Cover Photo: Red House Chapel in the Snow (by Robin · PDF fileCover Photo: Red House Chapel in the Snow ... mulled wine and hot chocolate will be served afterwards ... Park has not

Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011 1

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)

2 Moor Monkton Mercury No. 21 December 2011

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 requestedthat Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) Planning ensure the landscaping conditionsassociated with the original application were being met.

Dog Fouling

This issue continues to come up at Council Meetings and the Clerk hascontacted HBC’s Dog Control Officer on several occasions in an effortto make progress. Despite having a photograph of a dog fouling, HBCis unable to take action against the owner as the dog was on privateproperty at the time. We have ordered more signs but we are limited asto where they can legally be placed, so please contact the Clerk if youwould like to display one on your property. Other than that, unlessparishioners report details of incidents we are unable to do more. [email protected] or ring the Dog Warden on01423 556633.

Broadband

Some of you may be aware that we have the chance of improving our broadband connectionwithin the village via a wireless link from Nun Monkton School. The scheme is dependent onobtaining 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 subscriptionswith a range of packages from £15 to £35 depending on usage. Approximately 100 householdscan benefit before the funding runs out and this will be shared equally between Nun Monktonand 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 thevalue of our reserves will not keep pace with inflation but we now have a reasonable buffer tocope with any unexpected expenditure. Little progress has been made so far on the Village Planand 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 theJubilee tree bench and Councillors’ travelling expenses.

Parish Council

A Harrogate DogWarden with dog


Allerton Incinerator

We have pledged to donate £500 to NYWAG (NorthYorkshire Waste Action Group) in support of theircampaign against the Allerton Park Incinerator. The planning application has been submitted toNYCC and is currently open to consultation. The deadline for comments has been extendeduntil the 16th of December 2011. Comments should be sent to: Planning Services, CountyHall, Northallerton, DL7 8AH or via email to [email protected] quoting theplanning 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 ownapplication. We have also asked that the £65m PFI contract underpinning the scheme isreviewed to examine whether it provides “value for money” – we believe that it does not. At atime when our services (such as the mobile library) are being cut, we believe that it is wrong totie the County’s rate-payers into a 25 year contract, when cheaper, greener alternatives areavailable . (See the article on page 4).

Other Matters

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

The problem of the invasive weed Himalayan Balsam takingover riverbanks and other areas within the village was broughtto the attention of the Council. It was decided that actionwould need to be taken next year before seeds are dispersed,preferably in co-operation with neighbouring parishes. Would you like to be a Parish Councillor? The currentCouncillors’ four year term of office ends in May 2012 whenelections will take place, at least 2 councillors will not bestanding for re-election. The next scheduled Parish Councilmeeting is on the 10th of January – why not come along andsee what is involved? Cllr Elaine Hall

Himalayan Balsam (or“Popweed”) is eaily

recognised by its pink flowersand popping seed pods. Thisannual plant grows up to 6ft

tall by late August.

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 afterwardsPlease wrap up well as the chapel is not heated!


We have covered this issue in previous editions of The Mercury but it is, and will be, a longrunning story with long term consequences for everyone living in North Yorkshire andparticularly 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 York 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 fedinto the “grid” through underground cables to the Coneythorpe substation.

Planning permission has not yet been granted, AmeyCespa submitted the application at thebeginning of September this year and, after validation by planning officers, it has only justbecome 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 withnumerous exhibitions and meetings. As a result of these the following amendments have beenmade 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 bylocal residents and parish councils to argue the case against thisdevelopment. They have put together 8 points which they believe showthe plan to be a poor one. I have listed these points and put AmeyCespa’scounter arguments next to them. These have been gleaned fromAmeyCespa’s web site, the planning application and correspondence.

Allerton Incinerator


The incinerator will cause harm to theenvironment through its emissions

The plant’s emissions will be constantlymonitored and published daily onAmeyCespa’s web site. The emissions will bewithin the Environment Agency’s limits.

The plant is too big. It is designed to burn320,000 tonnes pa. North Yorkshire currentlyproduces about 250,000 tonnes pa ofdomestic waste and, with improved recycling,this should decline.

The over-capacity can be explained by theplant also handling waste from shops, smallbusinesses, offices and restaurants. Thisamounts to hundreds of thousands of tonnespa and it all currently goes to landfill. Theplant will only be able to handle a fraction ofthis.

