Thousands of people lined the streets of Ripon to watch the return of the historic St Wilfrid’s Procession.

It was a party atmosphere as the crowds clapped and cheered as the parade made its way around the city, which is celebrating its 1,350th anniversary.

Led by an actor on horseback playing the role of St Wilfrid, the parade was accompanied by the award-winning Ripon City Band.

An actor on horseback playing the role of St Wilfrid.

It featured a colourful assortment of decorated floats, with designs created by businesses and organisations, including Bishopton Vets, Ripon Farm Services and Winksley cum Grantley Young Farmers Club.

You can watch a video of the procession on the Stray Ferret Facebook page here.

The parade was unable to go ahead in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

Bishopton Vets’ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory float.

But it was back in force today, with a total of 16 floats taking part.

Antony Prince, chairman of the St Wilfrid’s Procession Committee, said:

“It has been a huge success. It’s fantastic that it is able to take place again.

“The community and public have really got behind it. There is no procession without all the people who put it together. They are all volunteers and all the money raised goes back into keeping it going.

“The weather has held off and it is just fabulous to get the community back together again.”

Ripon Farm Services’ Top Gun float.

In this 1,350th anniversary year for Ripon, full celebrations for the city’s patron saint are making a return for the first time in three years.

Covid lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, meant that there was only limited activity organised in those years by the St Wilfrid’s Procession Committee to keep the tradition alive.

But on Saturday, the parade, which attracts thousands to the city’s streets, will be back in force – starting on Studley Road at 1.30pm and finishing at Ripon Cathedral at 4.15 – where a service will be held,

The 24-stage parade timetable and route, which will see numerous temporary road closures, can be seen by  clicking here.

The St Wilfrid parade will finish at Ripon Cathedral, where a service to celebrate the city’s patron saint will be held at 4.30.

Led by an actor on horseback, playing the role of St Wilfrid, the parade will be accompanied by the award-winning Ripon City Band and will include decorated floats with designs created by businesses and organisations.

Held on either the last Saturday of July or the first Saturday in August each year, the St Wilfrid’s Parade is a unique event, whose origins date back to 1108 when King Henry I granted a royal charter to the City Of Ripon to hold an annual fair.

St Wilfrid is celebrated as the man, who in AD 672, founded the church in the location where Ripon’s iconic cathedral now stands and the stonework in the crypt, dating back to that year, is the oldest remaining building remnant to be found in any English cathedral.

Ripon City Council event

While the revelry is on-going around Ripon’s streets, the city council is marking a much more recent tradition on Market Square from 2pm on Saturday.

The Celebrating Yorkshire Day event starts at 2pm with free fairground rides for all the family, a climbing wall, face painting and Punch and Judy shows.

At 6pm, local singer songwriter Freddie Cleary, kicks off an evening of free musical entertainment and he will be followed  on stage by tribute acts, either side of the 9pm setting of the watch ceremony performed by one of the Ripon hornblowers.

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Ripon City Council is objecting ‘in the strongest terms’ to the siting of two of the three proposed public realm art installations being planned to celebrate the life of Wilfrid — the city’s patron saint.

The council first voiced safety concerns last year about a five-metre high montage depicting the building of ancient Rome on the bypass roundabout at the junction with Boroughbridge Road.

Council leader Andrew Williams told the Stray Ferret:

“I had a meeting with applicant Christopher Baily who was representing an organisation called Art in Churches and I made our concerns very clear to him and assumed that a more suitable location would be found for this element of the Rome to Ripon Art trail.

“I said at the meeting, that the city council supports, in principle, the installation of public realm artworks recognising the work of St Wilfrid, but not on the busiest roundabout on the bypass.”

Cllr Williams, added:

“At the June full council meeting, we looked at the plans for the artworks and found that our public safety concerns have been completely ignored and the applicant has presented what appears to be precisely the same proposal for the structure on the roundabout.

Staging in front of Ripon Town Hall for the city council’s programme of free live music would have to move if planning permission is granted.

