Previous news items

Planning for the future

What do you value about living in Thixendale? Are there things that you would like to change? The recent article about the village in the Yorkshire Post highlighted what some residents think but soon you will all have a chance to contribute your ideas for the future of this village. Ryedale District Council is keen for all villages in the area to survey residents’ opinions on various issues and to produce a Parish Plan based on the outcomes of the surveys. Yorkshire Rural Community Council will help with the plan and will be holding a ‘Drop In’ session in the Village Hall on October 22nd to meet villagers and hear about some of the issues which are important to you. Everyone will receive an invitation to this event but in the meantime please make a note of the date so that you are free to come along and have your say.

Some things to think about

Three unpleasant things that should not happen here

1. Defacing of the church visitors’ book

2. Graffiti on road signs and elsewhere

3. Dog fouling on the pavement

History Group Inaugural Meeting

This took place in Thixendale Village Hall on Tuesday August 14th 2007. Present; Pauline Foster, Denise Jackson, Steve Bence, Linda Stephenson, Lesley Sharpe, David Sharpe. Apologies;  Mary Brader, Eileen Birrell, Sue Dale, Keith Bristow, John Megginson.

Six people attended the inaugural meeting of the history group in the village hall. Several other people who had expressed interest in joining were unable to attend and will be informed of the outcome of the meeting.

Each person present had the opportunity to say what their particular interest was and what they hoped the group might do. Interests ranged from broad subjects such as what we can learn about the past from the landscape of the Wolds to specific interest in the Malton Driffield Railway. Industrial and farming history and the influence of estates such as Sledmere and Garrowby  featured as did the desire to know more about the history of Thixendale. It was considered important that some effort is made to capture some oral history before it is too late and perhaps research the family history of people associated with the area.

It was decided that the group would be called ‘The High Wolds Heritage Group’. This name embraces the geographical area of interest to the group as well as indicating that we value the heritage of this region and want to know more about it. As the group is open to anyone who is interested it was felt that people from outside the village could identify with the Wolds area more readily than with Thixendale.

The group will need a written constitution and a committee. Steve Bence agreed to be the Chair, Pauline Foster Vice-Chair, Denise Jackson Secretary and Lesley Sharpe will be the treasurer. Some model constitutions will be sought from other clubs.

Membership fees were not discussed. It is hoped that a bid for funding for the activities of the group will be successful. £10 for the hire of the hall was covered by donations from the people at the meeting.  

The frequency of meetings was discussed. It was agreed that when the group is established there would be a monthly formal meeting, generally on a Tuesday if possible. There may be more frequent informal meetings to support people with their research or perhaps to work on joint projects.

Possible activities of the group can be summarised as;

Following discussion about the way forward it was suggested that advice on the constitution and management of a group would be useful. Lesley agreed to pursue a contact with the group at Bishop Wilton to see if they would be willing to share their expertise. 

The final part of the evening was spent examining the contents of the ‘Tin Box’; a treasure chest of archive material collected by Pauline for the Thixendale Remembered Heritage Exhibition.

 Dates of future meetings to get the group underway;

     Thursday August 23rd at 7.30 pm. in the Village Hall. Activity – Sorting and listing archive material from the Thixendale Remembered Heritage Project.

     Tuesday August 28th at 7.30 pm in the Village Hall. Activity – Meeting with some members of Bishop Wilton Local History Group to hear about their organisation and activities.

 Actions to be taken before the next meeting;

News from St. Mary's Church

The PCC is still raising funds to install some form of heating in the church and is embarking on a programme of repairs so that the problems with damp inside the building can be overcome. Most of the damp is caused by the old boiler house attached to the back corner of the church so our first priority is to have that demolished. When that has been done we have some exciting plans involving the restoration of the organ and the installation of an information system for visitors explaining the significance of some of the features of our beautiful church.
Some people who are not familiar with the church may not realise that we have an architectural gem in the village with exceptional quality stained glass windows. We are hopeful of obtaining considerable grants to help preserve this important heritage for future generations.
We feel that each generation has a responsibility for the upkeep of the village church; many people need the church for some occasion in their lives even if they are not regular churchgoers and we want it to be there when it is needed. Are you willing to help us in any way? Perhaps you could make a regular donation that can be gift aided and set against tax; Have you any suggestions for fund raising? Would you like to join the cleaning or grass cutting rotas or be a regular helper at events? Whichever way you choose to help you will be warmly welcomed ,even if we haven’t any heating yet!

Pudding Party

The Pudding Party held in May made £580.00. £300 went to the Pudding Club for their charity, Candlelighters, the rest was split between the Church & the Village Hall.
 

