What a treat it was to visit Wensleydale’s ancient coppice wood near Carperby in late May and to find that the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) had cleared away many of the Genguards and brambles. When I was researching the article I wrote about Freeholders Wood for the January issue of the Dalesman I was shocked to see that many Genguards (mesh guards) had been left around coppice plots for so long that the hazel was growing through them along with a lot of brambles and thistles.  Below left: an overgrown Genguard. On the right – after the Genguards were removed.

The Genguards are placed around the newly coppiced plots to protect the young shoots from rabbits and deer. But even though in 2009 the YDNPA was publicising its reintroduction of dormice to the wood a large swathe looked a very sorry sight.

The wood got its name from the Freeholders of Carperby who, for centuries,  “put up a smoke” in the village and so had the right to collect fallen wood (estover) and cut sticks and poles. Hazel has been coppiced in this semi-natural area of woodland for about 400 years.

After the YDNPA bought the wood in 1982 it instituted a long term coppicing cycle similar to that in many other parts of the country and which was approved by English Nature and then Natural England.  This cycle takes 14 to 16 years with about a hectare of hazel plots or coupes being cut each year. The wood is now a local nature reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. But older Freeholders have been far from impressed by the way the wood has been managed by the YDNPA. Late last year one commented:  “It’s horrible now.”

By the 1960s there were few exercising their rights to collect pea sticks but those who did never cut a whole hazel plot. “They would take different parts of a particular hazel root and tree in different years – at different stages,” said Mr Roger Dinsdale. The first to be taken was the pea sticks, then the poles for hurdles and fence panels, and later the heavier wood for fuel. They also left some areas open for grazing animals.

“A lot of us felt (in 1982) that the wood really did want some serious management,” explained Mr Dinsdale.  He thought the YDNPA would start by cleaning out the invasive black thorn, brambles, bracken and thistles. He and other Freeholders are saddened that the YDNPA has not conferred that much with them. They feel they have become peripheral to the management of this ancient woodland and that their rights have been whittled away.

The YDNPA’s senior wildlife conservation officer, Tim Thom, assured me that they would seek to rectify that this year. At least this year the wood does look far more attractive and there is no better time to visit than May when the spring flowers are in bloom. By late May the bluebells, wood sorrel, wood anemones, violets, marsh marigolds, primroses, cowslips, and early purple orchids were all in flower. Even more surprising was the big patch of toothwort near the lower falls – probably late due to the cold weather earlier in Spring.

Many visitors enjoy visiting the upper falls and use the excellent path through the wood created by the YDNPA to provide access to the middle and lower falls. But few take time to explore Freeholders Wood. Parking is available at the YDNPA’s visitors’ centre on the north side of the river, and at The Falls on the south side.  There are cafes and restaurants at the visitors’ centre, by the bridge over the river and at The Falls, as well as the Palmer Flatt inn and an excellent gift shop. And while you are in the area why not visit St Andrew’s church.

Below: left – primroses and early purple orchids; right – a box for dormice among the bluebells.

About 450 people filled Aysgarth church on Thursday, September 24, 2009 to remember an unforgettable friend and character: 68-years-old Reg Harrison of Thornton Rust.  As Canon Sue Whitehouse said at the memorial service:

“For all of us there was sense of shock and disbelief at the suddenness of Reg’s death – but we comfort ourselves that he died as he wishes, with his boots on, on the moors when going to tend his sheep that he loved so much.

Right: “Turbo Reg” David Pointon’s prize-winning photograph of Reg driving through Thornton Rust, sporting one of his Panama hats.

Reg died on Thursday, September 17, in his own field (Gibson’s Lotment) above the Outgang at Thornton Rust. Those who attended the memorial service came not only from the Dales and throughout Yorkshire but also from Cumbria, Lancaster, Kent, Bedfordshire and Scotland. He was especially well known at the various auction marts for, as Vicar Sue explained:

“He was in his element wheeling and dealing at markets – and his cheerful banter and smiling presence will be missed in many places.” She said he seemed to naturally and unwittingly transfer his qualities as a shepherd to the way he related to people. He did enjoy being with people, treated everyone equally, and especially had time for the children in the village.

“Thornton Rust will not be the same without his cheery smiling face, his taking time to stop and talk,” she added.

Reg was born in Coverdale into a farming family. He worked on the Bolton Estate, at Howe Hills in Wensley, and on the Clifton Castle estate until he retired in early September.

