Archive

  • Don't fall foul of bogus holiday clubs

    Readers off on holiday are warned not to fall foul of any holiday club schemes they come across while away. City of York Council Trading Standards is backing a campaign by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) warning consumers about the dangers of bogus holiday

  • Drop in distance will suit slick Sharoura - 24/07/03

    SHAROURA, a beaten favourite at Catterick yesterday, is napped to recover losses at Thirsk tomorrow. The Richard Fahey-trained mare goes for the Stanland Group Fillies' Handicap and can make the most of her light weight. Yesterday, Sharoura ran in a seven-furlong

  • Dales and Druids

    GEORGE WILKINSON ponders the mysteries of the past as he takes us on a walk in the Yorkshire Dales... We parked in the nice little car park near the Druids Temple in the Dales, donned waterproofs rather than white cloaks and, leaving the mystic for later

  • Let it snow...

    GEORGE WILKINSON braves the snow to rediscover the joys of winter walking. SNOW - or 'snow shock' as the headlines proclaim - and with it came personal fury that I hadn't managed to organise proper all-weather mobility. The new (nearly new) car wouldn't

  • A classy common

    GEORGE WILKINSON leads us on a Boxing Day walk where the animals take the scenery - and the walkers - in their stride Friday the 13th we walked a route selected for Boxing Day, but superstition ran like rain off waterproofed backs, and we had a super

  • A winter winner

    PLAN B it had to be, because the dales' moors were erased by cloud. So we dropped down into Lofthouse, donned our waterproofs and set off for five safe miles, almost every step the Nidderdale Way. We met other walkers: this is a pleasant and popular walk

  • Head for the hills

    GEORGE WILKINSON makes the most of some winter sunshine and enjoys the breathtaking views from the Cleveland Hills The Cleveland Hills sharpened up in watery sunshine and we were delighted to abandon plan B - low level from Guisborough Priory. Crossing

  • An estuary wander

    George Wilkinson steps out near the Humber Bridge for a walk at Ferriby Sluice. LINCOLNSHIRE this week, but only just, for a wander by the Humber Estuary. The world's third longest suspension bridge was worth the price of a pint (£2.50 toll), the walk

  • Walk in the park

    GEORGE WILKINSON heads to Fountains Abbey for a wander round a World Heritage Site. FOUNTAINS Abbey and the adjacent landscaped water gardens at Studley Royal are a World Heritage Site, fabulous and a real must. If you haven't visited them already then

  • Hidden away

    George Wilkinson heads out across Hamer Moor ROSEDALE Abbey deep in the North York Moors is ever so popular. Nearby, tucked away a mile or so to the east, hidden in a roll of moor, is a quite secret and nameless valley. Well, one we had never explored

  • To the woods

    Grewelthorpe is a nice village near Ripon, and near the quite gruelling but enchanting Hack Fall Woods, which were a popular and picturesque tourist attraction in the 18th and 19th centuries and apparently featured in all the best guides. We left Grewelthorpe

  • Oh, by Esk

    GEORGE WILKINSON takes a brisk walk by the sparkling River Esk then heads out on to the moors on a gloriously crisp, clear day Iwondered if the car park at Egton Bridge was ever blessed with any North York Moors sunshine. The village huddles deep in the

  • Spuds you hike

    GEORGE WILKINSON witnesses the potato harvest near the village of Scackleton. THE village of Scackleton is long and linear, with two pumps, shaggy sheep, a pond and a hint of an ancient moat. It lies bang in the middle of the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding

  • On Ilkley Moor

    Ilkley is one of the most elegant towns in England, a former spa town that has retained the dignified air that would have once attracted the wealthiest people to this "heather spa" in search of a cure during the Victorian and Edwardian era. However, there

  • Golden harvest

    We came into Huggate on York Lane and left a landscape burnished in the harvest time heat for the cool of the Wolds Inn at noon. Thereby "mad dogs and Englishmen" were delayed a while, and it was hot, more than 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Huggate is a low

