Will the crucial role of Ripon’s Royal Engineers in the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy be lost in the sands of time?

As the 80th anniversary of this key event in world history fast approaches and features in media coverage across the globe, Ripon Military Heritage Trust is facing a battle with the bulldozers on the home front.

The Ripon barracks site, which is due to be vacated by 21 Engineer Regiment of the Royal Engineers in two years to make way for the 1,300-home Clotherholme development, is a time capsule that helps to tell the story of world war and cold war invention, ingenuity and innovation.

The area uniquely links priceless relics of the 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 conflicts that are of major historical importance.

Heritage assets currently located there include extremely rare accommodation huts built in 1939, along with bridges and structures, such as a concrete weir constructed on the River Laver to turn the turbines of a power station serving a huge World War One army camp.

The battle cry of Ripon Military Heritage Trust can be seen in a banner hanging high above High Skellgate

In the wake of the Japanese aerial bombardment of the USA fleet at Pearl Harbour in December 1941, the Americans came to Ripon to learn from the Royal Engineers how to deal with unexploded ordnance.

It was a Trans-Atlantic training arrangement and helping-hand from across the sea, that emphasised the growing ‘special relationship’ between the two countries.

Ripon was also the base where allied military personnel from the USA, Canada and Europe, were trained in the methods of installing Bailey Bridges.

Ripon’s role recognised by top military figures

The importance of this then revolutionary, new bridging system was highlighted in a letter to the Royal Engineers from Field-Marshal Montgomery who wrote:

“…As far as my own operations were concerned with the Eighth Army in Italy and 21 Army Group in N.W. Europe, I could never have maintained the speed and tempo of forward movement without large supplies of Bailey bridging…”.

Montgomery and the top brass of the USA military are on record for their recognition of Ripon’s world-wide war era significance, but Ripon Military Heritage Trust, fears for the future of the heritage assets that they hope to preserve as a means of reminding existing and future generations of the exceptional part that the city played in two world wars and the subsequent cold war.

Trust display

The trust had a display at yesterday’s launch of Ripon’s D-Day programme of 80th anniversary commemoration and celebration events on the lawns of the Ripon Inn.

Trustees Michael and Jane Furse of Ripon Military Heritage Trust, showed Major Daryl Murphy, the second-in-command of Ripon’s Royal Engineers the newly-created display.

It has now been moved inside the Ripon Inn and gives a fascinating insight into Ripon’s military history and the heritage assets that it is attempting to save from destruction.

Trustee Michael Furse told the Stray Ferret:

“The city has  a rich and deep military history and has enjoyed a long and close relationship with the Royal Engineers.

“We and many Ripon residents strongly believe that the important heritage assets at the barracks site are worth fighting for.”

Main image: Field-Marshal Montgomery recognised the important role that Ripon’s Royal Engineers played in the installation of Bailey Bridges, such as this one in Italy. Picture Wikipedia

Read more:

• The countdown is on for Ripon’s D-Day anniversary event
• Rallying call from Ripon Military Heritage Trust

Fears that priceless elements of Ripon’s rich military heritage could be flattened to make way for the 1,300-home Clotherholme scheme have been allayed.

Jane Furse, a trustee of the Ripon Military Heritage Trust, which has plans to create heritage trails on the development site, told the Stray Ferret:

“We were concerned that some extremely rare huts on the Deverell  Barracks part of the site, and other historically important structures, would be demolished, but I’m relieved to say that this will not be the case.

“These huts are among the few surviving of their kind in the UK and help to tell the story of the vital national and international role that Ripon’s Royal Engineers played in just about every aspect of World War II and subsequent conflicts.

“This included training British and allied troops in the erection and use of Bailey Bridges in theatres of war such as Sicily and France and bomb disposal, that saved the lives of civilians and military personnel around the world.”

Minutes of Harrogate Borough Council’s February 23 planning meeting at which Homes England was seeking outline approval to progress development of the huge Clotherholme scheme, confirm that the huts and other structures will have protection.

Under the provisions of a Section 106 agreement the developer is required to put in place a strategy to ‘secure military heritage within the site.’

