CAUSEWAY APRIL 2021 Martin House Scoop National Award Recollections of Thorp Arch Park Take Better Photos of Your Dog
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Serving the communities of Thorp Arch and Walton Advertising Index
Contact: John Pendleton, 07828 524568 jlp@proportionmarketing.co.uk
Accountants
Curtains, Furnishing
Holiday Cottages
Gillbeck Associates..........30
Lou’s Threads....................19
Priory Cottages.................22
Decorators
Kitchens
Alarms
Oliver Willard....................28
Aberford Interiors.............19
PGK Security.....................30
The Decorating Centre.....22
Architects
Electrical Services
Andrew Morgan................28
McNicholas Architects......30
P Collier.............................22
Cameron Beaumont..........05
Bed & Breakfast
Estate Agents
PA/Secretarial Concierge
Four Gables......................23
Beadnall & Copley............32
David Bransby...................27
Funerals
Plumbing and Heating
Tony Barker.......................28
Peter Norman...................30
Gardening
Retail Parks
Lawn Keeper.....................19
Thorp Arch Retail Park......04
Peter Howard...................23
Building Materials Kirbys................................14 Carpet Cleaning Wetherby Carpet..............28 Cars/MOT Westmoreland Cars..........31 Chimney Sweep Mooring Brothers.............22
MK Landscaping...............04 Hairdressing
Opticians
Taxi Services Jorvik Travel......................28
Ian Blakey..........................30 Hardware
Tree Services Bardsey Tree Services.......14
Douglas Yeadon................23
Chiropody Boston Spa Chiropody......28
Front Cover - Thorp Arch Railway Path, Mark Gowlett Causeway - Editors Lisa Sherratt and Victora Etherington. Chair, Design, Advertising John Pendleton. Distribution (Thorp Arch) Jane Clayton (Walton) Gay Childe and David Spencer. Big thanks to the entire distribution team. Please refer to the Contacts Page for contact details. The Editor and Management Committee do not endorse any content of articles or advertisements in this magazine nor shall they be liable directly or indirectly for any damages which may arise from information or views contained in these pages. 2
From your Editors causeway.editor@gmail.com
Dear Readers
Editor’s Letter many more sunny days and lighter evenings for us to enjoy. As always we’re very grateful to all our contributors. If you have anything to send in please get in touch at the email address below, we’d LOVE to hear from you!
How well do you know the area? If you have been getting out and walking during lockdown you may recognise this month’s cover photo. Welcome to April’s issue of Causeway, hopefully bringing with it. This month we have the wonderful news that Martin House Hospice have won a National Care Award. This is great recognition of all the work they do to support babies, children and young people with life limiting illnesses along with their families across the Yorkshire area, more information on page 6. Thorp Arch Parish Council have had a new logo refresh from our very own John Pendleton and are sharing all their achievements of the last year on page 10 and we have all the information about the upcoming elections on page 11.
Contents
Pete McGettigan sent us a great photo and some memories of living on The Park in Thorp Arch in 1965 when the houses were first built. Read what he remembers on page
Editor’s Letter News from Martin House Green News Clergy Letter Sunday Services Thorp Arch Parish Council Wetherby Ward Message
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15, if you lived there then or still do please let us know anything you remember too! If you have any contributions for the magazine or would like to join the team please email us at causeway.editor@gmail. com. Blessings
Now available online at issuu.com/ causewaymag and LARGE PRINT VERSION AVAILABLE BY EMAILING CAUSEWAY. EDITOR@GMAIL.COM. Causeway is a voluntary community magazine which is published 10 times a year (monthly except for January and August). Contributions are considered by our Editorial Team and are invited to be emailed to causeway.editor@gmail.com by 10th of the month prior to publication. Recollections of Thorp Arch Park Four Tips to Take Better Photos of Your Dog Noticeboard Elderflower Recipes Nicola the Sturgeon Tales from an Amateur Gardener The Birds in your Garden
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Available online at issuu.com/causewaymag and LARGE PRINT VERSION - EMAIL CAUSEWAY.EDITOR@GMAIL.COM. Causeway is a community magazine produced and distributed by a team of dedicated volunteers which is published 10 times a year (monthly except for January and August). Contributions are considered by our Editorial Team and are invited to be emailed to causeway. editor@gmail.com by 10th of the month prior to publication. 3
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Recognition for Local Charity
Martin House Wins National Care Award
Its care team can work with hospitals to enable rapid discharge, allowing a child to die at home, and will help families prepare advance care plans, which helps them to make difficult decisions ahead of time about how they wish their child to be cared for at the end of their life.
Yorkshire children’s hospice Martin House has won a national award for its inspirational end of life and bereavement care.
The hospice also supports the whole family through bereavement, including parents, siblings and grandparents, both through individual counselling and group work, recognising the different ways they grieve for their child.
The hospice won the End of Life Care Award in the Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards, run by magazine Care Management Matters. Victoria Greensmith, interim director of clinical services at Martin House, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to win this award, which recognises the dedication and excellent work of our care and bereavement teams to support families in what is the most difficult time of their lives.”
