The Rudston Newsletter was kindly sponsored for the March issue by THE BOSVILLE ARMS COUNTRY HOTEL. Thanks Very Much!

Editorial:

At last spring seems to be getting closer it’s been a long winter…

It was great to receive answers to some of last months’ queries. See the Parish Council News. The potholes in Southside Lane were repaired during the first week of February - so well done to the Parish Council!

I was a bit wrong on another item in the February Newsletter, there are no locks on the gates of a village footpath, only chains with clips, as good as locked as they take ages to undo…. It’s quicker to climb over! I don’t think walkers are very welcome.

Cheers, Colin.

As reported in the last edition of the Newsletter, the Village Festival is set to take place on Saturday 24th July. This is going to be a fun day for young & old, whilst raising funds for the refurbishment of the Village Hall. But at present a couple more volunteers are needed to form a steering committee. People with ideas, previous experience of event organising, or just a willingness to work for the good of the village. Please come forward. The more help, the bigger & better the day.

To make the day the biggest success possible we need to hold the first ideas meeting in the next few weeks. So please let’s hear from you now.

Contact The Reverend Stephen Cope, Peter Lingard or Tony Hogan.

March can be a tricky month for gardeners and growers, the weather can be ideal for sowing outside those juicy peas, broad beans and parsnips, the latter needs very little soil covering and the seeds will germinate at low temperatures, even at 4 °C!! But who knows, we may be deep in snow so it’s better to watch the forecasts and inspect the seaweed...

Bush, hybrid tea and floribunda roses are usually pruned in March. Dead, weak and diseased shoots are best cut out, the rest cut back to a few inches (50mm) it depends on variety and whether the blooms are needed for showing or just garden display. Flail hedge trimmers are used by some municipal authorities to prune those beds in parks and central reservations. I wonder what the old gardeners would think of this?

Climbers too can have last years’ shoots shortened to a few inches from the main frame work, but the rambler roses if not pruned already should have last years’ old flowering stems cut down to soil level, but keeping new shoots as replacements. Ramblers are like rasps, they flower on one year old wood.

Spring cabbage plants benefit from a feed with a nitrogenous fertiliser, sulphate of ammonia or NitroChalk.

Watch out for Big Bud pests on blackcurrents, those large round ones are none fruiting and should be pulled off and popped on a fire, they are full of microscopic gall mites which carry reversion virus.

A quick reminder to keep the glass clean on the greenhouse, quality light is vital for most plants under glass, especially tomatoes, so out with a brush when it rains. Wood ash is a valuable form of potash, an important plant food - especially for fruits, potatoes, roses and tomatoes.

Herbaceous flowers are back in favour, the old traditional formal border, so loved by the gardeners years ago, has been replaced by a more informal bed system in some of our Municipal Parks and Botanics. The twin borders at Wisley were done away with years ago, much to my regret and replaced with island beds. The old ones were backed by yew hedges and had a wide grass walk down the centre, a truly magnificent sight in the summer time. Where the old dead tops of HB plants were left this winter, now is the time to cut them down and clean up the beds. If any of the roots require splitting up and replanting the younger outside pieces, now is the time to get cracking, weather permitting of course.

The Michaelmas daisy family is a particular favourite of mine, modern varieties are great in the autumn, just right for the harvest festival decorations. One of my favourites is the cherry red "Alma Potschka." I grew lots of this on my old Routh nursery; could never propagate enough, it was so popular and it never seemed to get the powdery mildew.

As writer of a previous article on a proposed local railway, about 5 years ago, I was most interested in last months’ article. I have been unable to find any record of the above proposed line, but it was certainly never built.

However, it is interesting to speculate on the proposed route. The route along the "valley" would follow the 1883 proposal for a branch from North Burton (Burton Fleming) to Weaverthorpe. Some people will remember that this was part of the Scarborough to Howden Railway proposal, of which I wrote. (Does anyone still have a copy of that article by the way - I can only find my rough notes now).

