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Opening Times
Mon - Fri 8.30am - 5.00pm
Tel: 01845 421 015
The Thirsk Weekly News is a family-owned paper for Thirsk and the surrounding area
Rural Arts has been awarded £115,000 as part of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) to help face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure they have a sustainable future, the Culture Secretary announced last week.
Rural Arts is one of just under 2,000 cultural and creative organisations across the country receiving urgently needed support. A total of £333 million of investment has now been announced as part of the first rounds of the Culture Recovery Fund grants programme being administered by Arts Council England.
The funding will ensure Rural Arts can continue to deliver safe, in-person creative activities across 3,500 square miles of rural North Yorkshire until at least March 2021.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said:
“This funding is a vital boost for the theatres, music venues, museums and cultural organisations that form the soul of our nation. It will protect these special places, save jobs and help the culture sector’s recovery....
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Last Sunday, amid mainly sunshine and cloud rather than the monsoon of the previous day, Thirsk Town turned out to a home game against AFC Nags Head, Northallerton, on the Flatts. With two stout teams and more substitutes available, it was going to be a harder match for both teams to win. Twenty five minutes in, and Town’s Lee Johnson scored the first goal of the match, in a game with several on each side to be proud about. Then he scored again after another fifteen minutes, suggesting an easier soccer game than they have played this season so far, by half time. Perhaps both goalkeepers strenuous activities helped a lot in this match as they were kept busy with their defenders and both deserve praise for their superb efforts.
However, the Nags Head team had not read the script Town hoped for, and Sam Rayner gained one goal back twelve minutes after the restart. But, Johnson showed his skills again and scored a hat trick for Thirsk Town soon after this from a rebounded ball coming within close range in front of goal, and he reacted quickest....
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The virtual Whixley 10k, actually about 7 miles, was once again set up by Rob Burn, with superb maps and photographs supplied by Marc Davies to clarify the route for anyone who was uncertain. You could choose any of 4 days to run, and those who ran on Sunday had glorious weather if they had time to look at the beautiful views from Sutton Bank along the Cleveland Way, though they had to cope with extra water on the course after the non-stop rain on Saturday. On other days, you could have got very wet indeed! Once more there was a good turnout, with 62 members and guests completing the course, and once again, Tom Levi was the fastest finisher, taking 48.00 minutes. In 2nd place was Matt Jones in 48.50 with Josh Fothergill 3rd in 49.44, Stephan Tomaszewski 4th in 50.08, Rob Burn 5th in 55.41, the improving Gary Wilkinson 6th in 55.48, Alan Simpson 7th in 55.48, Jody Sygrove 8th in 57.40, Brett Edgeworth 9th in 58.32 and David Tervitt 10th in 59.21. Other men taking part were Andy Butcher, Rob Lickley, Paul Chapman, Adrian Saunders, Marc Davies....
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A fabulous day of hockey on Sunday for the u14 girls. The girls developed well through their 1st match against Harrogate, finding their feet and understanding positions and working as a team. The defence was amazing and Mary did a sterling job in goal, but they just couldn’t quite get the ball in to their own half to put Harrogate under any sustained pressure. 2-0 to Harrogate. 2nd match against Leeds saw Thirsk a little more confident and a little quicker to react to situations. Leeds were three up, but in the final seconds of the game, a fantastic strong pass from a hit out, went through everyone to our brilliantly place CF, who collected the ball. capitalising on Leeds high defence, managed to compose herself in the D and take a shot! Goal! Great end to a great morning of hockey. 3-1 to Leeds final score. In the afternoon, they were facing Leeds in the first game. The girls started confidently with some beautiful passes throughout the team....
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The people of Thirsk have spoken and, after votes were cast earlier this year, Thirsk Falcons U16 team has been chosen to receive a £1,000 donation from Taylor Wimpey North Yorkshire.
The youth team, which is part of a football club which has achieved FA Charter Standard Community Club status – the highest achievement in grassroots football, received an influx of nominations earlier this year which landed them with the donation.
The £1,000 was set to be put towards taking the team to the Costa Daurada Cup in Salou, Spain this year however due to COVID-19 the tournament could not go ahead....
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Contractors have been appointed for the construction of Hambleton’s state-of-the-art crematorium.
Contractors will begin work on the site on the outskirts of Thirsk in the first week of November.
The multi-million-pound Hambleton District Council project will feature a revolutionary electric cremator to reduce emissions and therefore the area’s carbon footprint.
The 22-acre site near Busby Stoop, is close to both the A1 and A19 and will include a service hall to accommodate approximately 120 mourners plus additional room for standing. There will also be an entrance foyer, waiting lobby, offices and a family room.
As well as this, the single storey facility will include a wake facility and café.
Temporary access will be created for use throughout the build, to ensure the landscaping can mature as much as possible, ready for the opening....
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A cheque for £2,000 has been presented to Community Works by Rotary Club of Thirsk to assist with the refurbishing of a training room. The idea is to totally change the office making it a more user friendly and welcoming facility with a bank of computers for general use, and have room for one to one meetings for people to discuss their problems with trained staff....
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This is our lovely new reception class RW Aka 'The Hive' and some pictures taken around school including our amazing early years area....
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Although some Sunday teams started last week with the new season’s fixtures, others had cup games and then and only began their season this week.