Martin House also uniquely provides support to families when a child dies suddenly or unexpectedly, whether or not they were already known to the hospice. Victoria added: “To receive national recognition for this vital part of our service is incredibly gratifying, and we’d like to thank the panel of judges for their kind comments – it means so much to us.”
The judging panel described the service as ‘inspirational’ and said it was particularly impressed with the leadership displayed, the impact the service has on families and the knowledge shared between organisations. It also praised the hospice for its approach in ‘putting their arms around the families they support’.
To find out more about Martin House and how to support its work, visit www.martinhouse.org.uk.
Martin House, which cares for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions from across West, North and East Yorkshire, works with families to ensure their child receives end of life care with dignity and comfort, and in the setting of their choice, whether that is at the hospice, in their own homes, or in hospital. 6
Green News Reducing Food Waste
Have you thought about switching to green energy?
In the UK, nearly 10 million tonnes of food is wasted annually and three quarters of it is wasted by individual households! If global food waste was a country, it would be the third highest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US and China!
It’s easy, and can save you money (& the planet too). In Leeds in 2020, 26% of our carbon emissions came from our homes, which is predicted to rise to 33% by 2050, unless we all start reducing our energy usage and switching to using green energy. It is one of the easiest ways to make a big difference to your personal or family’s carbon footprint and help mitigate Climate Change. So if you haven’t already please think about this now.
Here are a few simple things you can do to start to reduce your food waste footprint at home: Check your food waste footprint on a calculator such as the BBC’s www.bbc.com/future/ article/20210204-calculate-the-environmentalfootprint-of-your-food.
If you are hungry, have a quick snack before you go shopping as you won’t stick to your list otherwise!
Switching to green energy not only saves you money but you can feel good about the energy you are using. Do take a look at information from Money Saving Expert and compare: www. moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/cheap-greenenergy/. There is also information about the different green energy providers from Which too: www.which.co.uk/news/2017/04/shouldyou-switch-to-a-green-energy-supplier/.
Have a look in your fridge for things which you will probably end up throwing away and make them into a few meals and put them in the freezer for when you are too tired to cook. Not sure what to do with random ingredients? There are lots of ideas online!
If you decide to switch, please consider using either of these referral links. Any credits/rewards we will donate the cash value to our Community Green Group, to help fund tree planting and other community projects we are working on together;
Try adding a plant based meal once or twice a week or cutting down your red meat consumption (14.5% of global climate-changing gases come from meat and dairy production).
Bulb, offer £50 credit when you join and £50 as a referral reward: join.bulb.co.uk/refer/pennys5280
Plan your meals and shopping list for next week as a little planning helps reduce waste. Don’t worry if you don’t get it right the first time – if you stick at it, you’ll soon cut down your food waste and save some money!
Octopus energy, split £100 credit when you switch: octopus.energy/friend-referral/
Once you have learnt to reduce waste, buy a hot bin or other suitable food waste composter so that none of your food waste has to go in your black bin and contaminate other recyclable materials and be landfilled or incinerated.
If you would like to see more information on this please do look on our webpage: bostongreengroup.co.uk/reduce-carbon/haveyou-thought-about-switching-to-green-energyits-easy-can-save-you-money/
Our Food Waste Reduction sub group has just restarted and is looking for new members to help fight food waste issues. If you would like to join please contact Penny Stables (penny. stables@bostongreengroup.co.uk Tel. 07941 797902). We look forward to welcoming you and your ideas and enthusiasm to help educate us others! 7
Letter from the Clergy Dear Friends,
They are a reminder as we eat and drink that connection with God isn’t an abstract concept, a meditative state to be entered into, or simply a matter of experiencing a holy feeling (though all those aspects of spirituality are beautiful and enriching parts of the human experience).
A lot of people find themselves in a season of gradual reconnecting this spring. As the months go by, brides and grooms will have more people allowed at their wedding services, more opportunities to reconnect with distant and lesser-seen family members and friends. Clubs and societies will have more opportunities to reconnect with one another in physical meetings together, and even if they’ve managed to continue to meet online or by other means, there is a particular comfort and reconnection involved when it comes to “in the flesh” meetings.
Meeting with God is about real life. It’s about flesh and blood. If we separate the spiritual from the physical, we miss the point: God is with us in the day to day, in the flesh and blood of daily life; in the messiness of human relationships; in our politics; in our work; in the business and economic life of the world; in our social life; in our prioritising the needs of the vulnerable, the poor and the marginalized; in our care for the planet, and yes, in our churches.
Our churches are gradually blending online and “in the flesh” acts of worship as more of us are vaccinated and feel comfortable coming together for Sunday worship, reconnecting physically as well as spiritually.
But God is not confined to holy places. Rather, we are called to make all places holy by being God’s blessing in the world wherever we find ourselves.
