February 1999

Here we go again! I hope that 1999 is a great year for Rudston. (And a proper summer would be a bonus!) There are plans afoot to celebrate - not just the Millennium but a "Rudston Day" - please see Jonathan Hogan’s article about that.

Next - a bit of a problem:- The farmers have to survive economically during very difficult times, certainly, but, do they have to plough up the grass verges which were next to the tracks and paths?

Why are some of the public footpaths so difficult to access? With locked gates etc. in the way of progress? If you haven’t been down Southside & along the bridlepath recently - please have a look at the state of it, you will need a pair of wellingtons on...

Does such heavy plant need to access the fields via Southside Lane? The lane has been badly damaged, the grass verges and even the tarmac is deteriorating rapidly, leaving large potholes, this has already damaged the suspension on one persons car. Are twin wheel tractors allowed on the public roads legally?

I understand that these issues are being raised with the Parish Council & that they will contact the Highways Department etc.

I am not the only person concerned with these issues, recently I have been urged to mention these problems by many people. If you have any points to raise on these issues, please inform the members of the Parish Council & of course I would welcome letters on this issue to be printed in the Rudston Newsletter.

It has been decided that for July and August the Rudston Newsletter will be a double edition. So the closing date for the July/August issue will be the 22nd June ‘99. This may cause some hassle, with more long term planning required for clubs, events etc. but it should run smoothly if organisers are prepared.

Colin Campbell

Rudston Neighbourhood Watch

We are always dismayed to hear of a burglary and criminal damage in the village but it is very sad that this time it was to our Rudston Church. It is believed that during the evening of Bank Holiday Monday, some teenagers entered the church and smashed lamp bulbs and damaged light fittings. The Vestry was entered and a blue coloured choir robe and a kneeler was stolen.

The Police are investigating and are treating it very seriously. They would like to hear from anyone who saw anything unusual about that time.

Either contact them or the Revd. Stephen Cope at the Vicarage.

Also;

During the late evening of Bank Holiday (Boxing Day) Saturday, 26th December ‘98, a Volkswagen Polo car which was parked in the car park adjoining the Bosville Arms, was broken into. The vehicle belonged to Jonathan Hogan, the Landlord. £1,100 damage was done to the door of the car and a Sony CD player valued at £300 was stolen. Also stolen were at least six CD’s, one of which was a favourite of Jonathan’s young daughter, it was called "Junior Choice" by the Early Learning Centre.

The Police are also investigating this crime and Jonathan would be very pleased to hear from anyone who may have any information.

Albert Pritchard, Area Co-ord. Rudston N.H.W. phone 420626.

The staff at the Bosville Arms intend to celebrate the Millennium in a special way and are open to ideas. If you can think of an unusual (but practical) idea, please let Jonathan or Tony know about it.

It has been proposed that on Saturday 24th July, a Rudston Village Festival will take place on the grassed area at the side of the Bosville Arms.

Anyone with suggestions, ideas or a willingness to help make this a big day for the village, please get in touch with either Jonathan at the Bosville Arms or our vicar the Reverend Stephen Cope.

The more help and ideas, the better the event will be. If it can be established successfully this Millennium year, it is hoped to become an annual event. So please let’s hear from you.

A daily (Monday to Friday) Lunch Time Special, at only £3.50, is on offer at the Bosville during the winter months.

Also, why not come along and join in Jonathan’s Thursday Night Quiz. Where a bit of knowledge goes along way, and a good time is enjoyed by all. Starts at 9pm. Every Thursday.

We would like to thank everyone who in any way supported our Evening of Christmas Carols and made it a very enjoyable evening. The amount raised was £150. Many thanks to you all.

