VOICE OF HILLAM VILLAGE HILLAM NEWS Including Monk Fryston and Burton Salmon MARCH 2025 VOLUME 41
In This Issue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Hillam in Bloom Editorial Comment/Contents Hillam Parish Council News Pathfinder Initiative Hillam Historians Revisited Celebrating VE Day & Bookworm Mysterious Theft & Calling all residents Comedy Night Birding around Hillam Obituary Lisbeth Anne Blaza Obituary Margaret Jones Easter Church Services Hillam and Monk Fryston Cricket Club Monk Fryston Cemetery Plan Hillam Lights Shine Bright Supporting Those Who Care for their Elderly Loved Ones Floodlights The Value of our Pets 18-23 Classified Ads 24 Useful numbers Something to say? Something to share? Hello everyone, and welcome to the March Edition of Hillam News. Recently, we lost two treasured local residents— you can read the obituaries for Lisbeth Blaza and I’m very excited about all the Margaret Jones on Pgs 11 village activities that are and 12. Thank you to Jon for planned for this year. Hillam sharing these with HN. in Bloom sounds fantastic, and also the VE Day On p16 you can find useful celebrations on Sunday 4th information about support May, which will be here for those caring for elderly before we know it. family members and friends. Find out all about the role of Waddington’s Monopoly during WWII on p5, with Hillam Historians Revisited. Road safety is something that is vitally important— thanks to School Run Mum for sharing useful information on the Pathfinder Initiative on P4. And finally, welcome to the newest member of the Hillam News team—Laura, who will be helping out with articles and advertising. Stay safe and stay well, Eileen (Ed) and the Hillam News Team If you have something you want to write about, to share, to comment on, then please just email hillamnews@gmail.com We always welcome articles - the more variety we have, the better. And please don’t worry about spelling, grammar etc.. Our excellent proof readers will sort this out for you. Editorial Contacts patatkinson@gmail.com Advertising/Articles Hillam News email Finances Laura Wetherald hillamnews@gmail.com Sally Whittingham Proof Readers Editor (Ed) Distribution SallyWhittingham@gmail.com Eileen Brown Betty Wright eileenbrown100@icloud.com Bettywright333@gmail.com Advertising Coordinator mick.merry@hotmail.co.uk Local Services Clubs and Groups Pat Atkinson Mick Merry hillamnews@gmail.com Sally Whittingham SallyWhittingham@gmail.com Hillam News Facebook is a moderated forum which invites visitor posts and comments from Hillam, Monk Fryston, Burton Salmon and anywhere nearby. Local stories and details of upcoming events from other Facebook pages are shared and there is the occasional original or archive news story.
Parking in Hillam We have had interest in the vacancies at the Parish Council and hopefully will be able to introduce two new PC members in the next edition! Until then, we thank Seph O’Connell for all his hard work as Chairman and wish him the best in his various other community roles! Please continue to consider how your parking affects the other road and path users. Vehicle Activated Signs There will be raises by some authorities this year, as you may expect, however, Hillam Parish Council have NOT raised the precept for residents this year. You may have noticed two poles fitted in the verges recently. These will be used to mount two solar-powered Vehicle Activated Signs (VAS). Similar to the Monk Fryston and Hambleton VAS, the Hillam VAS will flash when it detects a vehicle travelling over 30mph. This is reminder to motorists that they are in a 30mph zone - mindless driving often means drivers do not slow down enough as they come in from the NSL zones; on Chapel Street for example. To protect the poles and keep the sign sensor and visibility clear, the PC will be placing some planters around them. If you see instances of dangerous parking, you are advised to report this to the police on 101. Council Tax Garden Waste Collections North Yorkshire Council Garden waste collections will resume in March. A license costs £49 for collections March to December and they are now available to purchase via: https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/bins-recycling-andwaste Contact the clerk: hillampcclerk@gmail.com
One of the things I have enjoyed the most about being a parent is the unexpected pleasures. The adventures and experiences that have wrought the bonds that tie mother and son together. We've learnt to sail, climbed mountains, discovered deserted magical beaches, made charcoal, even crafted hares at a pottery workshop together over the years. Last October we headed out on a rather different adventure, heading to Rufforth airfield on a Monday morning at the start of half term was arguably neither of our first choices of where we would have liked to have been at that time. We were heading out to join the latest cohort of parent and child drivers, preparing the 15-17 year olds to venture out onto the roads as part of the Under 17 car club Pathfinder Initiative that aims to improve road safety by educating young people to be responsible and safe drivers Over the space of five days I watched (from the passenger seat of my car) as he