Ripon remembers
World War One
Events Guide
August – December 2014
Ripon remembers
World War One
What’s On
Durham Light Infantry marching through Ripon
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WW1 Events and Exhibitions • Ripon Museums
WW1 Events and Exhibition • Ripon Library
‘Duty Calls’: Newby Hall in Time of War Exhibition • Newby Hall
3 August • Commemorative Evensong • Ripon Cathedral
3 August • WW1 Gala Concert • Newby Hall
4 August • August 1914 at Ripon Races • Ripon Racecourse
16 August • Photography Exhibition • Allhallowgate Church Hall
14 September • Battle of Britain Service • Ripon Spa Gardens
18 September • Ripon International Festival: Sir Andrew Motion The Customs House • Ripon Spa Hotel
20 September • Ripon International Festival: Carlton Main Frickley
Colliery Band • Holy Trinity Church
9 October • Ripon Film Society Event • Ripon Town Hall
11 October • St Cecilia Orchestra Gala Concert • Ripon Cathedral
War and Peace Sculpture Unveiling • Ripon Cathedral
8 November • Royal British Legion Service • Cathedral forecourt
8 November • “Lest We Forget” Concert • Ripon Cathedral
9 November • Wreath Laying and Civic Parade • Ripon Spa Gardens
10 November • Cathedral Concert Society: The Dark Pastoral •
Ripon Cathedral
11 November • Wreath Laying • Lister House
15 November • Ripon Choral Society Concert • Ripon Cathedral
In 1914 Ripon had a population of about 8,500 – half today’s.
It was a typical market town, an agricultural centre with some
industry – varnish-making and ironworking. The arrival of a
few Belgian refugees in August 1914 was the first sign of the
War, while the appearance of Zeppelins over Ripon caused
some consternation.
The greatest impact on Ripon, though, was the arrival of the
Army. Camps, both hutted and tented, sprang up in a
semicircle around the north and west of Ripon, eventually
housing up to 35,000 troops, most of them in transit. Miles of
roads were laid and a light railway from Littlethorpe served the
camp; its need for water caused supply problems for the city.
As the Yorkshire Post said at the time, ‘Ripon is fast losing its
air of old-world serenity . . . nowhere has the war wrought a
greater transformation’.
Riponians, though, took the arrival of the military well, and
worked hard to help. Two cinemas opened in the city during
the War, and the military held sports days to which the locals
were invited, while many local groups welcomed the troops.
Despite the hardships of War, Ripon was proud to have
hosted one of the country’s largest Army camps.
David Winpenny
www.discoverripon.org
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Live It! Wednesday 13 August, 1pm–4pm
Wash Day
Discover just how difficult wash day for a WW1 family. There’s no
electricity or running water! Suitable for all ages.
Ripon Museums World War One Events
PRISON & POLICE MUSEUM
Noble Bloods
16 August–30 November
This temporary art installation includes a
work by Frances Darlington and new
work by artist Louise Marchal.
The First World War memorial to boys
from St. George’s Police Orphanage is
by Frances Darlington (1880–1940).
Louise Marchal, who published her
biography of Frances last year, continued her practice as an artist
alongside research for the book for several years. Noble Bloods
will demonstrate the social, political and aesthetic changes felt by
a contemporary artist responding to older and traditional values
evident in the memorial. It will be the first time the two distantly
related artists have been shown together in a public space.
WORkHOUSE MUSEUM
Explore It! Every Tuesday from
29 July–26 August, 2.30pm–4pm
Wartime Object Handling Sessions
Come along and meet our volunteers
who will let you hold real wartime objects
from the museum’s collection. You can
touch and feel and smell them!
Drop in sessions, no need to book.
Suitable for all ages.
Make it! Thursday 7 and 21 August, 1pm–4pm
Make a rag rug poppy
Our museum staff and volunteers will show you how to rag rug, a
traditional craft that recycles old fabric. Use your new-found skills
to create a rag rug poppy in memory of all the soldiers who went
to war 100 years ago. You can take it away as a memento of your
visit or leave it behind to be added to our World War One poppy
field banner. Suitable for children 7+
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Explore It! Thursday 14 August, 1pm–4pm
Garden Exploration Day (weather dependant)
For over 200 years people have used the Workhouse garden. Our
museum staff will recreate an archaeological dig and using tools,
will help families to uncover real artefacts that have been found
there. Use the clues to try to work out what your object might be.
