Issue No. 21 December 2011

Parish Council News Village Broadband Explained Allerton Waste Recovery Plant Village Clubs Village News Moor Monkton History Part 6 Church News Weather Watch Cover Photo: Red House Chapel in the Snow (by Robin Gordon) Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 1 Parish Council

Planning Applications

Four planning applications have been dealt with since the last newsletter: • Mrs J. Mawson, Laburnum Barn (Erection of single storey extensions and conversion of 2 garages to home office) – the Parish Council had no objections. • Mr C. Lavington, Turnbridge House (2 applications) (Erection of agricultural building with solar panels and erection of detached garage) – the Parish Council had no objections. • Mr & Mrs J. Wilkin, Beck House Farm (Erection of extensions to 2 existing agricultural buildings) - The Parish Council did not object to or support the application, but requested that Borough Council (HBC) Planning ensure the landscaping conditions associated with the original application were being met.

Dog Fouling

This issue continues to come up at Council Meetings and the Clerk has contacted HBC’s Dog Control Officer on several occasions in an effort to make progress. Despite having a photograph of a dog fouling, HBC is unable to take action against the owner as the dog was on private property at the time. We have ordered more signs but we are limited as to where they can legally be placed, so please contact the Clerk if you would like to display one on your property. Other than that, unless parishioners report details of incidents we are unable to do more. Email [email protected] or ring the Dog Warden on 01423 556633. A Harrogate Dog Warden with dog Broadband

Some of you may be aware that we have the chance of improving our broadband connection within the village via a wireless link from School. The scheme is dependent on obtaining funding to subsidise the installation costs from £300 per household down to £75 (plus £30 for new router). Thereafter the cost is similar to existing broadband monthly subscriptions with a range of packages from £15 to £35 depending on usage. Approximately 100 households can benefit before the funding runs out and this will be shared equally between Nun Monkton and Moor Monkton. The funding has been agreed but we are awaiting the official “go ahead” to release the application forms. (See the article on page 7).

Finance

The precept for 2012/13 has been kept at the same level as last year, we are mindful that the value of our reserves will not keep pace with inflation but we now have a reasonable buffer to cope with any unexpected expenditure. Little progress has been made so far on the Village Plan and provision can be made in future years dependent on the outcome.

Payments made recently were for Clerk’s wages and expenses, grass verge cutting, paint for the Jubilee tree bench and Councillors’ travelling expenses.

2 Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 Allerton Incinerator

We have pledged to donate £500 to NYWAG (North Waste Action Group) in support of their campaign against the Allerton Park Incinerator. The planning application has been submitted to NYCC and is currently open to consultation. The deadline for comments has been extended until the 16th of December 2011. Comments should be sent to: Planning Services, County Hall, , DL7 8AH or via email to [email protected] quoting the planning reference NY/2011/0328/ENV.

The Parish Council has written to the Secretary of State to ask that the application be “called in” – so that it is decided by an inquiry rather than allowing NYCC to determine their own application. We have also asked that the £65m PFI contract underpinning the scheme is reviewed to examine whether it provides “value for money” – we believe that it does not. At a time when our services (such as the mobile library) are being cut, we believe that it is wrong to tie the County’s rate-payers into a 25 year contract, when cheaper, greener alternatives are available . (See the article on page 4).

Other Matters

There are currently 3 village websites which could be confusing for residents so the Clerk will liaise with the creators on developing a main site with links to the others.

The problem of the invasive weed Himalayan Balsam taking over riverbanks and other areas within the village was brought to the attention of the Council. It was decided that action would need to be taken next year before seeds are dispersed, preferably in co-operation with neighbouring parishes. Himalayan Balsam (or Would you like to be a Parish Councillor? The current “Popweed”) is eaily Councillors’ four year term of office ends in May 2012 when recognised by its pink flowers elections will take place, at least 2 councillors will not be and popping seed pods. This standing for re-election. The next scheduled Parish Council annual plant grows up to 6ft meeting is on the 10th of January – why not come along and tall by late August. see what is involved? Cllr Elaine Hall

You are invited to

A Festival of Lessons and Carols at Red House Chapel

6pm on Saturday the 17th of December

Accompanied by the Brass Quintet “Something Else”

Complimentary mince pies, mulled wine and hot chocolate will be served afterwards Please wrap up well as the chapel is not heated!

Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 3 Allerton Incinerator

We have covered this issue in previous editions of The Mercury but it is, and will be, a long running story with long term consequences for everyone living in and particularly for those of us in Moor Monkton, so sorry for banging on about it!

First a quick reminder of the facts. • North Yorkshire County Council and City of Council, in partnership with the Spanish Company AmeyCespa, are planning to build a waste incinerator. • The site is adjacent to Allerton Quarry (already the site of a rubbish landfill operation) close to the junction of the A59 and A1(M). The location is 7 miles west of Moor Monkton. • This facility will handle ALL the domestic waste produced by us in North Yorkshire and York, about 250,000 tonnes per year for 25 years from 2015. • It is estimated that about 80% of it will be burned to produce electricity and district heating. The facility will generate 28MW of electricity of which 24MW will be left over to be fed into the “grid” through underground cables to the Coneythorpe substation.

Planning permission has not yet been granted, AmeyCespa submitted the application at the beginning of September this year and, after validation by planning officers, it has only just become available to the public. (Go to www.northyorks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=17992 to see the full application).

After the initial plans were published, the company has spent a year in public consultation with numerous exhibitions and meetings. As a result of these the following amendments have been made to the plans:

• The chimney height has been lowered by 10 metres. • Changes have been made to the building design. • The incinerator bottom ash processing facility has been incorporated into the main plant to avoid traffic crossing a bridleway. • Improvements to the access from the A168 have been made. • A visitor centre has been designed using adjacent, existing farm buildings.

The North Yorkshire Waste Action Group (NYWAG) has been set up by local residents and parish councils to argue the case against this development. They have put together 8 points which they believe show the plan to be a poor one. I have listed these points and put AmeyCespa’s counter arguments next to them. These have been gleaned from AmeyCespa’s web site, the planning application and correspondence.

4 Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 NYWAG says... AmeyCespa says... 1. The incinerator will cause harm to the The plant’s emissions will be constantly environment through its emissions monitored and published daily on AmeyCespa’s web site. The emissions will be within the Environment Agency’s limits. 2. The plant is too big. It is designed to burn The over-capacity can be explained by the 320,000 tonnes pa. North Yorkshire currently plant also handling waste from shops, small produces about 250,000 tonnes pa of businesses, offices and restaurants. This domestic waste and, with improved recycling, amounts to hundreds of thousands of tonnes this should decline. pa and it all currently goes to landfill. The plant will only be able to handle a fraction of this.

3. The Government Waste Review says that Only materials that cannot be recycled in an incineration of waste has a place, but only for economical or environmentally sustainable residual waste that cannot be recycled. The way will be used in the energy from waste plant will be burning potentially facility and even these will produce recycleable material. construction aggregates from the bottom ash. 4. The plant will have a huge visual impact on The Commission for Architecture and the the local area. Built Environment thinks “the plant responds well to its setting.” 5. The case for a single large site like Allerton Allerton is close to the main road networks Park has not been made. Waste from as far and close to the major waste producers of the away as Scarborough and will travel area. Utilising the variety of waste by road to Allerton. There is no sizeable technologies on one site presents a cost population centre nearby to make use of the effective solution to waste management. heat generated by the plant. Waste from all around the county is already transported to existing landfill sites at Allerton and Harewood Whin (Rufforth). We have explored the possibilities of heat take- off in the planning application. 6. There will be a big impact on climate Energy from waste incineration generates less change as Electricity-only incinerators carbon dioxide than coal and oil fired power produce 33% more carbon dioxide than a gas stations which currently produce most of our fired power station. electricity. 7. The NYCC has no approved waste strategy This is the strategy of NYCC and does not yet but building this plant will decide what concern AmeyCespa. the strategy must be for the next 25 years.