He and his wife, Julia, his constant companion and friend for 42 years, had then gone on holiday to Italy, where, as usual he had been the life and soul of the party.

He adored his grandchildren (Michael, Lee, Chloe and Charlotte) and was proud that his grandsons were following in his footsteps by working on the Bolton Estate.  Julia said he would also have been very proud of Annabel and James (his great niece and nephew) who read their own tributes to him during the memorial service.

At the service the donations amounted to £1,440 which will be shared between Thornton Rust Institute, of which he was a trustee, and Aysgarth church.

Close family, friends and neighbours had attended the service at Darlington crematorium before the memorial service. His ashes will be scattered among the trees he planted at Gibson’s Lotment.

Below: Reg – the life and soul of the party. Almost every household in Thornton Rust was represented at his memorial service as all knew how much they would miss him.

The producer of The Department Store, Richard Macer (sitting on the floor) enjoying a joke during filming with David Milner (beside him) and customers at a fashion show at Milners of Leyburn.

THE dynamics of a family-run shop in Leyburn were turned into a humourous and very entertaining TV programme in late 2008 – and has been shown in various parts of the world since.

There were film crews at Milners of Leyburn for six months until April that year and they caught every aspect of life there for The Department Store. 

“I think this is one of the most entertaining films I have made partly because they were so open and honest in front of the camera,” said Richard Macer, the producer. He added:

“They are a remarkable family in many ways. I was also attracted by the family dynamic which was so interesting. And so the film is more about a family. They have all got strong personalities and a good sense of humour and we show some of the funny situations they got into.”

Central to the film is David Milner and his struggle to accept retirement and hand over to his daughter and son-in-law, Leonie and Keith Garrard. Keith believes that this makes the film one that many can relate to. He commented:

“It is difficult when you are so used to being busy and when you know that things are changing as others are coming in with different ideas. That makes the film very interesting.”

He agreed that the film was very funny because it did portray him and his wife, and David and Linda Milner as they are.

“The film crews really came to understand our characters and portrayed them very well. And we didn’t hold back.”

That period at the store was a watershed for the family. Although David has now retired he does support Leonie and Keith. But he has time now to be more active in the community, particularly through the Rotary Club of Wensleydale and Leyburn Methodist church.

FIVE GENERATIONS

David Milner is proud of the fact that Leyburn in Wensleydale has one of those now rare British institutions – the independent family-run department store.  Five generations have now kept it going since the business was started by David’s great grandfather, Christopher.

Christopher’s father, George, settled in Wensleydale in the 1840s, where, as a master stonemason, he worked on the construction of the railway, supervising the Irish navvies and overseeing the building of the bridge and railway stations.

But Christopher, the sixth of his eight children, decided on a different trade. At 14-years-old, he was apprenticed to James Wheldon and Sons in Northallerton. During his seven years at the large mercers and drapers store he had to promise not to “commit fornication or contract matrimony” or to “haunt taverns or playhouses or absent himself from his master’s service day or night unlawfully.”

It was probably a relief to reach the grand age of 21 and go back to his parents in Bainbridge.  He started to go round all the villages with a handcart and a backpack, calling on people to show them clothing and fabrics and seeking orders.

“Manufacturing wasn’t that big in those days and so he had people who made things for him like working trousers,” explained David.

Then, 10 years later, in May 1882, Christopher settled his business in Bridge Street, Hawes, as a general drapers and milliners. He did, however, continue to visit his customers, as well as travelling regularly to Leeds or Manchester by train to buy supplies, thus setting a pattern which his descendants would follow for many years.

His sons carried on the tradition in the 20th century with Percy in charge of the Hawes shop while Cyril opened Milners stores in Leyburn, Appleby and Bentham. Harry took on the shop in Kirkby Stephen. Between them they covered the dales from Barnard Castle to Skipton and Kirkby Lonsdale.

Percy’s sons, Raymond and Carl, later joined him in Hawes, with the latter being in charge of the ironmongers. David’s father, Raymond, returned to the family business after being demobbed from the RAF after World War II.

He shared his knowledge of electrical and mechanical engineering with David. So when David left school at 16 and was offered the choice of selling ladies’ clothing alongside his father and grandfather, or working with his uncle Carl he chose the ironmongery.

In the late 1950s David went to Darlington to serve a five-year apprenticeship and then worked as a Hoover engineer. Just as he was contemplating emigrating to Canada his father offered him a partnership which he accepted.

