Sep022011

Does a craft maker need an agent?

By admin | September 2, 2011 | Posted in Blog, Crafts, Small Business | Tagged , , | Comments off

I’m now a blogger on Craft&Design’s website:

Having met hundreds of makers over the years, this question comes to me time and time again.  Musicians, actors, authors – so many people in the ‘creative industries’ have an agent.  So why not Craft Makers?

The agent  – or manager – manages publicity, commissions (aka sales) and contracts, allowing the ‘creative person’ to focus on being creative.  Sometimes they may charge a fixed fee, or be employed within the business.  But many managers are freelances who manage several ‘names’ and charge a commission to fund their services.

So could craft makers have agents?

I recently spoke to Jake Mee, a young man who recently achieved his dream of setting up his own glass blowing studio.  His story will go into a forthcoming issue of Craft&Design.

Jake had to save hard to set up  his studio – but he still has an ‘agent’, and a very good one too.

Jake’s Mother, Jo, had taken on the role.  As a mother myself, I saw at once that this was a ‘dream job’ – a job telling people how wonderful your adored son is!

But, Jo was good at it.  A capable administrator, she kept on top of correspondence, phone calls, mailing, and talking to visitors to the studio.  And while Jake took a holiday, she organised a new 25-piece exhibition for him.

Some might balk at being managed by Mother.  But Jake’s an independent adult who has developed an effective working relationship with someone who just happens to be a family member.  He says, “My Mother is good at marketing and talking to people.  So she does that, and it gives me more time to work with the glass.”

I can think of many other makers who would love to have the services of such an effective assistant.

See Jake’s studio and work at  http://www.smithbrookglassblowingstudio.co.uk/,

And you can see my, and other contributors’ blogs, at http://www.craftanddesign.net/blog/?p=148


By admin | Posted in Blog, Crafts, Small Business | Tagged , , | Comments off
Aug302011

Dalesman Magazine, September 2011

By admin | August 30, 2011 | Posted in Blog, Countryside, Crafts, Dalesman, Farming, Food, Heritage, Rural Life, Yorkshire | Comments off

The new Dalesmans are out, with yet more insights into what makes Yorkshire such a great place to live, work, or take a holiday.

UNIVERSITY OF YORK DEPT OF ARCHAEOLOGY

The Archaeology Department is in a historic building in York

For this month’s edition, I visited Nicky Milner, an archaeologist at York University whose work had unearthed tantalising evidence that raises the question of whether there was a stone age settlement near Pickering.

She’s been working on the archaeology of Star Carr for decades and says, “The more we find, the more questions we bring up.  It’s my dream to get back and dig again.”

They have found remains of a house and a waterside ‘platform’ –  perhaps a pier, boardwalk, or wharf – towards one corner of a roughly traingular promontory jutting into the lake.  Test pits show more human acitivity on the rest of promotory.  Might there be more houses there?   Was it a base camp, a summer hunting lodge, or even a village?

It’s exciting because current thinking says that at this time, human activity in Yorkshire was limited to small groups of itinerant hunters.  But to build a platform requires lots of people to come together, and work together.  So this work could revolutionise beliefs about stone age society.

The stone age seems so long ago – but other evidence shows these people to be very like us: discoveries of beads show that they liked to make themselves look good, just as we do today.

Nicky and her colleagues are desperate to discover more – and time is running out.  Laboratory work this winter has proved that the valuable organic remains, having survived for 11,000 years, are beginning to decay.

The race is on to dig and find out more before the evidence is lost forever.

Read more about Nicky’s researches in Dalesman, and at www.starcarr.com

Woodalls of Malton is in the Market Place

Woodall's of Malton is housed in a historic building in the Market Place

Over in Malton, Winston Kobylka is doing his part to preserve traditional craft skills.

He says that he’d heard that Woodall’s was for sale, so went along to take a look.  He says that he walked in, liked it, and asked to buy it ‘just like that’.

He’s scathing of people who ask questions about business plans and how much money he expects to make.  “I’m not in it for that,” he says, “It’s that we’re sustainable and make ecological products which will safeguard the future.”

He believes that everything can’t be made abroad for ever, and hopes that Woodall’s will help to keep skills alive in Britain.  But, they are still dependent on imports for raw materials, and he says, “Sadly, economic times have us battling against costs of cotton, sisal and hessian.  Some is produced in the UK, but the majority is sourced overseas.”

And he adds, “Hessian or jute may spend 4 months at sea, during which time the price changes several times.  It’s to do with the futures market, currency fluctuations, and forward trading.”

It’s likely he knows what he’s talking about: he listed some of his previous jobs.  As well as working in historic building conservation, he’d done photography, basketry, technical work for the Department of Transport, translating, supply chain management, and, most recently, teaching economics.

Now he’s adding rope splicing to his many skills, but when he walks around his shop, he’s like a child in a toy shop, revelling in the sheer variety of the stock.

“Look at the glove cupboard,” he said, showing a large double cupboard filled with all sorts of gloves.  And the halters – for animals ranging from bulls to ferrets.  There were racks and racks of different sorts of string and rope, trays and drawers of knives, scissors, and equipment for sheep and lambs.

Woodall’s is one of those shops that’s full of ‘useful stuff’, and the more you look, the more you see.  And it’s well worth asking too – assistant Dilys has been there for twenty one years, and knows what’s there.

Many customers are farmers, and Winston says, “Canvas and tarpaulin covers for horse drawn wagons were the backbone of this business.  Now we use a lot of PU and PVC for tarpaulins, but still the main business is these covers, mainly for agricultural use.”

Covers to protect from weather will always be useful – and so too is the rope to tie them down.  Winston says, “The history of rope is fundamental to all industries.”

Woodall’s is in the centre of Malton,  www.gwoodall.com/

Roger Sedgwick, third generation farmer

Roger Sedgwick, dairy farmer, tests his grass for silage

Later  I ventured over the Pennines to Sedbergh, where I visited the Sedgwick family.   I was struck at how different the landscape was to the Moors and Pennine Dales that I see from my home in the Vale of Mowbray.

My nearest hills are the North York Moors, flat-topped and dark with heather.

The hills at the Sedgwicks’ farm on the Howgill Fells were very different: much higher, rounded, and a uniform soft light green colour.  From the distance of the lower slopes, they looked as if clad in apple-green velvet.

Roger explained they had rights for grazing the high fells, in addition to their own farmland lower down the hill.  His father Geoff keeps the Rough Fell sheep that are adapted to the area.  But he explained that many of the families that had farmed the fells in his youth have now given up farming.  The land is concentrating into fewer farms – who are keeping fewer sheep.

This could lead to the landscape changing again.  I consulted the Yorkshire Dales National Park website to find about the Howgills, and it said that, centuries ago, forest was cleared to make way for sheep farming.  Without the sheep, maybe one day this forest might return: Roger commented that gorse that had been cleared was now growing again on the fell.

Aside from the sheep, Roger also commented that administrators over the years had caused confusion in their location:  “We were in the West Riding of Yorkshire.  Now we’re under Cumbria County Council, we have a Lancaster Post Code, and we’re in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.”

Now, debate is raging as to whether more of this area should be taken into the Yorkshire Dales National Park.  There are views on both sides, and only time will tell who wins.

Meanwhile, there is no doubt that the Howgills are a strikingly different – and breathtaking – landscape.

Like all English landscapes, it’s a landscape that has been shaped by farming, and farming now is changing.  Smaller farms need to diversify to survive, and the Sedgwicks plan to do this by making ice cream.

However, it may not be such a new development after all.  Geoff recalls his father being involved in a number of business ventures: “He was a master cabinetmaker,” recalls Geoff.  “I came across someone with furniture he made, dated 1895, the year he came here.”