We do need to take care that we don’t overlook those who won’t be experiencing this reconnection: the housebound, or people whose disabilities or infirmity makes a physical getting together impossible. But we have learned this past year and more how much we miss when we cannot meet “in the flesh”.
This happens when we choose to connect with God in our daily lives by simply acknowledging God’s presence there, and with humility, invite God to work in us, with us and through us. It involves inviting God into our “normal”, being willing to love and serve others in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, and seeking to walk in the footsteps of Jesus as we connect with others and our world.
That is an experience I am taking into Easter with me this year. In Jesus we see God reconnecting in the flesh with us. God is not abstract, but is as flesh and blood as you or I. This is why the symbolism of bread and wine as Christ’s body and blood has been so deeply resonant with people in all times and places, and remains at the heart of the life of the Christian Faith.
This Easter, may you come to know and connect with the risen Lord Jesus more closely, and as you reconnect with those whose presence you’ve missed, pass on that connection by being God’s blessing to them. REV NICK MORGAN
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Sunday Services
ALL SAINTS’ THORP ARCH
9.30pm
4th April
Lay led Parish Worship Easter Day
9.30pm
18th April
Holy Communion
ST PETER’S WALTON
9.30pm
25th April
Holy Communion
9.30pm
9th May
Holy Communion
For online worship join us at:
To make that window bigger on your screen, hover your mouse over it and click the “Full Screen” icon which looks like 4 arrows pointing outwards.
facebook.com/BramhamBenefice or www. BramhamBenefice.org/online-services There is also a regular 10am online worship on WEDNESDAYS.
If you can’t hear the sound, hover your mouse and check the sound is not muted in that window.
It is now possible to view our Facebook live streamed services on the website.
We hope this means more people can access our live services easily. Please spread the word about this feature, especially to those who are less confident in accessing our services on Facebook - this should make it much easier for them.
On the main page of the website www. BramhamBenefice.org in the middle of the page whenever a live service starts, a window will appear on the screen. You may have to refresh your browser for this window to appear. 9
TAPC News March 2021 Spring is Here!
yet another successful litter picking day. Parish Councillors were delighted to join in and help clear the area of troublesome litter. Chairman John Richardson said: It was heart-warming to see so many residents joining in and working hard to help make Thorp Arch a cleaner environment for us all to live in.
To mark the first Daffodils and the start of Spring we have a refreshed look for Thorp Arch Parish Council. We have redesigned our logo (BIG thanks to John Pendelton). This month you will find an insert in Causeway Magazine with lots of information on what the Parish Council have achieved this year and their plans for the future to improve the Parish.
The Parish Council have purchased a number of litter pickers and high-visibility vests, which can be borrowed by residents and community organisations. Tree Work A number of trees on The Green are due to undergo some work. The Parish Council have applied for permission to have the work undertaken to ensure the trees remain healthy and create a safe environment in the area and around the Memorial. From time to time, trees in the Parish may require emergency attention. For example, they may be blocking a road or a pavement. This can be reported directly to Leeds City Council who provide a 24-hour emergency service.
We would love you to get involved. Communities thrive when people get involved, give up their time and come together to take action on the issues they care about. If you think you could lend a hand or want to get more involved get in touch at clerk@thorp-arch. org.uk If you would just like to be kept more informed about what’s happening in the Village (anything from the latest information on bin collections, to updates on COVID or roadworks) then check out our website or sign up to our newsletter at www.thorp-arch.org.uk
If a tree or branch is causing immediate danger to a person or property in a public space, call 0113 868 9929, 8am to 4:30pm, Monday to Thursday and 8am to 4pm, Friday. If the emergency is out of office hours, call 0113 376 0499. You will need to provide:
Litter Picking Day
• a contact name and telephone number
The Parish Council would like to say a big Thank-You to the Village Society for organising
• If a tree is causing an immediate danger to highway users, call the Police on 999.
• the exact location of the tree or branch
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TAPC News March 2021 Works to the Bridge
Police Report
Works to the bridge that commenced in the summer of 2020 will now recommence in midJune, when the contractor will return to continue repairing areas of scour. Please see our website for the further information: http://www.thorparch.org.uk/Latest_News_16892.aspx
One crime reported for January, a burglary on the Trading Estate. Register for a community alert: For daily crime updates in your area please register for community alert. Here you will receive updates about crime in your area, and crime prevention advice. www.wypcommunityalert.co.uk
Housing Developments
Crime Reporting
The Chartford Homes/Homes England application (18/07278/FU) for 26 dwellings continues on site. The development is well underway with almost all homes now built. Completion date for the site is expected to be March/April 2021.
Please ensure that you report all crimes. For nonurgent issues and to pass on information, call West Yorkshire Police on 101. In an emergency (if a crime is in progress or you think the offenders are nearby), call 999.
Homes England/Lovells (17/07970 for 119 houses). Ongoing discussions and consultation by Cllrs and local residents continue with Lovell Homes. It is expected that development will commence in the early part of this year.
Deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired people can use textphone 18001 101. Go to the West Yorkshire Police website - https://www. westyorkshire.police.uk Click on the ‘Contact us’ button and a range of ways to report will appear including the 101 Live Chat System. Or click on the ‘Report it’ function and numerous types of crime which you can report online will appear.
Parish Cllrs are in discussions with Ministry of Justice Estates (HMP Wealstun) and Highways regarding community issues relating to the cycle path.
Contact your local Neighbourhood Policing Team to speak to a local officer about community issues:
Leeds Vaccination programme For information about the vaccination programme in Leeds please visit:
Email: nel.npt@westyorkshire.pnn.police.uk
https://www.leedsccg.nhs.uk/health/coronavirus/ covid-19-vaccine/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ WYPLeedsNorthEast
Lifting of Lockdown Restrictions
Twitter: www.twitter.com/WYP_LeedsNE
Whilst lockdown still remains in place, the Government has produced a timetable and information about the gradual lifting of restrictions: https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021
To give information anonymously call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Newsletter Sign Up The Parish Council now produce their own electronic Newsletter. You can sign up to receive it via www.thorp-arch.org.uk - Homepage.
Report a Problem Residents can report a range of problems online to Leeds City Council concerning potholes, street lighting, dog fouling, blocked drains, footpaths, bridleways, fallen trees and street signs. Please make a note of the link and report problems directly at: www.leeds.gov.uk/parkingroads-and-travel/report-an-issue-with-a-road-orpavement
Date of Next Parish Council Meeting The next meeting will be held remotely on Monday 12th April 2021 – 7pm to 9pm. If you would like to join the meeting, please contact the Clerk on clerk@thorp-arch.org.uk
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Wetherby Ward Councillors Wetherby Ward Message
West Yorkshire, this is a new position but it won’t replace the Lord Mayor of Leeds or any of the other council Mayors, it is to give the region a new senior voice nationally, rather like arrangements in the West Midlands and Manchester. Like those other Mayors, new powers will also be part of the office. For example, the West Yorkshire Mayor will also take on the responsibility for the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for the area, a post that will be appointed by the Mayor.
May 6th 2021. Make a note of it in your diary. Why? Because after a year-long postponement, it is Election Day. Local democracy is a key part of the democratic process. It is your chance to directly influence how the Council does things by voting for a local Councillor. In order to be able to vote in any election, you have to be registered with the Council. Ahead of the election date, you will either be sent a polling card or a postal vote if you have requested one.
Full lists of candidates will be available shortly, we would urge you to make sure you are registered to vote before the deadline, and then to vote either by post or in person when the time comes – it’s your democratic right.
The deadline for voter registration is midnight on Monday 19th April. You can check online to see how to register - www.leeds.gov.uk/your-council/ elections/register-to-vote.
On a note closer to home, one item that we have been made very aware of across the ward, is litter. The better weather has meant that more people have been able to exercise outdoors whilst still being able to follow the guidelines.
Whilst the rollout of the vaccination programme has made great progress since it started, until it is complete, some people may still have reservations about attending a polling station to vote in person.
Unfortunately the increase in people has also brought about an increase in litter. So much so, a number of the bins are now overflowing and the cleaning teams are struggling to keep up.
There will be measures in place to minimise the risk from Covid, but if you are feeling uncertain about attending to vote in person, an alternative method is to request a postal vote.
As Ward Members, we have already met with the council department responsible and understand there are staffing challenges due to Covid. Great thanks do need to go out to the volunteers that have been out collecting, but it is the sheer volume that is causing the problem.
The Council will then send you a voting slip, the same as you would get in the polling station for you to make your mark and return your vote in the special pre-paid envelopes provided. It is free and anonymous, just the same as voting in person. It also means you can cast your vote ahead of polling day at a time that is convenient to you.
Could we respectfully ask therefore, that people take litter home and put it in the bin there? This is a small gesture and will go a long way to keeping our town and villages clean and litter free.
All votes, whether postal or in person, will then be counted in the normal way once the polls have closed, and the winner announced. However you choose to vote, this time round, in Leeds it is not only Councillors up for election. There will also be the opportunity to vote for an elected Mayor to represent the whole of the West Yorkshire region (Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Kirklees and Calderdale). Coming about as a result of the devolution deal for 12
Community History The building of Thorp Arch Park
later, but it cost another £3,000 (high inflation in those days). There’s hardly a house remaining that hasn’t been added to now.
It was certainly fun living on a building site before Health & Safety was invented.
The gardens on the river/wood side of the road were originally about 10 metres shorter, until someone realised that the developers had placed the fences too close to the houses, so they had to move them! There was an old tower on the top of the rise, up from the green (function unknown) that was demolished just before we moved in.
We used to get rides on the site dump truck. My father bought ‘off-plan’ and was the first to do so, having driven through the village while house-hunting and seeing a sign with the developer’s name on it before the properties had been marketed. We moved in in summer 1965. We weren’t the first to move in though, as we had to wait for the services (gas, electricity, sewers) to be laid. The house cost £7,500!