“To add insult to injury, the plans also indicate that the proposed siting of a five-metre high bronze of St Wilfrid on Market Place, would require a re-positioning of the stage, safety barriers and associated equipment employed when we are holding free public events for Ripon residents and visitors to the city,

“The plans that we saw, showed that the applicant, without any consultation with the council, took the decision to move the stage from immediately in front of the town hall to a location on Market Square.

“Both this and the roundabout plan are totally unacceptable and we have objected in the strongest terms to Harrogate Borough Council planners, who we hope will understand our reasons for making our concerns known.”

The Stray Ferret approached Mr Baily twice by email on Monday to give him the opportunity to respond to objections raised by the city council.

At the time of publication, no response had been received.

The proposed third element of the Rome to Ripon art trail features a sculpture to be located close to the cathedral of a boat, to represent the visits that Wilfrid made on journeys involving sea crossings to visit Rome.

The city council has advised planners that it has no objection to the location of this part of the trail.

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Ripon Cathedral has unveiled plans for a commemorative stone to mark the 1,350th anniversary of St Wilfrid’s church.

The stone would be installed at the cathedral to mark St Wilfrid and his “long lasting influence” on the city.

Ripon Cathedral has submitted the plan to Harrogate Borough Council as part of a listed building application.

According to documents submitted to the authority, the stone would be made from black polished limestone. 

It would include Wilfrid’s date of birth and death and stars which were his insignia.

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The stone would be installed inside the cathedral just before entering the Quire in order to give it “suitable prominence”. It would also be in a position which reflects the east end of Wilfrid’s original Anglo-Saxon church.

In documents submitted to the council, the cathedral said:

“The key aim of creating and placing the stone in the location proposed is to activate the deep history of this place and to acknowledge and celebrate the profound impact of the life of St Wilfrid in creating the church from which our cathedral grew.

“Part of his great legacy of places created to the glory of God with a shared spiritual heritage that continues to resonate with people to this day.”

Harrogate Borough Council will make a decision on the plan at a later date.

There was a sweet after-taste to Ripon Cathedral’s Beer Festival, as a tally up of takings showed it raised £18,000.

The event, held in the Dean of Ripon’s garden in the shadow of the city’s iconic cathedral, attracted a record 1,250 adults.

Their purchase of pints of craft ales, combined with tickets bought for the tombola, raised money that will help fund the music, heritage conservation and the education programme at the cathedral.

In this celebration 1,350th anniversary year, at the church founded by Wilfrid, the festivities will go on until October and there was plenty to toast and look forward to at the festival, making its return after two years of covid lockdowns.

Ready to pull the pints – the bar team at the festival

Sponsored by Wolseley, the event saw 42 different craft ales on offer from brewers including Hambleton Ales, Roosters and Theakstons.

Visitors had musical entertainment provided by The Temps, Reef Hound and Jaspa, while children who attended with their parents, had a bouncy castle, tombola and Brick Box Yorkshire’s huge quantities of Lego to keep them occupied.

Ripon Cathedral development manager Margaret Hammond, said:

“It was lovely to be able to host this annual fundraising event again after being unable to do so since 2019, due to the pandemic.

“It was a fantastic success and our supporters showed just how loyal they are after a three year gap, many familiar faces joined us again! We have such incredible volunteers and staff who help to make the event possible, thank you to everyone who contributed.”

Wolseley was the main event sponsor and many other local Ripon businesses, advertised in the programme distributed at the event. There was also support from the cathedral’s business partners Brewin Dolphin and Raworths Solicitors.

Rick Jones, owner of Valentino’s Restaurant and the Water Rat gastro pub, once again was integral to the event and has supported the Cathedral since the first beer festival more than ten years ago.

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The quarter hour chime of the cathedral clock reminded visitors to Dean John Dobson’s Ripon garden that it was time to toast a successful launch to the city’s 1350 celebrations.

There was also a sense of relief that the annual beer festival he and his family host was back after two years of covid lockdowns.

Dean John, enjoying his pint of Wilfrid’s Ale — specially created in honour of Ripon’s patron saint — told the Stray Ferret:

“People have clearly missed it and this is looking like our biggest-ever turn out.