“He was into lots of things, though.  For three years, he had three farms – he gave two of them up after a few years.  He was also an insurance agent, and sold dips.”

He also built himself a nice new house, that the family now lets out to holidaymakers.

Roger adds, “He was also in the local Militia.  He guarded the King and Queen’s train at Sedbergh in 1917.  They stopped at the station and slept in the train overnight.”

Roger also says, pointing at a field now grazed by his cows:  “My Grandfather was also at Gallipolli.  When he came home, he walked up from Sedbergh Station in the evening, and next morning, he was ploughing that field.”

Nowadays, Roger cuts silage to feed his cows in winter, and his pastures are full of rich grass.  On the higher slopes, open with no fences or walls, his father Geoff’s Rough Fell sheep graze.

Roger now hopes that his latest addition to the family’s ventures, ice cream, will keep the family farming for another generation.

See www.holidaysedbergh.co.uk

email: sedgwick665@btinternet.com  Telephone: 01539 620252

Geoff’s Rough Fell Sheep are featured in “Kendal Rough Fell Sheep: the breed, the people and the furture”, published by the Rough Fell Breed Association, www.roughfellsheep.co.uk

Read everything in full in Dalesman Magazine, in print only, from good newsagents, or visit  www.dalesman.co.uk for a money-saving subscription.

By admin | Posted in Blog, Countryside, Crafts, Dalesman, Farming, Food, Heritage, Rural Life, Yorkshire | Comments off
Aug262011

Craft&Design Magazine, September 2011

By admin | August 26, 2011 | Posted in Blog, Crafts, Small Business | Comments off

The September 2011 issue of Craft&Design features a bumper selection of award-winning craft makers.

The magazine sponsors the Selected Awards, which are bestowed following a procedure of public vote followed by specialist judging.

So Selected winners have both peer and popular approval, making it an award that people love to achieve.

I had the pleasure of talking to Phil Rogers, the overall winner.  His achievements – even over so many years – were breathtaking.  He makes art pottery.  He sits on committees.  He builds kilns.  He teaches workshops.  He writes books.  He appears in films (about pottery, of course.)  He goes on tour – and talks to people like me.

No wonder the specialist judge, Geoff Cox, said that Phil shows strong committment!

But, despite all his activities, Phil is still a maker at heart.  He experiments with all the aspects of his craft: shape, colour, the technicalities of glazes and their interaction with the heat of the kiln.

And through these experiments, he is able to create something new, something unique.  And that is the satisfaction of his craft.

To read  the full article about Phil, buy Craft&Design Magazine by  clicking here. Read more about Phil in Craft&Design,

Or see to find a nearby stockist, click here.

By admin | Posted in Blog, Crafts, Small Business | Comments off
Jul292011

Dalesman, August 2011, Living with a Windfarm

By admin | July 29, 2011 | Posted in Blog, Countryside, Dalesman, Rural Life, Wind Energy, Yorkshire | Comments off

Introduction

I’ll be upfront about this: windfarms have been controversial for a long time, but I didn’t really look into the debates until there were proposals in my district.

As is common when a windfarm is proposed, there was a hotly-argued campaign, both for and against.

It’s easy to find lots of news reports about these campaigns.  And it’s easy to find websites claiming that living near a windfarm is not nice.  But they are written mainly by people campaigning against a windfarm being built, not by people who have actually experienced living near a wind farm.

It’s difficult to find reports of living near a windfarm by people who are actually experiencing it.  After a windfarm is actually built, media reports tend to disappear.  Is this because there’s actually not much to say?  Is it because it’s like when other new developments arrive?  For instance, new supermarkets often generate opposition at the planning stage, but after it’s built, people get used to it, then they end up shopping there.

Or, are the suggestions that windfarms make people ill true, and these people have no strength for further complaints?

I wanted to find out what it was like to live near a wind farm after the hype had died down.  And this was surprisingly difficult to do.

Here is an account of how I did it, and what I found out.

Method

I aimed to be as impartial as possible, and avoid ‘putting words into people’s mouths’.  I simply asked, “Tell us what it’s like to live near a windfarm.”

I began in late 2009, tracking down the addresses for parishes with windfarms in them, and contacted the Parish Clerk, asking him/her to display a poster asking people to get in touch with their windfarm experiences.  I contacted 23 parishes in total.  Some were in Yorkshire, Cumbria, and Co Durham, because these are areas where many windfarms are springing up.  I also contacted parishes in Cornwall because this is the site of some of our oldest-established windfarms.  These people would have real, long term, practical experience of living near a windfarm.

The result was: nothing.  I got the odd email, one or two phone calls – but mainly, a resounding silence.

Disheartened, I picked on two windfarms that I could easily travel to: Knabs Ridge near Harrogate, and Lissett Airfield near Bridlington.  I searched online and in the telephone directory to find people in these areas who I could call.  These people gave me other contacts, and gradually, I built a collection of comments.

I can’t say that I had a statistical sample – but I did try to find as many people as I could, and to ask the open question ‘tell me what it’s like to live near a windfarm.’

They could have answered ‘no different to before it was built’ – and a few did.  But many did not.

wind turbines at Lissett

Lissett windfarm

Findings: Knabs Ridge

I tried to get an overview, by asking a ward councillor what she’d heard from people in the area.  Cllr Hill said that she felt there was divided opinion, but she had heard  that, “Many people had to have their TV satellite dishes changed because of the towers.  And there’s noise – a whoosh whoosh for those living near, but I can’t say how close.”

She also commented that on one occasion, Felliscliffe Parish Council had contacted the windfarm operators to complain about the noise – and that the company “knew immediately what was wrong, and they fixed it immediately.”

“The community fund has been paying out.  It was controversial, the borders of it spread out and out.  Parish Councils can’t ask, but community groups can.”

On the whole, though, she felt: “It’s not an ongoing problem.  It’s like when a large new estate is built – it’s a fait accompli.”

I rang quite a few people from Kettlesing and Felliscliffe, who I found at ramdom in the telephone directory.  Many were not keen to speak to me- when I said ‘windfarm’, they became silent.  I am not in the habit of harrassing members of the public, so I apologised and left them be.

Of those who did speak, few would give their names.

One man emailed to say that he enjoyed seeing the turbines as he drove past on his way to work – he thought they looked beautiful.

Mike Lowsley, who lives in Harrogate, represented the Ramblers’ Association when they objected to the windfarm being built.  He said, “I’m no longer on the committee , so I can’t speak for the RA.  But on a personal level, I think the impact is even greater than we expected.  There are a number of smaller windturbines – less than 6kW – on farms in Nidderdale, but they don’t seem to have the same landscape impact.  It’s a question of scale.”

A member of staff at a nearby restaurant on the main A59 road said that she’d noticed no effects from the windfarm.  “No-one’s said anything to me,” she said.

A lady living in the nearby village of Kettlesing said, “The windfarm doesn’t affect me very much, as I’m in a dip, and I don’t see them from my house.  I’ve never noticed any noise.  But the A59 is a busy, dangerous road, with traffic most of the time.  The traffic noise outweighs the noise of the windfarm.”

But, she added, “Nobody wanted it.  It is an eyesore, to be honest.  The person affected very badly had a house under the windfarm.  She got no compensation.  She moved away.  It took 3 years to sell, and it went at a giveaway price.”

One man summed up the general feeling when he said, “We live in the AONB, and we’re not allowed to do anything without special permission.  The windfarm is only 25 feet from the AONB.  We had a lovely view, then these things popped up, whining, with red lights flashing at night.  Although we’ve got used to it, we’d definitely prefer them not to be there.  The people who want them live miles away.”

Many people said that they felt that their opinions, and those of the district planning authority, had counted for nothing.  The District Council had refused planning permission for the windfarm, but this was overturned at appeal – and people said they felt this was a ‘done deal’ from the start.