  • Heather and yon

    THE landscape backdrop to today's walk is purple heather. The political backdrop is a huge and hugely successful public access arrangement. The land at Bolton Abbey is owned by the Duke of Devonshire who this year publicly apologised for the treatment

  • Foamy walk

    GEORGE WILKINSON meets the black-painted Darlington Mummers on his way to a waterfall that inspired Turner We pulled up outside the Green Man just as the black-painted Darlington Mummers boarded their coach. Folk festivals, for this was one - the inaugural

  • Plover and out

    J B Priestley wrote in his English Journey: 'We reached Buckden, towards the head of the Dale, and a notable goal for Bradfordians, who have emptied the barrels at the inn there many a time...'. Seventy years later there were 30 cars in the Upper Wharfedale

  • Losing the way

    THE Howardian Hills are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. After being repulsed by vegetation and crops on a walk out of Terrington, I thought AONB might expand as Area of Outstandingly Nullified Byways. Later in the week we tried again from Terrington

  • Pure Goldsborough

    George Wilkinson heads for the coast at Goldsborough and finds a lovely quiet spot just up the coast from busy Whitby GOLDSBOROUGH is a little village - a farm, a pub, a few old sandstone houses and an expansive sea view wide enough to show the curve

  • Gorse code

    AT THE Lion Inn at Blakey, roadies were setting up sound equipment for outdoor midsummer music on the moors. Just down the road a few yards after Ralph Cross we drove into Westerdale and then to the lovely sheltered car park and picnic spot called Hob

  • Cloud cover

    George Wilkinson goes in and out of cloud as he walks on Thimbleby Moor above Osmotherley WE sat in the car on Thimbleby Moor above Osmotherley as the rain lashed the windscreen. Cloud at one thousand foot smeared out the top of Black Hambleton, the nearest

  • Making tracks

    GEORGE WILKINSON goes on the trail of a faint path out of Glaisdale We left the straggling village of Glaisdale and climbed out on a road that becomes 'unsuitable for motors', had a sit on a bench, enjoyed the long rich views down the Esk Valley and moaned

  • Welcome diversion

    Kettlewell was as lovely as ever except for a migration of caravans and a pipeline. Rain was forecast from the west, there was a dusting of snow on Great Whernside and we had barely set off down Lovers Lane by the sparkling River Wharfe when, late in

  • Wait and see

    Today's walk could have been made for the Moorsbus Service. A short ride from Helmsley takes you to the top of Newgate Bank in Bilsdale and then you can walk back to the town over moors and through the bluebell valley of Riccal Dale using newly designated

  • Wolds winner

    George Wilkinson discovers an unmissable walk in the Wolds THIS is a wonderful Wolds walk, one of the best I have done. We started at Fordon which is a farm, a mini church, a house or two, that's all, a hamlet at the junction of North Dale, East Dale

  • Hungry work

    Many thanks to Evening Press reader Shamuna Aslam for the gist of this gourmet's gambol to Helmsley via Harome. Rather than gamble on the buses I have started you at Oswaldkirk, which is served by Moorsbuses from York, Helmsley and elsewhere. We began

  • New horizons

    Bolton Abbey is one of my favourite starts, a sentiment shared by the populace; there were more walkers than I have seen all year. This, my fourth visit for the Evening Press, was for a newish route up the Valley of Desolation and a little-publicised

  • Southern style

    Ken Walker, a reader and walker from Camblesforth, near Selby, has written a kind letter to me and has requested more routes south of York. Fair point. So I went to Cawood for a big sky river ramble. We started near the arched steel swing bridge, channelled

  • All white now

    GEORGE WILKINSON is back on his feet and makes the most of a late-winter snowfall Snow, a rare treat, and to make the most of it, to avoid any chance of slush, we changed our plan, from the gentle hills around Coxwold to the high ground of Bransdale.