John Train (original owner of Castle Glebe) dug a pit under his garage for car inspection, and found an old section of a castle wall – hence the name of the house maybe? The garage was replaced by the current dining room. Pear Tree Acre was still an orchard – I remember scrumping apples with the Waddington boys.
Between placing the order and moving in the developers realised that, if they made some of the garages two cars deep rather than two cars wide, they could fit in an extra plot. So anyone who hadn’t specifically asked for a wide garage had a bit shaved off their property. The developer’s response was that if you don’t like it you can cancel the order, but prices were going up fast so people couldn’t argue without losing out.
David Cummings’ book probably has much more info. Though I seem to recall he got the final completion date wrong, which resulted in a heated debate at a Village Society Pub Quiz a few years ago.
Ours was also the first to have an extension. Dad started his own business, so we had an office built over the garage. It was only a few years
PETE MCGETTIGAN - AGED 4 AND A BIT
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Four Tips for Great Dog Pics! If you have a dog, you’re well aware that they are the definition of cute.
camera allow you to display the ‘rule of thirds grid, using this to create pleasing photographs will change your photographs massively. So will finding a different perspective or angle with each photo you take of your dog. Getting low down or shooting them slightly higher looking down will help get a little character from them and almost always, close up is better that far away. That cute photo is there for you to find and now you have the tools to take it!
So perhaps you’ve thought about taking photos of your puppy for print, social media or to simply capture an awesome photo of your pup doing something adorable. Whatever the reason may be, taking good photography of dogs is possible. I’ll share with you 4 tips on how to photograph a puppy to ensure your best chance at cute dog photography.
Finally, take photographs of your puppy or dog throughout the day and you’ll get a better shot of your pet in the end. You never know, you might end up loving it as much as I do and start a career working with dog’s (and people), like me!
Good light can make a good picture look great, but bad light can ruin a good photo. If you have a particularly young dog or a puppy you will most likely be photographing them indoors so use your knowledge of the home and where the sunlight comes through the house and at what time of day. If you’re outdoors consider taking your dog’s photo early in the morning or later in the afternoon, positioning the sun either behind you or off to one side. That way you’ll avoid terrible shadows.
ANTHONY FARRIMOND
You should take photos of your dog all day, getting a good one can be tough but you only need one good one, if you persevere it will pay off! A dog is a lot like a child, and just like with children, you want to capture their best side. As the person taking the photo, your fast reflexes will be tested in capturing the perfect shot. There are a couple of things to consider that might make the task a little easier! Take your photo’s at the end of a walk or towards the end of the day when your dog is more relaxed and try and give yourself time between meals too. A lot of dogs behaviour can be incentivised with food however hunger is a distraction. Try and take their photo too close to their next meal and you’ll find it difficult to keep them engaged long enough to have a photo taken. Treats won’t replace a meal in this instance, best feed them and try again later! Utilize the ‘rule of thirds’ and find a different angle. If your not familiar with the ‘rule of thirds’ don’t worry, it’s a guide that breaks the world around us into thirds, most cameras and phone 15
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...It’s back! Wetherby Manor Residents
Tennis Returns!
Here is a New Year update on Clive and Jennifer, both residents at Wetherby Manor. Clive has been there for a year now having been moved from their Harrogate home, although he is deteriorating he seems happy in his world, eating and sleeping his days away being cared for and comfortable.
Now that tennis is fully open after the 29th March, we would like to encourage as many families in Thorp Arch to become members of our wonderful tennis court, situated opposite The Pax Inn on the High Street. Current £45 for a full family membership. This really is a superb facility for the village to use. Bookings will be online this season, making it easier to use the court and checking availability, rather than arriving to find it already in use.
Both he and Jennifer have had their first vaccine with the second one imminent which does mean that they will be able to receive visits from family, a relief to them both, I am sure.
Fingers crossed we will be able to host the annual American Tennis Tournament and BBQ this year - usually around August.
Jennifer is being kept busy with various activities and joining in with everything that she can. Life is very different for them but l am sure that they enjoy receiving newsletters and the Causeway magazine keeping them up to date with the parish news. Our love and prayers go to them both.
For more information just contact Neil Brooks on 07960 934497 or brooksneil@hotmail.com.
DOREEN BILL AND ALL THEIR FRIENDS IN THE BENEFICE.
Thank you! I wish to thank everyone who supported me last September after cancer surgery. I didn’t anticipate so many cards, plants and lovely things to eat! It was almost overwhelming. We should all appreciate the wonderful community spirit we have in Thorp Arch. Thank you all so, so much. JANE CLAYTON
Thorp Arch Spring Litter Pick 2021 Recently the Village Society held their Spring Litter Pick. We were pleased to see that a record number of 24 volunteers met up (socially distancing of course!). The task is to collect litter within the boundaries of the Parish. We can report over 20 bags were filled and taken to the tip, leaving our village looking much tidier. A special thanks to all those who volunteered. 17
A Tasty Seasonal Treat! Elderflower Recipes
local areas “Clandestine Cake Club” (no longer in operation but a lovely excuse to bake and eat cake and very popular at the time) We had the theme of summer drinks for the meeting and I choose Elderflower and this cake as I had just started to eat gluten free.