Jane Furse of Ripon Military Heritage Trust pictured at the barracks site

The planning meeting minutes also say:

“Prior to the commencement of works to each phase of development, a record (including photographs, drawings and summary of historic analysis) shall be made of a representative selection of buildings with military heritage on site and shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority. Copies of this record shall be placed on the North Yorkshire Historic Environment Record.”

Ms Furse, an architectural historian and former inspector of historic buildings with English Heritage (now Historic England) pointed out:

“Inclusion within the S 106 agreement means that the significance of military heritage assets at the site has been formally recognised and that is very welcome news.

“It means that we can go forward, in liaison with Homes England and other parties, to progress plans for military heritage trails at Clotherholme that alongside other heritage attractions, will add to the city’s development as a tourist destination.”

Bomb disposal and the American connection

The wooden huts at Deverell Barracks are of heritage importance, because they are identical to ones that were located at the nearby Harper Barracks which became the home of the Royal Engineers’ School of Bomb Disposal in 1941.

Setting up of the national school in Ripon, soon saw Royal Engineers based in the city providing vital training and passing on know-how to the Americans, in the wake of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour, the USA naval base.

Ms Furse said:

“The Royal Engineers sought out examples of every known enemy bomb and developed countermeasures to defuse them. The School developed a rigorous training programme in bomb identification and disposal methodology.

“The Americans, although aware of the threat of unexploded bombs, had no proper procedures for safe disposal and the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbour on December 7 1941, meant that for the first time, they were faced with unexploded bombs scattered throughout their bases and the harbour.

“On December 9, the British Military Attache’s office in Washington received a request for a joint personnel exchange – an early example of the ‘special relationship’ between ourselves and the USA.

“A group of eight hand-picked American soldiers headed by Major Thomas J Kane, travelled to Ripon to train with the Engineers, arriving on February 1 1942.

“After six weeks of attending lectures and demonstrations, all of the U.S. Army ordnancemen passed the course and were made honorary Royal Engineers – they were even given official RE patches and allowed to wear them on the sleeves of their American uniforms.”

The expertise gained from the Royal Engineers in Ripon subsequently saw Major Kane set up the USA’s first Bomb Disposal School in Maryland.

Read more:

• Made in Chelsea star in Ripon marathon fundraiser
• Free entry to heritage attractions in the Ripon area

Two new daily flights have been announced to help travellers from the Harrogate district reach Ireland, the USA and Canada.

Emerald Airlines will be operating its Aer Lingus Regional flights on the route from Leeds Bradford Airport to Dublin from today.

As well as visiting the Irish capital, the route gives travellers the option to pre-clear US immigration at Dublin Airport, allowing them to enter North America as a domestic passenger and avoid lengthy queues on arrival.

Nicola McMullen, aviation director at Leeds Bradford Airport, said:

“As passenger levels return to normal, the connection between LBA and Dublin remains an important one for our region, with many passengers travelling for both business and leisure.

“The route will provide a valuable connection to the US with pre-clearance, meaning passengers can travel through immigration smoothly.”

Read more:

• Leeds Bradford Airport scraps plans for £150m terminal
• Harrogate couple spend 3 days in vain calling Jet2 to rearrange £824 holiday

Flights will depart Leeds Bradford at 8.35am every day, as well as 7.40pm every day except Saturday. Return flights depart Dublin at 6.50am daily and 5.45pm every day except Saturday.

Ciarán Smith, head of commercial at Emerald Airlines said:

“We recognise the vital importance of regional air connectivity and the key role that this air link to Dublin provides for business, tourism and leisure travel.

“In addition, we’re excited to add additional capacity to our existing service from Leeds to Belfast City from mid-May, and I am sure this additional capacity will prove popular for business customers.

“In particular, the new morning and afternoon flight facilitates day return options.”

For anyone who has moved away from their hometown it will always have a special pull.

There are Harrogatonians living in almost every corner of the globe.

Five of them told the Stray Ferret about why they left, their favourite haunts in Harrogate from back in the day, and whether they would ever return:

Hilary Bottomley: Germany since 1988

I initially left in 1982 to study modern languages at university. It wasn’t until 1988 that I got a job in Germany and moved away from Harrogate permanently.

