This article is sponsored by Park Playground. 

Who knew a group of eight middle aged women could have so much fun romping around a distant planet, fighting aliens and solving the world’s clean energy crisis in about an hour?

When I suggested a virtual reality experience at Park Playground to members of my Harrogate book club, it’s fair to say they were a little sceptical. This was tech that they’d no idea about but, I successfully argued, would make us pretty cool with our kids and grandchildren.

I had already been to Park Playground on a wet August day with an eleven year old and had a blast…literally.  I was convinced Book Club would also find it hilarious.

Group of visitors to Park Playground in Leeds, Photograph provided by Park Playground

Off we set from Harrogate for a night out in Leeds, beginning with our session at Park Playground.

Ahmad was hosting us and we began by taking a virtual lift to the top of a sky-scraper. Once at the top, the doors opened and we each had to walk a plank off what felt like the top of the Burj Khalifa. If you can’t stand heights like me, it’s so real it’s terrifying. I couldn’t do it – but some of my fellow book lovers did it, egged on by the rest of us, shouting encouragement.

So the scene was set for our main session – a journey to a distant planet to collect a crystal which produces clean energy. We fought aliens (big and small) and an enemy army so we had to work as a team. Team work is very hard when you all start acting like teenagers and spend much of the session screaming and howling with laughter.

Our mission was eventually accomplished and we had saved the planet. Pheww. Book Club were awesome!

The technology is so impressive – you feel as though you really are jetpacking and the aliens who come at you are intimidating. It’s serious fun.

Park Playground is not just for the kids – it’s for everyone. I think every Book Club should go – as should every work team.

You enter another world, you are immersed in your new surroundings and it’s one of the best hours I’ve had this year.

Transport yourself to another world for half the price and double the fun, with our exclusive vouchers.

Enjoy 50% off a 60-minute VR experience at Park Playground in Leeds for 4 people!

This article is sponsored by Ripon City Council.

Ripon City Council invites people of all ages from the Harrogate district and further afield  to join its citizens in a once in a lifetime celebration in this Right Royal city, where the biggest free Platinum Jubilee party in the north is being held over four days to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and her selfless 70 years of service to this country.

Three days of continuous FREE musical entertainment from June 2 to 4 on a stage in front of Ripon Town Hall will see 24 of the country’s leading tribute acts perform, alongside FREE fairground rides for all the family and face painting, Punch and Judy and magic shows for children.

Full details can be found by clicking or tapping here to see Ripon City Council’s Platinum Jubilee brochure.

There’s something for everybody – from parents with a three-year-old wanting to have their face painted, to a 103 year-old great grandmother who wants to come and enjoy the nostalgic wartime songs made famous by forces sweetheart Vera Lynn.

All the fairground rides are free and there will also be a Twister ride suitable for adults

Seating will be provided on Market Square for the comfort of those wanting to take the weight off their feet while watching the tribute acts.

Music in Ripon’s Market Square

The extensive concert programme will feature just about every musical genre, from rock and roll to soul and Britpop to disco dancefloor fillers and popular classics.

Ripon’s Market Square will be in the national and international spotlight at 9.45pm on Thursday June 2, after Ripon Community Poppy Project successfully applied for the city to be be one of the 1500 locations included in the UK-wide chain of Platinum Jubilee beacons that will be simultaneously lit across the land.

Beacons will also be lit in Commonwealth countries.

During the three days of activities on Market Square,  Jubilee celebrations, including the beacon lighting  in London and elsewhere in the UK, can be seen live on a large TV screen.

Adding to the very special nature of the beacon lighting event, a lone piper will play Diu Regnare, which has been written specifically for the Platinum Jubilee.

The Platinum Jubilee Horn sounds

Another huge highlight will come at 9pm on Saturday June 4, when Ripon’s world-famous setting of the watch ceremony will be in the spotlight as the city council presents the Platinum Jubilee Horn, commissioned and made by craftsmen to provide a lasting memento of this history-making celebration.

The setting of the watch, which is the world’s longest unbroken ceremonial activity, will also be performed at 9pm on each concert night, by one of the city’s very-own ‘fab four’ hornblowers, resplendent in their distinctive uniforms and tri-cornered hats.

The concerts, with a programme that has been carefully arranged to include something for people of all ages and musical tastes, will start at 10.30am on Thursday June 2 and Friday June 3 and at 11am on Saturday June 4. They will go on into the night, finishing at 11.30pm on each of the three days.

Local residents and visitors to the city can enjoy three full days of free musical entertainment provided by 24 acts and going on until 11.30pm

Concert goers can listen to tribute acts singing the songs of Elvis, the Everly Brothers, Madonna, Little Mix, Phil Collins, George Michael, Katherine Jenkins and many more.