Then we will discover some of the current residents with a
minibeast hunt. The garden is home to a fantastic array of insects;
use your magnifier to get up close and personal with some of
them. Suitable for all ages.
PRISON & POLICE MUSEUM
Make it! Wednesday 20 August, 1pm–4pm
Postcard to Home
Be inspired by our collection of World War One postcards and
photographs before designing your own ‘postcard to home’.
Because of censoring, soldiers weren’t allowed to say what they
really wanted to. We will imagine what life was like for a soldier in
the trenches by designing and writing a special postcard to send
back home to Ripon. Suitable for children 7+
WORkHOUSE MUSEUM
Live It! Wednesday 27 August, 1pm–4pm
Dig for Victory (weather dependant)
During wartime it was essential that all gardens was used to grow
fruit and vegetables. Here in the Workhouse garden, there’s lots
to do; help sort the seeds for next year, scare away the birds that
eat our plants with our noisy rattles and perhaps help harvest
some produce. Can you design a poster to encourage others to
grow their own and not waste food? Suitable for all ages.
PRISON & POLICE MUSEUM
Make it! Thursday 28 August, 1pm–4pm
Medals for Bravery
During wartime, medals were given out to brave soldiers who had
saved the lives of others. Be inspired by the medals all around the
museum and with the help of our museum volunteers, design and
make your own medal. Suitable for all ages.
All are drop in sessions, with no need to book, and free with
normal admission charge. For more details, call 01765 690799
or visit http://riponmuseums.co.uk/events/
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Every first Thursday of the month,
11am–12.30pm
Do you have any letters, photos, diaries or
other items to do with the First World War of
relevance to Ripon? Ripon Library is holding a
regular drop-in session, when people can bring
in information and objects related to the war
and share them with a local history volunteer.
Wednesday 29 October, 7pm
(doors open 6.45pm)
John Moss will be giving a talk about the origins of
the two-minute silence. Tickets cost £3, available
from the library in early September. Space is
limited, so early booking is advisable.
‘Ripon at War’ Exhibitions, 2014–2018
Ripon Historical Society in partnership with Ripon
Library and North Yorkshire County Council is
holding a series of exhibitions entitled ‘Ripon at War’ throughout
2014–2018 to commemorate the First World War. Between
August 2014 and April 2015 there will be an exhibition on the
impact of the beginning of the First World War on Ripon, and
between May 2015 and January 2016 an exhibition about the
large army camp that was based at Ripon. Other exhibitions and
talks will follow, but are still to be confirmed.
For full details of all these events, please check at the library or on
the website: www.northyorks.gov.uk/librarynews
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Duty Calls - Newby Hall in Time of War
Helen Tabor
Ripon Library World War One Events
During WW1 Newby Hall and the surrounding villages were
affected in the same way as every community in Britain. Families
left at home as men marched away to war, some not to return
including 14 from Skelton on Ure alone. Many fought with
distinction in all services, with one, Archie White from
Boroughbridge, winning a VC at The Somme. Newby land was
bombed during a Zeppelin raid in 1916.
This exhibition illustrates Newby’s role in both the First and
Second World Wars, specifically how the wars affected the Hall, the
estate and the surrounding communities. It is part of a crossYorkshire project, ‘A Country House in Time of War’.
The exhibition is in the Entrance Pavilion. Normal admission
charges apply. Find out more at newbyhallandgardens.com
Sunday 3 August, 5.30pm • Ripon Cathedral
Ripon Cathedral is holding a service of Evensong to
commemorate the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914.
All are welcome.
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Monday 4 August • Ripon Racecourse
World War One Gala Concert
Ripon Racecourse was racing on 4 August 1914, the day Britain
entered the First World War. 100 years on, we mark this day with
races bearing the same names from 1914: The Studley Selling
Handicap Stakes and The City Welter Handicap Stakes. We have
also named a race in remembrance: The Ripon Remembers The
Great War Handicap Stakes.