  • Take the old road

    Victoria Ellis enjoys a smashing walk on a newly discovered track If you have driven the Pickering to Whitby road you might have noticed enticing countryside in the northeast quarter about a mile before you reach the Hole of Horcum. The latest edition

  • Riverside ramble from Burnsall

    The path we fancied near Grassington was still closed. So we decamped a mile or two down Wharfedale and settled on the village of Burnsall, which Wainwright described in 1991 as 'neat and compact... well endowed with nature and a lovely riverside setting

  • Blown away

    Fantastic views are your reward when you brave the contours out of Clay Bank, says VICTORIA ELLIS There is a choice of car parks today. The big one on the top of Clay Bank offers, as a backdrop to boot lacing, the majesty of the Cleveland Plain. But for

  • Hungry work

    VICTORIA ELLIS works up an appetite after walking in Coverdale. (Please note that since this article was written on the 19th January the pub has re-opened and a warm welcome awaits you!) Carlton in Coverdale was bright, sunny and quiet on Saturday morning

  • Mist opportunity

    MORE in hope than with judgement, we set off in the fog on Saturday morning to the Wolds for some valley wandering. A phone call to a publican had given some cause for optimism about the weather not being 'too bad'. With hindsight I think my phone call

  • Full steam ahead

    VICTORIA ELLIS suggests the perfect walk for Boxing Day to help clear away the post-Christmas cobwebs This is a walk for Boxing Day, and has the following characteristics - easy strolling, pubs at the start/finish and halfway round, simple navigation

  • Water world

    York's Place Research Centre published a booklet last month called A Guide To The Wetland Heritage Of the Vale Of Pickering. I just had to go out and have a look and chose the carrs and ings (one-time marshlands, reedswamps or whatever) south of West

  • In days of Hold

    Hold Caldron is one of my sweetest childhood haunts. Arriving here has a magic, as the quiet back road twists round a corner and suddenly dips steep into another world, and then stops at the bottom, deep in a lovely valley, at a stone bridge over a river

  • Squeezed in

    IF YOU travel out of Helmsley on the Scarborough road, you soon slip through two little villages squeezed together, Beadlam then Nawton. The pair persist as separate identities which is confusing. Every reference book has two sets of entries. In 1754

  • Into the valley

    Grosmont is this week's destination for George Wilkinson. Today we have a triangular route on high moor with terrific views out in all directions, and the triangle filled with heather. A short walk that would combine nicely with a few hours at Whitby

  • Back on track

    George Wilkinson hits the trail again, for a moorland walk among the heather. Regular readers will have noticed that a couple of weeks ago the paper described me as 'incapacitated' (much to the amusement of my friends) and Victoria Ellis has kindly done

  • Gang Starr, The Ownerz (Virgin) ***

    Fourteen years into their career, hip-hop veterans Gang Starr are back to give the young generation of fame and money-obsessed rap artists a stern talking-to. From the opening Put Up Or Shut Up, lyricist Guru is on the attack about rappers selling out

  • Colour purple

    VICTORIA ELLIS temporarily takes over from George Wilkinson, who is incapacitated, and leads a walk to Cawthorne. Cawthorne Camp on a midweek morning was busy with walkers and dog walkers and lorries delivering topsoil. In the first century you might

  • Stranger in paradise

    George Wilkinson heads to Wharfedale I had to laugh as I drove into Grassington; some wag had put up a sign that read 'Twinned with Dodge City'. However, seven miles further up Wharfedale, at the village of Starbotton, Dodge City had a certain resonance

  • When truth will not out

    WE like to think we live in a democracy: a society where decisions are taken openly on our behalf by representatives elected by us, and where our opinion counts. The sorry sequence of events that began with hyping of evidence for war against Iraq and

  • Science City takes a look at hi-tech arts

    YORK'S future status as a world-class science city has been under debate. Leaders of the Science City project last night debated the future of the project and its importance to the city as part of the Without Walls Vision for York. One of the key areas