They decided to leave Uncle Carl in charge at Hawes and bought a business which had shops in Leyburn and Middleham. The original Milners’ shop in Leyburn had closed in 1945 and that premises is now owned by the Co-op.

David learned his trade in the stores for about six months before his father introduced him to the suitcases – ten in total, each bound in leather, double-sided and very heavy as they contained clothes and household goods for all.

It was David’s job to travel around the dales with those suitcases. He chuckled at the memories of the number of times he had opened them in lonely farmsteads and had all the children peering in asking: “What’s in here Mr Milner?”  “If it was a big family sometimes the kids’ cases came out first and the parents would not bother about themselves,” he commented.

Even so he carried a wide selection of clothing for women, including corsets, and the essentials for men like corduroy trousers and working clothes.

In some villages it could take him several days to go door to door before finally returning to the shop with his order book full. He remembers: “In the sixties people didn’t go out as much as they do now so they were pleased to see you. It was a nice way to do business.

“They were all locals, mostly farmers, farmers’ wives or farm workers. Sometimes I would take sandwiches but if I was going to a particular house I knew that there would be a dinner arranged.”

When he delivered the goods a week later he would usually receive payment, unlike in earlier years when the store gave its customers six months credit.

In time the shop attracted more customers and so David packed away his suitcases for good. He did not remain in the shop for long however. Leaving his father in charge, he toured the area measuring floors and fitting carpets.

As more dales folk bought cars change was inevitable. “The locals are getting older and the young ones are moving away and they don’t deal in the same way at all. It’s a complete change from my early days,” David commented.

In the 1990s, as the only descendant of the founding member who wished to continue with the Milners’ family business and with most of the other shops closed, he chose to extend the store in Leyburn and sell that in Middleham.

David has diversified into fitting blinds and providing soft furnishings and said: “I am still offering a service – I am still going out to see customers but only on request now.”

Their wares have changed considerably since Christopher’s day. Gone are the flannels (in scarlet, white and grey), the corsets, the tweed dress material, the all-wool shirting and cloth hearth rugs.
But Milners still have a reputation for fulfilling special orders whether for men’s long johns or providing a woman in Australia with the same patterned carpet as was used on the Titanic.

David did consider selling the business a year or two ago but thankfully his daughter, Leonie, and her husband, Keith, decided to take it on. Now David can look forward to retirement in April and know that Milners is in the capable hands of the fifth generation.

It has not been easy handing over to Leonie and Keith, however, and some of that trauma has been captured by the TV crews. As Milners is small compared with the other two department stores being filmed the crews didn’t miss anything in Leyburn.

Luckily though, the problems are always resolved because, as Keith said, the family shares the same principals.  “Family values are important to Milners and we want to maintain its good reputation. We enjoy serving the community.”

UPDATE 2010

David Milner retired in 2009 and Leonie and Keith began transforming the department store so that by January 2010 it was very different to the one seen in the BBC documentary series.

They brought in their very own “Mary Queen of Shops”, Sarah Harbour, who had worked in the fashion retail business for over 20 years. She helped the Garrard’s revamp Milners of Leyburn. One of their big successes in 2010 was buying in organic cotton clothes by Seasalt. “We have sold out twice since we started bringing in Seasalt – it’s gone fantastically well,” said Leonie.

In the autumn of 2010 they introduced clothes by another organic cotton company Jackpot. “We are going down the line that people are thinking more of what they are wearing rather just wanting cheap and cheerful. They are thinking is it good for them and is it good for the environment. So we have found these two products which have really nice vibrant colours.  We are definitely appealing to a wider age range. It’s not like in The Department Store – a shop for 60 to 70-year-olds. We are getting a lot younger people coming through the door now, whether it is because we are getting the product right or dressing the window differently.”

Sarah was involved with changing things around in the shop and bringing in new ideas.  The lingerie and underwear have been moved to the basement from the lower ground floor to make room for an extended range of accessories. All the bed linen and towels are now on the first floor where the Garrards made new shelving to accommodate it. They have de-cluttered that floor to make the most of their best selling carpets  and have built two mock beds so that bed linen can be better displayed.

The children’s clothing section was moved into the lower ground floor, replacing it with the accessories, and then introduced “smellavision”. “We are buying into smellies,” explained Leonie. “We have been to other places which have done that. There are a lot of shops likes ours which have a bit of fashion but have the smellies as well. You come in through the door and you can smell it. If a shop smells nice it’s inviting.”