To commemorate the eve of Britain’s entry into
World War One, Newby Hall is staging a
concert of music from that period. Renowned
baritone Richard Suart (pictured) will host a
programme of Gilbert and Sullivan favourites,
along with solos and choruses of some of the
best loved music from Novello, Monckton, Coward, The Beatles
and Handel. Plus enjoy a performance by a Barber Shop choir,
Silverdale Brass Band and a massed festival choir taking a walk
down memory lane with WW1 medleys. There’ll also be readings
of work by the war poets and a community singing element.
Pack your rug and bring a picnic. We will have a ‘George V’ and
‘Queen Mary’ there, so why not make it even more memorable
and come along in period costume (a group of ‘1914 Nurses’ are
attending!)?
For more details, visit www.gsfestivals.org
Tickets £20 from Newby or via www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk
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Neil Mockford
Sunday 3 August, 7.30pm • Newby Hall
The Racecourse’s Children’s Day will run from 2pm–5pm; at 1pm,
prior to the start of the races, all are invited to join in a short
commemoration service to remember and honour the fallen. In
attendance will be Major General Mike Shute, Lt Col Hobson,
Jock Hutton, 21 Engineer Regiment, the Sqn Ldr representing
RAF Menwith Hill, together with US Navy personnel serving at
RAF Menwith Hill, veterans and school children.
Normal/special admission charges apply. Under 18s FREE.
For further information, visit www.ripon-races.co.uk
Saturday 16 August, 9.30am–4pm
Allhallowgate Methodist Church Hall
Photography
Exhibition
Come and see an inspiring selection of recent
work by members of Ripon City Photographic
Society. Admission free; refreshments available.
www.riponcityphotographicsociety.co.uk
Exhibition includes ‘Shot at Dawn Memorial’ by David Morland
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Ripon International Festival
6 – 24 September 2014
Thursday 18 September, 7.30pm
Ripon Spa Hotel
Helen Tabor
Charlotte knee
Sunday 14 September, 10.15am
Ripon Spa Gardens
Sir Andrew Motion – The Customs House
Battle of Britain Service
This annual civic and military event will have an honour guard,
with fixed bayonets, from RAF Leeming leading the Civic parade
to the Spa Gardens where a short service and wreath laying will
be held. Following this, the airmen and women from RAF Leeming
will march past the dais in Ripon Market Place on which will be
CO Group Captain Steve Reeves and Cllr Mick Stanley the Right
Worshipful the Mayor of Ripon. The Civic and military parade will
then process to Ripon Cathedral for a second service at 11.15am
to remember the fallen. The War memorial pictured above is on
the east wall behind the high altar.
Also on this day, 2pm at Ripon Grammar School, as part of the
Heritage Weekend, a new plaque will be added to the existing
memorial stone to the fallen in the sports field.
Andrew Motion – Poet Laureate 1999–2009 – presents Laurels
and Donkeys, his “lucid, brilliant, melancholic, poetry collection”
(The Times). He has taken part in all the major literary festivals,
received the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award,
Whitbread Biography Award, the Arvon/Observer Prize and the
John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. He also reads from his book The
Cinder Path and answers questions about his writing and the role
of Poet Laureate. He is a passionate and outspoken President of
the Campaign to Protect Rural England.
“this collection …. stops to look around and whispers to itself:
Possibly. Probably. Perhaps” The Guardian
“An honourable, humbling achievement. The Customs House is a
strong, searing and sad book. I think it is certainly his most
achieved collection” David Morley, The Guardian
Tickets: £12 (student, child £5)
Festival Box Office: 01765 603994
Alan’s Gallery, kirkgate 01765 690498
Harrogate Theatre 01423 502116
On-line at www.riponinternationalfestival.com
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Ripon International Festival
6 – 24 September 2014
Saturday 20 September, 7.30pm
Holy Trinity Church, Ripon
Thursday 9 October, 7.30pm
Ripon Town Hall
Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band in Concert
Musical Director - Leigh Baker
Programme includes the Theme from Superman
Finale from Saint-Saëns’ ‘Organ’ Symphony
WW1 marching songs and The Last Post
One of the most famous names in the brass band world, Carlton
Main Frickley was nominated for the 4barsrest Band of the Year
Award 2014 for “inspired leadership and bags of talent”. The
band was also Yorkshire Regional Champion 2013 and the
Champion Band of England and Scotland after winning 3rd place
at the National Finals. The band represented Yorkshire for four
consecutive years 2008–2011 at the National Championships and
its most notable recent achievement was being placed third in the
prestigious British Open Brass Band Championships 2011 (only
beaten by Cory and Black Dyke bands).