8. New waste management facilties have just Allerton is a local solution for local waste. been approved in Ferrybridge (800,000 The North Yorkshire PFI was subject to tonnes pa) and have recently been rigorous procurement process and commissioned at Darlington. Do we really AmeyCespa’s was considered the best need another one? environmental and cost effective solution. Moving waste out-of-county would create extra costs in transport and infrastructure.

Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 5 Elaine Hall has produced a flyer, which was distributed to households in the village, alerting everyone to the situation and informing us of a NYWAG meeting in Whixley village hall on Thursday the 24th of November. About 100 people were there but I could only count 3 from Moor Monkton! We were given a run through of NYWAG’s objections to the scheme and this was followed by questions from the floor which could be directed to any member of the “panel of experts”. These focused on the points to A mock up photo of the plant. NYWAG have avoid when writing an objection letter to the pointed out that it is taken from lower lying council. These include the health issue, as it is land and the chimney is emitting no smoke emotive, and questions of cost are not worth mentioning as these are not taken into consideration in a planning decision. Other points that came up were that the existing quarry should be restored to a greenfield site when it closes in 2016 and the PFI would be handed the plant up to 5 years after the 25 year contract ends - how up to date will it be then?

Certainly for Moor Monkton itself a big worry would be the amount of HGV traffic that will be generated along the A59 by this development. This would be transporting waste from York and the area east of York. I have contacted AmeyCespa to enquire about how many traffic movements there will be along the A59 and what type of vehicles would be used. They replied with the following information:

• In 2014/15 there will be 98 HGV trips per day along the A59 through Moor Monkton (49 east and 49 west). Set against a baseline of 744 HGV movements along the road already, this represents a 12.66% increase. • Less than 40% of these should be large bulk haul HGVs and the remainder should be kerbside collection vehicles, transfer vehicles from Household Waste Recycling Centres or smaller delivery vehicles. • NYCC have not yet finalised their waste transfer station requirements and so specific comparisons between the current and expected traffic cannot be made. All AmeyCespa traffic figures are based on a “highest level” calculation.

NYCC Proposed Site Nun

Monkton River Ouse A19 Green Allerton Whixley Hammerton Moor A59 A59 Monkton

Kirk Hammerton Nidd Cattal A59

River

A 1 ( M ) Hunsingore Moor Monkton is 7 miles east of the proposed incinerator at Allerton with the A59, which will carry much of the of the waste from York and east of York, running through the village.

6 Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 Village Broadband Explained

This was last covered in The Mercury Issue No.15 when we were left pondering the best way forward - the wireless solution from Nun Monkton or the private underground fibre delivery from the optic cable which runs along the A59.

The situation has now almost certainly been resolved with the imminent upgrade of the Nun Monkton Primary School broadband connection from 10 to 100Mb. This means that an aerial can be installed in Nun Monkton to beam the service across the to properties in Moor Monkton. The upgrade work will be done by NyNET and then another company will be able to sell the service to residents and businesses of both villages. (Costs are mentioned in the Parish Council Report on page 2).

Each user of the service will need to have an aerial installed on the outside of their property which is linked by a cable to a special modem box, a bit like (but different from) a standard broadband router, located in the building. The installation costs for this will be £300 but there is a grant available for the first 100 applicants in each project (ie Nun and Moor Monkton) which reduces this cost to £75. If less than 100 people take up the grant then the scheme could be expanded to include neighbouring villages - the transmitters can cover large distances.

The funding and application forms cannot be released until the upgrade work in Nun Monkton has been carried out. Once this is done, hopefully the grant application forms will be released and a survey can be carried out to discover which properties can Primary School receive the signal directly, these Bouchier's Scalp Town Ings Beningbrough Beningbrough will be the ones with a direct line of Ings Nun Laund House Redhouse Red House Monkton Ings sight to the Nun Monkton aerial Reservoir

(trees disrupt the signal). Those River

R i v e r

N i d with trees in the way will be able to d Ouse Redhouse Alder Tree Red House Wood recieve a relayed signal from Reach transmitters with line of sight. Moor Monkton Park Farm

