A planning application has been submitted to convert Harrogate’s former Royal Air Force club on East Parade into four flats.
The club occupied the building between 1966 and 2022 and served to support ex-RAF servicemen and servicewomen throughout the Harrogate district.
The bar was open on Wednesday and Saturday evenings.
The club’s members were part of the RAF Association, a registered charity that provides welfare support to the family of RAF members nationally.
But the club closed after over 50 years in June 2022 due to a dwindling membership locally.
Planning documents submitted to Harrogate Borough Council also say there was also no disabled access to the building, which made it difficult for ageing members to access.
A statement from the club chairman last summer said the club was no longer viable and when sold, the proceeds would be given to the RAF Association.
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A closing party was held at the club where people made donations to obtain some of its remaining military memorabilia.
Despite closing the club, the Harrogate district branch of RAFA is continuing with its charitable endeavours and remaining members will still attend annual events such as the Battle of Britain commemorative parade at Stonefall Cemetery and Remembrance Sunday parades.
Philip Crebbin, chairman of the club, outside the RAF club in Harrogate.
The National Reserve Club, also called The Nash, was a nearby club that formed in 1913 but closed in 2020. Planning documents say that declining membership numbers and maintenance costs mean working men’s clubs are struggling to survive.
However, the Ex-Servicemens Social Club, also on East Parade, is still open.
The plans for the RAFA Club include four two-bedroom flats and the demolition of an external toilet block.
Planning documents state:
RAF careers are taking off for Ripon Air Cadets“The falling membership of private members clubs such as The Nash and the RAFA Club, have rendered them unviable and works on the maintenance of those properties has declined.
“It is generally recognised that limited membership clubs nationally are in the decline and property maintenance is low down their priorities while trying to survive. The closure of these two nearby premises with no acceptable alternative use or substantial investment will result in the decline of the fabric of the buildings being accelerated to the detriment of the character of the conservation area.”
Two Ripon Air Cadets have completed and qualified on two of the most sought-after courses run by the Royal Air Force (RAF).
Sergeants Thomas Arcidiacono and Tobias Bennett have wasted no time after the Ripon unit’s return to normal parade activities following the covid lockdowns by applying themselves to some of the toughest training available to RAF Air Cadets.
Sgt Bennett was one of only a handful of cadets selected from 600 in the area to train and complete the Air Cadets Pilot Scholarship(ACPS) course at Tayside Aviation in Dundee.
Sgt Tobias Bennett (nearest camera) who passed his aviation course at in Dundee with flying colours
During his two-week course he passed aviation training and exams to go solo in the Aquila A221 at the age of just 16 years old.
Sgt Bennett said:
“It was a surreal experience that will stick with me for the rest of my life.”
He hopes to join the RAF as a pilot to continue his passion for aviation. He also wants inspire fellow cadets and said the course has given him the ability to add a further level of depth to his teaching at the C&E Yorkshire Wing Aviation Centre.
Sgt. Arcidiacono had a very different experience as he was selected as one of only 50 cadets from around the country to take part in the Air Cadets Junior Leaders Course.
The squadron’s Officer Commanding, Warrant Officer Wayne Cobbett, told the Stray Ferret:
“We are all extremely proud of the achievements Tobias and Thomas.”
He pointed out:
“For Tobias to be qualified to go solo in the Aquila A221 at such a young age is a tremendous achievement.”
WO Cobbett added:
“The course taken by Thomas was not for the faint-hearted. It is physically demanding and requires real commitment and determination and involves nine weekend training camps and an assessment week in leadership, military skills and tactics.
“It also involves the award of a Level Two Certificate in Team Leadership from the Institute of Leadership and Management.”
Sgt Thomas Arcidiacono (left) pictured giving instruction on the junior leaders’ course
Sgt Thomas Arcidiacono, said:
“The Junior Leaders’ course was easily the best thing I have done throughout my six years of being in the cadets.”
He thanked the support staff that ran the course, when he added:
“Even if they were tough at times; it is their support and guidance that drove me to do more and achieve what I never thought possible and become a Qualified Junior Leader(QJL).”
886 (City of Ripon) Squadron – Ripon Air Cadets, takes on cadets from age 12 (and in Year8) and are taking names for their September intake and Open Evening on Friday September 2, 2022.
For further information, contact the squadron’s Officer Commanding, WO Wayne Cobbett RAFAC on oc.886@rafac.mod.gov.uk
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Harrogate Air Cadets enjoy ‘unforgettable’ glider flights
After a long time grounded due to covid, Harrogate air cadets have finally been able to take to the sky and enjoy their first flights in a glider.
Along with other cadets from York and Church Fenton, the cadets set off at 5am one morning recently to RAF Syerston near Newark.
Morning weather conditions meant the flights were initially cancelled and the cadets were offered a tour of the hanger instead. However, once the skies brightened in the afternoon the cadets could finally do what they came for.
Ten cadets took part in the exercise and for nine of them it was their first cadet flight.
Flying alongside an instructor over Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, the cadets were able to take control of the Viking glider for about 20 minutes.
All 10 cadets present enjoyed two trips each.
A Viking glider in action
There are 40,000 air cadets aged 12 to 20 in the UK. The 58 (Harrogate) Squadron is based at Strawberry Dale in Harrogate.
Sponsored by the Royal Air Force, recruits receive hands-on experience of activities and courses that challenge and develop skills.
Corporals George Sharratt and Adam Mir ,of 58 (Harrogate) Squadron, said in a statement:
“After waiting over a year to go flying, being able to take control of the glider on our first flight, was one of those moments we will never forget.
“But it would not be possible without both the help from RAF Syerston’s ground and air crew and from two of the volunteers from the Wing who organised the trip, got up at 5am and transported us back and forth over 200 miles.”
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Poppy Appeal boost for Ripon’s Royal British Legion
The Ripon branch of the Royal British Legion has received a £1,000 donation from the city council.
In a year when fundraising initiatives for the Poppy Appeal have been scaled back, Jeet Bahadur Sahi, chair of the Legion’s Ripon branch, said it welcomed the donation “with open arms”.
He told the Stray Ferret:
“We greatly appreciate this support from the council, as our selling of poppies this year is necessarily having to be on a much smaller scale than in normal years.”
The money is from the council’s events budget. Council leader Andrew Williams, said:
“We decided that the money we had set aside for the Remembrance Sunday service, which cannot go ahead, should be given to the Royal British Legion.”
Mr Sahi, who served as a Gurkha for 22 years and has been chair of the Royal British Legion Ripon branch since 2013, said the coronavirus crisis prevented the Army Cadets, scouts and Air Force Cadets from collecting on the streets this year and there would be no stall on the market.
The appeal has, in recent years, raised up to £20,000 but this year’s fundraising efforts will rely heavily on people buying poppies from the city’s supermarkets.
Cllr Eamon Parkin, Mayor of Ripon.
Although fundraising activities have been disrupted, acts of remembrance will still be held in a safe and limited way.
At 11am on Saturday, October 31, standard bearers will be at the Royal British Legion garden of remembrance, which opened next to Ripon Cathedral in 2018 after a successful fundraising campaign headed by Mr Sahi and supported by Econ Engineering.
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After the ground is blessed by clergy from the cathedral, members of the public will be able to place small wooden crosses near the plinth.
Cllr Parkin said:
“I hope people will be as generous as possible when buying their poppy in this difficult year for all charities.”
This year, the Ripon Community Poppy Project, run by local residents Hazel Barker, Carol Dunkley and Cllr Stuart Martin, will again see knitted poppies put on display at prime locations in the city, in the run up to Remembrance Sunday and a few days beyond.