In 2010 Leonie was also been busy raising funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London which helped them when their daughter Eleanor was ill. “I cycled the coast to coast route from Workington to Tynemouth and raised nearly £2,000 for Great Ormond Street. It was an amazing experience. And we did a fashion show at the store in April and made about £900 for the hospital.”

But when her parents took advantage of their retired status and go off on a two-month touring holiday in France with their caravan she did miss them. “I am finding it a struggle at the moment because with Mum and Dad away I am having to collect the kids from school every day. It makes the day very disjointed. When both Eleanor and Annabel are here (in the store) it is a riot!”

David and Linda do occasionally help out at the shop when they are not on holiday. “They have both stepped back from the business,” said Leonie. David has been doing a lot of gardening and painting. “He cleared out the loft in their house, rewired it all and made himself a little painting studio – that’s his little hidey hole,” she added. Early in 2010 David was also able to take part in a charity trip to the Gambia to deliver equipment to the only school for the blind in that country.

They were grateful for the television coverage especially during a time of economic depression.  “The Department Store has helped to put us back on the map,” said Leonie.

Footnote: Linda Milner died in May 2019

A FEATURE I wrote for the ‘Darlington and Stockton Times’ in June led to two people reminiscing about the life of Darlington born Doug Hardy who died in China in June 1942. After reading the feature Wendy Acres of Darlington contacted me because she so wanted to meet someone who had known Mr Hardy who was, she explained, her first cousin once removed.

(Above) Wendy Acres with Peter Leyland

“There are very few of my family left now and I was very small when Doug left England,” she said. So she was delighted to have an opportunity to visit Peter Leyland at his home in Bainbridge in Wensleydale.

Mr Leyland and Mr Hardy became friends at the Quaker College at Ackworth, shared a berth on the voyage to India and to Burma, and worked together with the Friends’ Ambulance Unit (FAU) in China.

She was also very pleased that Mr Leyland said he would ask if the certificate Mr Hardy had been awarded could be deposited later in the archives of the Society of Friends (Quakers). (above: Ms Acres and Mr Leyland with the certificate)

Mr Leyland said that the Executive Yuan of the Chinese Republic during the war had only issued the illuminated certificates to the two members of the FAU who had died while serving there. Both John Briggs from Horsforth near Leeds and Mr Hardy died from typhus.

Mr Hardy had joined the FAU because he was a conscientious objector like the rest of his family. He and his parents had attended a Methodist church in Darlington. (right) Doug Hardy

During her visit on Monday afternoon Ms Acres showed Mr Leyland photographs of Mr Hardy and the letters which had been sent by a doctor and a nurse who had nursed him at the mission hospital until his death. The nurse had written that even when very distressed “his manner was always just beautiful”.

“I’ve enjoyed reminiscing this afternoon even if about a sad time. I was very cut up when Doug died,” said Mr Leyland.

……..

I have been working with Mr Leyland, who is known to many by his given name of John, on an oral history record of his interesting life. From that I produced the feature that caught Ms Acres attention. Here it is:

THE earthquake in China has brought back memories for Peter Leyland of Bainbridge in Wensleydale of transporting medical aid to Sichuan Province during the Second World War.

(Right) Peter and Janet Leyland studying his China diary and photographs.

One month remains particularly unforgettable and that was June 1942. First he lost a very close friend and then he heard that his father, John, had died. As he was a volunteer with the Friends Ambulance Unit in China, and the Japanese had cut off the road link to Burma, there was no way he could get to his father’s funeral in Bainbridge. (See In Remembrance)

Peter was articled as an accountant in London when the Second World War broke out. He served with the FAU  in London during the Blitz and then joined the “China Convoy” as it became known. After lessons in Chinese, mechanics and first aid he and about 40 others headed for Burma late in 1941. Ten months later, on  June 10, when in West China, he wrote in his diary that the unit was at its lowest ebb in morale – and that was before he heard of the death of his friend, Douglas Hardy. Doug, from Darlington, had attended the Society of Friends school at Ackworth with Peter.

They had shared a cabin in the City of Baroda when it sailed from Glasgow in September 1941 during the height of the U-boat war in the Atlantic. During the journey they had gone sight seeing together in South Africa and India and in China had met each other regularly.