Reports on recent events.

The ‘Soundsphere’ workshop and concert provided great fun and excellent entertainment and made a profit of £70 which went to the church heating appeal.
Thank you to Eileen Birrell for organising the ‘green fingers’ event in September. The talk on propagating plants by Rona Ashworth was both informative and enjoyable. It was lovely to see so many of the children helping with the Harvest Festival earlier this month. Thank you very much. There will be more activities for children nearer Christmas.

The Thixendale Banner

The story so far:

Ten people attended the first meeting of the banner group on Tuesday May 3rd at 7.00 pm. There were apologies from two other people. Margaret Murphy from Rural Arts led the meeting and showed us some slides of various projects from around the county. She also brought samples of textile work showing a range of techniques that we might like to incorporate into our banner. Margaret explained that she would be organising some technique taster sessions for us over the next few weeks and then another artist would be available to help us design and make the Thixendale banner over a period of ten or twelve sessions. We thought that we would probably work with the artist on a fortnightly basis and work independently in the village hall or at home on the alternate weeks. The sessions run from 2.00 pm until 8.00 pm. This allows people to ‘drop in’ and join in at a time that is convenient to them.

There was a lot of discussion about what we wanted on the banner and about the skills and confidence of individuals in the group. We were reassured that there would be teaching and support throughout the project and that there would be opportunities for incorporating traditional embroidery and hand sewing as well as using sewing machines and other technology such as digital photography and printing.

There was a buzz of excited anticipation as the group envisaged the banner hanging in front of the balcony in all its glory!

Update:

The banner is now complete and you can come and see it in all its glory! Click here for details.

Parish Council Elections - 1st May 2003

Textile workshop on May 9th 2005

This workshop was attended by fifteen people at various times throughout the session from 2.00 pm. until 8.00 pm. The maximum at any one time being seven adults. This proved to be very manageable as we still do not have any new tables or chairs and sadly had to bring in the rusty metal ones from outside!!!! Margaret Murphy brought equipment and materials for batik, felt making and silk etching and we decided to start with the etching. Margaret demonstrated the different stages of the process and encouraged the less confident members among the group to seek inspiration from pictures and books that she had brought along. Everyone had the chance to use the technique of etching on silk devore and using dyes to colour their designs. Finished designs can be made into pictures, cushions, hangings or whatever the person who made it wants it to be.

Thixendale Textile Project

In preparation for the refurbishment of the village hall, our next adventure is to create a number of ‘Thixendale Textile Panels’.

These panels will be hung in the new hall, and will reflect local themes such as the history of the village, farming, leisure, education, childhood experiences, transport, people, and events.

Each panel will show changing events (e.g. farming from horse-drawn tackle to computerised tractors). Memories new and old will be used and there is no limit yet to the panels or selections.

Many different forms of craftwork will be used to create the final panels, so anyone who can sew, knit, stitch, paint, draw, glue, saw or hammer will be very welcome.

We are interested in your ideas for the individual elements that should go into the pictures on the panels. Other ideas for themes are also welcome. Please drop off ideas to the village store, or give them to the lottery ticket collectors by the end of April. (Alternatively email textile@thixendale.org.uk )

Lottery Update

The village lottery has been running a complete year now. The total earnings have been £2164.50, with winning and profit for the village hall amounting to £1082.25 each. For a small village those figures are excellent. Thanks you to all those involved, particularly those who contribute, deliver and collect the tickets and turn up on Sunday nights each week to help with the draw.

Morris Night

You are invited to an evening of entertainment with YORKSHIRE COAST MORRIS.

Come and join them at the Cross Keys at 8pm on Thursday 4th July.

Open Day 2002

The village open day this year has a “Red, White and Blue” theme. It is on Sunday 21^st July from 2pm. A list of stalls is shown below.

There will also be a Scarecrow Competition, the theme being “Royalty”. Cash prizes to be won.

Prizes and contributions for the Tombola and stalls will be much appreciated. They can be left at the shop or pub. We also need help to clean the village hall and set out tables and chairs prior to the event.

Merlin Consort

On Friday 20th July, there was a varied musical evening with The Merlin Consort, ranging from the classical to Songs from the Shows. This took place in the church from 7:30pm and was followed by a finger buffet. The £533 proceed go towards the church and village hall.