Tickets: £15 (student, child £5)
Festival Box Office: 01765 603994
Alan’s Gallery, kirkgate 01765 690498
Harrogate Theatre 01423 502116
On-line at www.riponinternationalfestival.com
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The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Ripon and Ripon Film
Society are holding a special event to mark the anniversary of
World War 1. This evening is also the start of the new season
of the Film Society, which meets on Wednesday evenings at
Curzon Ripon. There will be a presentation and a showing of
special World War 1 footage from the area; come along to see
people and places you know.
The Film Society welcomes new members. Why not take the
opportunity to join the Society on the same evening?
Tickets available from Ripon Film Society on www.riponfilm.org
Photo: still from Ripon Highland Sports Day - a troop based at Ripon
Army Camp mingles with Riponians at a Sports Day held on Ripon
Racecourse in 1916.
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St Cecilia Orchestra
Saturday 11 October, 7.30pm
Ripon Cathedral
War and Peace Sculpture Unveiling
Ripon Cathedral
‘What a waste,
what an unknowing
deadly enterprise’
Helen Tabor
Wilfred Owen
1893–1918
St Cecilia Orchestra
Gala Concert
Enjoy an evening of music-making
which includes Beethoven’s heroic
Egmont Overture, the massive Third
Piano Concerto by Rachmaninov,
performed by the stunning Ukrainian
pianist Alexei Grynyuk (pictured right),
and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5,
written in 1915.
Tickets available from: Ripon - Alan’s Gallery, kirkgate;
Little Ripon Bookshop; Abode, Westgate; Cathedral Bookshop;
Harrogate - P & C Music
or telephone Richard Russell on 01765 677413
Adults £16; Concessions £14; Students £5; Under 18s free
www.st-cecilia.org.uk
The Chapter of Ripon Cathedral has commissioned from
sculptural artist Charles Gurrey a carved stone tablet to reflect
‘The Pity of War’ based on the rich legacy of Wilfred Owen and
his association with Ripon Cathedral and Yorkshire. Located on
the East facing wall at the West end of the North Nave Aisle
beneath the oak hood to the Bishop’s Throne and in the context
and setting of the newly created Chapel of Peace and Justice
(pictured above), the sculpture immediately assumes emblematic
potency as a reredos behind a dedicated Altar.
This commission is not intended to be a monument to Wilfred
Owen, but seeks to say something enduring, powerful and
universal on the nature of conflict and humanity and harnesses his
words and his association with Ripon. The sculpture will visually
reinforce the physical configuration of the Chapel of Peace and
Justice and engender new opportunities for informal and liturgical
use of this space. The words and sculpture speak clearly and
distinctively to all, and, to paraphrase Charles Gurrey, the
objective must be to establish a text which is both liturgically
appropriate, which is symbolic, nuanced and is “sculpturally
appropriate, with concrete qualities of a text seen in a given
material, in a given physical setting”.
No firm date has been set for the installation of the sculpture, but
it is hoped that the dedication could form a suitably weighty part
of the 1914–18 cycle of commemorations, and possibly in
October 2014 which is the anniversary of Owen’s death in 1918.
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Cathedral
Concert
Society
Saturday 8 November
Monday 10 November, 7.30pm
Ripon Cathedral
Kirkgate, Ripon, 11am
Royal British Legion Service
The Royal British Legion and the Chapter of Ripon Cathedral hold
an annual service on the Saturday before Remembrance Sunday
Day each year on the small triangle of grass in front of the former
Tourist Information Centre opposite the West end of the Cathedral.