“It’s a great conclusion to the 1350 launch weekend, which provided the prelude to a whole host of activities and events between now and October.”

The bar team at the beer festival, ready to serve the first customers.

Bishop’s fingers on the pump – the Rt Revd. Jonathan Gibbs, who is the Bishop of Huddersfield, gave the bar team a helping hand

Baby Levi and his dad, Ben, were also on bar duty

To accompany the food and beers, seven bands provided live music.

The hundreds of people present between 11.30am and 5pm to try out some fine examples of the brewers’ craft, added to the thousands who had visited the cathedral for a wide range of events, talks and displays in honour of St Wilfrid, who founded the cathedral in AD 672.

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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

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.

Unique works of art are being created as part of a programme to mark the 1,350th anniversary of Ripon Cathedral.

They will include paintings by internationally-renowned Syrian artist Sara Shamma, who has been commissioned to produce three portraits featuring St. Wilfrid and his contemporaries, who founded the church in 672.

Ms Shamma’s work will be centrepieces of the From Rome to Ripon exhibition, which has been produced  in collaboration with Paul Baily and Jack Chesterton.

It will be on display at the cathedral from May 27 until November 1.

Before then, weaver, Chrissie Freeth’s  tapestry work Beyond Words can be seen from Thursday April 28 until May 26.

Chrissie Freeth’s tapestries will be on display from April 28

Ms Freeth, was shortlisted for last year’s Cordis Tapestry prize and her work Momento Mori was also selected for the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition.,

She blends folklore, family stories, medieval iconography, and craftsmanship in her large tapestries, 13 of which will be exhibited at the cathedral.

Between May 27 and July 26, Peter Marlow’s exhibition will give a fascinating insight into how English cathedrals developed

The Dean of Ripon, the Very Revd. John Dobson, said:

“To reimagine this sacred space with new artworks from such a wide range of renowned artists, each working in different ways, is a fitting tribute to our founding father, Wilfrid.

“It will tell us something new about who we are, re-connect us with our past, and ground us in our future and I wholeheartedly commend this arts programme to all of you.”

Celebrations of the iconic building and its fundamental importance to Ripon’s development, begin on April 28 and will continue over the Bank Holiday Weekend,

The festivities will include dancing in the nave to a local jazz and swing band, a beer festival on the Bank Holiday Monday in the cathedral grounds, a pilgrimage from Bradford Cathedral, and a Son et Lumiere finale that promises to recreate Wilfrid’s miracles – including that of the lunar rainbow.

 Rome to Ripon is a partnership between Ripon Cathedral and Art in the Churches, an award-winning local charity that aims to bring major contemporary art into rural churches to reposition them as the beating heart of their communities.

Who was St Wilfrid?

Wilfrid – one of the greatest and most controversial English saints – was born into a noble Northumbrian family, a patron of the arts, he studied at Lindisfarne before embracing the Roman ways, was deposed on more than one occasion, and yet helped unite England behind a single Christian tradition.

It is said he was born in flames, survived shipwrecks and exile, and his jailers could not keep him chained. He was a healer, he kept people from hunger by teaching them to fish, and it is said that the moon and stars shone so bright for him, that a lunar rainbow appeared on the anniversary of his death.

In his early twenties, he made a pilgrimage to Rome and was much inspired by the lives of the saints there, and the great basilica churches. He brought some of the beauty of Rome back to England with him.

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A  large annual parade that has taken place in Ripon for about 1,000 years is under threat.

Thousands of people turn out for St Wilfrid’s Procession, which celebrates the city’s patron saint.

The procession sees decorated floats travel around the city led by an actor playing St Wilfrid on a horse, followed by musicians, dancers and finally the Wakeman of Ripon.

There are also stalls and events on the Market Square for what is one of Ripon’s main events of the year.

The parade traditionally takes place on the last Saturday of July but covid prevented it taking place for the last two years.