Music from Ripon City Band will accompany an afternoon of family fun in Spa Park on Sunday June 5. They will start at 2pm with a Jubilee Big Band welcome and conclude at 4.30pm with a rousing Last Night of the Proms performance, ending with Land of Hope and Glory.

Ripon Community Poppy Project – whose Knit and Natter group made the miles of Royal bunting that adorn the city’s streets – will be running the activities in the park, that also includes face painting, Jubilee-themed crafts and a treasure  hunt for children,

Ripon, whose regal roots reach back to 886 and King Alfred the Great, is primed for the biggest royal bash in its long and distinguished history and 1,136 years after the first blast of his ceremonial horn, the city council, citizens and visitors, will celebrate and thank the most enduring member in a long line of monarchs – HRH Queen Elizabeth II – for her remarkable service.

For those who wish to celebrate by raising a loyal toast or two in Ripon’s many pubs and restaurants, the regular Transdev 36 bus service may be an advisable means of getting to and from this city that certainly knows how to throw a party.

A summer programme of exhibitions and activities has been launched by Ripon’s museums.

The Workhouse Museum on Allhallowgate is one of three heritage attractions operated by Ripon Museum Trust.

On Saturday August 14, from 11am to 2pm, it will be the venue for Hazel Waite’s counted threads workshop.

Using motifs from features of the workhouse building, participants will be able to create a stitched sample, which could be used as a small picture, bookmark or greetings card.

For more details see the Ripon Museums website.

The Lives Unravelled exhibition is on display at the Workhouse Museum until Sunday 5 September.

Featuring five textile installations, located throughout the museum, the exhibition was inspired by the lives of women who lived and worked in Ripon’s former union workhouse.

Based on their research into the workhouse, textiles group 6-Ply has created crafted and unique textile pieces, which reflect the real experiences and imagined emotions of impoverished women.

Children will be able to explore the newly-created den in the Workhouse Museum garden

Over the school summer holidays, family-focused activities will be staged from Tuesday to Friday each week.

On Friday and from August 10 to 13, the theme is Make Your Mark.

Visitors can join in with the creation of a giant wall hanging depicting feelings and life during lockdown, as well as following a museum trail.

This includes the opportunity to bake in the Workhouse Museum’s Victorian kitchen and have a go at Rag Rugging.

During the second half of the school holidays, the theme for activities will be garden camp.

From August 17 to 20, 24 to 27 & 30 and September 1 to 3 , visitors can explore the Workhouse Museum garden and make and decorate a recycled plant pot holder to take home.

The trust will also be offering a museum trail, plus bird and bird call identification activities and a bird search game.

Children will also be able to play in a new garden den, with family activities included in the cost of museum entry.

Read more:

• Ripon’s weekend of free family entertainment
• What free activities are available for Ripon’s children this summer?

During the summer, the Prison and Police Museum is offering a creative walk through the criminal justice system with the My Path exhibition.

It showcases artworks from across Yorkshire, which were submitted to the 2020 Koestler Awards for arts in the criminal justice system.

Every work shown was made by someone in a prison, secure hospital, young offender institution or on probation. The exhibition runs until September 26.

Entrance to the exhibition is included in the cost of museum entry.

The death of Harriet Rodwell, who committed suicide in the city’s workhouse in 1855, features in a new exhibition opening in Ripon today.

Ms Rodwell’s hard life and sad demise is remembered in Fragments — one of five textile installations.

Created by 6-Ply — a group of North Yorkshire textile artists — it is part of the Lives Unravelled exhibition at Ripon’s Workhouse Museum.

The display, dedicated to Ms Rodwell and created by Eileen Sweeney, reflects the fact that only fragments of the former inmate’s life remain.

The Prison & Police Museum – one of Ripon’s three heritage attractions now reopened for visitors

The new exhibition marks the reopening of the city’s three heritage attractions.

The workhouse, along with the Prison & Police and Old Courthouse are operated by Ripon Museum Trust.

The custom-made Lives Unravelled exhibition is Inspired by historical research into the lives of workhouse women.

It will be on display until September 5.

Artists have used a variety of materials and techniques to convey the real experiences and imagined emotions of being a woman in the workhouse.

Pieces installed as part of the exhibition, also include Room for Mother and Infant, by Hazel Waite; Jane Button’s “Fancy Apron”, by Sarah Lowe; Veg, Glorious Veg, by Mary Exelby and Apron of Feelings, by Jenny Bradbury.

