Pip’s Patch

This barn in Bouldershaw Lane, Arkengarthdale, has, I understand, been used as an example of the type which should not be converted into a dwelling – even for a man who has grown up in that dale and wants to continue to live and work there. The YDNPA planning committee did, however, grant permission last year.

In my post about converting traditional barns I discuss if we are now at a watershed regarding the YDNPA’s policy. Those living in Arkengarthdale are surprised and very concerned to learn that a planning officer, under delegated powers, has given permission for a mast which cannot be shared with commercial communications operators.

These days the decisions made by planning officers under delegated powers are effectively “hidden” because a list is no longer published each month by the YDNPA.

At least it didn’t rain when villagers gathered at the car park in Thornton Rust to witness the presentation of a cheque and an interpretation board by the YDNPA. The renovated car park area is certainly very attractive now and a great place from which to go and explore the surrounding area, including the lime kiln and the Kennel Field.

Something needs to be done soon about the deteriorating condition of Yore Mill at Aysgarth. I have posted the resolution made at the YDNPA Full Authority meeting in December in the latest YDNPA report.

My visit to Kenya in February, thanks to my niece Alex, proved to be especially inspirational due to our visit to the WEMA Centre in Mombasa where street children are rehabilitated.

An Association committee member has had to help me twice in the past few months to catch up with reporting on YDNPA meetings. As I was in Kenya in February I had to report on the planning committee meeting in a different way.

One of the major aims of ARC is to provide fuller and independent reports on YDNPA meetings.  This is the only place where you will find an archive of reports of the YDNPA planning committee meetings since 2010.

Recently some members of ARC  were researching decisions made back in the 1990s and realised just how little was reported in the YDNPA’s own minutes about how decisions were made. Yes, the decisions and officers’ reports are there – and that is about all. Once upon a time local newspapers sent reporters to the planning meetings but those days are long gone. So ARC continues to monitor and report on those meetings.

Time to Shout!

“There simply are not sufficient emergency ambulances because so many services are being transferred to distant hospitals like the James Cook [at Middlesbrough],” Cllr John Blackie told Aysgarth and District Parish Council on September 14.

The shortage of ambulances isn’t the only problem. The YDNPA has reported that it has made no progress with its objective to provide basic mobile phone coverage across the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Our Community First Responder team is so aware of the problems that can cause.

Since the A&E unit at The Friarage Hospital  at Northallerton has been downgraded we are often waiting longer and longer for an ambulance to arrive. The situation will be even worse if the A&E department   at Darlington Memorial Hospital  is downgraded as well.

So it is time we all started shouting – not just to secure future of The Friarage and the A&E unit at Darlington,  but also for a better mobile phone service in these rural areas.

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 )

For some of my galleries on Flickr see: Tour de France in Wensleydale, Aysgarth church flower festival, NE Mercedes-Benz Club Aysgarth Run 2014, Queen’s Jubilee Celebrations in  Aysgarth 2012 , Olympic Torch at Aysgarth Falls and Anne Barlow – Aysgarth’s centenarian.  Also N E Mercedes-Benz Club at RAF Leeming