Looking at the map, Redhouse Copeland Killingbecks Wood would be a barrier for Park Plantation Farm, Thickpenny and Scally Moor Woodview Thickpenny Farm but the signal could be Deighton Scally Moor relayed from Red House which Plantation Red House Lane

may have line of sight. Cockhill

C h u r c h

L a n e Scagglethorpe Moor Currently internet users in the Lane End

The Foss village situated any great distance Lodge away from the A59 are Farm Moor Monkton experiencing a bandwidth of up to Grange A59 1Mb but usually a lot less. With Railway Line this new system we could expect Dutton's everyone to enjoy up to 20Mb as a Farm norm. Map of Moor Monkton area giving an indication of the Robin Gordon location of properties, Nun Monkton Primary School and woodland Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 7 Neighbourhood Watch

Since the last edition ther have been no reported incidents. However there is an update on the “theft” of the fishing trolley - the owner found it in some bushes when he next returned. Please check the village noticeboards regularly for local criminal news and general information including thefts, bogus door-to-door salespeople and scams, in fact, I was a recipient of such a letter. Theft of scrap metal, commercial batteries and heating oil is high at present so extra precautions should be taken.

To clear up any misunderstanding since the last report - it is not the police who put these notices up - I receive news from the police and post relevant items of interest on the noticeboards.

From the 12th of December there will be a new non-emergency telephone number for the Police – 101. This replaces 0845 6060247 which will be gradually phased out. Calls to 101 will cost 15 pence for an unlimited time. Please note that the emergency number remains 999.

Finally, advice from the police on the run up to Christmas. Do not leave presents in a car on the drive or on view through the house windows as this could encourage break-ins or burglaries. Take note of any strangers going door-to-door selling or dropping leaflets. A happy and crime free Christmas is wished to everyone. Sandra Wilson Red House Show Jumping

This article just missed the last edition Mercury so I have included it here as it is at least a pleasant reminder of summer.

The Games Fields at Red House hosted another busy season of Unaffiliated Show Jumping this summer. Competitions are held every Wednesday evening from June through to late August. The Red House Beginners Trophy had an exciting finale with the competition being decided by the last round of the last show. Lydia Stone on Lucky Charm beat Mia Cowling on Bryn by 0.5 of a second in the jump-off to finish 1 point ahead of her in the season’s points.

The Peter Hall Cup was won more convincingly by Sally Rogers on Wesley who finished 16 points clear of the field. This was despite a late rally by Grace Addyman on Maggie when she won three Lydia Stone on Lucky Charm receives the out of the last four classes of the season. 2011 Red House Beginners Trophy for Show Jumping from Tony Gordon Robin Gordon 8 Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 Church News

Christmas Fair

The recent Christmas Fair held in the Old Schoolroom, Moor Monkton was very busy with faces both old and new. It was standing room only as lunches were served. The event raised over £400 for Church funds. There will be a Christmas Coffee Morning in Hessay Chapel Schoolroom on Saturday the 10th of December from 10am to 11.45am.

Services

Our Christmas services begin on Tuesday the 13th of December in Hessay Chapel with an Evening of Carols and Mince Pies. (Service followed by supper.) Proceeds from this evening are donated to NCH Action for Children.

On Sunday the 18th of December we have a 9am Holy Communion with baptism at St John’s, Hessay and, on the same day also at St John’s, we have Carols by Candlelight at 7pm for 7.30pm. Mulled wine and cake followed by a carol service and possibly more mulled wine and cake.

On Christmas Eve in All Saints, Moor Monkton the Christingle Service will be held at 2pm. All children are invited to come dressed as a shepherd, an angel or a king and take part in the nativity story.

On Christmas Day at 9.30am our service will be Holy Communion by extension. Miss Jean Rutherford will lead our joyful worship on Christmas Morning.

Everyone is welcome in all our churches, please join us to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We look forward to seeing you.

Date for your Diaries

On Thursday the 12th of April 2012 we are holding an LEP Fundraising Day at St. Crux Church in York.

