Ps from Pannal

 Sorry forgot to say in yesterday's Blog that my book Pannal and Burn Bridge - Their Stories will be launched in Pannal Memorial Hall at 11.30am on Saturday 2nd October. Dorothy and I will be there at 11am. I have really enjoyed writing the book and I hope you like it. Come and see us.  Tell your friends in Pannal and Burn Bridge to come along and not leave Dorothy and me sitting on our own please. 

Away from Pannal then back

 I have just returned from a lovely two week holiday. Firstly to meet up with my four children and their families as we have not all been together since the first lockdown. It was wonderful. We were in the Dales and in three log cabins booked instead of one big house just in case there was another lockdown. We had a brilliant time Walked our feet off. Able to eat all our meals outside. There were fourteen of us and one night we had an enormous barbeque.The grandchildren went wild swimming at the falls. The water was cold but the weather was good. Then I travelled back to Bristol with James and family for a few days. What an up and coming place Bristol is there is so much going on and the Harbour side is bustling with activity. They have kept a number of the old dockside buildings and they are now apartments, restaurants, cafes and pubs. They are not far from Portishead which has a Marina with very swish apartments and lovely eating places. Do I want to live where my children live. Peak District, Lake District, Bristol and Cheltenham -  no. Nice as they all are I love my garden and Pannal 

My fourth book after The History of Pannal, Postcards from Pannal. A Centenary History of Pannal is Pannal and Burn Bridge - Their Stories and it will be launched at Pannal Memorial Institute on Saturday October 2nd and I will be there together with my good friend Dorothy Little from 11am to 1pm where I hope to see you all.At the moment I do not know the price of the book as I am awaiting my publisher telling me but rest assured I will try and keep it at a good price. I would really like to give a copy to every house in Pannal and Burn Bridge but that is not feasible as the printing costs will be high.

Now I must tell you this. Where I live in the village there are a number of very large trees and in one of them there are rooks who nest there. The kites come and annoy them and they gang up on the kites and so far have chased them away but one evening a little while ago my neighbor saw a kite catch a rook in mid air and that was the end of it. The horror part of this story is one of my cats is very tiny and she was lying out on the grass fast asleep when a kite landed in the garden after her. Good job I was also in the garden. Stuff of nightmares. Poor little Marble is going blind so she might now have been able to get away. The vet says she is fine just cannot see but knows her own garden and my neighbours gardens (they are very good with my cats) They are affectionate cats and have never bitten or scratched us. Tigs disappeared for a number of days and I was worried but she returned smelling of perfume. Where has she been the little strumpet.  

About Pannal

 Oh the excitement about the England match. No traffic in Pannal. My neighbour had England flags on his car. Very soon came off as we all know what the result was. I was disappointed with the second half as they let Italy make all the running. I cannot say that I am an expert on football but as I was Secretary for Bob Kelly Scottish Football Association and Secretary for Celtic Football Club in a "past life" I feel I can at least have a view. 

My book Pannal and Burn Bridge - Their stories ,will be lunched at Pannal Memorial Hall on Saturday 2nd October. I wish I could just hand out the book to villagers but I have to pay to have it published and the lovely Terry who I met at Smith Settle (who published some of my books) will let me have the proofs sometime this month. I hope it is enjoyed as i have put my heart and soul into it and I also hope that like the Centenary book I wrote about Pannal Golf Club it will be used as a reference to all that has happened in Pannal.

I am also doing a walk round Pannal for the Harrogate Civic Society on Sunday 26th September at 2pm meeting at St Robert's Church. So when you see me walking round the village with about 15 people you will know. It won'r be like the first walk I did for the Pannal Village Society when nearly one hundred people turned up and The Harwood had said they would put on sandwiches for us. Don;t think they were ever that generous again as they were shocked at the number of people but my group did buy drinks.

The Neighbourhood Plan has been delivered to everyone in Pannal and Burn Bridge and a lot of work has gone into that. I am/was in two minds about the park and stride (to take the school traffic off Main Street) in the Crimple Valley at the back of St Robert's Church as I do/did not want our beautiful Valley destroyed by cars but if my plan for The Crimple Valley Country Park  which the Pannal Parish Council have adopted comes to fruition then villagers and visitors will need somewhere to park. 

19th July our day of freedom? I will still wear my mask in shops. Have not been on a train or bus since the first lockdown. One thing I find really annoying is that the scientists say that wearing a mask protects others but them not wearing a mask will not protect me.We can all only hope the vaccines work.

I have just returned from Scotland Millport Isle of Cumbrae which my lovely oldest daughter treated my to. I went to school there when I was very young and now was trying to find the school I went to.unfortunately the gentleman who ran the Historical Information Centre had died so it was closed. I think I found it but it is now a house. An elderly lady who I accosted in the street said it was a catholic school (correct as I was at a convent school in Glasgow later) and now there was only one school for all pupils. The weather was hot and sunny and if I did not have the love for here that I have I would be living there. A lovely, lovely place. 