All being well when this goes to print the Elderflower blossoms will be starting to come into bloom! We have three Elderflower bushes in our garden so I have made both Elderflower cordial and Elderberry syrup during the time we have lived here, I try where possible when I’m making recipes to reduce the sugar content or use unrefined sugar alternatives, I have used honey in the elderflower cordial as I found this to be a suitable alternative - nothing fancy needed just a standard runny honey will do.
Elderflower Crunch Drizzle Cake Ingredients 175g Sugar (or coconut sugar or agave syrup) 175g Butter (softened to room temperature) 3 eggs / 75g Almonds / 140g Buckwheat Flour 2 tsp baking powder / 1 tbsp Elderflower cordial
Elderflower Cordial
Topping
Ingredients
Three tbsp Elderflower cordial Three tbsp granulated sugar
15 heads elderflower (about a cup of blossoms) 2 unwaxed organic lemons, sliced 500ml honey / 750ml water
Method 1. Preheat the oven to 200C or Gas Mark 6. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin
Remove the blossoms from the elderflower heads, discarding as much stem as possible, and place them into a large bowl. Add the lemons and honey. Heat the water in a saucepan or kettle until just simmering, but not boiling. Pour the hot water over the honey and use a wooden spoon to stir until the honey dissolves fully. Once cooled add the elderflower heads.
2. Mix together butter and sugar with electric beater or by hand until very light and fluffy. 3. Beat the eggs with a fork then add slowly continuing to beat until thoroughly mixed in. 4. Fold in the almonds, flour and baking powder followed by the cordial. Mix until combined but be careful not to beat out the air.
Place a muslin or tea towel over the bowl and set in a cool, dark place. Let it steep for 2-3 days, checking after the second day. If you’d like it to be stronger, leave until day three.
5. Pour into your prepared tin and cook for 4550 mins until springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean. 6. Mix together the cordial and sugar, poke holes all over the cake and pour over as much as you like so that the drizzle can soak into the cake and then leave to cool.
Once the cordial is finished steeping, strain it through a fine-meshed sieve and pour into sterilized jars or bottles. Keep in the refrigerator for up to a month, or freeze for longer storage.
The cake is also delicious still warm! Enjoy!
Similarly, the cake can be made with sugar alternatives, I first made this one when I ran my
LISA
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A Bath, a Butcher and Bolton... Nicola the Sturgeon There is little more distressing for the domestic pond keeper than waking in the morning to find his fish floating in distress on the surface of the pond. There can be several causes but the most likely, as global warming kicks in, is oxygen deficiency caused by over warm water or the dreaded blanket weed which grows like crazy and drains a pond of its life-giving oxygen. Different fish respond in different ways. I have found that indigenous fish (those that have been bred in the pond) cope well with lack of oxygen as do older koi but hyperactive fish like orfe and bottom dwellers, particularly sturgeon are at most risk.
“Why don’t you get it stuffed?” Val asked. “How can you be so insensitive?” I gently enquired. But 5 minutes later I thought, well why not? Amazingly, if you google ‘taxidermy fish,’ you will find that the Wetherby area is a little haven and my first call resulted in my first challenge. How long has it been dead? - about 20 minutes. Have you got it in a freezer? - no. How big is it - 4 feet long. You will need to freeze it now in a straight line.
Such an event happened three years back in a particularly warm part of the summer. Despite emergency measures (I put the sturgeon in the bath and turned the cold tap on full - there is nothing more oxygenated than tap water) my favourite and biggest Siberian long nosed sturgeon didn’t make it. I was gutted. They’re affectionate fish and rub up against you in the pond like a kitty after food.
We only have a chest freezer so where? The Pax - no; Morrisons - no; Sykes House Farm YES! They were so helpful and with it boxed, wrapped in bin liners and labelled, it sat safely and isolated in the corner in their cold store at about -40º. There followed a number of calls to various taxidermists - including one who was in an aquarium in Copenhagen where he was assessing how to stuff an amazonian Arapaima (google it!) that had leapt out of its tank - to find someone who could do the job. Very few taxidermists can do fish as well as animals. But how do you know what to expect and whether they were just “fly by nights”. Eventually I found a gentleman in Bolton who spoke the right language - we talked fish and more fish. I wanted to compare an unusual fish I had caught with one he had stuffed. So off I went, Common skate - no. conger eel - no, Mahe Mahe - no, Alligator Gar - no, Ballan Wrasse - no, Coral Perch - no, Snake Head - no, Red tailed Catfish - YES, he had and I had both caught one in Thailand some years back. 20
...in a Stuffing Sturgeon Story! sausages) and set off to Bolton. This cannot be right I thought as we sat in our car outside a detached house on a housing estate in Bolton. Have I come to the right place? But he came out to greet us and after the small talk we were into his house and then his workshop in the garden. What a treasure trove - no photography allowed unfortunately - I found myself staring into a full bison’s head (shot in Canada and frozen across the Atlantic - “I have some very wealthy clients”) next to a domestic doggy (“I get a lot of requests to stuff pets”) surrounded by every type of antelope, fox, weasel, a half-done sea trout, a monster carp and many more obscurities. “Ever done a human I asked?”. “No”, he told me, “but it won’t be long and will be the ultimate challenge” said without his tongue in his cheek. It wasn’t a quick job. “I have to be in the zone” he told me “so I can imagine its environment and present it properly”. He explained that the word “stuffed” was not to be taken literally because the only original bits were the skin, fins, tail section and head section, the main part of the body being a mould, “otherwise it will go moldy” he explained, completely missing the irony.