went from a slightly apprehensive, having never driven a car before to someone with confidence who could parallel park like a pro. Under the expert tutelage of the ever patient, mainly advanced driving instructors, he mastered not only the basics but quite a lot more. The weeks started off gradually learning the basics of driving, from clutch control to gear changes then onto all the usual stuff parallel parking, reversing round corners and such. Then we moved onto something a bit more challenging, weaving through cones and then reversing back through the same route as well as practical work on how to overtake a moving vehicle, avoid collisions and brake safely in an emergency and even some advanced driver techniques. This was supplemented by visits from the Highways Agency, and the opportunity to see the myriad of gear they carry with them from swan catching kits to brooms for sweeping up after road traffic accidents. a good mooch around a police safety camera van and even a sit in an HGV thanks to DHL so we could see how little the driver can actually see. For anyone with a teenager, I would highly recommend it. The instructors were very patient and helpful and the activities very well thought out. We both learnt a lot and by the end of the week I was more than happy for him to venture out onto the real roads. They run up and down the country and if you live in certain areas including but not limited to Yorkshire you automatically qualify for a subsidised price and those who need it can receive a bursary in addition to the reduction. You can find out more about the Pathfinder Initiative on their website. https://under17driver.co.uk/ and on Facebook Facebook.com/u17pathfinder By School Run Mum
For this issue, I have selected an article originally published nearly 20 years ago. It was inspired by one of the many contributions brought to the group by member Ralph Atkin, and published to commemorate his death. He was a man of many talents and wide-ranging interests, and this seems a good opportunity to share with you one of the many fascinating contributions he brought to our group. In the late 1950’s when travelling from Leeds to Pontefract I regularly passed the imposing Waddington’s print works located on Hunslet Road. The sign on the wall proudly declared it to be ‘The home of Monopoly.’ Thus, Ralph’s tale of wartime intrigue has local links. Get out of jail free Starting in 1941, an increasing number of British airmen found themselves as the involuntary guest of the Third Reich, and the Crown was casting about for ways and means to facilitate their escape. Now obviously, one of the most helpful aids to that end is an accurate map, one showing where places were, but also showing the locations of ‘safe houses’ where a POW on the run could go for food and shelter. Paper maps had some real drawbacks - they made a lot of noise when opened and folded, they wore out rapidly, and if they got wet, they turned to mush. Someone in M15 got the idea of printing escape maps on silk. It’s durable, can be scrunched up into tiny wads, can be used repeatedly whatever the weather, and makes no noise whatsoever. At that time, only one manufacturer in Great Britain had perfected the technology of printing on silk, and that was John Waddington Ltd. When approached by the Government, the firm was only too happy to do its bit for the war effort. By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the UK licensee for the popular board game Monopoly. Serendipitously, ‘games and pastimes’ was a category which qualified for the insertion into packages despatched by the International Red Cross to prisoners of war. In a securely guarded and inaccessible old workshop in Waddington’s grounds, a group of sworn to secrecy employees began mass producing escape maps, keyed to each region of Germany and Italy where Allied POW camps were located. Red Cross packages were delivered to prisoners in accordance with that same regional system. When produced, these maps could be folded into such a small space that they would actually fit inside a monopoly playing piece. The clever workpeople at Waddington’s also managed to add: • • • A playing token containing a small magnetic compass A two part metal file that could easily screwed together Some genuine German, Italian and French currency hidden within the Monopoly money British and American air crew were advised before taking off on their first mission, how to identify a rigged Monopoly set - by means of a tiny red dot cleverly made to look like an ordinary printing glitch, located in the corner of the free parking square. Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POW who successfully escaped, an estimated one-third had been aided in their flight by the rigged Monopoly sets. Everyone who did so was sworn to secrecy indefinitely, since the Government might want to use this highly successful ruse in another war. The story was not declassified until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen from Waddington’s as well as the firm itself, were finally honoured in a public ceremony. Betty Wright