  • Homing in on the future

    SCHOOLchildren near Selby have buried their thoughts and plans for how homes of the future could look. Pupils from two classes at Whitley and Eggborough Primary School were asked to draw and write about the homes they currently live in and their visions

  • Youths urged to keep off rail tracks

    A YORK-based train company is urging parents to remind children about the dangers of playing near railway lines. Arriva Trains Northern (ATN) has issued the fresh warning as youngsters in York, North and East Yorkshire enjoy the start of the summer holiday

  • Soldiers' Manchester mission

    Soldiers Major Richard Boddy and Warrant Officer Class 2 Kevin Johnston are due to arrive back in York this evening after a 24-hour run to Manchester and back. The two York men were joined by four other soldiers from Yorkshire and the North East, and

  • Roman raiders on way to city streets

    YORK is preparing for a friendly invasion this weekend when the inaugural Eboracum Roman Festival is launched. The colourful event, backed by City of York Council and York Tourism Bureau, will begin at 11am on Saturday when a troop of soldiers in Roman

  • Stolen garden items on show

    Residents in York who have fallen foul of garden furniture thieves may be able to reclaim their property at Fulford Police Station tomorrow. Officers have seized a haul of furniture and ornaments after a raid at an address in Foxwood. More than 20 shed

  • City cycle ban lifted

    CYCLISTS were overjoyed today after an order which banned them from York city centre streets on Thursday nights was withdrawn. City of York Council highway chiefs have decided to remove an extended pedestrian order, which banned traffic from the foot

  • Anti-theft invention set to take off

    NORTH Yorkshire inventor Bob Eldridge has high hopes his latest product will take off with law-abiding citizens across the country. Mr Eldridge, whose company, Summertronics, is based at Low Marishes, near Thornton-le-Dale, has come up with an innovative

  • Golf competition to aid ambulance fund

    A NORTH YORKSHIRE couple are hoping to turn rounds into pounds in memory of their young son when they hold a fundraising golf tournament later this year. Jonathan and Fiona Scarlett-Abbott, of Langton, near Malton, launched the £75,000 appeal to purchase

  • Runners aim to beat Minster's noon chimes

    A SLICE of British film history was recreated in York when an athlete raced against the noon chimes of York Minster - and won. Yesterday, Birmingham-based athlete Carl Warren, the fastest male marathon runner in the UK going into the London Marathon 2003

  • Reid's sigh of relief

    LEEDS United manager Peter Reid thanked referee Alan Kaye for sparing striker Mark Viduka from a potential suspension. Kaye suggested that the Australian be substituted after he was booked during the 1-1 draw at Bootham Crescent to avoid further trouble

  • Money-makers

    YORK City have netted a welcome £45,000 from their opening two high-profile pre-season games. Last night's 7,295 attendance at Bootham Crescent for the visit of Leeds United was the biggest since 7,856 turned up for the Boxing Day clash against Hull City

  • Premier performance

    PRE-SEASON friendlies are a notorious barometer by which to measure a team's progress. So often a sparkling build-up to a new campaign can turn flat - but try telling that to a York City fan today. Had the Minstermen been able to find a cutting edge to

  • Michael Mime due to be freed

    YORK street entertainer Michael Mime was arrested by US soldiers in Iraq because he was trying to cross the border into Turkey, American officials have confirmed. Mime, whose real name is Michael Todd, 33, is expected to be released very soon after his

  • Chirpy Robins

    Selby Town clawed their way back from two goals down to hold Mansfield Town to a 2-2 draw in a friendly at Flaxley Road last night. Goals from Lance Mulligan and Mark Caine had put the League side firmly in control of the match, but Selby worked hard

  • Anti-war protester halts piper and drummer

    PRINCE Charles's personal piper and drummer were forced to stop performing during a visit to York when an anti-war protester began shouting slogans. Police were called to the Royal Dragoon Guards members' bandstand in Parliament Square yesterday afternoon

