Pip’s Patch – an Update
We ought to find a suitable name for this duck! She lives at Thurne in North Norfolk and visits all the boats that moor there, including ours. She struts along the decks, quacking loudly, and peering in at you to remind you that she wants to be fed. I went ‘nose to nose’ with her with just the glass by the galley between us – and she wasn’t fazed at all.
A farmer from Wharfedale, Colin Lister, provided one of the most memorable episodes at a YDNPA planning committee when he described why it was so much more difficult for hill farmers these days. See the YDNPA June report.
That report also includes an update about Tim’s Barn at Gayle. In January residents in Wensleydale discussed on Facebook the possibility of organising a protest march to the YDNPA offices in Bainbridge because they were so angry about the way that barn had been converted.
Concerts: The feast of concerts does not come to an end when the final curtain falls this year on the amazing Swaledale Festival.
In Penhill Benefice there are three to look forward to:
At Wensley Church on Friday June 23 the Harrogate Harmony Barbershop Chorus, plus special guests The Harrogate Harmony Misspent Ukes and the whimsical Mr Harold Blackburn, are giving a concert in aid of the church organ fund.
On Saturday June 24 at Aysgarth church Mats Lidstrom (cello) and Leif Kaner-Lidstom (piano) will present their concert “Not One Swan but Four” at Aysgarth church (Wensleydale Concert Series).
And on Saturday July 1 the internationally acclaimed concert pianist Martin Roscoe returns to Aysgarth church to give a gala concert with the proceeds going towards the cost of repairing the roof and interior of the church. For more details about these three concerts go to the Penhill Benefice page.
The Friends Meeting House at Bainbridge is the venue for a solo cello concert by Matthew Forbes on Saturday July 15 at 7.30pm. The programme includes the beautiful lyrical British works by Granville Bantock, Imogen Holst and Malcolm Arnold. For more details go to www.wensleydaleconcertseries
A&E unit at Darlington: I had a couple of shouts as a community first responder in the past few months and those, yet again, underlined the importance of retaining a full A&E department at Darlington Memorial Hospital. Even that involves an hour long journey from Upper Wensleydale. But if everything is centred on the James Cook University hospital in Middlesbrough the journey time will be doubled.
I do like it when this website provides the means for old friends to reconnect with each other. This especially happened during 2016 for Graham and Mary Watts, and was the means by which Catherine Conrad could have flowers delivered to a grave at Aysgarth churchyard. See Connections.
For details of services in the Penhill Benefice in mid Wensleydale at St Andrew’s, Aysgarth; St Bartholomew’s, West Witton; St Margaret’s, Preston under Scar; St Mary’s, Redmire; and St Oswald’s, Castle Bolton and the Mission Room at Thornton Rust see Penhill Benefice. The Remembrance Display at St Andrew’s church continues and for more about those from Wensleydale who were affected by the 1st World War see In Remembrance.
I also enjoy attending Quaker meetings with my partner, David. Those at Bainbridge Friends Meeting House are at 10.30am on Sundays, except for the last Sunday in the month when they are 10.45am at Countersett Friends Meeting House.
For more details see Quakers/Bainbridge. My interest in the Quakers began with my research about the pioneers of girls’ education (see The Quaker Inheritance )