A very Happy Christmas is wished for one and all. Christine Grice

Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 9 Village Clubs

The Gardening Club

As this is the time of year that our thoughts turn to the planting of fruit trees in our gardens, for our September meeting we welcomed back Hilary Dodson of the Northern Fruit Group. Having spoken on soft fruit a year ago, this time Hilary gave us a “delicious” talk on “Apples and Pears” – namely she brought many varieties of apples and pears which she cut up for us to taste and also told us which were best eaten straight away and which are best stored for winter eating.

We unfortunately had to postpone our October meeting on “Make your own Daffodils” but did rearrange it for November. Ann Wright gave us a very interesting and professional power point presentation. We do try to give a well balanced programme and the presentation by Ann Wright on “Make your own Daffodils” (propagation and breeding daffodils) just stimulated the interest of the more enthusiastic gardener to perhaps try something that they hadn’t done before.

Our next meeting is our Christmas Social on the 15th of December when we will celebrate with wine and mince pies. We are very much looking forward to welcoming back Jo Maiden to give us a talk on the very topical subject of “House Plants” as most of us have a plant or two in our homes. Finding a speaker on this subject has not been easy, but this year I have persuaded the very practical and “hands on” Jo Maiden (who got us started with potatoes in buckets) to bring along some Christmas plants. Christmas is a time when many of us will receive house plants. Let us hope that Jo will help us to get them to thrive – remember that house plants are for ever not just for Christmas.. It should be a very amusing talk. All welcome.

In the New Year our first meeting is on the 19th of January 2012 when we will be welcoming back Tony Powell who will give us a presentation on the “History of Architecture in the Landscape”. This is not about the large houses in country estates but about the fun features of the landscape like follies, fountains, statues, etc. Members who heard Mr Powell’s talk last year about the “History of Water as a Garden Feature” will remember his very interesting presentation.

Two more future dates are the 16th of February 2012 when we have a talk on “Mires Beck and Wild Flowers in our Gardens” and the 15th of March, after a short AGM, Mike Ashford will give us a talk on “Madeira - the Garden Island”.

The club has now been in existence for 11 years and, as I have been secretary for most of this time, I have decided that someone else should shoulder the responsibilities of the club and in committee it was decided that the secretary’s job should be divided into two, with a Programme Secretary who will be Kate Branton and a Minutes Secretary who will be Barbara Burrows.

The committee would welcome any ideas for talks or speakers for our gardening club as we are in the process of planning the programme for 2012/2013. Isobel Ashford Youth Club

At the moment we have four members of the Youth Club so we would love a few more people

10 Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 to join in the fun. We will be going on a Christmas trip somewhere. It is a very exciting experience, come and join us.

Eleanor, Holly, Adam and Tom

Next meetings in the Schoolroom: Wednesday the 7th of December Christmas Gifts Wednesday the 21st of December Carol singing around the village followed by pizza and hot drinks 7pm Christmas Holiday Trip See the Schoolroom noticeboard for details or call Kathryn on 738778

We are also looking for a new secretary if anyone is interested. Kathryn Dunn Eleanor Williams builds a spaghetti Saturday Morning Playgroup tower while mum, Ruth, looks on

After a break for the summer holidays we have met twice and enjoyed well attended sessions. In October the children and helpers made figures from plasticine, chestnuts, acorns and beechnut husks. In November we prepared for the Lantern Walk by making our own lanterns from balloons and papier maché. There was a good turnout for the Lantern Walk at Red House which proved very popular. On Saturday the 3rd of December we will be holding our Christmas Party in The Schoolroom. The sessions last for about 2 hours and involve a craft activity, games, singing and a snack. Any child under five with carer is welcome. Beate Gordon

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Prices from £200 per week. I have lots of photos I can pop round and show you since we’re just at the end of Church Lane.

Call Bev Kirkham 07786 060940 or 01904 737115

Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 11 Village News

Bulb Planting on Church Lane

On the 29th of October, three of us managed to plant a bag of daffodil bulbs given by HBC on the verge near the Church, and we look forward to seeing them emerge in the spring. This latest planting extends the area of Church Lane already planted with daffodils.