The Government Waste Review says thatincineration of waste has a place, but only forresidual waste that cannot be recycled. Theplant will be burning potentiallyrecycleable material.

Only materials that cannot be recycled in aneconomical or environmentally sustainableway will be used in the energy from wastefacility and even these will produceconstruction aggregates from the bottom ash.

The case for a single large site like AllertonPark has not been made. Waste from as faraway as Scarborough and Skipton will travelby road to Allerton. There is no sizeablepopulation centre nearby to make use of theheat generated by the plant.

There will be a big impact on climatechange as Electricity-only incineratorsproduce 33% more carbon dioxide than a gasfired power station.

The NYCC has no approved waste strategyyet but building this plant will decide whatthe strategy must be for the next 25 years.

New waste management facilties have justbeen approved in Ferrybridge (800,000tonnes pa) and have recently beencommissioned at Darlington. Do we reallyneed another one?

The plant will have a huge visual impact onthe local area.

NYWAG says... AmeyCespa says...1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Allerton is close to the main road networksand close to the major waste producers of thearea. Utilising the variety of wastetechnologies on one site presents a costeffective solution to waste management.Waste from all around the county is alreadytransported to existing landfill sites atAllerton and Harewood Whin (Rufforth). Wehave explored the possibilities of heat take-off in the planning application.

The Commission for Architecture and theBuilt Environment thinks “the plant respondswell to its setting.”

Energy from waste incineration generates lesscarbon dioxide than coal and oil fired powerstations which currently produce most of ourelectricity.

This is the strategy of NYCC and does notconcern AmeyCespa.

Allerton is a local solution for local waste.The North Yorkshire PFI was subject torigorous procurement process andAmeyCespa’s was considered the bestenvironmental and cost effective solution.Moving waste out-of-county would createextra costs in transport and infrastructure.


Elaine Hall has produced a flyer, which wasdistributed to households in the village, alertingeveryone to the situation and informing us of aNYWAG meeting in Whixley village hall onThursday the 24th of November. About 100people were there but I could only count 3 fromMoor Monkton! We were given a run throughof NYWAG’s objections to the scheme and thiswas followed by questions from the floor whichcould be directed to any member of the “panelof experts”. These focused on the points toavoid when writing an objection letter to thecouncil. These include the health issue, as it isemotive, and questions of cost are not worthmentioning as these are not taken into

consideration in a planning decision. Other points that came up were that the existing quarryshould be restored to a greenfield site when it closes in 2016 and the PFI would be handed theplant 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 begenerated along the A59 by this development. This would be transporting waste from York andthe area east of York. I have contacted AmeyCespa to enquire about how many trafficmovements there will be along the A59 and what type of vehicles would be used. They repliedwith the following information:

• In 2014/15 there will be 98 HGV trips per day along the A59 through Moor Monkton (49east and 49 west). Set against a baseline of 744 HGV movements along the road already, thisrepresents a 12.66% increase.

• Less than 40% of these should be large bulk haul HGVs and the remainder should bekerbside collection vehicles, transfer vehicles from Household Waste Recycling Centres orsmaller delivery vehicles.

• NYCC have not yet finalised their waste transfer station requirements and so specificcomparisons between the current and expected traffic cannot be made. All AmeyCespatraffic figures are based on a “highest level” calculation.

A mock up photo of the plant. NYWAG havepointed out that it is taken from lower lyingland and the chimney is emitting no smoke

MoorMonkton

NunMonkton

Cattal

Hunsingore

GreenHammertonWhixley

A59

A59A59

A1(

M)

A19

RiverNidd

River Ouse

HammertonKirk

Allerton

Proposed SiteNYCC

Moor Monkton is 7 miles east of the proposed incinerator at Allerton with the A59, which willcarry much of the of the waste from York and east of York, running through the village.


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

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

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

The funding and application forms cannot be released until the upgrade work in Nun Monktonhas been carried out. Once this is done, hopefully the grant application forms will be releasedand a survey can be carried out todiscover which properties canreceive the signal directly, thesewill be the ones with a direct line ofsight to the Nun Monkton aerial(trees disrupt the signal). Thosewith trees in the way will be able torecieve a relayed signal fromtransmitters with line of sight.Looking at the map, RedhouseWood would be a barrier for ParkFarm, Thickpenny and Scally MoorFarm but the signal could berelayed from Red House whichmay have line of sight.