The pictures show you the match was uncanny. I had my fish stuffer. The price was agreed subject to me seeing his workshop and a feel for his action. We retrieved the frozen sturgeon from Sykes (along with some
ANDREW RODGERS
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Lettuce use our thyme well... Tales from an Amateur Gardener
The first ones I experimented with were the wooden spoons. I thought these would be better for larger items as they stand up out the soil quite a long way. If you have old wooden spoons you could use those, or new ones are available quite cheaply online. The advantage of these is that you can draw (or trace) your picture onto the spoon in pencil and then fill the detail in with felt pens. I then added a coat of varnish to protect them from the weather. The potatoes look a little unappetising, but other than that I am quite pleased with how these turned out!
The first lockdown of last year meant I did not have to travel so much for work, and so had a bit more time to work in the garden. Regular readers will remember that I was a little over enthusiastic in the numbers of courgettes I planted. We are still eating the ones I froze! So, I thought that a gardening tips page was probably pushing my credibility just a little too far...however, if any proper gardeners out there would like to send their tips in, we are happy to publish. Please remember our deadline is the 10th of the month so we are working almost a month ahead for each issue. I am rather hoping for some guidance from those more experienced gardeners out there! With my limitations in mind I decided to combine what I do know about, with my new enthusiasm and have a go at some plant markers. These can be really expensive online, but are quite cheap and simple to make. Although some were easier and had more visual impact than others.
I tried something similar on the stones, but found it more difficult to get the detail in. Although there are some really lovely pictures of decorated stones online, I find it difficult to get any level of detail when I do it. You can use acrylic paints, but emulsion paint will do just as well, again once you have finished a coat of clear varnish will set the decoration and protect it from the weather.
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...to mark plants that excel! Next I tried the pegs. I thought these would be quite easy and might look good on some of the plants in my greenhouse. I have decorated pegs in the past, but these were too narrow to do anything but write on. Although these work well for making the Easter bunnies from last month, I think if I was going to try and draw pictures or make patterns I would go for wider, more chunkier pegs.
I think the last ones I tried are possibly my favourites, and certainly the cheapest! These are simply pieces of broken pot painted with emulsion paint. I used a sharpie to write the herb names on the labels. These are from a stack of tiny pots that I dropped and so don’t have a lot of space for more creativity. If you had larger pieces it would be quite simple to draw pictures of the plants in a similar way to the wooden spoons. Again I used a coat of clear varnish to protect the finished labels. I think once my herbs start to grow around these, they will look really great.
The wine corks on forks are quite fun to look at, but it was really difficult to get a pen that would actually write on the corks, (a black biro gave the best results) and you have to have old forks you don’t mind sticking in the garden. Normally I would go to charity shops to source second hand cutlery, but obviously that is not possible in the current situation. The corks, on the other hand, are very easy and pleasant to source! The other thing you need to watch out for is how you position the cork on the prongs. I put mine a little too far around and it makes it a little more tricky to read the label.
All of these took me a few hours one rainy morning, and worked out much cheaper than buying a similar product online. They would also be great fun to do with children or grandchildren. If you have a go at any of them, perhaps you could send a picture along with your garden tips! Happy growing. VICTORIA 25
The Birds in Your Garden Goldfinch numbers in our gardens have increased some 60-fold over the last 30 or so years, most likely due to our spending a small fortune putting out oil-rich seeds such as nyjer and sunflower.
At first glance, this name might arise simply from the bird’s tell-tale red mask, but a Redcap is also a malevolent, murderous goblin found in Border folklore. It is said to inhabit ruined castles, especially those that were the scenes of tyranny or wicked deeds, they are known for soaking their caps in the blood of their victims.
At this time of year there are flocks of anything up to a few dozen roaming around looking for food, and they make a lovely twittering sound as they chat to each other.
Other names too arise from this red mask: the Irish name for the Goldfinch is lasair choille, which translates as ‘bright flame of the forest’. Elsewhere, it was known as the ‘proud tailor’, “because his plumage is varied like a suit of clothes made out of remnants of different colours, such as a tailor might be supposed to wear”. Similarly, “tailor-birds” because the white tips to their feathers look like stitches. Add on “seven-coloured Linnet”…………..