Elaine Hall [Many thanks go to Mike and Isobel Ashford and Elaine Hall for their hard work - and sorry for not being there! - Ed]

Our Adopted Telephone Box

The adopted telephone box has been in use as a ‘produce exchange’ during the last few months, very successfully. Apples, pears, quince, plums, damsons, rhubarb, runner beans, broad beans, courgettes, marrow, tomatoes and shallots have all been exchanged, with over £20 collected for the Disasters Emergency Committee charity. The telephone box is in need of repainting and one parishioner has kindly volunteered for the task, if you are able to assist him please contact the Clerk. Elaine Hall Lantern Walk

On Thursday the 17th of November over 30 children and adults from Moor Monkton, nearby villages and the local Kirk Hammerton Playgroup came to Red House to take part in the annual Lantern Walk around the fields. The children are encouraged to create their own lanterns from jars, papier maché or any other suitable materials and then re-enact the search of St Martin.

This tradition, which is more common in Germany, Holland and Belgium, is based on the story of a A montage of many long exposure Roman soldier who, through his good deeds, became photos of the lanterns in the the people’s choice to become bishop. He felt that he procession. was not worthy for the position and so, when it was time to take up the role, he ran away and hid in a goose shed. The townspeople came searching for him in the night with lanterns and eventually found him when the noise from the geese gave him away. They led him away and he was made bishop and later canonised.

After the walk the children were invited into the Garden House for hot dogs, pizza and cake. As the night was so clear, we set up the estate telescope so the older ones could look at Jupiter. The stripey pattern of its atmosphere and five of the planet’s moons could be clearly seen.

12 Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 Weather Watch

We seemed to have moved on from a mild and dry autumn to a mild and dry start to winter. In fact the temperatures recently have been uncannily high on occasion, especially with that 5 day patch at the end of September and beginning of October where we had from 27.5 to 30.5 °C (1st of October) recorded. The previous time we had been hotter was on the 28th of June when it was 32.5°C (the hottesty day of the year) - it was even “only” 30°C on that beautiful day of the Open Gardens Event (3rd of July).

To compare this autumn’s temperatures with previous ones I have worked out the average maximum daily temperatures from the date of the last Weather Watch column (9th of August) to the 22nd of November. From the graph below it is clear that there is an upwards trend. This year’s average of 19.2°C is 3°C higher than that for 2003.

Average Maximum Temperatures Recorded at Red House between 9th August and 22nd November

20 19.2 18.2 18.8 18.2 18 17.2 17.4 16.2 16.1 16.5 16 Average 14 Maximum 12 Temperatures 10 (°C) 8 6 4 2 0 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 Year

I have also noticed that we have had very few frosts so far this autumn/winter, only 3 up until the 22nd of November. So, to see if this was unusual, I created a chart to illustrate the date of the first frost and how many frosts there had been up to the 22nd of November for previous years. (I have defined a frost as a minimum temperature of 0°C or less.) Chart showing the dates of the first frosts recorded at Red House each year from 2003 No. of Frosts October November up to 22nd Nov 2011 20th 3 nights

1st Frost 2010 25th 6 nights

1st Frost 2009 7th 6 nights

1st Frost 2008 4th 9 nights

1st Frost 2007 19th 8 nights

1st Frost 2006 2nd 8 nights

1st Frost 2005 17th 6 nights

1st Frost 2004 13th 7 nights

1st Frost 2003 22nd 3 nights

1st Frost 1stOctober 1st November 22nd Robin Gordon

Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 13 Moor Monkton - A History Part 6

Val Webster Longstaff has recently moved away from Moor Monkton with her son Elliot. The move will bring to an end the presence of the Webster family in the village after nearly a hundred years. It is interesting to follow the family’s movements around the village over that time.

Arthur Webster moved from Green Hammerton, where he was a smallholder, to Moor Monkton in the early 20th century. He married Dorothy Tesseyman and they lived in a labourer’s cottage at the west end of the village. When the council built the houses at Priory View they then moved to one of these and their old cottage was demolished. They had a Arthur Webster and Dorothy son, Donald, who from the age of 14 worked for Gerald and Tesseyman Edi Watson at Laund House Farm.