Helen Thornton, director of Ripon Museum Trust said:

“It’s so exciting to be able to reopen our museums with this very moving and powerful temporary exhibition by local textiles group 6-Ply.

“We’re delighted to share these works with visitors and I hope they encourage people to consider the lives of people who lived and died here.”

Following today’s reopening, the museums will be open Tuesday to Sunday and on selected Bank Holidays, including bank holiday Monday, May 31.

Entrance to the exhibition is included in the cost of museum entry. All tickets to Ripon museums are valid for repeat visits over a 12-month period.

Read more:

• The desperate reality of modern-day poverty in Ripon
• Ripon mother’s car wash ordeal

Bookings can be made via the museum trust website or by calling 01765 690799.

Ripon Museums have covid safety measures in place and have been awarded the Visit Britain We’re Good to Go industry standard.

Three Ripon museums are preparing to reopen next month after receiving further government funding.

The Workhouse, Prison & Police and Old Courthouse museums plan to welcome visitors from May 17.

Before then, the Workhouse Museum gardens will be open until 3pm today.

Ripon Museum Trust, which maintains the attractions, has received two grants totalling £186,850 from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund, which helps cultural organisations recover from covid,

The latest grant of £69,350, announced last week, will help the trust develop digital learning for schools and reconnect with tour groups, older learners and communities.

The Police & Prison Museum – one of the three heritage attractions run by Ripon Museum Trust

This additional funding comes as visitor attractions and tourism destinations aim to make the most of the relaxation of lockdown restrictions and boom in staycations.

Helen Thornton, director of Ripon Museum Trust, said:

“The Arts Council’s cultural recovery funding has been an absolute lifeline during a very challenging time.

“This grant puts us in a strong and positive position to reopen our museums again and welcome visitors back – which is what we love doing and what we are all about.

“It will be so wonderful having our doors open again on 17 May.”

The Workhouse Museum gardens will also be open between 11am and 3pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, plus Bank Holiday Monday 3 May.

To manage numbers and ensure social distancing, people should book timed ticket slots online for this and the ‘Inside Out’ Museum Trail. Visit riponmuseums.co.uk for bookings.

Read more:

• • Ripon plans free fairground attractions for families
  • Ripon racecourse ready to stage its first fixture of 2021

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Sir Nicholas Serota, chairman of Arts Council England, said:

“Investing in a thriving cultural sector at the heart of communities is a vital part of helping the whole country to recover from the pandemic. These grants will help to re-open theatres, concert halls, and museums and will give artists and companies the opportunity to begin making new work.

“We are grateful to the Government for this support and for recognising the paramount importance of culture to our sense of belonging and identity as individuals and as a society.”

Last autumn, the trust was awarded £117,500 from the Culture Recovery Fund.

Ripon’s largest-ever display of Christmas lights and decorations will be turned on on the evening of Saturday November 14.

Ripon City Council agreed to the switch-on arrangements this week after an update from council leader Andrew Williams.

Cllr Williams said North Yorkshire County Council had carried out the necessary adjustments to street lighting around the city to accommodate three miles of decorations.

This will take in Ripon’s main retail core and extend as far north as the Victoria clock tower on North Street – a principal route into Ripon.

The Mayor of Ripon, Councillor Eamon Parkin at the Victoria Clock Tower junction, where Christmas lights will welcome visitors

Cllr Williams, told the Stray Ferret:

“For the benefit of traders and residents, we would like to have the extended display turned on as soon as possible after Remembrance Sunday (November 8).

“This will give time for the superb displays put in place by the Ripon Community Poppy Project to be taken down.”

Read more:

• Ripon remembers with spectacular poppy display
• Watchdog refuses to release correspondence on Ripon MP’s consultancy job

The council has approved £65,000 of additional spending on the Christmas decorations.

The major extension, which now takes in side streets including Allhallowgate, Bedern Bank and Skellbank, ensures lights are in place on all gateways into the city centre, while also providing a circuit around a mixture of retail and residential streets.

Funding for the scheme is coming from the council’s events budget, which had originally been intended to support a programme of community events throughout the year in Ripon.

These included the 75th anniversary celebrations for VE and VJ Day, and the St Wilfrid’s Day procession, that had to be either cancelled or scaled back because of the coronavirus crisis and social distancing restrictions.

Councillors, who unanimously supported the switch on plans, hope that the extended lights will provide an end of year boost for retailers, by attracting greater footfall.

The Mayor of Ripon, councillor Eamon Parkin, said:

“The covid pandemic has made this a very gloomy year for many people and we hope that the lights display will give everybody a lift by adding to the attraction of the city over the festive period.”