What I miss most about living in Harrogate are the people and their warm and friendly nature. Germans are much more formal and reserved.

For example, it would be unthinkable to get on a bus here and strike up a conversation with your fellow passengers, whereas that always used to happen to me in Harrogate. Germans find it much harder to let their barriers down.

When I was still at Harrogate Grammar School, I had a Saturday job as a sales assistant at Woolworths on Cambridge Street.

I remember working on the front cash desk and being able to listen to the singles being played at the record counter. The girl who worked on the music counter was a fan of The Police, so even now whenever I hear the song “Message in a Bottle”, I’m immediately transported back to my early days at Woolies.

Meanwhile, down in the basement, the boys who worked in the stockroom would start having loo roll fights the minute they were left unsupervised, so you’d often have to dodge a flying pack of Izal toilet paper whenever you ventured down there.

Cambridge Street in the early 1980s

I also used to love going to Annabella’s nightclub at the base of Copthall Towers (now The Exchange) on the nights when they played rock music and heavy metal.

I was only just 17 and looked even younger, so I went to all the trouble of having a silver pendant engraved with a false date of birth in case my age was ever queried. In actual fact, the bouncers didn’t take their job too seriously and I always got in without any questions asked.

Lisa Sullivan: Florida, USA since 1990

I studied for my A-levels at Harrogate Grammar School. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very academic so I ended up failing my A-level exams, which meant I was unable to go to university in London, as planned.

However, I was restless to leave Harrogate. Fortuitously, a friend from HGS offered me the opportunity to spend the summer of 1990 in the US working at a summer camp. I jumped at the opportunity.

At the end of the summer when it came time to come back to Harrogate, I decided I didn’t want to return home. Instead, I wangled my way into staying in the US. 32 years later I’m still living in America!

Failing my exams at 18 felt like the end of the world. However, if I had passed my A-levels I would have attended university in London and my life would have been very different. I’m a firm believer that when one door closes, another one opens.

I live in Jupiter, which is a relatively non-touristy town on the east coast of Florida. Many well-known people have made it their home over the years like Burt Reynolds, Tiger Woods and Olivia Newton-John. The beaches are unspoiled, the water is aquamarine and there are many restaurants on the water. Dining by the water while the sun is shining is an enjoyable way of life in this part of the world.

Jupiter, Florida

Over the years I have contemplated moving back to be close to family. What stopped me from moving back were my pets: I didn’t want to risk transporting my dogs across the Atlantic.

I’ve been in Florida too long! Sadly, after living in the US for 32 years, I have come to the realisation that the US is my home.

Ms Sullivan today in Jupiter, Florida

I worked at various places around the town, waitressed at Pinocchio’s restaurant and the Damn Yankee; bartended at Legends nightclub, and helped in my parents’ wool and clothing shop on Cheltenham Parade.

When I wasn’t working, I hung out at discos at the Royal Baths, the Chequers pub, or at Picasso’s nightclub. I spent Sunday mornings at the roller skating events in the gym of Rossett High school, watched my school friends breakdance in Harrogate town center, or drove around town in my banana yellow car. Thinking back to those times always brings a smile to my face!

Read More: 

• Photos reveal hidden history of Harrogate’s abandoned railway tunnel
• Harrogate’s link to the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb, 100 years ago

Graham Steele – Maryland, USA since 1997

I loved the Valley Gardens. My dad used to take me to play on the swings and slides, and as I got older, I played 9 hole golf. This was my weekend treat.

We also used to go to the little pond next to the ice cream stand and play with sailboats. I can still smell the sulphur from the stream that ran down the side of the gardens and the little path that used to run down the side of it. The Pinewoods was also fun too, me and my brother used to ride our bikes up through there and play French cricket.

As I got older I loved the nightlife around Harrogate. Fridays and Saturdays were always buzzing and there were so many unique pubs in such a small square footage.

I enjoyed The Rat and Parrott, West Park and the Blues Bar. Then there was Carrington’s, which was a Harrogate icon for so long. I also loved the uniqueness of the shops around the town, no big chain stores, local and friendly.