Formed in 1991, this group of semi-professional singers has gained a considerable following and reputation at concerts given across North and East Yorkshire. Since 1994 the programme has included two highly successful tours of Germany, as well as visits to Harrogate Conference Centre, Sheffield, Wolverhampton, York and Teeside. More local concerts have included visits to the Hornsea Music Society, Burton Agnes Hall,  Sledmere House, Bridlington Choral Festival and the Spa Grand Hall in Scarborough. In addition the Consort has performed recitals at numerous local churches including two concerts with orchestral accompaniment and a Valentine's Day concert at Helmsley with Wind Ensemble.

The Consort specialises in a capella music ranging from the 16th to the 20th centuries. As well as church music and madrigals the repertoire extends to spirituals, folksong arrangements and close harmony versions of jazz and modern classics. The title of the Consort's first CD, 'Beside Myself with Glee',  reflects the lighter side of the repertoire but it also includes more serious items by some of the great names of the English cathedral tradition. The Consort has recently recorded a CD of Christmas carols which will be available shortly.

For longer concerts individual members perform solos and duets in a variety of styles with piano and harpsichord accompaniments.

The Merlin Consort are:

Wendy Goodson, soprano. Caroline Gilderdale, soprano. Janet Kelsey, contralto. Cathie Dance, contralto. Hilary Watts, tenor. Roger Gooch, tenor. Paul Sudworth, baritone. John Bradley, bass.

Village Lottery

At the village hall meeting of 13th March 2001, it was decided to run a village lottery for a trial period. The lottery will be in aid of the village hall funds.

The lottery will run weekly, with the draw taking place at 9:30pm each Sunday in the Cross Keys. The first draw will be on 1st April.  Tickets will be sold door-to-door in the village, at the village stores and the Cross Keys. Please contact Eileen Birrell if you (a) want to be able to buy tickets, (b) want to volunteer to help or (c) do not wish to be asked to buy tickets.

To play the lottery, you simply choose pairs of numbers in the range 1 to 50. Each pair costs 10p. The first matching pair made from the numbers drawn on the Sunday is the winner. Where more than one ticket has the same winning pair, the prize fund is shared. No rollover will occur.

Village hall

The AGM was held on 29th May 2001. Minutes of the meeting and notes on the work being done by the village hall committee can be seen on the hall web page.

Aladdin

On Friday 16th February 2001, a group of villagers went to see the Aladdin pantomime in Pocklington. Many apologies to those who did not get a chance to get a ticket - this was arranged at very short notice and there were only 20 tickets left. If there is the demand, maybe theatre visits could become a regular occurrence...

Illustrated talk on Thixendale and its origins

Dr. Colin Hayfield gave an Illustrated talk on 'Thixendale and its origins' in St Mary's Church on Saturday Sept. 30th at 7:00pm. This was followed by a supper in the village hall. A summary of the talk appears in the history section of this site.

Thixendale in the press - twice

On Thursday 25th May, the village had a visit from the Gazette & Herald's reporter Ursula Wilson. The visit was part of the paper's 'Day Out' series, which covers different towns and villages each time. Once she managed to find us, she met and talked to several people to get a good feel for the village. The report appeared in the following week's issue - 1st June. Lynne had a well-deserved front-page photo, taken in front of the shop. The caption underneath - Village Heart - seems most apt.

In the main article, there were photos and comments from: Tess the dog, Marjorie Jefferson, Lynne (again!), Beryl Ingleby, Marie Holmes, Otto Hughes and Ian Ward. The article recorded the views of these and others, all of whom were very positive about Thixendale and the village shop in particular. 

The York Evening Press then did a similar article which appeared on Tuesday 11th July - usefully just in time to give publicity to the Open Day on 16th. A group photo which included about 60 villagers was taken and used in the article.

Launch of the web site

This web site was revealed to the village on 6th and 7th May, in 'Lynne's Cyber Café'. Everyone in the village and surrounding farms were leafleted in advance, and the event was advertised on the village notice-board. The response was very encouraging, with both sessions overrunning the allotted time. Thanks to Lynne for her encouragement and the use of the facilities. Anyone who was unable to make it is welcome to a guided tour of the site if they wish.

Many of you will have seen that the York Evening Press somehow found out about the launch and sent a photographer along. There was a report about us on page 3 of the Evening Press on Monday 8th May, then the photo was re-used on Wednesday as part of an unrelated advertising feature, then the original article reappeared in the Malton Gazette on the Thursday. Ideally we would have waited a bit longer before announcing the site to the wider world, but we can't be too picky - it just meant that a lot more content has had to be added quite quickly to fill in some of the gaps. In particular, we are now trying to boost the coverage on history and walks. Would anyone with historical information please contact Denise (thix@skynow.net), and anyone who would be willing to write up (and photograph) walks contact David (dlake@thixendale.org.uk).

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