One man was prepared to give his name: Peter Kershaw.  He said, “We live at High Moor Farm, about half a mile from Knabs Hill.  The wind farm looks on top of us because it’s that big – we’re about a field away.  No-one else is really in line like us.  We’re on the east side, the westerlies blow over to us.  There’s no one to the west.  On the southern side, there’s nobody for a mile or so.  There’s only us who seems to be in this bit.”

“It’s noise as much as anything.   When they’re operating, you get a whuff-whuff-whuff.  In certain wind directions, it’s horrendous.  Most prevailing wind is from the west, so we get most of it.  The next neighbours are about a mile away, the sound’s dropping off that far.”

“And you get blade flicker when the sun’s setting – it drives you mad.”

“We’ve complained, but it’s like banging your head against a brick wall.  This last year, we’ve given up.  For the last 8 to 9 months, we’ve not bothered complaining.”

“We had Harrogate Council on it – even though she offered to come out on nights when it was windy, we got nowhere, so we’ve given up.”

Peter and his family run a caravan holiday park, and, he said, “It’s cost us a lot of trade, we think , though they won’t accept it because they say it’s down to the recession, which started two and a half years ago.  [Knabs Ridge  began operating in September 2008.]  Though in other recessions, we’ve not dropped off.  Caravanning holds up when people can’t go abroad.”

A spokesperson for Harrogate Council said, “We have just two complaints and they were from the nearby caravan park.  These complaints were not progressed as the residents didn’t provide us with any details and the complaint has been closed.  No doubt they moved on too if they were only holidaying.  So they are the only two complaints we have on record.”

Findings: Lissett

I’d say that at Knabs Ridge, the majority of people I spoke to didn’t like the windfarm.  At Lissett, opinion was much more divided.  People living in Lissett village said they had no problem with the windfarm, while people a short distance up the road complained.  It seemed odd that feelings could be so different over such a short distance, so I took a trip to see for myself.

My main findings are published in Dalesman Magazine, August 2011, with extra information written here in my blog.

As soon as I parked my car and walked up Lissett’s main street, I could see why people in the village said they couldn’t see the windfarm, even though it was so close.  From the main street, I couldn’t see the windfarm, because a copse of trees happened to be in exactly the right place to block the view of it.

But would people hear noise, even if they couldn’t see the windfarm?  I walked around and asked people who I met – even banged on a few doors.  One man said that if the wind was high, and he was in his garden, he could hear it, but added, “It really doesn’t affect me.”  Everyone else said that they didn’t notice it: no problems at all.

Eddie Bartram lives in Lissett village and said, ”I was on the Parish Council during the planning phase.  I’m now retired from the Parish Council, so this is my personal opinion.  There are 32 houses in Lisset, at the time of the planning, there were 82 adults.  The Parish council did a straw poll, and 92% of 82 people were totally in favour, OR, didn’t give a toss.  5 households out of 32 were against it.  So we had no problem as a Parish council in supporting the application.”

“From a personal point of view, anything that cuts carbon dioxide gets my vote.”

From his home, he sees little of the turbines, because of the trees.  And, he said, “In the village where we live, we can’t hear a thing.”

“There’s a village nearby called Gransmore, about two and a half miles from the turbines, and they have an unobstructed view.  One family had a justified complaint – it was in clear view – I did appreciate that.  But they were outside our Parish.”

He added, “Two complaints dealt with strobing, if the sun is behind the blades it can be a problem to certain people – but it’s not a problem here.  They [objectors] also said it would interfere with TV, but we haven’t had any problems here.”

“Personally, I’ve had no problems from noise, TV interference, or strobing – no adverse effects.”

Eddie added, “There’s another element, a clawback in cash.  The windfarm people put £25,000 per year, for the 25 year life of the windfarm, into a pot.  They take claims for good causes.  It’s a good thing.”

“158 Squadron flew from Lissett, and lost 851 aircrew.  Novera [the windfarm developers] funded a memorial, now in the village’s keeping.”

“

The only thing I can remember from before the windfarm was that we didn’t get £25,000 a year.”

Eddie likes visiting Scotland, and is hoping to move there.  Therefore, his house is for sale.  He said, “When I see the wind turbines– they’re all over Scotland – when the blades are turning, I find them beautiful and comforting.  But when they’re stationary, I find them threatening.  I don’t know why, it’s illogical – but I’d rather see them turning.  Their proper place in life is motion.

There were several houses for sale in Lissett, but with the housing market currently moving slowly, it’s hard to say whether this was unusual.  And people who were planning on staying in Lissett, and even those recently moved in, all said they weren’t troubled by the windfarm.  The copse, and the position of the village relative to wind, sun, and the turbines, seems to have saved them from problems.

Along the road to Gransmoor, people weren’t so lucky.  Their position relative to sun,  wind and trees meant that they got shadow flicker in their homes (a strobe-like effect when the turbine blades move between the viewer and the sun), and noise was blown towards them.

The man universally acknowledged to have the clearest view of the windfarm, John Ost, had made a formal complaint.  Having done so, he was asked to keep records of when there was a problem.  This was necessary in order to see whether the windfarm was, or was not, operating within the rules set for it.

However, keeping those records was a job in itself.  John showed them to me: pages and pages of dates, times, and descriptions.  He is aware that keeping such records brings its own problems.  He said, “I can see that it is evidence, but I try not to listen out for it.  I only record it if impinges on us – I don’t want to get into obsessive behaviour.”

It’s also a lot of work: a complaint could easily founder if the complainant hadn’t the time, skills, or inclination for weeks and weeks of meticulous documentation.

John had taken the trouble to do this for noise, which was troubling him by keeping him awake at night.  However, when it came to shadow flicker, he gave up on the record keeping.  He explained: “They asked me to identify which individual turbine was causing the effect, so as to get the operator to turn that turbine off.  But it varies, as the sun sets at different spot on the horizon every day, so the turbine can be different –sometimes there’s two.  AND I don’t want to be looking out for things all the time, to report them so that they can do something – that’s very paranoid.”

So when shadow flicker strikes, he pulls the curtains.  He said, “It’s like an invasion into the house.  That sounds over the top, but we had a lot of it last week as it’s been fine weather.  We have to live with it and be stoical.”

I called the wind company, and their spokesman said that they had carried out action to reduce the noise, and that they were waiting for a module which would calculate when shadow flicker would be a problem, and turn the turbine off for that time.  He couldn’t say why this hadn’t been installed when the windfarm was built, as the company that now owns the windfarm is different to the one that built it.

John tries not to let it get to him.  He said, “I’m a cheerful chap, I’m bright and happy.  I don’t think I’m miserable, but you did ask me what the effects are and this is it.  I did consider asking for reduced council tax, but decided not to because somebody else would have to pay more.”

“I’ve not got used to it.  I did consider moving, but we do like it here.  When you asked if I want to put my name to this I thought maybe I was talking it down a bit – but maybe there’s someone who loves windfarms.  But we have no plans to move at present.”

“I’m not an embittered man, but if more are going to go up, they need to be very careful when they’re near to people’s houses.”

In February 2011, the spokesperson for East Riding Council said, “The council can confirm that we had a complaint of noise nuisance arising from the windfarm in August 2009.  A second complaint was made but no further contact was forthcoming from the complainant when asked for details.  The complaint has been dealt with by using the conditions of the Planning consent that allowed the Council to request a noise investigation to be carried out by the windfarm company.  Such investigations do tend to take some time as a period of noise monitoring needs to be carried out for a sufficiently long time to cover the types of weather conditions that prevail when the noise is reported to occur.  This was completed in 2010 and the noise consultant concluded that there were some weather conditions during which the noise did exceed the limits detailed in the planning consent.  Some mitigation measures were installed last autumn ie replacement of some bearings in the turbines and the programming of some turbines to shut down during specific wind speeds and directions.  Some further works are planned to be done when the necessary parts become available.  It is likely that a further period of noise monitoring will be carried out to confirm the results of the mitigation measures when completed. “

When I asked another lady living on the Gransmoor to Lissett road what it was like to live near a windfarm, she replied, “Not nice.  It’s like living among monstrosities, that overpower you.  We’re about half a mile away.  I can never get used to it.  They weren’t there and we had a view, now we’ve got a view of these things.  Whatever room we’re in, or in the garden or the yard, they’re there.”