So, was the Wolds Valley line to pass through Rudston too? If so, the route would appear to be: Boyton, Rudston, (or substitute Grindale), North Burton, Wold Newton, Foxholes, Butterwick, Weaverthorpe, Helperthorpe and Wintringham to Rillington. presumably it would then connect with the York to Scarborough line, maybe at the junction of the Pickering and Whitby line, of which the North Yorkshire Moors Railway is now part.

Back to the line in question - the only major difficulty in the building would seem to be between the "end of the valley" at Helperthorpe (or West Lutton if it went a bit further) and Wintringham. Tunnelling may have been required, in which case the estimate of £2500 per mile begins to look suspect. Railway planners notoriously under-estimated costs in those days! (Perhaps still so today - look at the costs for the Channel Tunnel? Ed.)

The cost of the Derwent Valley Light Railway, completed in 1913, was £7,852 per mile - although that included land purchase.

Anyway, like our editor, I would like to know more from our anonymous contributor. (Please contact the editor).

Phillip Crossland.

Bosville Arms News

The daily Lunch Time Special (£3.50) is being maintained until the end of March and can be enjoyed in the pub or in the restaurant. Also for March a £1 off main evening meals, on production of a voucher in the local press, is on offer.

Thursday night is Quiz Night, starting at 9 p.m. Bring along two or three friends and try to win a gallon of ale, whilst having a good time. It’s not a hard quiz, usually!!!!

The Domino Team, playing in the league for the first time in several years, are in a strong position at the top of the table with only four games to go. Good luck and good wishes for the last few games! Tony Hogan.

Parish Council News

So much for all those extra buses! The sum total is exactly as originally noted, with the East Yorkshire service being the extra one. As our chairman put it at the last meeting, the only Sunday service in Rudston remains the one at church! An official printed timetable has now been received, but a nice "frame" in which to put it has also been promised. A Long Street bus shelter will probably be the place for that.

It now seems that we shall not be without the street light by the telephone box for as long as I feared, if at all. The Parish Council decided to take advantage of Yorkshire Electricity’s offer to re-connect to the existing pole free of charge. If and when the wooden pole "gives up the ghost" a new one would still need to be purchased. (A current estimate seemed reasonable). The present pole may last up to another 20 years.

One of our members is hoping to attend a Crime & Disorder Meeting in March. Rudston, unfortunately, does seem to be suffering from a fair amount of "Disorder." What with unruly dogs and unruly teenagers. I understand the former is being dealt with, but is the latter? These teenagers’ parents must know that their children are the ones in question, so would they care to talk to them please. One elderly resident is afraid to be in their own home alone at night. This is the sort of thing we expect in inner-city estates, not country villages. I was thinking maybe that "village bobbies" were the answer. Then I realised it is more likely to be an unfortunate sign of our times.

You will be pleased to know that the editors’ comments on various Parish Council matters, were either untrue or already being dealt with. Double wheel tractors are perfectly legal (up to a width of 4 metres -that is about 13 feet) and are also necessary at this time of the year. We should remember farmers’ difficulties when parking our cars on narrow lanes. In my letter to the Highways Department, I did however, point out that the Rudston Parish Council of some years ago asked about the possibility of having Southside Lane widened.

No reply has been received to that at the time of writing. We also enquired about more roads being added to the "Gritting List" especially in view of extra buses (however few!) on Long Street. The yellow grit boxes may be used by residents for the public road, however, and it may be significant that one person who used the one at the end of Long Street for that purpose was away during the last spell of ice & snow. One village has gone so far as to recruit volunteers who are willing to "man" the grit boxes at the worst times. I don’t suppose they will be expected to get up in the middle of the night or anything, but it’s a thought isn’t it?

There were lots of letters to write after the last meeting, to which no replies have been received, so "more news next month."

The next Parish Council meeting is on 24th March.

P. Crossland, (Clerk)