No. 57 Welbury success at the World Cup

Quiz of the month…

How many rivers? When rain falls on
Welbury, how far would it travel before reaching the sea? How many proper rivers (so-named) must it flow along? Would that be a record number for Yorkshire or England?

Hint: Wikipedia has interesting and useful details on our rivers.

Answers from last month (as far as we know; tell us if you know better).

Next nearest Duke? The nearest Duke of Wellington in Yorkshire is at Danby over the Moors, 19.6 miles as the crow flies. Nearer still is the one at High Coniscliffe, Darlington, just 13.5 miles. A third is at Durham. A few pubs in North Yorkshire and Teesside have Wellington in the name, the nearest being the Wellington Heiffer at Ainderby Steeple.

Under the Jubilee Oak 12-06-2014

Thankful village: It seems Welbury lost no one in either World War, making us one of
only about 14 doubly-thankful villages in England. The claim is being checked.
Splash! Drivers are asked to take care
through floods in the village, to avoid
damage to garden plants.
Dog danger: Please keep dogs under close control on field paths and bridleways, as straying has damaged crops and exposes dogs to dangerous spray chemicals.
Robbery: A van was broken into on a
driveway in Welbury on 3 June, and other local villages have had thefts. Please be vigilant and report anything suspicious.
Family history: Wanted: information on the Robinson family at Glebe Farm around 1920- 1936 or their grandson Denis Wall.

Weather from Rod:
Despite the cold start to May with a heavy frost (–2 °C) on the 3rd, it was a warm month overall with an average temperature of 12.4 °C, much warmer than May 2013 (10.9 °C). May 18th was the first day of the year to reach 25 °C and this was surpassed by a maximum of 27.7 °C on the 19th. It was also wet of course with 65 mm of rain during the month, but still not so wet as May last year.

Up until 13th June it’s also been both wet and warm. The deluge last weekend (7/8th June) amounted to around 14 mm of rainfall, but we’ve since had another day (12th) with temperatures above 25 °C.

Oil buying group: June’s oil order was
secured at just under 49 ppl, a very good price. The group seeks more members from Appleton Wiske and the wider district. Contact
oil@appletonwiske.org .

Meadow grass in Heads’ field 12-06-2014

Lost for Words
by
Edward St Aubin
This novel is a thought-provoking and entertaining insight into the sniping world of literature, celebrity culture and ambition. It centres around the judging of The Elysian Prize for Literature. Each of the judges has their own reason for wanting the role. The Chairman is an MP and is attempting to escape from the tedium of life on the back benches. Another judge is looking for a ‘relevant’ novel for today’s media culture, while yet another, an intellectual, is determined to find ‘good writing’. For some, the judging gets in the way of their own writing ambitions.

Plant Sale & Coffee Morning 7 June
from Joanne Hughes

On behalf of Welbury PCC I would like to thank everyone who supported the Plant Sale & Coffee Morning today in the village hall. An enjoyable morning ended with the exciting snail race, Yvonne Clinton’s snail narrowly finishing ahead of Karen Willey’s. £745 was raised for church funds, for which we are very thankful, and surplus plants were shared between Appleton Wiske and East Harlsey for their plant stalls. Unclaimed raffle prizes were two yellow tickets: numbers 87 and 180.

WI Monthly Report (May)
from Dervor Hanson
We were transported to a land of warm sunshine with golden beaches and blue skies and seas as Dr Ruth Roberts shared her photographs and experiences of a trip to the Galapagos Islands. The competition for a hand made flower made a lovely display with entries made of feathers or ribbon, seeds or knitting wool. Next month’s speaker is Peter McNamara on the Yorkshire Film Archive. The competition is for the cutest farm animal.

Throughout an idyllic childhood Val lived in the ironstone mining village of Margrove Park (pronounced ‘Magra’), one of several such villages a few miles beyond Guisborough. Margrove Park is just below the lookout at the top of the long bank on the A171 to Whitby. There was a big grass field where Val enjoyed running free, then
woods behind and the open moor at the top. She went to the village primary school and later the big Guisborough school. Val’s dad had been a miner for 28 years and had a few injuries as it was quite hazardous with poor working conditions.
He was very relieved to get a job at ICI in 1960 where conditions were much better, with showers provided, unlike in the mines where they were really needed.

It was at a dance with Danny Mitchell and his orchestra at the Pier Ballroom, Redcar, where Val met John. The Pier was better
than Coatham, unless you wanted a fight! They married on October 1st 1966 at Boosbeck Parish Church. It was a horrible rainy day! But their marriage and life at Welbury Grange have been great. Their son Robbie was born in 1969 and is now
himself to be married next week, to Ruth Garrett at 12.30 on midsummer’s day 21 June at Appleton Wiske.

From an active outdoors childhood to the present day Val has enjoyed been sporty.

She did practically everything – athletics, hockey, cricket, football … In athletics she liked javelin and discuss, so we had better get her welly wanging for Welbury! Her cricket for Northallerton Ladies came to an end with foot-and-mouth around 2001. It had a terrible effect on local farms and stopped the cricket for a season. Val still plays table tennis in the Northallerton and District League for the Northallerton Cricket Club team. They have won the league from time to time and Val has won the ladies singles several times.

Val (left) receiving one of her ladies’ singles trophies from Dorothy Atkinson in the 1990s

The two families at Welbury Grange have got on very well as they’ve brought up their lads together and shared the ups and downs of farming life. A bit out of the way and out of sight, this southern enclave of the parish makes its own little paradise.

After ten years of heavy duty,
and to be fair less than
perfect cleaning, the old
mower blew a hole in its
casing. Not fatal, but it blows
grass out. It might be patched
with fibreglass car body repair
kit or with a screwed or
welded plate but none of that
was to hand.

Here a flexible patch made from old thick aluminium food trays did the job, fixed with a hand riveter. It’s a simple handy tool that “does what it says on the tin”. Googling ‘how to use a hand riveter’ finds some good videos.