  • Mum raps Boots about sex toys

    A SHOPPER said she was "flabbergasted" that her young daughter was able to pick up a packet of sex aids in a family chemist in York. The 29-year-old woman said she was "shocked and embarrassed" when her eight-year-old daughter chose the product in Boots

  • Pennine way for Warriors

    SELBY Warriors ARLC have left the Yorkshire League to join the Pennine League. The Warriors had been in the Yorkshire competition since their formation as Whitemoor Warriors but now reckon the Pennine League is a better set-up for them. Spokesman Dave

  • Sharks hunt top times

    SELBY Tiger Sharks swimming club enjoyed a golden performance in the final meet of the Yorkshire Graded GP series at the Leeds International Pool. It was the club's 2002 swimmer of the year, Leanne Adamson, who earned the top plaudits as the 14-year-old

  • Rivals team up to promote new series

    Nestl Rowntree Athletics Club and York Acorn Running Club are jointly promoting a new road race meeting in York next month. The York Millenium Bridge Races will take place on the roads on either side of the river Ouse and around Rowntree Park on Tuesday

  • Haxby loss opens up the title race

    A COMPREHENSIVE 7-1 victory for Bert Keech over Haxby Road, the leaders of division one of the Persimmon Homes Ideal Standard Bowls League, leaves Haxby only half-a-point in front of Holgate. That now means that it is very likely that the rearranged game

  • NHS 'neglecting' nurses over 50

    A DAMNING report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has claimed the National Health Service is neglecting nurses aged over 50. The report claims the NHS is paying insufficient attention to its older staff and is not doing enough to retain and recruit

  • Ovington get off the mark

    OVINGTON recorded their first win in the first division of the Horwath Pulleyn Heselton York Vale Cricket League courtesy of an inspired piece of bowling by Ian Holmes. Ovington posted a modest 129 with Bishopthorpe's Mike Cunningham returning figures

  • Assembly rejected

    NORTH YORKSHIRE County Council has voted to oppose Government plans for a directly- elected regional assembly for Yorkshire and the Humber. Council leade, John Weighell welcomed the majority decision at yesterday's full council meeting. He said: "Any

  • Drivers to vote on bus strike

    BUS drivers in York will begin voting on whether to take strike action next week when a secret ballot begins. Union chiefs have confirmed the ballot of First drivers, which will take place over two weeks, will begin on Tuesday. Drivers will have until

  • Man who punched woman is jailed

    A YORK man who walked up to a woman and punched her in the face in an unprovoked attack has been jailed for six months. Jarvis worker Theresa Wheldon was left in shock and with a bruise on her face after the attack as she was walking to the staff car

  • York bag rightful reward

    YORK CC have stormed back into the Oxbridge Yorkshire ECB Premier League title race without bowling a ball. The Clifton Park-based side looked to have suffered at the cruel hand of fate after defeat against rivals Sheffield Collegiate and the cry off

  • Councillors in Barbican protest

    LABOUR councillors staged a protest outside York's Barbican Centre to mark their dissatisfaction with consultations over its future. The City of York Labour group members and the city's MP, Hugh Bayley, handed out leaflets criticising the ruling Liberal

  • Money-makers

    YORK City have netted a welcome £45,000 from their opening two high-profile pre-season games. Last night's 7,295 attendance at Bootham Crescent for the visit of Leeds United was the biggest since 7,856 turned up for the Boxing Day clash against Hull City

  • Skatepark fury

    RESIDENTS were today involved in a bitter confrontation over the shock removal of a £65,000 York skatepark. Young skaters descended on The Sidings Skatepark, at Holgate Park, wearing black armbands to mourn the loss of the facility. Council standards