A lady from Gransmoor said that she was particularly concerned about flicker in her house, as a family member suffered from photosensitive epilepsy.  She said, “When the sun’s shining, we have  to keep the curtains closed because of the the blade flicker reflecting on the wall.  And at night – you have the curtains closed anyway – the lights constantly flicker on and off.  [There are lights on top of the turbine towers at night.]  Plus there’s the extra flicker due to the blades passing in front.”

She added, “Then there’s the farce that people think that people in the community are getting free electricity.  NO WE DON’T.  In fact, we pay the green energy supplement –the ROCS- are added onto our electricity bills.”

Another lady in Gransmoor said that everyone in the village lost their TV reception when the windfarm went up.  The company paid for freeview satellite boxes for each house, but residents said that the TV reception still didn’t always work properly.

And, echoing Peter Kershaw’s comments, she said, “We’ve seen so much hassle that we’ve given up shouting.  It’s like banging your head against a brick wall.”

While issues such as noise and shadow flicker have affected some homes more than others, the thing that struck me was that so many people complained of bad feeling over the windfarm.  I was told that at the planning stage, some people had supported the windfarm, and others had opposed it.  Time and again, I was told, “It split the village.”  Divisions formed then had, it seems, not healed – the windfarm went online in 2009, and I visited in January 2011.  Others grumbled about the Community Fund.

I was also told that several houses in Lissett village are owned by the landowner who benefits from the windfarm – and that those tenants may therefore have felt that they didn’t want to comment on the windfarm.  However, I did not find anyone in Lissett who refused to speak: everyone I found in Lissett spoke postively about the windfarm.

Community Funds

It’s common practice for windfarm developers to set up some form of community benefit fund.  In fact, at the time of writing, guidelines were being set up for what this should be.

They should be a good thing – certainly Eddie Batram was a fan of the financial benefits of the Lissett fund.

However, like money everywhere, Community Funds seem to provide fuel for discontent.   At Knabs Ridge, one person called it a ‘farce’, as the area of benefit was extended until it included people who were deemed not to ‘suffer’ at all from the windfarm.

A council officer at East Riding Council explained how this can happen.  She said that setting the area of benefit was a decision for the wind companies, but that they sometimes ask for advice from the Council.  In this case, she said, “Given that we have a lot of windfarms, we don’t want one parish trapped between two areas of benefit, and will never get a windfarm.  So we say that if a windfarm is in a parish, don’t just consider that parish, but also consider those that get construction noise and visual impact.”

East Riding supplies the services of its Communities Officer to adminster the Lissett fund, keeping records, auditing etc.  She helps groups with their applications to the fund, ensuring that they provide the proper paperwork, and that applications are not for things that the council should provide.

Generalities

One lady, I don’t know where she was from, because she insisted on anonymity, got in touch to tell me I was being “naive or disingenuous – of course no-body’s going to say what it’s like, because we’re all trying to sell our houses.”

She went on to explain that if a complaint is made to the council, this has to be disclosed to potential buyers of the house.  Hence, ‘nobody was going to complain.’

Conclusion

After many hours speaking to people living near windfarms, I would say that my impression is that living very close – say within half a mile – of a windfarm is likely to be unpleasant.  There could be noise, shadow flicker, the ‘mesmersising’ effect of the moving blades, the sense of being overshadowed by huge towers, and possible TV interference.

Beyond that distance, being affected seems to depend very much upon wind direction, the position of the sun, and intervening features such as hills and woodland.  Some people will be affected, others won’t.

For those badly affected, there seems to be little remedy.  Making a formal complaint requires dedication and meticulous work over a long period, and therefore, many give up.

Financial compensation is little – maybe a reduction in Council Tax, and a community fund going to good causes, but not to individual property owners.

So I can see why people oppose windfarms near their homes.

With windfarms proposed in my area, I’d embarked on this research hoping that I’d find that I didn’t need to be worried.

But now I am.

By admin | Posted in Blog, Countryside, Dalesman, Rural Life, Wind Energy, Yorkshire | Comments off
Jul292011

Dalesman August 2011, Rosedale Railway

By admin | July 29, 2011 | Posted in Blog, Dalesman, Heritage, Yorkshire | Comments off
A view across Rosedale

paths lead from the road to the old track bed of the Rosedale Railway

When I met members of Rosedale History Society and Kirby, Great Broughton and Ingleby Greenhow History Group to discuss the Rosedale Railway, I realised that we could talk all day, and I still wouldn’t have heard all that they have discovered.

So I asked each of them what aspect of their discoveries had affected them most deeply.

Linda Chambers, of Rosdale, says, “We’ve been collecting information on all aspects of Rosedale’s history, especially about the people who lived there.”

From this perspective, she sees the Ironstone rush of 1850 to 1929 as a ‘blip’ in the Dale’s history.  Before that, it was a farming area with a Priory of nuns – and that was destroyed by Henry VIII.

When the mines closed in 1929, the people who had come to work in them quickly dispersed.  She suspects that many emigrated to mining areas in other parts of the world, and her next research project is to try to track down some of their descendents.

Patrick Chambers also suspects that many miners emigrated, and says, “There’s a clue in that there are a lot of Rosedales, and Clevelands, around the world, especially in the Western USA.”

Despite the fact that the miners left, Patrick comments that many of their houses are still occupied, either by commuters or holidaymakers.

Patrick enjoys walking in the dale.  He’s been out with the local geology trust, and comments, “They built the houses out of ironstone, and now it’s rusting.”

He is also concerned that the relics of the mining era are deteriorating.  He’d contacted the National Park to see if anything could be done, but there was no money at present to preserve the remains of the calcining kilns.

Although he would like to preserve the historical remains, he is in no doubt that he has a nicer life than the miners of long ago.  He says, “In the ironstone mine, they worked 8 hour shifts in the darkness, and they had to buy their own candles and gunpowder – from the Company, of course.”

The kilns – 3 in all – were used to heat the iron ore with coal.  This enriched the iron content before the ore was transported over the moors to the iron works.

Wayne Barnacal, of the Kirby, Great Broughton and Ingleby Greenhow Local History Group, says, “It takes little imagination to reconstruct what it was like – most things can be seen.”

Wayne worked building and operating big chemical plants, and is impressed at the vigour of the Victorian engineers.  As well as the speed of construction of the railway, he says, “They had a major fire in the drumhouse at the top of the incline, and within a matter of months, they’d developed and installed new technology.”  Also, he says, “By modern health and safety standards, it’s a different world.”

He says, “It was demanding, dirty, dangerous work – but better than what else was available at the time.”

The incline was a major hazard: a steep bank, where trains were hauled up and down on a cable wound round a drum and connected to another train going the other way, acting as a counterbalance.

Even with the counterbalance, it was considered too dangerous for people to ride the incline, and they had to get out and walk.  Patrick says, “There were nasty accidents with people crushed by runaway wagons.”

The line was intended for goods only, but people did catch a ride in the brake van.

Geoff Taylor, of KGBIG group, enjoys anecdotes from people who lived and worked at the time, and says, “One lady lived in a railway cottage 1300 feet up at the top of the incline.  When the railway closed, she didn’t want to move.  You only need to go up there to see why – it has a fantastic panoramic view.”  And despite the remote location, she also spoke of a sense of community in the rows of cottages.

