Sarita McDermott and her talented team of dancers will provide a taste of Indian culture in Ripon on Monday evening (March 18).

Ripon Library is the venue and all are welcome to attend from 5pm to both watch and join in 11 traditional dances that will celebrate the Hindu festival of Holi.

To round off the evening, attendees are invited to sample, free of charge, some genuine Indian cuisine.

Ms McDermott (pictured above) who owns Realitea Indian bistro and tearoom on North Street has, through performances that focus on the Holi and Diwali festivals, given Ripon residents an insight into the the culture of her native country

She told the Stray Ferret:

“Holi signals the arrival of spring — focusing on love, new life and reconciliation. It’s all about making a fresh start, forgiving and forgetting, loving and looking forward, as we leave the cold winter weather behind us and enjoy the spring and sunshine.”

On Monday, Lisa Fletcher, who works at Ripon’s Walled Garden, will have her debut Holi dance, alongside Martin Grainger, who works at Reality and Bethany and Matthew Evason, who are employed at Jennyruth Workshops,

Main picture: The team led by Sarita McDermott performing at Holi Dance at last year’s event in Ripon Library. Picture Sarita McDermott

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The focus was on family fun in the sun as Ripon Theatre Festival’s outdoor performers took centre stage over the weekend.

Yesterday’s bright sunshine brought hundreds of children, along with parents and grandparents to Spa Gardens, where they saw puppets, pirates, a Noah’s Ark show (pictured below) musicians, singers, dancers and many more entertainers.

Among them was Rhubarb Theatre (see main picture), which provided an interactive experience for the audience combining street entertainment with family games, featuring characters inspired by Lewis Carroll’s wonderland creations.

On Saturday, Ripon city centre Market Square, Minster Gardens, The Arcade, North Street and Kirkgate and Westgate, were among the venues for a eclectic mixture of alfresco theatrical performances, while the Flying Dodos and other puppet characters roamed the streets.

The Flying Dodos on North Street

Ripon Arts Hub, the cathedral, Curzon Cinema, the Claro Lounge, Wetherspoon’s Unicorn Hotel, the library and The Little Ripon Bookshop and Workhouse Museum, also hosted indoor festival events.

The Strange Twig pirates in Spa Gardens

Ian Gouge 

At Curzon Cinema, Ripon-based award-winning author and poet Ian Gouge, gave a premiere performance of his dramatic poem Crash while on Market Square, a large crowd gathered for a whole host of acts, including The Giant Balloon Show (pictured below).

Just a hop and a skip away at the cathedral, Ripon City Morris Dancers  attracted a large gathering as did dancers of a different kind when Sarita McDermott and her team of Bollywood-style performers, Bethany, Matthew and Martin, from Jennyruth Workshops, performed in Spa Gardens.

Ripon City Morris Dancers

Sarita McDermott (right) with the Bollywood dancers.

While it was a weekend for enjoyment across the city, the daily hardship of a life in poverty was given a dramatic twist at the Workshouse Museum.

Through interactive displays and presentations, volunteers in period costume told the story of what it was like for some of Ripon’s Victorian forebears.

Volunteers Lindy (left) and Judy showed visitors what wash day in the Workhouse was like for its Victorian inmates

The finale of Ripon’s second theatre festival came yesterday evening with Illyria’s action-packed production of Robin Hood  at Fountains Abbey and as the curtain came down on this year’s event, festival director Katie Scott (pictured below) told the Stray Ferret:

“It has been a great success. Building on last year’s launch we have seen increased ticket sales and hundreds of people attending the free outdoor events and pop up shows.

“This gives us a tremendous platform for next year.”

Festival director Katie Scott

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With perfect timing, yesterday’s bright sunshine marked the start of Holi and saw a celebratory event at Ripon Library.

The Hindu festival signals the arrival of spring — focusing on love, new life and reconciliation.

Following the Diwali celebration staged at the library in November, Sarita McDermott, owner of the Realitea Indian bistro and tearoom on North Street, brought an insight into the culture of her native country.

Supported, once more, by a team of dancers from Jennyruth Workshops and the library’s outreach librarian Claire Thompson, the event provided an authentic taste of Indian culture, through readings, music, dancing and food.

Ms. McDermott, told the audience:

“Holi is all about making a fresh start, forgiving and forgetting, loving and looking forward, as we leave the cold winter weather behind us and enjoy the spring and sunshine.”

Part of the Holi Festival celebrations involve coating people with brightly-coloured powder paint. Picture: BBC

The festival features dancing, singing and, at some locations (though not Ripon Library), the throwing of powder paint and coloured water, in celebration of the Hindu god Krishna and the legend of Holika and Prahlad.

Ms Thompson, who gave a reading about Holi, told the Stray Ferret:

“It’s a pleasure for the library to hold brilliant events such as this, which enable people, particularly children, to learn about different cultures and how festivals are celebrated in other countries, just as we celebrate Easter and Christmas in this country.”

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Ripon PE teacher Helen Mackenzie has received the British Citizen Award for outstanding work tackling food poverty and encouraging sport.

Ms Mackenzie, who works at Ripon Grammar School, overcame breast cancer after being diagnosed 11 years ago.

She is among a select group of 27 adults across the UK to be honoured with the award this year.

The British Citizen Awards are held twice a year to recognise individuals doing extraordinary work in their local community.

In November 2019, Ms Mackenzie and her friend Sarita McDermott, who owns the Realitea Cafe in North Street, Ripon set up the food charity Back to Basics.

Ms Mackenzie told the Stray Ferret:

“The idea is that we provide families who are struggling — usually those with kids on free school meals — with the ingredients for a delicious nutritious meal.”

A typical weekly Back to Basics food donation, which is given to families along with a recipe card.

She added:

“We are not a soup kitchen so we don’t provide the meal for them — we expect them to get ‘back to basics’ and cook with their family.”

Netball for all

Ms Mackenzie and Ms McDermott fundraise for the charity and have secured financial support from local businesses, as well as donations of goods from individuals.

This enables them to provide families with everything they need, from food ingredients to recipe cards, designed to help parents and children to work together in creating the meals.

In addition to her Back to Basics charity, Ms Mackenzie is also well-known in Ripon for encouraging sport.

She vowed to make competitive sport, which is normally the preserve of the ultra-fit and young, accessible to all after overcoming an aggressive form of stage three breast cancer.

In 2015 she started Ripon City Netball Club, which attracts not only girls but also seniors and people with varying levels of mobility, ability and sporting prowess.

Many mums — including Ms Mackenzie — play alongside their daughters. Nearly 100 people now take part.

‘Remarkable and inspirational’

Alec Lutton, who set up the first Ripon food bank, nominated Ms Mackenzie for the British Citizen Award.

He said:

“She is a remarkable and inspirational person with a can-do attitude and a determination to do help others in need of assistance or encouragement.”

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The nomination was supported by Ripon councillor and three-time former city mayor Pauline McHardy, who has known Ms Mackenzie for many years,

She said:

“Helen is the salt of the earth and her contribution to the community in Ripon is absolutely immense.”

Today her bespoke BCA medal with the inscription ‘For the Good of the Country’ was delivered by special courier to her Ripon home.

Ms Mackenzie and her husband, John, have two grown-up daughters, Laura and Amy, and from now on, she can call herself Helen Mackenzie BCA.