Little Marble is getting on ok with not being able to see that well. She does not go far. Tigs in the meantime brings me mice which are alive so with  bit a cajoling I rescue the. Have never been afraid to pick birds, animals,insects up including spiders. I am handy to have around.

Pannal and me

 We have ll enjoyed this amazing weather, With the sun and before that the rain I have no spaces between my plants in the garden. I am battling to keep it decent but all my plants are so thick and high. 

My next tale is of my little cat Marble who I adopted from Sarah Pannal's Chiro about fifteen years ago. Sarah was moving house and was not allowed pets.I wrote about this in my column in the Harrogate Advertiser which came to the attention of a gentleman who had a kitten called Tigs and he had sustained a back injury and could not look after the kitten so my husband had Marble as  birthday present and Tigs as a Wedding Anniversary present. Now back to my story. Marble came in and looked up at me and it looked as if she had no pupils, Fortunately I had family with me as it was so scary. Phoned my vet who saw her and after various tests said she was ok in herself but she was going blind. Not a lot they could do but as she knows her way about the garden which is quite big vet said just let her get on with life and Marble is because as soon as I let her out of her basket she ran up the apple tree. Seems like perhaps this could work out. Tigs is no help whatsoever. Just ignores her. The lady vet was so kind I am now wondering if instead of seeing a doctor I could see a vet for any ailment that I might have. 

I have been down seeing some of my family in Bristol and Cheltenham and for once we could plan what we were doing every evening for the next day as the weather was brilliant. Long walks in countryside and Clevedon and Portishead. Much as I love all the places my children live Bristol, Cheltenham, Peak Park and Lake District I love Pannal more. 

My latest book on Pannal and Burn Bridge will be published in October and launched at Pannal Memorial Hall. As they are having so many alterations I do not know as yet what room I will be in or what day. I rang Mike Briggs to see if he would show me around so that I could choose only to find he has just come out of hospital. So get well soon Mike and we shall be in touch and will meet up. 

Now a query does anyone know why a  Leeds Rhino bus/big van comes down the village from Leeds Road weekday mornings between 7.45am and 8.15am and turns down Rosedale. Where is it going.? Anyone got an answer?

I look after the little patio garden by St Robert's Church and tidied iot up and it looked lovely and the next day when I passed it was covered in leaves. How did that happen eh. Shall try once more. 

Crimple Valley looks lovely with all the buttercups. One of my favourite places. I remember it when one could walk under the Viaduct both ways but during covid it has been fenced off on the left so unable to access it now after all these many years. Sheep now in field and signs up. The owner must have put them there as there is no NYCC or HBC names on them. Also fenced off by the stream where the kids paddled. It can be accessed from over the bridge but it is not the same. 

Pannal Reminiscence

I had an email from Susan Taylor asking if I knew her godfather James Seth Soutar and of coure I did. Capt Soutar as we all knew him ran Central Stores in the Village with his wife in the 1960s nd early 1970s before moving across the road to a dormer bungalow they had built which they named Bergerac. Jimmy Soutar was Susan's godfather. He had an interesting life born in Kirkcady in 1904 his father was a ships Master. Jimmy went to sea at 16 and worked as crew slowly climbing the ladder to Master. He was on oil tankers in the Caribbean. In the Merchant Navy he was torpedoed in the Second World War on the ship Cederbanks and fifteen of his crew perished just of the coast of Norway. He was Assistant Dock Master in Trinidad where he met his wife Winifred who had been a Matron in a hospital in the UK and was now a highly respected nurse in Trinidad. He became Chief of Port of Spain Harbour and was a highly respected person there and a personality as he was 6ft 3ins and powerfully built and there was an island competition whereby any man could challenge to punch him and if he flinched he had to buy everyone a drink but that never ever happened. Why Pannal I do not know all I know if he loved Yorkshire and was a member of Yorkshire cricket club. He was a keen gardener and grew masses of strawberries which he sold in his shop. One time when my mother-in-law was staying with us she went down to buy some and was very amused when he wrapped them in a cabbage leaf for her. When they gave up the shop they moved across the road. Unfortunately the stock market collapsed in the 1970s and they had to sell Bergerac (named after a place in France where they spent their honeymoon) and moved to a flat in Western Avenue, Harrogate where Win later died and he remarried and he died in 1914 aged 90. I went down to see Bob and Sue the owners of Bergerac to see if his ships bell was on the door but the door had been replaced but his weather vane of ships was still on the roof. 

My second reminiscence is of the time not too long ago when walking down Fulwith Mill Lane I saw a man and woman walking towards me and I recognised them they were obviously local  but for the life of me I could not remember their names. How embarrassing. They stopped and we exchanged few pleasantries and walked on and I thought I have got away with that.. Then I saw some camera men and I said what are you filming and one said them and I said whose them and he said Robby Coltrane and Julie Walters for a tv series and I thought they were locals.......