Geoff’s also noted Rosedale’s place in world history.  He says, “I saw a TV programme about mining in Australia.  The scale is colossal – Australia is being used as a continental mine for China.  But in a way, it was the same in Rosedale.  Although in comparison to today, the tonnages are different, in the 1860s and 70s, North Yorkshire was supplying 40% of the world’s ironstone – it was a big player in the world economy.”

Wayne says, “We keep getting new information, and people’s recollections.  The railway closed in 1929, so people alive then have direct remembrances – we want to capture as many of them as we can.”  They plan to archive these on a public website, as well as within their own collections.

Geoff says, “Another reason for making a website is that it gives access to people in places like Canda and Australia, who are connected by family or by profession.  We’d love them to get in touch.”

Linda says, “Descendants find things in the attic, or they remember Grandad telling them about Rosedale, and we’re keen to collect their reminiscences.”

INFORMATION:

Both groups are keen to receive any information, reminscences, documents or photos relating to the history of their areas.  They both hold regular meetings and events, and welcome new members.

Contact Rosedale History Society at: http://rosedale.ryedaleconnect.org.uk/2011/01/17/news/ email rosedalehistory@hotmail.co.uk, Tel 01751 417071

Contact KGBIG History Group at: http://www.kgbighistory.org.uk/ Tel 01642 712458

The joint website devoted to the history of the railway is: www.rosedalerailway.org

Grants from many organisations have helped them to publish a leaflet with a map of walks, and information about the history of the railway.  This is available by post (Telephone 01751 417071/01642 712458 to check P&P rates), or from outlets including the North York Moors Centre in Danby, Beck Isle Museum in Pickering, Ryedale Folk Museum in Hutton-le-Hole, and local public libraries

There is a display of Rosedale’s history at the White Horse Farm Inn, Rosedale Abbey, Tel 01751 417239, www.whitehorserosedale.co.uk, and the society will be at Rosedale Show, 10/11 Sept 2011.

A programme of joint walks with the North East Yorkshire Geology Trust is listed at:

www.avm-branding.com/neygt

By admin | Posted in Blog, Dalesman, Heritage, Yorkshire | Comments off
Jun272011

Craft&Design, July/August 2011

By admin | June 27, 2011 | Posted in Blog, Crafts, Small Business | Comments off

This month’s issue of Craft&Design features a bumper crop of talented craftspeople who I had the pleasure of talking to.

From Bex Simon’s beautiful nature-inspired metal work, to Iain Broadbent’s detailed wood carving, to Jill Fanshaw-Kato’s carefully considered ceramics, their works combine function, decoration, and  art all in each individual piece.

Jill Fanshaw-Kato (http://www.jillfanshawekato.com/) was illuminating about the special place that ceramics have in the hearts of Japanese people.   Just a few days before the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami, Jill was explaining to me that Japan is a geologically active country, where it is easy to believe that the earth has a spirit of its own – a spirit channelled by the artists who create using  clay dug from the earth.

Sadly, her words were proved only too true when devastation struck.   She told me that potters in Japan had helped with the iconic Leach pottery in Cornwall, and now, the Leach pottery is fundraising to help fellow potters in Japan who suffered from the earthquake.  See http://www.leachpottery.com/What-s-On/News-Feed.aspx for details.

Bex Simon (http://www.bexsimon.com/)  is an artist blacksmith who has made a name for herself with many bespoke gates, railings and so on.  But with a baby on the way, she wanted to venture into product design as well.  So when an email from a TV company arrived, asking if she’d like to appear on a ‘reality show’ about business,  she decided to give it a go.

Appearing on TV was quite an experience – as Bex explains in her feature.  But the publicity it generated helped her new venture to go well, creating a new job for husband Dave.

Meanwhile, Iain Broadbent (http://www.iainbroadbent.co.uk/) works quietly and often alone, restoring detailed and intricate historic wood carvings.  But he also works on  his own contemporary designs, which are deceptively clean and crisp, belying the deep thought that has gone into their creation.

Whenever I speak with such craft makers , a joy in creativity shines through them.  I long to experience such a joy myself, but without kiln, forge or workbench, I have to satisfy myself with cooking dinner as my creativity for the day.

Hallo kitchen!

Meanwhile, you can read all about these makers in Craft&Design, see http://www.craftanddesign.net/stockists/map/ to find a local stockist, or order online.

By admin | Posted in Blog, Crafts, Small Business | Comments off
May282011

Dalesman June 2011

By admin | May 28, 2011 | Posted in Blog, Dalesman, Rural Life, Yorkshire | Comments off

For Dalesman this month, I visited a primary school that has worked with the Post Office to provide a service after the village Parish Plan revealed a desire for a Post Office.

Pupils at Foston School serve in their Post Office

Pupils serving in Foston School's Post Office

Laura Glass, a teaching assistant at Foston School, in Thornton-le-Clay near Malton, says, “It was part of the Parish Plan – they wanted a Post Office, and we thought it would be a good way to help develop community links.”

While the children benefit from learning ‘real life’ skills, and villagers enjoy being served by the children, the services the school can currently offer are limited.  Basically, it’s stamps and cards.

Miss Glass says, “A kind lady from Halifax sent us some cards to sell, and at Christmas, the children designed some cards, which we printed.”

Miss Glass says, “We hope to expand it as time goes by – we’ll see how it goes.”

A spokesman for the Post Office explained “Any organisation can apply to become a stamp retailer, and we’ll provide stamps at a discount so they can make a small profit.  And to accept parcels, all you need is some scales and a template to measure the size, so that you can work out the correct postage.”

But the Post Office would charge to collect the parcels, unless the organisation was selling enough stamps to qualify for free collection.  However, parcels could be stamped and collected by an organisation such as the school or the pub, then taken to a main post office to be sent.  So if someone from the school was passing a main post office on the way home, this could be a next move for the school’s service.

When a community wants to save a Post Office that’s closing, then they can explore ideas, but if they wanted to open a brand new ‘Greenfield’ Post Office, then they would have to discuss this.  The spokesman explained, “We want to make it as easy as possible, but, the main criterion would be impact on other Post Offices – we wouldn’t want to take business away from an existing PO.  We’d also discuss suitable premises, a person to run it, and look at the business case so that we were confident it was sustainable.

Meanwhile, Consumer Focus (http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/policy-research/post/background-briefings/post-office-local) says that “Post Office Local” –sometimes called ‘Post Office Essentials’ is being trialled.  It’s a system where a limited Post Office service is offered over the counter of an existing retail business, rather than at a dedicated Post Office counter.

I doubt very much that service users care what sort of counter their services come over, as long as they can access the services they need.  With the cost of fuel and transport ever spiralling, the more services that can be accessed without long journeys, the better people will be pleased.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Sue Lawson, a deeply thoughtful artist.  Sue is an artists’ artist, bringing immense depth and experience to her work

Sue Lawson, artist

Sue Lawson, artist

She studied art at university, where she did fashionable installations, and pieces reflecting concepts of fame and consumer society.  She enjoyed her time there, and the exuberance of the city, of watching people and their activities.

But when she moved to the Yorkshire Dales, the landscape was, she said, ‘a revelation.’  And she took to painting it.  She says, “It’s important to take reference from other artists, to learn.  But then you have to forget it and find your own way of looking at things.  It comes from within – then other people respond to it.  It’s like music – they’re closely related.  I can’t paint properly unless I listen to music.

She aims to capture the particular feeling of a particular place, at a particular moment – her memory of being there.  She says, “You can put more emotion into a painting than a photograph.”

“It is not so much intellectual as a feeling thing.  I put a lot of energy into it.”