On Sunday 4 May, our community will come together to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, a momentous occasion marking the end of World War II in Europe. This milestone celebration will honour the courage and sacrifice of those who fought for freedom and remember the indomitable spirit of resilience and unity that defined that era. Our event will feature a range of activities to engage and inspire all generations. From musical acts depicting the music from the era, to an historical exhibition showcasing memorabilia and stories from the war from within our two villages, we are hoping there will be something for everyone. The celebrations will also include entertainment for our younger attendees. There will be food offerings from a number of outlets including pizza and fish and chips, as well as coffee and ice cream, and of course, there will a bar! We invite everyone to join us in this special occasion to pay tribute to our history, celebrate our shared values, and look forward to a future of continued peace and unity. Let's come together and make this VE Day anniversary a memorable and meaningful celebration for all. Bookworm ‘The Truth has Arms and Legs’ by Alice Fowler I am not normally a fan of short stories as I often find them a little bit unsatisfying, but this little collection of fourteen short stories by award-winning author Alice Fowler has completely won me over. I confess that as it’s quite a slim volume I started to read it as a bit of a palette cleanser, after I’d just finished one book and before starting another, but I was soon absolutely captivated. For a start it is beautifully written, with not a word out of place. Each individual story is a little self-contained gem with a clear message and a depth of plot and character development I wasn’t expecting, which kept me guessing in many until the last page. The stories are a comfortable mixture of historical and contemporary fiction, and feature a character who is often at a pivotal point in life, whether they realise it or not. The title story of the collection ‘The truth has arms and legs’ is an evocative tale inspired by a BBC programme on the Holocaust and tells the story of Elli, who finds a way to survive in Auschwitz-Birkenau due to her skill as a cellist, and is both haunting and uplifting. The themes generally are wide ranging, and go from infertility to illegitimacy, from racism to marital control, from belonging to dementia to war, but the over-arching theme is of affirmation and of finding a sense of self. These stories made me both laugh and cry, and the characters have remained in my mind long after I finished this book. Finally, it occurs to me that another advantage of this collection is that as the stories are so short, you can easily read one as the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea (or glass of wine?), and I would definitely recommend carving out a little respite in your day to relax and read a story – there are worse ways to pass 10 minutes! Ruth Aldred
Time Team the village history group covering Burton Salmon, Hillam and Monk Fryston have recently been informed that someone has stolen our heritage! Artefacts from the mini-museum at the former hotel have been removed by person/persons unknown and are regarded as a theft and a gross vandalism of the village’s cultural heritage. Amongst the 50 items taken are several identified by the Portable Antiquities Scheme which passes the data to the British Museum. Key items missing are the 13th century stone mortar, the early medieval/viking age knife and the 14th century horse strap fitting amongst a range of finds spanning the Mesolithic period to the Second World War when the Hall grounds were used as a training ground by the army. Finding Fryston was a lottery funded community archaeology and history project that undertook digs in the Hall grounds in 2015 and 2016 and left a legacy of local Heritage Information Boards, a mini museum with audio visual stories sited in the Hotel with free access to villagers, and 2 publications covering the excavation and a history trail of Monk Fryston. The mystery remains of who took them, why and how, given that the cabinets doors are still locked. Time Team volunteers are devastated. Calling all residents to raid their photo albums and memory banks! Time Team the village history group are staging a special display of life here in the war years for the VE Day 80th Anniversary Celebrations and would be delighted to hear stories from anyone alive then or who can remember stories told to them by their families and friends. Photos, memorabilia and mementoes of those times are welcome, so we can record and pass on to the collective memory before they are lost and forgotten forever. Contact Sue Newton 01977 682084 or email susi_newton28@hotmail.com to tell us what you know. Time Team and Hillam Historians have already gathered some memories from residents and will give a talk ‘A Village at War’ on Saturday 3rd May. There will be a small exhibition illustrating the talk on Sunday 4th May as part of the main VE Day event. Life here could not have been more different then, so come and be amazed at what sacrifices were made and hardships were suffered by everyone for us to enjoy the life we have today. To book a place for the talk visit the Community Centre website in April.