Currently internet users in thevillage situated any great distanceaway from the A59 areexperiencing a bandwidth of up to1Mb but usually a lot less. Withthis new system we could expecteveryone to enjoy up to 20Mb as anorm.

Robin Gordon

Village Broadband Explained

Beningbrough

Moor Monkton

NunMonkton

Cockhill

RedhouseWood

River Ouse

Riv

er N

idd Laund House

Thickpenny

Red House

Red HouseReservoir

ParkFarm

Killingbecks

DeightonPlantation

LodgeFarm

A59

Dutton'sFarm

The

Foss

Railway Line

Scagglethorpe Moor

Alder Tree

Town Ings

RedhouseIngs

Red

Hou

se L

ane

Chu

rch

Lane

Bouchier's Scalp

BeningbroughIngs

Reach

Woodview

Lane End

Scally Moor

Moor Monkton

Grange

CopelandPlantation

Primary School

Map of Moor Monkton area giving an indication of thelocation of properties, Nun Monkton Primary School

and woodland


Neighbourhood Watch

This article just missed the last edition Mercury soI have included it here as it is at least a pleasantreminder of summer.

The Games Fields at Red House hosted anotherbusy season of Unaffiliated Show Jumping thissummer. Competitions are held every Wednesdayevening from June through to late August. TheRed House Beginners Trophy had an excitingfinale with the competition being decided by thelast round of the last show. Lydia Stone on LuckyCharm beat Mia Cowling on Bryn by 0.5 of asecond in the jump-off to finish 1 point ahead ofher in the season’s points.

The Peter Hall Cup was won more convincinglyby Sally Rogers on Wesley who finished 16 pointsclear of the field. This was despite a late rally byGrace Addyman on Maggie when she won threeout of the last four classes of the season.

Robin Gordon

Lydia Stone on Lucky Charm receives the2011 Red House Beginners Trophy for

Show Jumping from Tony Gordon

Red House Show Jumping

Since the last edition ther have been no reported incidents. However there is anupdate on the “theft” of the fishing trolley - the owner found it in some busheswhen he next returned. Please check the village noticeboards regularly for localcriminal news and general information including thefts, bogus door-to-doorsalespeople 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 thesenotices up - I receive news from the police and post relevant items of interest on thenoticeboards.

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 cost15 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 thedrive 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 crimefree Christmas is wished to everyone.

Sandra Wilson


Church News

Christmas Fair

The recent Christmas Fair held in the Old Schoolroom, Moor Monkton was very busy withfaces both old and new. It was standing room only as lunches were served. The event raisedover £400 for Church funds. There will be a Christmas Coffee Morning in Hessay ChapelSchoolroom 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 anEvening of Carols and Mince Pies. (Service followed by supper.) Proceeds from this eveningare 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 for7.30pm. Mulled wine and cake followed by a carol service and possibly more mulled wine andcake.

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 thenativity story.

On Christmas Day at 9.30am our service will be Holy Communion by extension. Miss JeanRutherford 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 lookforward to seeing you.

Date for your Diaries

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

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


Village ClubsThe Gardening Club

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

We unfortunately had to postpone our October meeting on “Make your own Daffodils” but didrearrange it for November. Ann Wright gave us a very interesting and professional power pointpresentation. We do try to give a well balanced programme and the presentation by AnnWright on “Make your own Daffodils” (propagation and breeding daffodils) just stimulated theinterest 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 withwine and mince pies. We are very much looking forward to welcoming back Jo Maiden to giveus a talk on the very topical subject of “House Plants” as most of us have a plant or two in ourhomes. Finding a speaker on this subject has not been easy, but this year I have persuaded thevery practical and “hands on” Jo Maiden (who got us started with potatoes in buckets) to bringalong 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 evernot 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 welcomingback Tony Powell who will give us a presentation on the “History of Architecture in theLandscape”. This is not about the large houses in country estates but about the fun features ofthe landscape like follies, fountains, statues, etc. Members who heard Mr Powell’s talk lastyear about the “History of Water as a Garden Feature” will remember his very interestingpresentation.

Two more future dates are the 16th of February 2012 when we have a talk on “Mires Beck andWild Flowers in our Gardens” and the 15th of March, after a short AGM, Mike Ashford willgive 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 thistime, I have decided that someone else should shoulder the responsibilities of the club and incommittee it was decided that the secretary’s job should be divided into two, with a ProgrammeSecretary 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 arein the process of planning the programme for 2012/2013.