At this time Herbert and Lena Deighton were living just along the Main Street from the Websters, at Sunnybank Farm. They had six children, one named Joyce, who all attended Moor Monkton School along with the young Don Webster. Joyce and Don became childhood sweethearts and they married at All Saints Church in 1955. They began married life at Sunnybank with Joyce’s family but soon moved into the shop on the Main Street. Meanwhile, When Lena Deighton died Herbert went to live in South View on Ball Corner where he Herbert Deighton and Lena stayed until his death in 1964. Heaton

After two or three years of running the shop Don, Joyce and their daughters, Audrey and Pam, moved to Springfield which they had had built. This was where Val was born. In 1962 they moved to Cockhill Farm which was then owned by the Watsons of Laund House, they needed Don to work the fields that they farmed around Cockhill. In 1973 Don and Joyce built Sunnydene at Cockhill. It was here that Don passed away - he had spent all his working life working for Laund House and received his long service certificate at The Great Yorkshire Show. Elliott was born in 2007. When Joyce died in 2010 the family decided to sell Sunnydene.

This article was inspired by talking to Val Webster when she was packing up things at Sunnydene. Val says:

I am sure we are like every other family with a bag full of black and white photos of family and family friends and you only Sunnybank Farm on the Main Street in the early know who 10% of them are. I want my son 20th century. The house now known as the Old Elliott to know where my family have lived Granary is the barn in the background in this village of Moor Monkton where I

14 Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 Arthur Webster married The Deightons lived at Arthur and Dorothy Dorothy Tesseyman and lived in Suunybank Farm and Webster moved into Priory a labourers cottage on the site they were joined by View soon after it was built. of Rosemead Farm Don and Joyce in 1955

Main Street

The Village of

Moor Monkton

C h u r c h

L a n e After Lena Deighton died Don and Joyce Don and Joyce Webster then moved Herbert moved to South Webster ran the village to Springfield before finally moving View on Ball Corner shop for a time to Cockhill in 1962

have so many happy memories: village sports days, “It’s a Knockout” with other villages, Harvest Suppers in the Methodist Chapel on the Main Street, summer days swimming in the River Nidd (not recommended today children!) and walks in Redhouse Wood. Recently we moved out of Sunnydene with the help of Deb and Kevin - thanks! We had bacon sandwiches at the Christmas fair in The Schoolroom to keep us going. It has been very sad for me, as my heart will always stay in Moor Monkton and we will be back to join in with village events. Thank you to all the people who have been there for us over this last year - sad though it has been. On a happier note, I know we will be very Don and Joyce Webster happy in our new home. getting married at All Val Webster and Robin Gordon Saints Church Val plays with friends in the River Nidd just downstream from the village

Val models a dress from the early 20th century that is part of her collection handed down from the Heatons

Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 15 The Mercury Online

I think I may have jumped the gun when I announced this project in the May edition of The Mercury - partly because of the work involved (I’d underestimated again!) and partly because of the need to rationalise the burgeoning number of village sites. (OK there are three of them). I can see a use for each one:

• www.moormonkton.net to advertise village events like the Open Gardens • www.moormonkton.com to deal with day to day posts and comments and village clubs • the mercury to act as an archive for information on the village

Anyway, The Mercury site has progressed with all previous newsletters now converted to small size pdf ready for uploading. The news page and archive is up to date and I have created a selection of banner photos to head each section. The site is not ready for publishing as some pages do not have all links completed so any visitor would soon get lost! Most of the artwork is done. Robin Gordon

Advertising: This is a great way for local businesses to support the Mercury £25 for sponsorship including half page advert Adverts: £20 half page, £10 quarter page, £5 eighth page

A big thank you to all those who contributed to this accidentally large edition of The Mercury. Special mention goes to Andy Atkins-Krüger for his time and expense in printing the Mercury. If you have any stories or events that need publicising let the editor know.

Printed by WebCertain Global, Northminster Business Park, Poppleton (www.webcertain.com)

Editor: Robin Gordon (738483) [email protected]

The information appearing in this newsletter is taken from a variety of sources and the Editor cannot take responsibility for its accuracy or any opinions expressed

16 Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011