Pannal today

 As i passed the horrible Dunlopillo building today I saw that it was being dismantled on the inside.

Since the article appeared in the Harrogate Advertiser it has been quite amazing as people from Harrogate have been coming to see the building and when I have met them they are astounded that it was ever built and what an eyesore it is. Broken windows and generally very tatty. Hopefully gone soon but what will be put in its place. Lets hope HBC see sense and refuse permission for another two storeys being added. The old cottages opposite will loose some of the sunshine they have had for all these years. Does seem a shame . Would be good if developers would use the Harrogate Advertiser or The Stray Ferret to let everyone see what is planned. How it ever managed to be built in the first place I do not know. There is no high building in any other village anywhere around. 

Is there any Harrogate residents that have a good word to say about Harrogate Borough Council? I have not heard it. Words I have heard "What are they playing at," "they must be mad" "what are they doing to our lovely town." 

When as chairman of the Friends of the Valley Gardens the Sun Pavilion and Colonnade we saved them from being demolished for a "car park" it was stated that when the Sun Pavilion was refurbished then it would be the turn of the Colonnade. This was in 1998. What has happened? Think what an asset to the town it would be. The Christmas Fairs could be held there and the much missed Artists and Painters Exhibitions and so many other Fairs and Exhibitions. 

Posters have been put round the village notifying everyone that my latest book Pannal and Burn Bridge Their Stories will be launched on Saturday 2nd October at Pannal Memorial Hall at 11.30am and I will be there until 1pm. I have seen a copy of my book and I have shown it to a few people. I am very happy with it and everyone that has seen it likes it and will purchase it. The price is £10 and I have been told that is a good price. Please come and join me as this is my last book on Pannal and Burn Bridge and my other books a History of Pannal and Postcards from Pannal are long out of stock. I want everyone to love Pannal as I do that is why I wrote this book.

My little cat Marble is, as I told you, losing her sight but seems happy as she knows the garden and surrounds. Vet says she is healthy and happy. As for Tigs she is a madam but very loving to me that is not to Marble. She just ignores her. 

Pannal and Dunlopillo

 Well my book is with the printer. Over £5000 to publish but I want to keep the price down as I want everyone to read it and enjoy Pannal as I do. Will let you know price later. Come and see me Saturday 2nd October for the launching 11.30 Pannal Memorial Hall. Shall be there from 11am to 1pm and hope I am not left sitting on my own for two hours. 

The latest plans are in for Dunlopillo the office block or monstrosity as we call it. So many windows broken it is a right mess but then always was. How HBC allowed that blot on our landscape I do not know. Well I do really as HBC on mass do not like Pannal. I had a bit to say about the building in the Stray Ferret and there will be an article in the Harrogate Advertiser next week. The plans have increased the flats from 26 to 48 with two storey's added. Many more people and cars. The car park at the front I am not sure what will happen as it does not belong to Dunlopillo it belongs to solicitor's office in Halifax. I remember it being purchased and I thought why but now I know as they will if they sell make a lot of money.Please if you think this is wrong for Pannal the size this building is going to be. Object. 

All I can add is what is Harrogate Borough Council doing to the whole of Harrogate? Housing masses of it with no infrastructure and built where house owners will have to use their cars to even get their shopping. Houses are not appealing . When one thinks of the the Tudor buildings and what the Victorians left us and what is now being left to future generations. It is so very sad. Developers now rule. HBC will say but we have to have so many houses we are told that by the Government but I say we do not have to have the houses that the developers are putting up and you are letting them.    

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".