On Saturday,  June 13 ,1942 he wrote: “Doug died on Thursday. It seems he developed typhus and with the dysentery just hadn’t the resistance. Poor Doug – I suppose he is the last of us I should have wished to go, having known him since school and being such great friends during our time together in this convoy. He has been buried at Anshun. I am gathering Doug’s things together.” For the China Convoy this was the second death from typhus for John Briggs had died on June 9. John was from Horsforth near Leeds and his parents built almshouses there in his memory.

While Peter was mainly confined to an office as the unit’s accountant John and Doug were convoy drivers and mechanics. Doug and Peter had been at sea between Calcutta and Rangoon when news of the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbour broke. Most of the coolies left Rangoon after the Japanese bombed the city and Peter and other FAU team members themselves loaded valuable hospital equipment straight from the docks onto their trucks ready for the drive over the Burma Road to China. Some of the FAU team were almost trapped in Rangoon when the Japanese invaded but managed to get out with their valuable lorries and cargoes. (Photo: A convoy on its way to Kunming.)

Peter helped with the drive north to Lashio and on into China. On January 2, 1942, the scenery was so awe inspiring that he almost forgot it was his 22nd birthday. The day before they had driven up Maymyo Hill, a rise of 3,000 feet in six miles in a series of 22 hairpin bends.

(For photos of the China convoy and others of FAU in China click here )

He wrote in his diary: “Rather like a long stretch of Kidstones Pass, Wharfedale side, at the top. The view from the top across the plain with the Irrawaddy meandering in the distance was striking.” (The Kidstones Pass is in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.)

The following day they headed towards the Goktech Gorge. “We came over a hill and saw this steep narrow gorge down below , with mist hanging in its depths.  In the distance we could see the railway viaduct, which crosses 1,000 ft above the river. We drove down into the gorge, having to reverse on some of the bends in order to get round them.  My hand brake behaved very badly.  Crossing the bridge at the bottom we climbed very steeply by means of another series of hairpins.  This time I had to reverse on just one, but having to back towards the edge is not  pleasant.  I believe that some chaps had to reverse on three or four of these bends.” He said later “That was the first time I experienced hairpin bends on mountainous roads. The Salween gorge was even more awesome!”

It was not long before the Burma Road was closed by the Japanese and the FAU made its headquarters near Kunming in China. There was a desperate shortage of petrol and so most of their lorries were converted to run on charcoal. Doug had been one of the pioneers of using such adapted lorries.

(Left) Checking a charcoal burner on a truck.

Peter explained:“Our job was mainly to transport these medical supplies with our charcoal burners throughout west China to the various hospitals. The Government of China was established in Chongqing and we were transporting these medical supplies brought in over the Hump throughout this west China region mainly Yunnan, Guizhou and farther north Sichuan.  Chongqing was in the middle of Sichuan on the Yangtze.” The Hump was the name given to the air supply route over the Himalayas from India to Kunming over the Himalayas.

As an accountant his main problem was the level of inflation which was often at 20 per cent per month. Foreign currency for the China Convoy was sent to the British Embassy in Chungking and was only converted into Chinese dollars as and when needed. When drawing Chinese dollars from the bank Peter had to take a rucksack because he received the money  in huge wads of notes. “We when we paid wages to our Chinese staff they would immediately rush round to the market. They converted it as soon as they could into goods, rice and food – it was really quite extraordinary,” he said.

In November 1945 as he came to the end of his time with the FAU he was asked to travel home via North America to talk to some of the donors about inflation accounting. But then he got a telegram informing him that his only brother, Derrik, had died.

He headed home to support his mother but was held up in India for three months waiting for a berth on a ship. Within days of his reaching Bainbridge she introduced him to her fiancé, Anthony Pim, who was a master at Bootham School in York where Derrik had also been teaching. So he went back to London to complete his accountancy training. He went on to become the finance director  of the Scott Bader Commonwealth.

It wasn’t until 1992 that he and a fellow China Convoy man, Theo Willis, who grew up in Carperby in Wensleydale, went back to China with their wives. The tourist group they were with was taken to see the house in Chongqing where Chou En-lai, had lived during the war. Chou En-lai was later the Chinese premier. “When inside Theo looked to the right and said – ‘that’s where Duncan Wood and I sat with Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai who had organised a meeting to thank the FAU for the help we had given by getting medical supplies to them in Yenan. All of our group was quite overcome with surprise at this – a bit of living history and several afterwards said it was the best bit of their whole trip.”