  • Reid's sigh of relief

    LEEDS United manager Peter Reid thanked referee Alan Kaye for sparing striker Mark Viduka from a potential suspension. Kaye suggested that the Australian be substituted after he was booked during the 1-1 draw at Bootham Crescent to avoid further trouble

  • Minstermen given full rein

    BUOYANT York City boss Chris Brass has thrown down the gauntlet to his young squad. He has challenged them to keep up the good work after last night's sparkling 1-1 draw with Premiership neighbours Leeds United at Bootham Crescent. A delighted Brass said

  • Yeoman from York tackles streaker

    A YEOMAN of the Guard who rugby-tackled a would-be streaker at a Buckingham Palace garden party is from York, it has emerged. Raymond Duffy, 56, was wearing the traditional uniform of scarlet tunic and hat complete with a sword scabbard when he brought

  • Barn storm

    YORK City chief Chris Brass has hit back at an unprovoked attack by the League Managers' Association by being asked to be judged at the end of the season. Brass, who was celebrating his 28th birthday today, became the youngest manager in the League when

  • Ocean Colour Scene, North Atlantic Drift, (Sanctuary) ***

    TRAD-rock stoics, Dadrock, remnants of Britpop - however you want to brand them - Ocean Colour Scene struggle on to their ninth studio record despite the criticisms. Grounded in Sixties sound and Northern Soul obsession, OCS have faced the wrath and not

  • Smith to get on big buzz

    EXPERIENCED back-rower Dave Smith is set to become the latest player to join York City Knights. It is hoped he will sign on the dotted line tonight, and if so, the 30-year-old would return to Huntington Stadium after a six-year gap, having played for

  • Will greatest story be told?

    Chief Reporter Mike Laycock explores just what will be needed to save York's Mystery Plays. WANTED: people with drive, commitment, enthusiasm, expertise, experience, ability and - above all - time, to ensure York's Mystery Plays are kept alive. Salary

  • Minstermen given full rein

    BUOYANT York City boss Chris Brass has thrown down the gauntlet to his young squad. He has challenged them to keep up the good work after last night's sparkling 1-1 draw with Premiership neighbours Leeds United at Bootham Crescent. A delighted Brass said

  • Acorn tackle Hull Dockers

    YORK Acorn ARL team begin their preparations for the National Conference League division two season with a home friendly against Hull Dockers on Saturday (2.30pm kick-off). Heworth, who have begun training for the new season, are on the look-out for new

  • Jack the lad bags hat-trick

    YORK bowler Peter Jackson has completed a notable treble of county triumphs. The 22-year-old from Clifton scooped the junior (under-25) title at the Yorkshire County Bowling Association finals at Nafferton, his third such award in six years. The youngster

  • Acomb ease into M and B final

    ACOMB moved smoothly to the final of the Myers and Burnell Cup with a 19-run victory over Osbaldwick. Acomb now play Woodhouse Grange at Clifton Park on August 3 (1.30pm start). Acomb batted first and benefited from a productive unbroken first wicket

  • Leaders Drax showing little mercy to struggling Heworth

    DIVISION four leaders Drax collected maximum points again with another run feast against hapless Heworth. James Brook (69), John Pensitone (43) and Ian Goulden (42) contributed to a total of 214-7. Hot on their heels are second-placed Acomb, who amassed

  • Jet crash probe

    EXPERTS will recover the charred remains of an RAF training jet which plunged into a field in North Yorkshire in an effort to discover the cause of the crash. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) today confirmed that an RAF board of inquiry would be established

  • Wood closes in on runs landmark

    MATTHEW Wood made further significant progress towards becoming the first Yorkshire batsman to reach 1,000 first class runs this season by hammering 155 against Hampshire at Scarborough yesterday to take his tally to 910. Yorkshire were in complete command

  • Leaders Drax showing little mercy to struggling Heworth

    DIVISION four leaders Drax collected maximum points again with another run feast against hapless Heworth. James Brook (69), John Pensitone (43) and Ian Goulden (42) contributed to a total of 214-7. Hot on their heels are second-placed Acomb, who amassed