When I was younger, Saturday mornings at the Odeon was my highlight, watching westerns or kids shows.

The Crow’s Nest on Knaresborough Road and Graveley’s has some fond memories and of course who can forget Pinocchio’s? Bettys has always been a constant but was too civilized when I was young. Today I order from Bettys every Christmas, it’s my piece of home.

Old adverts from the 1970s

What do I like about the US is it’s so diverse and a melting pot of different cultures, foods and ideas. The US also offers plenty of opportunities to make something of yourself. People here work hard and play hard and depending on where you are there is some beautiful scenery.

Unfortunately, I have not been back to Harrogate much as I wanted, probably about four times in the last 25 years. There was so much to see over here and it was expensive to fly back, especially with two kids in tow, but you cannot touch God’s county.

My favourite memory was going to The Great Yorkshire Show. It was always something I loved to look forward to.

Gemma Abdullah: Cyprus since 2004

I left Harrogate in 2004 after the birth of my daughter and emigrated to North Cyprus to try something new. I had always fancied living abroad, trying a new language and embracing a new culture. When my parents moved over here two years before, it seemed the right time.

A night out in Harrogate circa 1997

Most of all I miss my daughter. She lived in North Cyprus her whole life and is fluent in Turkish. In 2020 she flew back to the UK to further her studies. We are so close and this has been incredibly hard to come to terms with, I miss her desperately.

Living in North Cyprus offers me and my husband a much more relaxed and less stressful lifestyle. It’s a very slow pace here, where you have time for long lazy lunches with friends and family and enjoy a much simpler less fast pace way of life. We have our own olive grove so this has been interesting to learn how to harvest these.

We do still visit the UK regularly. Primarily to see my daughter and family, but also to just get a fix of civilisation for a short while. We tend to come back for Christmas as it’s just never the same here. I couldn’t live in the UK again now, it’s too much hustle and bustle for me.

Harrogate will always hold a very special place in my heart. I have a lifetime of memories from living in Pannal as a child, going to school and college and living there right up to being 28.

School days in Pannal

My Nanna is also born and bred in Harrogate and is now 96. She used to drive me and my brother around the Stray around this time of year to see the spring flowers in all their glory!

My beloved Dad, who sadly died when I was only 7, let me have my first shandy at the Black Swan in Burnbridge.

There is a lifetime of memories!

Susan Croft: Christchurch, New Zealand since 2002

I first left Harrogate when I was 24 but I only moved to Ripon, where I lived for six years with my children.

My family were all still in Harrogate. I moved to Ripon to be near a very dear friend who helped me through my early years as a single parent of two babies. Then I moved to Cambridge when I was 30. This was for my career, a very good move in that respect, but we never felt settled there.

We lived in Cambridge for 12 years and I had met my second husband while living in Ripon, so Cambridge was where we raised our children. In 2002 our children were grown up and had left home and I was a school principal. I didn’t enjoy my work by that time, it was stressful and I missed teaching and teacher training.

We loved the outdoors life and so we decided to go to New Zealand for two years. I got the perfect job there and we love where we live.

We’re right on the ocean, with the water just at the end of our road . We have hills behind our house where we can go walking for hours, and the mountains are our backdrop.

Covered in snow, they look beautiful against the sea and a blue sky. It’s a 90-minute drive to the mountains. Unfortunately a couple of huge earthquakes destroyed the city in 2011 and 11 years on, we’re still in demolition and rebuild mode. It takes a very long time to rebuild a city.

An earthquake destroyed much of Christchurch in 2011. Credit – Wellington City Council

As for Harrogate, I miss my family there, of course. I miss the Valley Gardens, the Nidd Gorge, and the surrounding dales. Until Covid hit, I flew home three times each year, spending about four and a half months in England.

My time there was split between the midlands where our children and grandchildren live and Harrogate. Because of Covid, I haven’t seen my family for two years and the separation is awful. My health is quite precarious and the journey home is difficult for me so once the Covid situation settles down, we will probably move back to England.

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

Here we are again.