Isobel AshfordYouth Club

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


to join in the fun. We will be going on a Christmastrip 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 DecemberChristmas GiftsWednesday the 21st of DecemberCarol singing around the village followed bypizza and hot drinks 7pmChristmas Holiday TripSee the Schoolroom noticeboard for details or callKathryn on 738778

We are also looking for a new secretary if anyoneis interested.

Kathryn Dunn

Saturday Morning Playgroup

After a break for the summer holidays we have mettwice and enjoyed well attended sessions. In Octoberthe children and helpers made figures from plasticine,chestnuts, acorns and beechnut husks. In November weprepared for the Lantern Walk by making our ownlanterns from balloons and papier maché. There was agood turnout for the Lantern Walk at Red House whichproved very popular. On Saturday the 3rd of Decemberwe will be holding our Christmas Party in TheSchoolroom. The sessions last for about 2 hours andinvolve a craft activity, games, singing and a snack.Any child under five with carer is welcome.

Beate Gordon

Eleanor Williams builds a spaghettitower while mum, Ruth, looks on

5 * LUXURY SPANISH APARTMENT

Fancy a break in traditional Spain? Our 2 bed apartment is in the La Torre 5* GolfResort based in Murcia. An excellent location for keen golfers or families. As well asan award winning golf course there are restaurants, lots of swimming pools andchildrens play areas. Only 15 minutes drive from the beach and the airport. Thearea is well known for its healthy sunny climate even during winter!

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

Call Bev Kirkham 07786 060940 or 01904 737115


Bulb Planting on Church Lane

On the 29th of October, three of us managed toplant a bag of daffodil bulbs given by HBC onthe verge near the Church, and we look forwardto seeing them emerge in the spring. This latestplanting extends the area of Church Lanealready planted with daffodils.

Elaine Hall[Many thanks go to Mike and Isobel Ashfordand Elaine Hall for their hard work - and sorryfor 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 forthe Disasters Emergency Committee charity. The telephone box is in need of repainting andone parishioner has kindly volunteered for the task, if you are able to assist him please contactthe Clerk.

Elaine HallLantern Walk

On Thursday the 17th of November over 30 childrenand adults from Moor Monkton, nearby villages andthe local Kirk Hammerton Playgroup came to RedHouse to take part in the annual Lantern Walk aroundthe fields. The children are encouraged to create theirown lanterns from jars, papier maché or any othersuitable materials and then re-enact the search of StMartin.

This tradition, which is more common in Germany,Holland and Belgium, is based on the story of aRoman soldier who, through his good deeds, becamethe people’s choice to become bishop. He felt that hewas 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 searchingfor him in the night with lanterns and eventually found him when the noise from the geese gavehim 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. Asthe night was so clear, we set up the estate telescope so the older ones could look at Jupiter. Thestripey pattern of its atmosphere and five of the planet’s moons could be clearly seen.

Village News

A montage of many long exposurephotos of the lanterns in the

procession.


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

To compare this autumn’s temperatures with previous ones I have worked out the averagemaximum 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. Thisyear’s average of 19.2°C is 3°C higher than that for 2003.

I have also noticed that we have had very few frosts so far this autumn/winter, only 3 up untilthe 22nd of November. So, to see if this was unusual, I created a chart to illustrate the date ofthe first frost and how many frosts there had been up to the 22nd of November for previousyears. (I have defined a frost as a minimum temperature of 0°C or less.)

Robin Gordon

Weather Watch

03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 1102468

101214161820

16.2 16.117.2 17.4 18.2

16.518.8 18.2 19.2

MaximumTemperatures

(°C)

Average

Year

Average Maximum Temperatures Recorded at Red House between9th August and 22nd November

1st 1st 22nd

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

3 nights

7 nights

6 nights

8 nights

8 nights

9 nights

6 nights

6 nights

3 nights

22nd

13th

17th

2nd

19th

4th

7th

25th

20th

October November

Chart showing the dates of the first frosts recorded at Red House each year from 2003No. of Frosts

up to 22nd NovOctober November

1st Frost

1st Frost

1st Frost

1st Frost

1st Frost

1st Frost

1st Frost

1st Frost

1st Frost


Moor Monkton - A History Part 6

Val Webster Longstaff has recently moved away from MoorMonkton with her son Elliot. The move will bring to an endthe presence of the Webster family in the village after nearly ahundred years. It is interesting to follow the family’smovements around the village over that time.