As poor as a church mouse,

As thin as a rail,

As fat as a porpoise,

As rough as a gale,

As brave as a lion,

As spry as a cat,

As bright as a sixpence,

As weak as a rat,

As proud as a peacock,

As sly as a fox,

As mad as a March hare,

As strong as an ox,

As fair as a lily,

As empty as air,

As rich as a croesus,

As cross as a bear,

As pure as an angel,

As neat as a pin,

As smart as a steel trap,

As ugly as sin,

As dead as a door-nail,

As white as a sheet,

As flat as a pancake,

As red as a beet,

As round as an apple,

As black as your hat,

As brown as a berry,

As mean as a miser,

As full as a tick,

As plump as a partridge,

As sharp as a stick,

As clean as a penny,

As dark as a pall,

As hard as a mill-stone,

As bitter as a gall,

As fine as a fiddle,

As clear as a bell,

As dry as a herring,

As deep as a well,

As light as a feather,

As firm as a rock,

As stiff as a poker,

As calm as a clock,

As green as a gosling,

As brisk as a bee,

And now let me stop

Lest you weary of me.

THE WOLDS VALLEY RAILWAY, As Proposed in 1897.

The Dale towns which lie in the valley are very close to one another, some dozen of them filling up a distance of about 23 miles. With the exception of the places at the ends of the district Rillington and Bridlington - there is no railway accommodation whatever, most of the villages being 7 miles from a railway station, and some of them even more.

A light railway is a railway constructed of light rails, (that is, rails that do not weigh so much per yard) and consequently would not be able to carry the heavy engines of ordinary railways, some of which weigh 80 or 90 tons or more, nor to carry the traffic at a very high rate of speed. This would be no drawback to the system, as it would be a good thing to have a stopping place in each village and therefore no express train would be expected to run.

This scheme, then, would provide for every person in the Dale, to get his/her produce on the railway without going from home and whether that produce were corn, cattle, sheep, pigs, butter, eggs, vegetables, or what not, the first expense of going to the station would be saved. More than this, goods and merchandise would be brought to every village,

at a reasonable rate for carriage, as for instance, in some villages it costs 6s (6 Shillings for the younger people - Ed.), or even more a ton for leading coal, much of this would be saved and all would be able to go to market and see their friends without incurring expense and needless toil, which would in any case take the keen edge off the enjoyment.

It is proposed that the Railway shall be of the same gauge as the North-Eastern, which will allow trucks and carriages of the North-Eastern Railway to work on the line and save any expense for transhipping goods coming from other lines.

Some months ago a most influential meeting was held at the Weaverthorpe Schoolroom, attended by representatives from most of the parishes in the Dale, when a deputation consisting of landowners, farmers and others were appointed to wait upon the Directors of the North-Eastern railway Company to ask their co-operation. A favourable reply has been received from the company, and before these pages are published, the interview between the committee and the directors will probably have taken place.

One of the members of the committee, who has taken great pains to understand the Light Railway Question, has been getting together some facts with the object of seeing if the company would pay its way. He has assumed that the line could be laid for about £2500 per mile, or £60,000 for the whole length The amount of traffic would include the carrying out of the district the following produce which might fairly be expected to find its way to the Light Railway, and in bringing other goods as specified below: 31,000 tons of corn, £4,470; take 3,000 head of cattle to the market at 6d. a head, £75; take 60,000 sheep to market at 1d. a head, £208, 15s. 0d. ("d is the old penny" Ed.); Carriage on pigs, £50; 142 tons of wool, £42. 12s. 0d.; carriage on 7,000 tons of cake £1,050; carriage on 16,000 tons of manure, £800; carriage on 12,000 tons of coal £600; horses about £50; passengers £520; and other items of parcels, merchandise, & c, £200; or altogether, £8,066. 7s.

This would pay 5% upon the capital of £60,000, allow £2,000, or about £46 per week for wages and coal, and leave a balance of £3,066. 7s. a year for keeping the line in good repair, and other emergencies.

