On Friday September 23 I had the honour of being the first customer at the new Post Office in Aysgarth – thanks to Steve Jack at Aysgarth Garage and Convenience Store. Its been many years since we had a post office in Aysgarth and this new venture is very welcome. for more click here.
We still mourn Queen Elizabeth II and this was the prayer shared following her death: Gracious God, we give thanks for the life of your servant Queen Elizabeth, for her faith and her dedication to duty. Bless our nation as we mourn her death and may her example continue to inspire us.
Queen’s Platinum Jubilee: There was so much to celebrate for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee -not the least to be able to gather and have fun together. Communities in the Dales enjoyed that to the full – as was obvious in Aysgarth.
It was also so obvious during the Swaledale Festival. After the Covid lockdowns and social distancing rules it was amazing to see over 200 people in Aysgarth church for a concert. I estimated that during the three concerts on May 30 and 31 a total of about 600 people were in the church.
All of the Swaledale Festival concerts at Aysgarth church were thoroughly enjoyable, climaxing with that by Jeneba Kanneh-Mason on June 7. And during most of that week there was a magnificent flower festival in the church to celebrate the seven decades of the Queen’s reign.
Stories from the past:
I’ve been collecting stories from the past from the Hawes Parish Magazines of 1896 (Street Criers of London) and also from The Church Monthly dating back to 1892 owned by St Andrew’s Church, Aysgarth, as well as those from the Heritage Event held at that church in 2009. The stories include these from 1894: how to care for horses and a ride on a railway engine; how lighthouses were powered with paraffin lanterns and using steamer horse-drawn fire engines. When rushing to a fire these days those on board the fire engine no longer have to yell ‘Fire! Fire!’ as they did in the 1890s. Nor do they have to harness horses before they could head out to a fire.
From the Heritage Event there is A Mothering Sunday story about a man who I believe remembered his mother in a most unusual way at Aysgarth church; and the Doctor’s Window.
From The Church Monthly is Children’s Playtime in early 1890s and the first two of the Rev Wood’s articles covering his natural history rambles in January and March 1892 plus some local information about Aysgarth parish at that time. The Rev Wood’s nature rambles are included in Nightingale Duet.
And there is the story about the Telegraph Messenger boys of the 1890s. In that article it was stated: ‘If on any given day the electric telegraph suddenly came to an end, business would speedily become disorganised.’ The delivery of those messages depended upon boys aged 13 to 16 working nine hour days!
Visit Penhill Benefice website for details of services at in mid Wensleydale.
Personal memories:
There have been some special moments recently – such as meeting with my friend, Carolyn Murray, and hearing all about her work with Immanuel Kindergarten in Yei. In October 2021 she went to Windsor Castle to be presented with the MBE by the Princess Royal.
Fundraising is ongoing for the Kennel Field south of Thornton Rust which was such a special place for my late husband, David Pointon.
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