  • Ovington get off the mark

    OVINGTON recorded their first win in the first division of the Horwath Pulleyn Heselton York Vale Cricket League courtesy of an inspired piece of bowling by Ian Holmes. Ovington posted a modest 129 with Bishopthorpe's Mike Cunningham returning figures

  • York 'attack' victim dies

    A VISITOR to York who was found bleeding heavily in a city centre street has died from his injuries. Andrew Hickox, 42, of Elland, near Halifax, died at about 2.20am today at York Hospital, four days after being discovered with serious head injuries in

  • Smith to get on big buzz

    EXPERIENCED back-rower Dave Smith is set to become the latest player to join York City Knights. It is hoped he will sign on the dotted line tonight, and if so, the 30-year-old would return to Huntington Stadium after a six-year gap, having played for

  • Slade's charges impress in Cup defeat

    MIDDLESBROUGH'S young side won the North Riding Senior Cup final with a 2-1 win over Scarborough at the McCain Stadium last night. But Scarborough had the consolation of producing their best showing of the pre-season to set themselves up for Saturday's

  • Premier performance

    PRE-SEASON friendlies are a notorious barometer by which to measure a team's progress. So often a sparkling build-up to a new campaign can turn flat - but try telling that to a York City fan today. Had the Minstermen been able to find a cutting edge to

  • Murder accused walks free as case collapses

    A MAN who twice confessed to killing a North Yorkshire villager dramatically won his freedom today after the case against him collapsed. After more than three days of legal argument at Leeds Crown Court, the prosecution offered no evidence against James

  • Help us to save Mystery Plays

    THE Evening Press today launches a major campaign to keep York's world-famous Mystery Plays alive. Readers have responded with dismay and outrage ever since we revealed last month that the Plays will not be staged next year, with no major production in

  • Bill Jones, Two Year Winter (Brick Wall Music) ****

    BILL Jones won the Best Newcomer award at the 2001 BBC Folk Awards in her debut professional year, and the daisy-fresh qualities that marked her out her Turn To Me debut are in full bloom on her third studio album, again released on her own label. The

  • Our ancestors built cities to be proud of

    SOMEBODY - Roy Templeman, for instance - really should inform the Deputy Prime Minister's office of the parlous state of York's retail prospects. For Mr Prescott, to judge by two recent speeches, regards York as a city "still thriving - still sustainable

  • Bonnie Raitt, The Best Of Bonnie Raitt (Capitol) ***

    SOME compilations flatter, some temporarily build up a career all over again (think The Beautiful South's Carry On Up The Charts). Others act as a nice reminder of a career decently spent. Bonnie Raitt has been a long-time toiler and traveller in American

  • Get on same side

    DAVID Parker writes: "A stadium for any sport should only be lost if the one replacing it can improve the facilities in all aspects and not be downgraded as York City FC seems intent to do at Huntington," (Letters, July 19). And as City of York Council

  • Welcome hero

    ON Saturday, I was travelling down a country road on my way to Haxby when I turned a sharp corner and crashed my moped into an eight-foot ditch. Miraculously, I suffered only cuts and bruises, but I was alarmed when I climbed back on to the road to discover

  • No to university plan

    IN his report on the launch of the draft development brief for York University's proposed Campus 3, Richard Edwards inadvertently gave the impression that Heslington Village Trust supported both the expansion of the university, and its development to

  • Bill Jones, Two Year Winter (Brick Wall Music) ****

    BILL Jones won the Best Newcomer award at the 2001 BBC Folk Awards in her debut professional year, and the daisy-fresh qualities that marked her out her Turn To Me debut are in full bloom on her third studio album, again released on her own label. The