Although she doesn’t paint outdoors, she spends lots of time out, walking, taking photographs, and soaking up the atmosphere.  People say that Sue’ s work reminds them of coming home with ruddy cheeks after a winter walk..

There’s a lot of texture in Sue’s paintings, and for that reason, she sells only original paintings, not prints.  She says, “Prints wouldn’t work for my pictures, because they don’t carry the texture.”

Sue works in layers, adding glazes – It’s surprising that pictures so full of vitality are the result of such long labours.  But, says Sue, “Struggle makes you appreciate things – it’s how the old masters worked.”  She uses oil paints that allow her to do this, and says, “If I don’t get the atmosphere, it doesn’t leave the studio.  It needs the madness and energy.”

Her aim with her pictures, she says, is “Escapism – a feeling of being in a place, and recreating the overall impact of that place when you were there.”

She has to keep painting, as her favourites sell, and, she says, “I’ve never had a house with a view, so I put the views on the walls.”

See Sue’s work at http://www.suelawson.co.uk/

Read both articles in full in Dalesman magazine, in print only.

By admin | Posted in Blog, Dalesman, Rural Life, Yorkshire | Comments off
Apr262011

Dalesman May 2011

By admin | April 26, 2011 | Posted in Blog, Dalesman, Heritage, Nature Conservation and Environment, Wind Energy, Yorkshire | Comments off

Dalesman for May 2011 features two enjoyable, but very different visits.

Holgate Mill was  a surreal sight: an eighteenth century windmill in the middle of a street of comfortable twentieth century semi-detached family homes.

Bob Anderton beside the huge cogs that harness the wind to drive the grindstones

Bob Anderton beside the machinery of Holgate Windmill

When it was built, Holgate was the height of wind technology.  It boasted a fantail, a vane mounted to the rear of the mill that automatically aligned the mill to face the wind.

Previously, windmills had been mounted on a  post sunk in the ground.  When the wind direction changed, the miller had to rotate the entire building, millstones and all, to face the wind again – a hard, heavy job.

Older mills had four sails, usually made of canvas like the sails of a ship.  Holgate had five sails for maximum efficiency.  The sails were also fitted with shutters, like venetian blinds.  In low winds, the shutters were closed to catch as much wind as possible.  In high winds, the shutters were opened up to allow some wind to pass through, and avoid damage to the sails.

Despite being the height of technology when it was built, when electricity became easily available, the miller preferred to use an electric motor, rather than rely on the vagaries of the wind.  Even today, after restoring the wind powered machinery, the preservation society will run one grindstone on wind power, and the other with an electric motor, so that they can work when the wind doesn’t blow.

One of the joys of eighteenth-century engineering is that, unlike modern electronics,  it’s all big and visible.  Inside the mill,  giant cogs and shafts transmit the power from the rotating sails to the grindstones.  Most of the gears are cast iron, still strong and serviceable after over 200 years.  But many of the hoppers, vats and beams are wood, and years of damp and insects have destroyed these.  However, these have been built anew: the members of Holgate Mill Preservation Society have achieved a great deal in ten years.

Bob attributes this success to a skilled team, generous funders, and their strategy.  Rather than try to do all the work themselves, they went to a professional millwright, Tom Davies, and applied for grants to fund the work.

Visitors to the mill need to be fit and agile, as access to all four floors is by ladder.  As you progress up the tower, the rooms become progressively smaller, and right up in the cap, the room is dominated by a huge toothed wheel, attached the sails.  When the wind turns that wheel, it would be easy for the unwary to get caught in the machinery.  The picture above shows Bob Anderton, the chairman of the preservation society,  next to the great gear that is turned by the sails.

Bob hopes that soon the mill will be grinding corn, selling flour – and even possibly adding a bakery.

He says, “We want to grind flour and sell it for people to use.”  As the mill is currently in use as a mini-community hall, the addition of food can only mean even more visitors to this very unusual windmill.

For further information, see www.holgatewindmill.org or Telephone Bob  Anderton on 01904 795851

Holgate Mill was once cutting edge technology.  By contrast, Hackfall was always meant to evoke the past, created as a romantic ruin.

PAUL MOSLEY, THE WOODLAND OFFICER, ENJOYS A WALK AT HACKFALL

HACKFALL IS A SEMI NATURAL WOODLAND WITH ROMANTIC RUINS DESIGNED BY WILLIAM AISLABIE

Hackfall was originally woodland that would have been used for timber.  In fact, said Paul Mosley, Hackfall’s officer, “It’s believed that the Aislabies originally bought Hackfall for the timber, and for a tufa quarry, which they used to clad several buildings at Studley Royal.”

The Aislabies who bought Hackfall were famous for their landscape design around Fountains Abbey, now a World Heritage Site.  But their landscape at Hackfall, where they built  romantic ‘ruin’ eye-catchers in the forest, is less well-known.

But in its day, it was famous.  Turner painted it, and Victorian tourist guides advertised carriages from Ripon Station to Hackfall.   But, after years as a Victorian pleasure ground, the timber was all felled in the 1930s.

It chanced that the land was then bought by someone who went against the advice at the time, which was to replant with fast-growing, commercial conifers.  Instead, the new owner bided his time, and let nature take its course.

It has resulted in Hackfall now being classed as the relatively rare ‘semi natural ancient woodland.’  The semi-natural bit is because, says Paul – that lucky man whose job it is to know Hackfall intimately – “Most woodland has always been managed, and at Hackfall there’s evidence of limekilns, charcoal burning, and sawmills all in the wood.  But the seedbank, and the wildlife, such as invertebrates, are still there.”

“And there’s lots of wildlife.  We had a moth expert who trapped 158 species in one evening.”

Hackfall is made even more interesting by the series of follies built by the Aislabies.  They act as ‘eyecatchers’ and ‘surprises’ to draw walkers around the wood.

Hackfall is also full of falling water, with so many becks, trickles and cascades, it’s quite difficult to tell what’s natural and what’s man-made.  Which, of course, was the Aislabies’ intention: to enhance the natural landscape to make it more beautiful, and more interesting.   Nearly three hundred years later, it’s clear that they knew what they were doing.

Hackfall is beguiling at any time of year – I recommend a visit.

See www.woodlandtrust.org.uk and www.hackfall.org.uk for more, and information on how to get there, where to park, etc

News since the article went to print: Paul Mosley says that Hackfall has won

the Nostra Europa Award for its  Conservation / Restoration.

See: http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/our-woods/hackfall/Pages/EuropaNostraAward.aspx?wood=5462

Or: http://www.europanostra.org/projects/50/

He adds that the restoration was achieved thanks to funding from The  Heritage Lottery Fund, The Hackfall Trust,  the Woodland Trust and volunteers,  the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Yorventure and the North Yorkshire Aggregates Grant Scheme.

To read my articles in full, in print only, buy Dalesman Magazine, www.dalesman.co.uk

MOWBRAY CASTLE, AN EYECATCHER BUILT BY THE AISLABIES

MOWBRAY CASTLE, ONE OF THE MANY EYECATCHERS EVOKING THE PAST GLORIES AT HACKFALL

By admin | Posted in Blog, Dalesman, Heritage, Nature Conservation and Environment, Wind Energy, Yorkshire | Comments off
Mar242011

Countryman April 2011 – How to Save the Village Pub

By admin | March 24, 2011 | Posted in Blog, Countryside, Food, Rural Life, Small Business | Comments off
GEORGE AND DRAGON HUDSWELL IS OWNED BY A VILLAGE CO OP

THE GEORGE AND DRAGON WAS SAVED BY A VILLAGE CO OP

When researching how to save the village pub for Countryman, I ended up getting far too many comments to fit onto three pages.  Here are the extra bits that wouldn’t fit onto the pages….