I get a number of these requests and fortunately I have been able to answer them all. Except for one email that asked if I knew Great Aunt Bertha. I email what was her surname and answering email said "now you've got me". 

Pannal Summer Days

 Lovely sunny days and don't we deserve them. Although someone said to me we do need rain. Last thing I want for a little while as I am content with watering the garden with the hose and can.Only just got back to golf. I have been a member of Pannal Golf Club since 1974 and I wrote the A Centenary History of Pannal Golf Club 1906-2006, The other day when I was playing we saw a buzzard chasing a red kite. There are a number of red kites around at the top of the road. Don't know whether they are nesting on the trees on the Course now as so many of them have been removed. The trees not the kites. Talking of trees the Cedar tree in Rosedale Close is still there. We had the excitement of a large crane for its removal but a gentleman who was passing said to me they can't remove it just now as the sun is in the wrong direction and that was a week ago. New one on me I know about leaves on the line but sun in the wrong direction?

I had the joy of my youngest son Richard and family coming at Easter. It was so lovely to see them all. We rolled our eggs on the hill in Crimple Valley and then spent an extraordinary amount of time in the Quarry which we all love and my intrepid young grandaughter climbed from the bottom of the quarry up the rocks to the top followed by her Dad of course, Not followed by me as I do not like heights as a suffer badly from vertigo and when I have an attack it does not help with my putting. We had some lovely walks around Lindley and i was sorry to see them go. Hopefully I might be able to see my other three children and their families soon. Talking to people we have found this lockdown particularly trying. 

Oh and at Easter I had a lovely Easter card from a pupil at Pannal Primary School and that was a lovely thought and it is a lovely well drawn card. 

There has been a lot of rubbish left in the Crimple Valley which has been collected by volunteers and I collected some dog poo bags. They were yellow bags not black ones. Do idiots think I shall use yellow ones and then other people can see them and pick them up as I cannot be bothered. This mentality has decent people scratching their heads in puzzlement and don 't get me started on the tying them on trees. Enough said. 

Marble and Tigs are fine and enjoying the sunshine and we still have the black cat. I have given in and feed it now and my cats have also accepted it.It knows when it is on to a good thing.

Shall end with this. I saw that a lady care worker down south decided instead of eating her sandwiches at the care home she would drive to a beauty spot to eat them. She was spotted by the police and fined even although she had not got out of her car. I thought this a shame and texted my kids and I put she was fined for eating in her car. Only I have predictive text and it came out as she was fined for dogging in her car and I never noticed and sent it to the kids. Only realized when I got texts back saying WHAT!!! read your text Mum. 

Pannal Walks

 Hail, rain or shine I have been walking round Pannal and further afield.I walked up to Whinney Lane from Pannal visited Rossett Nature Reserve first then down Whinney Lane. I have friends who live round about Castle Hill and how the developers were allowed to build houses so close to existing houses I do not know. It is absolutely shocking. New bedrooms face onto bedrooms of residents who have been there for many years. Long time residents have had to spend vast sums of money having mature trees planted in order to have some privacy. That was rant one now onto rant two. Cyclists on the Bilton to Ripley trail. The path is not wide enough and I nearly ended up as a mascot on the front of a cyclists handlebars there was no warning just came tearing past and another cyclist had a horn not a bell on his bike and I reckon I did an amazing jump in the air. Some cyclists are considerate and others are not so we shall see if HBC plan for more cycle areas on streets will work. It also seems strange to me when the council are saying not to use our cars when they allow houses to be built in places Killinghall, Skipton Road and Beckwithshaw where residents have no amenities and have to use their cars to shop. Pub at Killinghall being turned into a supermarket sometime in the near future Is that it? Also can the schools cope?

The Cedar Tree on Rosedale Close is to be felled. So sad as it is a Cedar of Lebanon and it was one of the trees I had protected when I mapped all the trees on the new Rosedale Estate and asked for them to be protected by asking for Tree Preservation Order No 1 Pannal 1969. There is only one other in this area and that is in the grounds of Pannal Hall. I think the ones at Rudding Park have been felled. The are an endangered species and are in the Red Book for Endangered Trees. The replacement tree will be a small Cedar of Lebanon and I hope it is planted not too close to buildings that have had extensions.

I think we are all fed up with lockdown. Golf will be allowed from end of March so we are all raring to play. I am so looking forward, as we all are, to seeing our families again. Very sad for the poor people who have lost their lives and also their relatives. My cats are the only ones not fed up as they see more of me and also sit more on me. Well Tigs my big fluffy cat does old dopey Marble is I think a feral cat and she does not.  They were both rescue cats many many years ago. Shall I use the word rescue more like dumped on me. Having said that they are no trouble. Thought I had better say that as they are both staring at me. Don't think they can read but who knows.