I intended penning (typing?) a general article about them but became side-tracked when I came across so many names for them, as well as several collective nouns for flocks: so, I decided that I’d share my findings! The best-known collective noun for flocks of Goldfinches is ‘charm’. The first article I read suggested that this may be linked to the use of the term for the blended voices of a choir – perhaps alluding to the gentle jingling calls and Goldfinches’ constant ‘tswitt-witt-witt’ -ing. The second suggested that it is related to the Latin word ‘carmen’ meaning ‘magic song or spell’. Yet another suggested that charm derives from the old English c’irm, describing the birds’ twittering song’ or ‘mingled tinkling’, which certainly captures the aural effect created by a flock of Goldfinches - though most certainly not their personalities. If you’ve watched them on a feeder for a while, you’ll have seen how aggressive they can be to each other, as well as to other species. I then came across a couple more collective nouns: ‘a drum of Goldfinches’, and ‘a troubling of Goldfinches’. The latter I can well understand!
Goldfinches were for many years valued too for their song, as well as their colourful plumage, and were caught and caged by 19th century bird trappers until they were almost extinct. Indeed, the French name for a bird-trap, chardonerret, now used instead to catch birds for ringing, comes from the French word for thistle, chardon. By any name, they are a delight to have around, both visually and aurally. MIKE GRAY
The Anglo Saxon name for the Goldfinch was ‘thistle-tweaker’, underlining their liking of teasel and thistle seeds. The male is the only UK bird able to extract teasel seeds from their narrow seed heads: females find this difficult because their bills, while narrow, are not quite as long so they favour thistle seeds.
The next name to come up was Redcap. The redcap is a painted bird and beautiful its feathers are In early spring its voice is heard While searching thistles brown and bare… From ‘Redcap’, by John Clare 26
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CONTACTS FOR THORP ARCH & WALTON ORGANISATIONS THORP ARCH
WALTON
All Saints’ Church Rev. Tricia Anslow 844789. Priest In Charge for Bramham Benefice, Rev. Nick Morgan 849471, 07387 728009, revnjmorgan@gmail.com. Parish Office 844402
St Peter’s Church, Village Church Council Clergy: See All Saints’. Church Wardens: Doreen Lister 842344, Bill Kilby 842561. Secretary: Anne Kilby 842561. Treasurer: Fiona Robinson 843338, fionarob@outlook.com. Flowers & Cleaning: Liz and Geoff Harrison 845978
All Saints’, Parochial Church Council Church Wardens: Kathleen Sanderson 844818. David Spurr 842772, david@mulberrycroft.me.uk. Secretary: Georgina Squires 849747, Treasurer & Covenant Secretary: David Spurr 842772. Flowers: Margaret Smyth 841181
Walton Cricket Club Chair: Caroline Hobson 07860 615154, caroline.hobson@btinternet.com Walton Parish Council Chairman: David Aspland. Vice Chair: Brodie Clark CBE. Clerk: Helena Buck, secretary@walton-pc.gov.uk. Members: Stephen Sharp, Edward Simpson, Mark Wake, David Taylor.
Lady Elizabeth Hastings School Head: Michele O'Donnell, secretary@thorparch-leh.co.uk Friends of the School Chair: Hayley Cullen 07712 175178
Walton Village Hall Booking: Brian Eldred info@waltonvillagehallwetherby.org
TABS Cricket Club Chair: Adam Gough 07725 047555
THORP ARCH & WALTON
Thorp Arch Community Association Secretary: Ian Hall 842665, ian.m.hall1@gmail.com
Wetherby Ward Councillors Norma Harrington 01133 788 557. Alan Lamb via The Fox and Hounds. Linda Richards 0113 3788557 linda.richards@ leeds.gov.uk
Thorp Arch Parish Council Chair: John Richardson, Clerk: Tina Wormley 0113 289 3624, clerk@thorp-arch.org.uk. Members: Ian Grainger (Co-opted), Steve O'Loughlin, Nicola Midgley (Co-opted), Charlotte Dyson (Co-opted)
Causeway Magazine Secretary: Jane Clayton 843153. Editors: Lisa Sherratt and Victoria Etherington causeway.editor@gmail.com. Chair, Design, Advertising: John Pendleton jlp@proportionmarketing.co.uk
Thorp Arch Tennis Club Chair: Neil Brooks. 07960 934497, brooksneil@hotmail. com. Secretary: Jill Tarr. 07709 893046, tarrhigh@hotmail. com. Treasurer: Rob Seldon 541797
Yorkshire Countrywomen’s Association (YCA) Chair: Judith Symonds 541799. Sec: Fiona Spence 520271 tawyca@outlook.com, Treasurer: Fran Bowers 01423 880112
Thorp Arch Village Society Chair: Gill Johnson 541485, gilljohnson.tap@gmail.com. Secretary: Sue Clayton 843181. Treasurer: Shirley Davies 541976.
Leeds City Council general.enquiries@leeds.gov.uk
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