Thirsk Town hosted keen rivals Knayton on the Flatts pitch at Thirsk last Sunday. Both were fielding a few new players and both were very keen rivals for home honours. Not all of Town’s old players returned this year, and it is still showing their need for speedy and agile footballing players skilled in sprinting around the pitch. Thirsk Town tended to better Knayton last season but this is a new season and expectations were high to change the score sheets. So, not quite bitter rivalry, but close tackles all round and very physical, saw action very closely at boot level etc. At a local derby match. Referee Mark Karvounis had to stay alert to maintain discipline as much as possible, which he largely succeeded in doing. There were some cards and words in the second half about the manner of tackles but , generally, players talked to each other during and at the end....
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At this time of year, the Club would normally be having two hard sessions a week in Thirsk School gym or sports hall, but sadly these days, such things are not possible and outside sessions have to suffice. This is fine on a dry evening, but less attractive if it's cold and wet! Nevertheless, members get together in a socially distanced way within the rules at Sowerby Gateway, where there is masses of room for core exercises, (if you can face the wet grass,) and running on the superb, illuminated, track with a head torch, and a hard session is possible. Longer distances are run at other times, with people training for, say, a virtual York Marathon or even just a 10k run. Park runs are badly missed....
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I put my head in at Rural Arts last weekend and as well as a tasty cappacino I looked round the exhibition by the Art Collective, a local group whose members work in ceramics or print. This small show contained some very talented work. I loved the collection of heads, full of character and fun, by Lindsay Aveyard. The ceramic bowls were an opportunity to mix imagination and technique. Then there were the pictures, not to mention the cockerel in stoneware by Jennifer Cottis. There are some beautiful pieces on show.
Just across the road from Rural Arts Iain Mackay has opened a selling gallery intended to showcase mainly Yorkshire art, and he is happy with progress. So far his main artists have been from Saltburn, Yeadon and Barnsley, not to mention Thirsk. “I love their enthusiasm,” he said “and wanted to put it on the wall.” The walls of his compact gallery are certainly crowded with all manner of images, and at varying prices....
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Unbelievably, and happily, the Sunday football league has finally launched, only a month after the Saturday season began. This week was the North Riding Sunday Challenge Cup matches around the county, along with some league matches. Missing the heavy monsoons rains of Saturday, the teams ran out on to dry pitches mainly bathed in sunshine throughout the morning, which was a weclome change for all.
Thirsk Town played Sir Thomas Brown’s First team from Thornaby in the Sunday Challenge series. Their opponents proved to be a most formidable team who eventually outclassed the Thirsk team in a very hard match where little quarter was given, yet in a mainly gentlemanly manner by most players. There were occasional yellow card after hard tackles later in the struggle by mainly Sir Thomas Brown....
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A pair of North Yorkshire school pupils have been rewarded for their charitable efforts over the summer with a special award.
Ruby and Harry, who both attend Cundall Manor School near Thirsk and Ripon, were awarded the coveted making a difference badge by Deputy Head, Stuart Bayne for their work.
Ruby, aged 10, generously cut off 9 inches of her hair and donated it to the Little Princess Trust, a charity that provides free real hair wigs to children and young people with hair loss, and helps fund vital research into childhood cancers. Meanwhile Harry, also aged 10, has been pedalling away raising money for World Bicycle Relief, a charity that delivers specially designed, locally assembled, bicycles for people in need in rural developing regions so they can access life-changing mobility....
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Along with a reputed 45000, Lorraine Hiles, Clare Tempest and Phillip Craig completed a Virtual London Marathon in their own area, and whilst the girls chose to run a repetitive course on roads, Phillip did an off road course. The advantage of lapped on road course was that it had a regular water and feed station, supported by members and family, and including volunteers from Herriot Hospice Homecare, in aid of which Lorraine and Clare were running. ( Donations are welcome on the just giving page). After a day of non-stop rain on Saturday, the day dawned bright and sunny on Sunday, for which the runners were thankful, though there was plenty of evidence of water on the road in places....
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After just three training sessions and one friendly, Ladies 1sts had their opening league match of the season at home against Leeds Adel 1sts.Thirsk started brightly, creating chances but couldn't convert them. After 13 mins Leeds made them pay and scored a scrappy goal from a penalty corner. Thirsk kept pushing forward and finally got their reward through a shot from Molly McDermott....
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And so the pandemic has finally brought to an end the crazy system of rail franchising that is the legacy of the privatisation of the railways. Goodbye GNER in blue, National Express in white and Virgin in red – although in financial terms they were all in the red by the time they gave up trying to run a railway. The government is reluctant to use the naughty word “nationalisation”, and I believe that the coaches are still owned and rented out by companies owned by our banks, so it is the administration rather than the assets that have been taken back....
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The board of the Ritz Cinema met last week, and after consideration of the present rules, and expert advice from our health and safety guru, it was reluctantly decided to defer considering re-opening until a further meeting before Christmas. This was followed by a "tweet" wondering if the Ritz would be able to open sooner if we were run by paid staff, rather than by a dedicated band of volunteers? I don't do social (or antisocial) media, so short answer "No"! Longer explanation – only the ground floor (stalls) can be used with social distancing, and the number of patrons that we could accommodate would be below the minimum to pay for the running costs and film rental. The cost of paid staff would be an added burden.
There are also considerations of the costs of increased cleaning and hygiene. Plus the fact that film releases have either been put back – most notably Disney blockbusters like "Mulan" or the new James Bond film – until bigger audiences can be admitted....
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