Most funding comes from street collections on the day. But when the organising committee applied for a street collection permit for this year’s event, on July 30, it discovered Harrogate Borough Council had already granted a permit to another organisation — and only one a day is allowed.

The council told St Wilfrid’s Procession committee it was unable to reveal the identity of the other organisation because of data protection legislation.

This prompted the committee to put an appeal on social media asking for anyone who knew who it was to get in touch to see if a solution could be reached.

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A committee spokesman said:

“We want an open discussion with whoever has the permit to see if they are able to switch days.

“Without a permit, the procession won’t take place next year because most donations are made on the day from people who give to fundraisers with buckets.”

The spokesman stressed nobody was to blame for the “unfortunate coincidence” and the council was trying to help find a solution.

The Stray Ferret contacted the council but did not receive a reply.

Ripon Cathedral is to celebrate the life and legacy of Wilfrid, its founding father, in a series of events marking its 1,350th anniversary.

The cathedral today revealed details of the programme, which include a sound and light show about Wilfrid’s life and an initiative to suspend stars from the nave.

Four artists will transform the cathedral’s Anglo Saxon crypt – the last remains of the church Wilfrid founded on the site and the oldest surviving building in any English Cathedral.

In addition, there will be arts, crafts, music, lectures, worship, pilgrimage opportunities, flower displays and the traditional St Wilfrid’s Day procession through the city.

The cathedral flooded the west front with words from the war poet, Wilfred Owen, and lit up in red to mark the centenary of the Armistice in 2018.

The cathedral has staged numerous art events before.

During lockdown it suspended tens of thousands of paper angels in the nave.

Now, in its anniversary year, it has lined-up a series of Wilfrid-themed initiatives.

Miracle maker

The Dean of Ripon, the Very Revd John Dobson said:

“Ripon Cathedral is here because Wilfrid was here. His life and legacy is written in these stones.  He was a miracle maker, a pioneer, a leader and a force to be reckoned with.

“He converted a pagan England and brought something of the beauty of Rome to these shores.

“In this, our anniversary year, we are committed to telling his story afresh, by breathing new life into our history and our heritage and sharing his love for beauty and the arts while ensuring worship is at the heart of all that we do, as Wilfrid, our forefather did before us.”

Tickets have just gone on sale for the anniversary launch weekend, which will take place over the May Bank Holiday weekend.

It will start on April 28 with dancing in the nave to a local jazz and swing band, a beer festival, a pilgrimage from Bradford Cathedral, and a sound and light show finale that promises to recreate Wilfrid’s miracles — including that of a lunar rainbow said to have appeared to the monks of Ripon Monastery one year after his death in 709 AD.

Ripon Bible

Other headline events throughout the year include the premiere of new digital projections from the little-known Ripon Bible.

Currently held in the special collection of the Brotherton Library at Leeds University, this illuminated document in its rich blues, golds and purples is believed to have been created by scholars in Oxford.

Pages from it have been recreated in sound and light and will be projected across the interior of the cathedral, offering visitors the chance to see it for the first time.

Ripon Cathedral

There will also be lectures from historians Tom Holland and Max Adams; a series of tours taking visitors behind the scenes, an organ festival featuring an animation created for piano and organ to tell Wilfrid’s story, while four artists, including Sara Shamma, will transform Ripon’s ancient Anglo-Saxon crypt with specially commissioned works in paint, words, tapestry, and a new light and soundscape.

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Jo Bussey, director of development, said:

“We are super excited to bring to life Ripon Cathedral’s rich heritage and history in such exciting and unique ways.

“There’s something for everyone, young and old, art buffs, historians, even pizza, and cake lovers.

Who was St Wilfrid?

Wilfrid was born into a noble Northumbrian family.

A patron of the arts, he studied at Lindisfarne before embracing the Roman ways, was deposed on more than one occasion, and yet helped to unite England behind a single Christian tradition.

It is said he was born in flames, survived shipwrecks and exile and his jailers could not keep him chained.

He was a healer, he kept people from hunger by teaching them to fish, and the moon and stars shone so bright for him that a lunar rainbow appeared on the anniversary of his death.