Pannal and Harrogate Borough Council

I see in the latest Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council Newsletter that at long last they are agreeing with what I have been saying for fifty of the fifty six years I have lived here. In their words HBC has  "downer" on Pannal and Burn Bridge. Many years ago their Director of Technical Services Ken Corri said to me that it was his ambition to have Pannal the same as Bilton re massive development. His wish is coming true. I especially liked their plan to have gypsies/travellers on the Crimple Valley land behind St Robert's Church. The gypsies/travellers did not want to be there so was this a red herring so that when it was announced no there won't be gypsies but there could be houses there people would think well that is better than gypsy/travellers. HBC misjudged Pannal and Burn Bridge people we are not daft.The Crimple Valley is precious to us soon it will be all we have if this insane house building carries on. This Council is killing Harrogate. I was in town and I overheard two ladies outside Primark one said "I have always wanted to come to Harrogate but now I am here I don't know why I did" So very sad. HBC wanted to do away with the name Spacey Houses but I heard of their plans and shoved my oar in. So Spacey Houses name remains. Be interesting to see where the Invisible Mann is. 

I am off this afternoon to rattle a few cages as when I as Chairman of The Friends of the Valley Gardens saved the Sun Pavilion and Colonnades from being demolished the Council of the day said when they had finished refurbishing the Sun Pavilion they would refurbish the Sun Colonnade and Sun Parlours and that was in 1998.Just think refurbished and re-roofed what an asset that will be to everyone the Town's coffers and us as it could be used in the run up to Christmas for Fairs etc and all the year round for various exhibitions. So wish me luck in dealing with Harrogate Borough Council. 

My book Pannal and Burn Bridge Their Stories is selling well and everyone likes it so I am very chuffed as I did enjoy writing it. I have no copies of my other books A History of Pannal, Postcards from Pannal and A Centenary History of Pannal Golf Club 1906-2006. I have had a few emails and phone calls asking if I still have any. This is my last book on the Pannal that I have loved for fifty six years. Will I continue to keep loving it I do hope so in spite of Big Brother Harrogate Borough Council. 

Pannal Launch

 At last I am able to write this blog. It has been a very busy time since the Launch of my book. Pity the weather was not better but you did come and support me and I thank you. Also supporting were Howard West Chairman of Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council who opened and closed the launch. Malcolm Neesam whom I have known since we were young together spoke and our MP Andrew Jones came to support me as well as all the lovely villagers. Dorothy Little a friend came and looked after the sales and we had a great time catching up with everyone. Many of whom we had not seen since we were hit with the dreadful Covid. Copies of the book are being sold at Pannal Post Office and they are selling well. Do buy one as it is all about our villages and I have really loved writing it.  I am very pleased with the many comments on how they really enjoyed the book. I am very flattered and pleased. The Harrogate Advertiser, this week, wrote a flattering article and I also thank them. After the launch I said to Dorothy are you doing anything or shall we go and have lunch at Crimple. No she was not so we did and had a lovely lunch and chat. 

I have been contacted by a gentleman who is very interested re my idea of  Crimple Valley Country Park which I proposed and also wrote about in the book. Harrogate Borough Council, who own the land, are also aware of my proposal and I hope to rattle a few cages with this proposal. I have never forgiven them for proposing that part of our lovely Crimple Valley from behind St Robert's Church up to the A61 Leeds Road be made into a gypsy site. Or was, as many of us suspected a red herring. A the gypsies or travelers did not want to be there when asked and B was this a ploy by HBC so that we would say when they put forward a proposal for housing "well that is better than a travelers site". This land although owned by HBC being purchased from Bill Bentley of Pannal Hall in 1961 must be kept for the people of Pannal as we are having so much building in our village that we shall need all the green spaces we have. Hope we never ever lose the Crimple Valley and have to all walk around the recreation ground being all the green space we have left. We have lost the Valley on the other side of the Leeds Road sold by Lord Harwood in the 1950s and also purchased by HBC, who at the time said it was to protect the land between Harrogate and Pannal and keep them separate, to light industry.  

Dunlopillo proposal for flat up from 26 to 48 with two storeys higher. The poor cottages opposite will lose some of the sunlight and from the car park at Pannal Golf Club not a hill or green field will be able to be seen. We were all hoping the old Dunlopillo offices when demolished in its place would be houses in keeping with the area.Answer: fat chance of that. Intriguing to know what the firm who owns the car park to the front of old Dunlopillo offices will do.  

Now with all the lovely comments I received about the book do Marble and Tigs care - not a jot. 

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.