Despite almost universal agreement that community pubs provide a social focus with very few of the ‘binge drinking’ problems seen in city centres, these much loved pubs just keep closing.  Why, and what can we do about it?

The British Pub and Beer Association publishes statistics on this.  The most recent report I found, for 2008, reported that, of a total of 57,500 pubs, 31% are independent, 53% tenanted or leased, and 16% were managed by a brewery or Pub Company.  This means that, in practice, 84% of pubs are run by independent, often family-based, businesses.  Each of these businesses, mainly because of the jobs it creates, is estimated to be worth around £80,000 a year to the local economy.

Furthermore, total average beer consumption per person has declined by about a third over the last thirty years.  But the bit that really hurts pubs is that thirty years ago, only a negligible proportion of beer sold was ‘off’ sales – bottles and cans to drink at home.  Nowadays, almost half the beer sold is through ‘off’ sales – beer that is not drunk in pubs.

This is why John Longden, of Pub is the Hub, describes a ‘tidal wave’ of change affecting pubs.  He is a practical man, clear about the fact that pubs close simply because costs exceed income, and that in some cases, traditional pubs simply are no longer viable.

However, many others are, and he says, “Pub is the Hub began with the concern that rural services were disappearing.  Often the last remaining business was the pub, and could we encourage good licensees to provide other services?”  Typically, these services attract more people, and he says, “Good licensees who do Pub is the Hub can increase turnover 30 or 40%.”

Pub is the Hub has also helped communities to take over their pub.  He says, “It’s a hard slog: you have to identify if the pub is sustainable.”

And, he adds, “Running a pub is not like running a shop.  Pub customers come in a great variety, and come in for different things.  There are special skills involved in running a pub.  You need to know how to do catering, how to purchase beer, how to do stocktaking, how to do rating (rates are complicated), insurance, gambling laws, employment laws, food hygiene, licensing laws, and so on and so on.  That’s why we always advise getting a professional manager.”

For those determined on taking over their pub, he advises getting good advice, be sure the business is sustainable, get a good solid business plan, and consider how to promote more activity in the pub.

He also advises having a clear plan for what happens if, despite all the hope and hard work, the community pub fails.  What happens to the assets, to shareholders’ money, and so on?

John says, “We offer impartial advice.  We’re currently advising around 107 groups around the country.  50% of the time we have to say ‘nice idea, but we don’t think it’s viable’.  But if it works, the rewards are there.  It gives a sense of spirit in the community, and if people feel it is their pub, they will use it.

There are various business models he’s seen used, and describes them:

1.  Try to purchase the pub as a co-operative.  “We’ve helped 30 communities to take over their pubs, and we’re presently advising about 16 more.  Things to look out for, he says, are to have a manager or tenant making the day to day decisions.  “There’s nothing worse than a group agonising over the menu, so best to get a manager.”  Also, you need to decide what will happen with dividends, what if the pub fails, and what if investors want their money back.  Once a co-op has ownership of the pub, they can hire a manager to run it on their behalf, or rent or lease it to an operator.

2.  A smaller group buys the pub.  This, says John, has been a popular route.  “Forty or more people come together to buy the pub.  Typically, they will invest between £500 and £10.000.”  John advises having a cap on investments, to keep the balance of power balanced.  “The same caveats as for a co-op, especially for what if it fails, apply,” he says.  He also describes how one group bought the pub, then sold a long lease to an operator, at a peppercorn rent.  The sale of the lease enabled the shareholders to get their money back.  “Then,” he says, “They pledged the freehold to the Parish Council, resulting in the Parish Council retaining control of the pub.”

This was useful when the main threat to village pubs was a change of use to housing.

3 The third way is ‘try before you buy’ – rent the pub.  The big advantage is that communities need less capital to do this.  Therefore, says John, “It’s what we’re recommending at the moment.  We’ve been working with breweries and pub groups to enable communities to take on the pub for a trial, at a set rent for a fixed period, perhaps, say, three years.  It depends on good terms for the lease/rent, and we have an advisor for this.”

One group, he said, did this.  They raised money that wasn’t enough to buy the pub, but was enough for a much-needed refurbishment.  He comments, “A lot of pubs close because they need refurbishing.”

Although pubs close, John points out that others open, and says, “Pub is the Hub tries to work with people to come up with solutions.”

Rural services that have added onto pubs include shops, post offices, playgrounds, allotments, libraries, internet access, school dinners and meeting rooms, and Pub is the Hub is now working to identify services that are needed, and matching them with a pub to provide them.  John says, “There’s no fixed way, you’ve got to go with the priorities in an individual area.”

John has hopes for the future of pubs that are at the heart of life in their communities.  But, he says, “It’s very, very hard work to run a pub.  You realise what heroes licensees are.  What we need to do is make it easier for them to make a living.”

At Hudswell, in North Yorkshire, villagers came together as a co-operative to buy their local pub.  After the pub re-opened, the co-op began offering other services too: a library, allotments, and a village shop.  Martin Booth, Secretary of Hudswell Community Pub Ltd, explains how they went about it:

“The pub shut in 2008.  The owners had bought it at the height of the property boom, and had a big loan.”  Martin says that there was a lot of sympathy for these people: they had worked hard and built up trade, but were victims of the credit crunch, and went bankrupt.

Thereafter, with the credit crunch in full swing, no-one else came forward to buy the pub.  So, he says, “We looked at setting up a co-op.  It took us a year from thinking of it to doing it.”

Crucially, having seen the figures from the previous owners, they thought the business was viable if they could only avoid big loan payments.  “That’s the advantage of doing it this way,” he says, “We raised capital from shareholders.  We had 200 investors, and raised £250,000.”

There are about 80 houses in the village, and Martin says, “Most of the rest of the membership is people within about 30 miles who like owning a share, and coming out here at the weekend.”

“We bought the pub for £210,000, and spent £60,000 doing it up.”  They had to refit the pub as all the contents and fittings had been sold off by the receivers.  They got some grant funding, which they used to improve the layout of the pub.  Without the grants, says Martin, “We would probably still have done it, but we might not have afforded such a good refurbishment.  There are some grants and loans available via the Plunkett Foundation and the Co-operative.”

Martin says, “Two things make it work.  One is we own the asset and have no debt, and the other is that we charge a realistic rent.”

Martin explains that they could have hired a manager to run the pub on their behalf.  The co-op could have participated in any potential profits this way.  But, says Martin, it would have been harder work, with the co-op having to take a much closer interest in the running of the pub.  This way, the tenants run the pub as their own business, releasing the co-op from worrying about day to day management.  They tenants take both risk and reward, meaning that they are self-motivating.

The rent will pay a dividend to shareholders.  But, says Martin “if the business were to struggle, we could lower the rent, and not pay a dividend.”

The tenants are Margaret and Jackie Stubbs, who run the pub as their own business.  Martin says, “We’ve fixed the rent for three years, so they know where they are.”  They are very experienced, and the landlords selected them from several applicants.

Setting up the co-operative, says Martin, “Took over my life.  We were meeting every two or three weeks, launching the prospectus, selling shares, refurbishing the pub, and looking for a tenant.  Now it’s up and running, we only meet once every 2 or 3 months.”

The co-op has also introduced ‘nice to have’ village services.  Martin says, “last December, we converted one room into a shop.  It’s a separate business, because we wanted Jackie and Margaret to concentrate on making the pub a success.”

In order to keep prices down, the shop is staffed by volunteers on two hour shifts.  The aim is less for profit, than simply to provide a service and break even.  Martin says, “We hope that it will eventually make enough to hire a manager.  Volunteers enjoy their shifts, but stock control, ordering, accounts and so on are onerous for volunteers, and two of our directors currently do this.”