Ripon Cathedral, 7.30pm
The Dark Pastoral
Songs and poetry from World War One
“Lest We Forget” Commemorative Concert
To mark Remembrance Sunday weekend, the Cambridge
Chamber Consort and Dishforth Military Wives Choir will be
commemorating, in song and with readings, the 100th
anniversary of the First World War, and the 75th anniversary of the
outbreak of the Second World War.
Julius Drake piano and Andrew kennedy tenor will be joined by
Matt Cammelle reader in a concert which takes place the day
after Remembrance Sunday as part of the Ripon in World War
One commemorations and explores artistic responses to the
highly troubled first decades of the 20th Century.
Tickets on sale at the Cathedral Shop and on the door.
It will include songs by William Denis Browne, Eugene Goosens
and Ivor Gurney and poems by Edmund Blunden, Vera Brittain,
Rupert Brooke, Thomas Hardy, A E Housman, James Joyce and
Charlotte Mew. These set the anxiety of the times against
depictions of love and optimism, often drawing on pastoral
imagery and natural beauty.
Sunday 9 November, 11am
Ripon Spa Gardens
Wreath Laying and Civic Parade
Tickets: £17 / £5 / Free • www.riponconcerts.co.uk
Photos: Benjamin Ealovega; Marco Borggreve
Sponsored by
Grant Thornton
Uk LLP.
Helen Tabor
Remembrance Sunday traditionally has a
civic parade from the Town Hall and a
service arranged with the Royal British
Legion in Ripon Spa Gardens at 11am
followed by a march past in front of the CO
of 21 Regiment and the Mayor of Ripon in
the Market Place by 21 Regiment, and
veterans, standard bearers, ATC cadets,
Scouts, Guides and St John’s Ambulance.
A service in the Cathedral follows the march past and usually a
packed congregation remembers the fallen of the two World Wars
and conflicts ever since, and those service men and women who
are still putting their lives at risk so that we might enjoy freedom.
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Tuesday 11 November, 11am
Lister House
Saturday 15 November, 7.30pm
Ripon Cathedral
Ripon Choral Society
Patrick Lee:
Sacrifices (world premiere)
Mozart: Requiem
Helen Tabor
Experience a home-grown world premiere as Ripon Choral
Society, conducted by John Dunford, brings you Sacrifices by
Yorkshire composer Patrick J. Lee. Designed to commemorate
the centenary of the Great War, the work grew from Lee’s life-long
interest in the poems of Rupert Brooke and his intention to set the
poet’s war sonnets to music. There are eight poems in all, including
Wilfred Owen’s Dulce Et Decorum Est and John McCrae’s In
Flanders Fields, all written by men who lived and fought in the war.
Sacrifices passes through the patriotism and appetite for
adventure among the soldiers at the beginning of the war to the
subsequent despair and disillusionment. With the help of a
narrator, it leaves us with the reason why we should remember
those who fought in WW1 and in all wars that followed.
Wreath Laying at Lister House
Another annual event at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month
of the year is the wreath laying in the garden of Lister House. The
event has representatives from all of the armed services from the
local barracks and stations.
Lister House is a residential care home with nursing for older
people generally and people with physical difficulties and
dementia, with facilities for longer stay / short stay and respite.
It is purpose built, with a garden, and was registered in 2003,
accommodating 76 residents in 64 single and 8 shared rooms.
Facilities are available for family or friends to stay overnight.
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Photos: Helen Tabor
Lister House, Southgate, Ripon
North Yorkshire HG4 1PG
Telephone: 01765 694740
Then wallow in the drama of Mozart’s Requiem, the composer’s
great unfinished work immortalised in the film Amadeus. Unwell
and overworked, Mozart was working on the Requiem until the
day of his death on 5 December 1791 after receiving the
commission from an unknown ‘man in grey’. In light of
considerable debts after his death, his widow Constanze sought
the help of musician Joseph Eybler and then Mozart’s own pupil,
twenty-five-year old Franz Süßmayr, to complete the work. The
very personal quality of the music suggests that Mozart regarded
it as a Requiem for himself.
Tickets from 01765 601856 or online at
www.riponchoralsociety.org.uk
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www.discoverripon.org
All programme information correct at the time of going to press.
Cover photo and brochure design by Helen Tabor, 07949 593542.