Locked down tight. Shielding from the any one of the three Covid-19 variants currently spreading across the land at exponentially increasing rates. Working from home if at all possible and avoiding all but necessary travel. Obsessively checking and rechecking our place in the vaccination queue and hoping against hope that the ability of the NHS to get vaccines into the arms of the population matches the prodigious available supply of those vaccines.

I fully support Boris Johnson’s decision to return to a national lockdown. With record numbers of positive Covid-19 tests being reported each and every day and as high dependency and critical care beds in our hospitals approach full capacity, he and the leaders of the Kingdom’s devolved parliaments had little choice but to turn the door key once more. Sir Keir Starmer, who is quickly establishing a reputation for himself as both Cassandra and Statesman, gave the Prime Minister his fulsome support. Clearly he has been spooked by the confidential briefings on the spread of Covid-19 he receives as Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. Regardless, we should laud him for his principled stance.

One person to whom the nom de guerre Statesman could never be attached is Gavin Williamson. Surely Mr Williamson can now confidently be ranked as the worst Education Secretary to have ever graced the government benches. Schools’ leaders and staff are in open revolt, stoked up as ever by their unions, angered by Mr Williamson’s combination of myopia, lettuce-like communication skills (green, wet and limp) and post-hoc policy announcements.

Parents must again help school their children at home and confront a patchwork quilt of online educational provision, which follows, broadly speaking, the established pattern that those who would benefit most from excellent services are those least likely to have the opportunity to do so. And those parents least able to afford the required time away from work to help their children learn are faced with the worst of Hobson’s choices: work to earn now and limit their children’s educational opportunities or prioritise educating the kids and struggle to earn the money needed to put food on the table.

Mr Williamson is self-regarding and childish (the man keeps a Tarantula on his House of Commons office desk for ‘House of Cards’ effect, for goodness’ sake), he is dishonourable (Theresa May sacked him as Secretary of State for Defence because she had “compelling evidence” he had leaked confidential and sensitive National Security Council – he denied it but everyone in Westminster didn’t believe him for a minute, such is his reputation for cheap and transparent politicking), he is, well, a bit thick (which we ought to forgive him for) and, given that, inexplicably arrogant (which we shouldn’t).

In the end, though, I believe that we get the politicians we deserve. If I’m right, the current crop of British politicians serve only to confront us with the inconvenient truth of our just desserts. The view in the mirror of our public life is unedifying. To change it we have to care more, watch more, say more and do more. We must. If we don’t, there is every danger that we will follow in the misguided footsteps of the United States and undermine the fabric of our polity so as to expose its limited foundations and character.

It’s remarkable that a third national lockdown in the United Kingdom is only the second story this week, and second by a long chalk. The events in Washington DC on January 6 and 7 were truly extraordinary. A sitting President walked into the garden of the White House and incited the supporters he has anyway spent four years inflaming to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, lay siege to and storm the Capitol building that is home to both houses of Congress. This on the day of a joint sitting to ratify the US Electoral College votes and elevate the Biden/Harris ticket to power.

The MAGA (Make America Great Again) gang overran the Capitol Hill police and security staff and tried to establish mob rule. Windows were smashed, crash barriers were upended, walls were scaled, offices were occupied, weapons were brandished, a woman died of gunshot wounds and three others lost their lives. Donald Trump almost got his Presidential death wish, to bring down American democracy because it didn’t give him the electoral result he wanted.

Trump, his family and assorted sycophants have brought low the United States’ reputation as the cradle of democracy. Using his bully pulpit, the social media wild west, friendly and partisan television networks, toadying public officials, a successful populism that enflames and exploits the prejudices of the ignorant, 60 fallacious lawsuits and pure brass neck, this man tried everything to cling on to the power he lost in November’s elections. Thank goodness that America’s system of government and judiciary held in the face of such a brazen assault. The alternative is unthinkable.

Unless the powder keg explodes between now and January 20, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th US President that day. Frighteningly, a YouGov poll of Republican voters conducted this week reports that fully 45% of them believe that Biden’s Democrats stole the election.  Biden will consequently step into a smouldering crucible, packed with the combustible tinder of opposing views. For all our sakes, we have to hope his unique political emollience can walk the US back from the brink.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.