all residents and focus every penny of our limited resources on supporting bus services across the county at a time of unprecedented pressure.

“While continuing to work closely with operators to support at-risk services, we are also currently reviewing a number of initiatives to improve rural transport and asking the public for their views to help shape our future strategy.”

In 2022, the council bid for £116 million to improve bus services as part of the Government’s Bus Back Better scheme, but was unsuccessful. An expansion of the YorBus service was earmarked if the funding had been granted.

The two YorBus vehicles will be returned for use on other local bus services and drivers will be redeployed.

Earlier this week, the council launched the Let’s Talk Transport survey, asking residents to share their travel habits in hopes to develop the travel strategy for the coming decades.

Bus routes 136, 138, 138A, 139, 144 and 159 will continue to run, as well as alternative community transport operators in the area where YorBus ran.

Alternative travel options can be found here.

Harrogate and Ripon libraries host house history exhibition

Harrogate and Ripon libraries are hosting an exhibition which encourages people to discover the history of their past or present homes.

The House History exhibition was created by North Yorkshire Council’s county record office, which has resources dating back 700 years. It includes details of resources residents can use to investigate the history of their home.

The records can help to pinpoint changes in ownership, former occupants, how the land has been used and the history of the wider area.

The touring exhibition is currently on display at Harrogate Library until June 3. It will then be at Ripon Library from June 12 to 30.

Cllr Simon Myers, the council’s executive member for libraries, said:

“The exhibition proved very popular when it was on display in the record office at the end of last year, so we are delighted to be able to share it with library-goers.

“The touring exhibition includes a range of material from historic maps, architectural drawings and old photographs to historic property deeds and electoral registers.

“Every home has its own unique history so we hope you can use your own detective skills to embark on a fascinating and rewarding journey into your home’s history.”

The touring exhibition is not about exploring the history of a specific house but guiding people to learn about their own home. It can be a complex study and which of the record office’s resources will be relevant depends on the age and location of the house.

To delve into the history of your home, visitors can use the resources in the county record office search room at Northallerton. where they will have free access to online resources such as census records.

An online guide is available here.

Witness appeal after collision near Ripon leaves driver with serious injuries

A woman has been left with serious injuries after a collision between two vehicles in Studley Roger near Ripon.

A white Citroen car and a white Volkswagen Crafter van were travelling in opposite directions on Limekiln Bank when they collided at around 2.05pm on Monday.

The driver of the Citroen suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said:

“We are appealing for any witnesses who may have seen the collision itself, or either vehicle immediately prior to them colliding, along with any dashcam footage.”

Anyone with information should contact PC Michael Spittlehouse by emailing Michael.spittlehouse@northyorkshire.police.uk or calling 101 and asking for him, using incident number 12230092030.

Automated golf range now open seven days a week

The story is sponsored by Ripon Golf Range.

Golf enthusiasts can practice swinging the irons every day of the year following an overhaul of facilities at Ripon Golf Range.

Until recently, the range, behind Ripon City Golf Club, was only open at irregular times and was closed on Mondays, but a new management team has turned it into a fully automated seven-day-a-week facility, open from 8am to 8pm every day.

Photo of female golfer lining up a shot from one of the outside bays at Ripon Golf Range, with a green basket of golf balls in the foreground.

The range has both covered and outdoor bays.

There are nine floodlit covered bays, so you stay dry and comfortable even if it starts raining, plus seven outdoor bays, where you can pitch to three separate greens at different distances.

A new machine has also been installed, which takes all debit and credit cards, as well accepting digital payment from phones or watches.

Balls cost £3 for 30, £6 for 60, £8 for 90, or just £10 for 120, and a loyalty card scheme offers 25% discount.

Anyone wanting to practise can simply turn up, pay for however many balls they want – and drive and chip away.

Sawley resident Simon G is so impressed with the new arrangements that he’s become a regular customer. He said:

“I’m very happy with the extended opening hours, and with the ease of being able to practise at my convenience.”

Players who really want to fine-tune their skills can even opt for tuition from a PGA qualified coach who is on site on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays. One-to-one lessons costs £35 for a 30-minute session, or £175 for six sessions. Junior clinics on Sunday afternoons are available at £7 per session.

Find out more:

For full details of what’s on offer at Ripon Golf Range or to book a sessions with a PGA qualified coach, go to www.ripongolfrange.com.