Most of these figures are based upon actual returns of the produce in the district, but some of them are more or less guess work, for instance as to passenger traffic, no one could say for certainty what number of people would travel, but the calculation was made that of the 4142 people in the dale, knocking off the 142 to make round numbers - one person in 10 would travel once per week, and spend 6d. upon the journey for a return ticket. This may or not be a good guess, but it is more likely to be under than over the mark. Besides the people in the dale, there are some 10,000 people living at Bridlington, some of whom might use the line, and it is calculated that there are a quarter of a million visitors who come to Bridlington in the year, and some of them might use it. On the whole there is a very good prospect of the Light Railway benefiting the dale and well paying the promoters.

Gardening news -

By Dick Robinson

It’s nice to see the Gypsey Race flowing, a change from the summer when it suddenly dried up, a pity it cannot be cleaned up a bit, it’s one of the few fresh water streams on our chalk Wolds, I recall the days when some residents used the clear water for drinking, as well as the deeper aqua waters via the village pumps. A lot of villages would be very glad if they had such a feature to enjoy.

This can be a difficult month for outdoor gardening, the weather can change quickly, it was during February that a start was often made in the vegetable gardens by planting shallots, Jerusalem artichokes and sowing early round seeded peas such as Meteor, and one of my favourite root crops, the parsnip, best when roast around good British Beef. Moss on lawns can be attacked with a rake, at least a try. I reckon if I shifted moss from my lawn there would be nothing left, I live with it, not needing a bowling green. Moss is a winter growing plant which spores in the spring and summer, various moss killers do reduce the plants, turning the lawn black, but on my lawn it’s a waste of time I fear.

A new early potato raised in Scotland is "Osprey" I may try it this year in Rudston, also, a new runner bean that pollinates itself called "Red Rum."

Now’s the time to cover that rhubarb root. "Timperley Early" is the best variety, it really starts to grow in late January but to win prizes at the shows the Yorkshire variety "Cawood Delight" is a winner.

Although it’s a bit early, pruning back that big flowering hybrid clematis will soon be a job, together with hard pruning of the coloured stems of Dogwood. And the butterfly bush - Buddlia Davidii.

Next month it will be the turn of the many bush roses, the old estate gardeners would prune in March using the traditional pruning knife, a scratching job, but for me it’s the secateurs.

Finally, where a warm glass house is available, get those tomato seeds sown, 60°F is needed, the modern FT hybrids are good, yet a really well grown "Ailsa Craig" takes some beating for flavour, it’s a matter of personal taste. More next month.

If I may start on a personal note this month - I would like to thank everyone for their good wishes and messages of concern and encouragement following my operation in December. The short notice of hospital summons meant that I had to miss the last meeting.

Two things came from that though, which have to be mentioned. One is that Parish Council Elections are due in May. If anyone fancies the idea, now is the time to be thinking about it. More details will follow.

The second item to mention follows the receipt of a letter from Burton Fleming Parish Council about the Gypsey Rider bus service. They are desperately short of drivers again and are seeking volunteers - no P.S.V. licence required. Since then, regulars will have noted that the Friday morning run has been discontinued.

However, more dramatic news about buses was the notice of new rural services to commence 18th January. The Government has arranged sizeable subsidies via East Riding of Yorkshire Council to get new services running from that date. Why the Government should insist on this date giving such short notice is open to question. Notification was received from E.R.Y.C. on 11th January - one week! No timetables were available, of course, but I managed to get something faxed through to my office. It has been pinned up on the village notice board. At the time of writing, nothing more has been heard officially, but an East Yorkshire timetable, available from the shop, confirms their 2 return buses per week from Kilham to Bridlington via Rudston. According to the publicity we could expect buses aimed at workers, evenings out, and on Sundays. They probably didn’t mean everyone though!

It looks as though we shall be without a street light for a while. The one near the telephone box is attached to the electricity pole, and now they are re-routing that section underground, so a new lamp standard will have to be discussed at the next Parish Council meeting which is on 3rd February.

Finally, to the girls who allowed the boys from another village to damage the bus shelter: Rudston may not have the C.C.T.V. cameras that towns now have (nor should we need them) but - YOU WERE SEEN!

P. Crossland (Clerk)