Arthur Webster moved from Green Hammerton, where hewas a smallholder, to Moor Monkton in the early 20thcentury. He married Dorothy Tesseyman and they lived in alabourer’s cottage at the west end of the village. When thecouncil built the houses at Priory View they then moved toone of these and their old cottage was demolished. They had ason, Donald, who from the age of 14 worked for Gerald andEdi Watson at Laund House Farm.

At this time Herbert and Lena Deighton were living just alongthe Main Street from the Websters, at Sunnybank Farm. Theyhad six children, one named Joyce, who all attended MoorMonkton School along with the young Don Webster. Joyceand Don became childhood sweethearts and they married atAll Saints Church in 1955. They began married life atSunnybank with Joyce’s family but soon moved into the shopon the Main Street. Meanwhile, When Lena Deighton diedHerbert went to live in South View on Ball Corner where hestayed until his death in 1964.

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 theymoved to Cockhill Farm which was then owned by the Watsons of Laund House, they neededDon to work the fields that they farmed around Cockhill. In 1973 Don and Joyce builtSunnydene at Cockhill. It was here that Don passed away - he had spent all his working lifeworking for Laund House and received his long service certificate at The Great Yorkshire

Show. Elliott was born in 2007. When Joycedied in 2010 the family decided to sellSunnydene.

This article was inspired by talking to ValWebster when she was packing up things atSunnydene. Val says:

I am sure we are like every other familywith a bag full of black and white photos offamily and family friends and you onlyknow who 10% of them are. I want my sonElliott to know where my family have livedin this village of Moor Monkton where I

Herbert Deighton and LenaHeaton

Sunnybank Farm on the Main Street in the early20th century. The house now known as the Old

Granary is the barn in the background

Arthur Webster and DorothyTesseyman


have so many happy memories: village sports days, “It’s aKnockout” with other villages, Harvest Suppers in the MethodistChapel on the Main Street, summer days swimming in the RiverNidd (not recommended today children!) and walks in RedhouseWood. Recently we moved out of Sunnydene with the help ofDeb and Kevin - thanks! We had bacon sandwiches at theChristmas fair in The Schoolroom to keep us going. It has beenvery sad for me, as my heart will always stay in Moor Monktonand we will be back to join in with village events. Thank you toall the people who have been there for us over this last year - sadthough it has been. On a happier note, I know we will be veryhappy in our new home.

Val Webster and Robin Gordon

Chu

rch

Lane

Main Street

The Villageof

Moor Monkton

Arthur Webster marriedDorothy Tesseyman and lived ina labourers cottage on the siteof Rosemead Farm

The Deightons lived atSuunybank Farm andthey were joined byDon and Joyce in 1955

Arthur and DorothyWebster moved into PrioryView soon after it was built.

After Lena Deighton diedHerbert moved to SouthView on Ball Corner

Don and JoyceWebster ran the villageshop for a time

Don and Joyce Webster then movedto Springfield before finally movingto Cockhill in 1962

Don and Joyce Webstergetting married at All

Saints ChurchVal plays withfriends in theRiver Nidd justdownstream fromthe village

Val models a dressfrom the early 20thcentury that is part

of her collectionhanded down from

the Heatons


Advertising: This is a great way for local businesses to support the Mercury£25 for sponsorship including half page advertAdverts: £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 Editorcannot take responsibility for its accuracy or any opinions expressed

The Mercury Online

I think I may have jumped the gun when I announcedthis project in the May edition of The Mercury -partly because of the work involved (I’dunderestimated again!) and partly because of theneed to rationalise the burgeoning number of villagesites. (OK there are three of them). I can see a use foreach one:

• www.moormonkton.net to advertise villageevents like the Open Gardens

• www.moormonkton.com to deal with day to dayposts and comments and village clubs

• the mercury to act as an archive for informationon the village

Anyway, The Mercury site has progressed with allprevious newsletters now converted to small size pdfready for uploading. The news page and archive isup to date and I have created a selection of bannerphotos to head each section. The site is not ready for publishing as some pages do not have alllinks completed so any visitor would soon get lost! Most of the artwork is done.

Robin Gordon

Documents

Cover Photo: Red House Chapel in the Snow (by Robin · PDF fileCover Photo: Red House Chapel in the Snow ... mulled wine and hot chocolate will be served afterwards ... Park has not