inland in small numbers, I can’t remember ever seeing one in NoFirstly, an apology. I was unable to vember, they are here but you just write the birding column for the don’t see them often. December issue due to work commitments. Yes, that old exThey are often identified by their cuse! Despite having a face like white rump in flight but this can be the underside of Gandhi’s flipflop misleading. Brambling are also a and looking 100 years old I still “schedule 1” species which makes it work. illegal to intentionally disturb them. I did have one in my garden in August 2023 I think and I got some reasonable photos and put them Most of my Autumn and Winter birding was done in far flung exotic on my blog. places like Stockton, Darlington and even Ipswich, I was kept up to speed by our very own former writ- Pink Footed Geese, now there are er of this column Mr Graham Todd, many thousands of these Geese in he keeps me informed, thank you the countryside surrounding Hillam sir. from late September onwards and throughout the winter. You have probably heard their chatter as they fly over going to and from the One Sunday in late November I walked towards the railway line on feeding grounds in the fields and farmland towards the M62 to the Betteras Hill and to my delight there were two quite large flocks of South and East of the village. small birds darting around the hedgerows and fields. After a while I managed to identify the first group Pink feet are noisy, very noisy and of around thirty birds as Linnet. sound like they are all competing in Now in my opinion Linnet are very conversation. If you want to check underrated. I hear fellow birders the sound out then look at Xenosay “it’s just a Linnet” Canto on the interweb, an amazing resource of tens of thousands of bird sounds from all over the world. I usually tap the front of their binoc- I think the sound of Pink Feet over Hillam is the sound that Winter is ulars which gives them two black coming or going, a healthy sound eyes and reminds them that this British hedgerow seed eating spe- of changing seasons. We also get Pinkfeet flying over as they leave cialist is a part of our wonderful us in late winter as the move back British countryside and a joy to North, hundreds of them and this is watch. when they are at their noisiest. The other group was slightly larger and consisted of some Linnet, Chaffinch a few Yellowhammers and a single Brambling. What’s unusual about that Steve? I hear you say! Well, I’ve never seen that before in Hillam, especially the Brambling. Where have all the Corn Buntings gone? 28 years ago, when I dared to dream of living in Hillam, I also dreamed of walking through the fields and listening to Corn Crake, Corn Bunting, Redpoll and the chattering of Linnet. Brambling is a winter visitor and usually they are seen late December, January and February this far 28 years later I despair at the lack of all these birds, oh yes there are some, I’ve heard one corn Bunting in two years, one or two Corn Crake but some 20 miles away from us here. Redpoll, none, but the Linnet is still hanging on but not in the numbers that this beautiful example of a British staple countryside bird used to be or should be. All these birds can be seen at Wheldrake Ings, not far from us here, just 30 minutes up the A19 from Selby. “I believe the largest impact on birds is habitat loss, this takes away their food, the nesting and breeding grounds they rely on and without this they simply cannot survive” A simple statement to make, but in my opinion, true. If only the solution was simple. Birdwatching Diary, After Christmas until the 6th of January we went to Littlehampton on the south coast of England for a break. A beautiful coastal town with plenty of nature nearby with the expectation of wading birds and other exotica. We didn’t see very much at all, and sometimes that’s just the way it goes. You travel long distances with high expectations and get nothing of note. Saying I got nothing isn’t true, I got robbed. £1.82 for fuel on the motorway! I asked the attendant if the owners were called Turpin and if they enjoyed horse riding, he pondered and then said “I don’t think they are called Turpin, but they do have horses! Well I never! And don’t forget to have a look at the blog www.yorkshirewild.co.uk Steve Farley
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