They worked with a well-known independent retailer, Campbell’s of Leyburn, who act as wholesaler and advised on what stock to take.  Although the shop is staffed by volunteers, when the shop is shut and the pub open, Jackie and Margaret will serve customers with shop goods.  Many come in for a pint of beer and a pint of milk, and Margaret says, “We’ve had quite a bit of after-hours shop business.”

The pub has also used its land to provide allotments, and has an arrangement with the County library for a bookcase housing a small village lending library.  Martin doesn’t believe they contribute significantly to pub profits, but says, “We did them because we thought they were a good thing to do, and in a small way, they bring people in.”

Things have gone well, and Martin says, “The pub has built trade because we’ve had a lot of publicity for what we’ve done.  People have come once out of curiosity, and, because Jackie and Margaret have done a good job, customers come back again.”

Martin’s advice to others, he says, is “it’s an ideal solution, except you need volunteers to get started.”  When they started, with the pub closed, there was no-where to meet or put up a poster, and the group had to get out onto the street and leaflet every house to alert them to the project.  Now, the pub is full of posters and information.

Martin adds that, having bought the building, if the pub did fail, shareholders would still have an asset to sell and recoup some money.  “If we’d leased, we’d have nothing to sell if things went wrong,” he comments.

His other tip is to get a good manager.  He says, “This has worked because Jackie and Margaret have been so good.  We’ve been impressed with their enthusiasm and ideas.  They have a Fijian chef, and Fijian additions to the menu add interest.  And they had a Fijian summer festival, that went down very well.”

So what do Jackie and Margaret think of it all?  They are mother and daughter, who between them, have clocked up an impressive number of years of experience in the pub trade.  Jackie says, “This is exactly the type of pub we wanted – we wanted land for my Kune-Kune pigs.  And the allotments use the land constructively, and we hope to use the produce in the kitchen and shop.”

They have ideas to bring in new people.  Margaret says, “It’s the sort of pub where ladies can come in on their own, and get a friendly welcome.  If we’d had room, we’d have liked a tea room, but we do coffee and cake in the dining room.  We did a Hallowe’en festival, and we do the ‘Women of Hudswell’.  We did a pumpkin carving session with an art teacher.  There were 20-odd people in the dining room, all carving pumpkins.”

The children’s Hallowe’en party attracted more children than they had realised lived in the village, and Christmas Carol singing was popular too.  They have a walks booklet, and are considering a challenge run for next summer.

The library shelf has spawned a book club, and the after hours shop gives people an excuse to stop off for a drink while picking up essential supplies.  And, says Margaret, “When we had a musical theatre evening, we had someone stopping in the village who’d been a West End show. That raised £500 for charity.”

So, getting together enough shareholders to buy the pub, then renting at a rent to enable good tenants to make a living sounds a success.  But what if you’re not blessed with enough spare cash in the village to buy the pub?

At Cherry Willingham in Lincolnshire, villagers took over their pub with much less capital, by leasing it.  But if the last tenant couldn’t make a go of it, what’s different about a community group?  Barbara Mawer, who is licensee and runs the pub, explains what happened: “The pub kept closing.  New landlords would come, but after about six months, it would change hands again.”

Eventually, locals thought the pub would close, and, says Barbara, “Someone thought that if we could get enough people together, we could take it over.”

They formed a syndicate of 43 people, with four directors.  Barbara, who under previous management was a barmaid, is one of the directors.   She says, “We asked for pledges of £100 to £1,000, and raised £14,000, to take the lease for five years.  We’ve been running it since May last year.”

“It’s a village pub,” explains Barbara, “with a restaurant that we also use for functions, for instance the drama group, bingo nights, and so on.  We run parties, get the cricket and football teams in, and it’s going from strength to strength.”

Barbara believes that the syndicate is doing better than previous tenants because, she says, “The last few licensees weren’t interested in food.  The restaurant wasn’t open a lot of the time.  Food brings in lots of new custom, and the Sunday carvery is fully booked.”

The syndicate agreed to re-invest their dividend in the pub, and Barbara says, “It’s important to keep motivated.  One of the syndicate does a business plan, but everyone has different jobs.  It helps with ideas to move on.  I took a course to become the licensee, and run it from day to day.  Someone else does the cooking, and another syndicate member has improved the grounds.  We have a committee of six members who do functions.  It helps to bring in fresh ideas.”

As John advised, they have a ‘what if it fails’ clause, and Barbara says, “We had to put up a bond to get the lease, but if we have to pull out, we get a 60% cash refund.  If we do make a profit, it gets shared.  We have a five-year lease, and at the end of that, everything has to be re-negotiated.”

She says, “We have a good village. Our community is very close, and we all join in together.

Barbara’s tips to others thinking of doing a similar thing are to have a good business plan.  And, she says, “It’s long hours, but well worth it.”

So, even though we have cuts and credit crunch, there are ways to take over the village pub.  The key is to have the will, some cash, but most of all, the imagination to create extra reasons for customers to visit the pub.

And for those who’ve got cash but not time, Martin may be able to do the work for them.

To get further information and advice, see:

Plunkett Foundation. www.plunkett.co.uk, Tel 01993 810730

Plunkett have decades of experience helping groups to take over shops.  They have now teamed with the Co-op to offer advice and financial assistance to those wishing to set up community pubs.

Co-operatives UK: www.cooperatives-uk.coop 0161 246 2900

Pub is the Hub, www.pubisthehub.org.uk, 01423 546165

Camra, www.camra.org.uk 01727 867 201

British Beer and Pub Association  www.beerandpub.com

Featured Pubs:

The Old Crown, Hesket Newmarket, Cumbria, Tel 016974 78288

The George and Dragon, Hudswell, North Yorks, 01748 518373

The Cherry Tree Inn, Willingham, Lincs, Tel 01522 754244

Martin Booth: 01748 824204

By admin | Posted in Blog, Countryside, Food, Rural Life, Small Business | Comments off
Mar242011

Dalesman April 2011

By admin | March 24, 2011 | Posted in Blog, Countryside, Dalesman, Nature Conservation and Environment, Uncategorized, Yorkshire | Comments off

Dalesman April 2011 – Mulgrave Woods

A VIEW OF THE MULGRAVE ESTATE

LANDSCAPING BY HUMPHRY REPTON AT MULGRAVE

As a tree lover myself, it was a pleasure to meet Jim Mortlock, head forester for the Mulgrave Estate, near Whitby.

It was clear that Jim took real pleasure and pride in the woods he cares for, and, as he took me round the estate, I could see why.

He works to a plan laid out by Humphry Repton some three centuries ago – but this is the time scale a forester has to think in.  Standing in open parkland by the estate office, Jim pointed out how the swathes of woodland that he is still planting contribute to Repton’s landscape vision.

And, as he pointed out the views, it was clear that Repton’s vision was coming to fruition.  There were stands of trees across the treetops, cradling the green vale of pasture and parkland.  Here, large specimen trees were things of beauty in their own right.

Across the fields were breathtaking views of the sea and cliffs at Sandsend.

And the well-managed woods, said Jim, were full of wildlife.  He showed me trees that he’s kept for woodpeckers to nest in.  He likes to see the deer, which are a small, managed population that don’t damage his trees.

As for the flowers, after years of being shaded out, Jim says that thinning out firewood has rejuvenated them, producing carpets of primroses and bluebells in spring.

The policy of mixing decidous and evergreen trees showed its visual benefits when I visited, as dark evergreens provided a foil to the brilliant autumn colours of the hardwoods.

The estate has recently invested in state of the art machinery to cut logs for firewood.  Income from these logs has paid for new access tracks into the woods, which are available for public access on selected days.

To buy firewood, or to visit the woods, see http://mulgrave-estate.co.uk/index.php/land-use/access/

By admin | Posted in Blog, Countryside, Dalesman, Nature Conservation and Environment, Uncategorized, Yorkshire | Comments off