  • Tindersticks, Waiting For The Moon (Beggars Banquet) ****

    YOU know Tindersticks are still no happier campers after 11 years when rumbling singer Stuart Staples opens their ninth album with the cheery line: "My hands around your throat... if I kill you now". As always with Tindersticks, there is the languor of

  • Bed, Spacebox (Ici d'ailleurs) ***

    WHY hide behind a name so unassuming as to be practically invisible? The brainchild of Benoit Burello, this is the latest in a line of sonic adventures that have not troubled the public's musical radar. A shame, because there is a lightness of touch about

  • Paul Carrack, It Ain't Over (Carrack-UK) ****

    I HAD never heard of Paul Carrack but I had unknowingly heard the singer/songwriter/multi-skilled musician's contributions with outfits such as Squeeze, Roxy Music, Mike & The Mechanics, The Smiths to name but a few. Then again, I suppose he's never

  • Wood closes in on runs landmark

    MATTHEW Wood made further significant progress towards becoming the first Yorkshire batsman to reach 1,000 first class runs this season by hammering 155 against Hampshire at Scarborough yesterday to take his tally to 910. Yorkshire were in complete command

  • Wrong way to carry on

    THE new regime at City of York Council might have thought it smacked of firm government, but the decision to dismantle the Sidings Skate Park in Holgate is wrong on many levels. It strengthens the belief among many young people that their voices can be

  • Chime setter

    YOU can almost hear the famous Vangelis theme. Carl Warren became the first runner to emulate the legendary Chariots of Fire scene in York yesterday by racing against the noon chimes of the Minster. Others will get their chance in a September charity

  • Magic and ice

    GEORGE WILKINSON takes a walk in the Wolds where frost and sunshine create a winter wonderland NORTH Grimston was blessed with snow on the fields, frost on the hedges and, through the mist, a soft sunlight that glowed on the golden dial of St Nicholas

  • Toast the coast

    George Wilkinson heads to Robin Hood's Bay for a bracing New Year walk. HAPPY New Year all. Here's a walk from Robin Hood's Bay for a hard January day when a minimum of the other half million visitors per annum are of the same mind. The station car park

  • Going flat out

    My GARDEN rain gauge was brimming, so we decided to walk on sand. Our choice was Allerthorpe, in the Vale of York, and a drive of a dozen miles from the city on one-time Roman road. We left the pleasant village for a farm track through very flat farmlands

  • Forever autumn

    George Wilkinson enjoys an Indian Summer walk in Arkengarthdale. This is the last of my three walks in Arkengarthdale, a place I can recommend. The dale is a distance from York, that's why I did it in a midweek-break/saver fashion. Three days of glorious

  • Bubbling beck

    GEORGE WILKINSON experiences stoat encounters of the furred kind in Arkengarthdale. Arkengarthdale was peaceful, we were at Whaw in the sunshine morning, nothing made a sound and nothing moved except a pair of stoats that scampered on the verge. A mile

  • Northern lights

    GEORGE WILKINSON explores the most northern of the Yorkshire Dales Many thanks to Mark Reid for covering for me and doing the walk the last two weeks. I have been on my travels, to London (not for the march) and then to Arkengarthdale the most northern

  • Hamlet happiness

    GEORGE WILKINSON stages a moorland walk in three acts. THE moors are starting to purple. But perhaps more than ever there are many moorland paths overgrown with the heather. I spent the best part of a wasted day last week to the north of Danby Beacon.

  • Tea trek

    GEORGE WILKINSON works up an appetite with a stroll along the river at Linton WE did this toddle in a fine evening after a longer walk nearby in the southern Dales. Supper was our main objective, and as the pub at Linton is on the Inn Way we felt there

  • Hambleton amble

    WE DROVE to the North York Moors Sutton Bank Visitors Centre and then along the dead straight Cleveland Road to where its Tarmac stops and it becomes the famous Hambleton Road. Here there are arrows for cycle trails - '12 miles, highly technical', 'seven

  • A restful repast

    WE got up early and beat the Bank Holiday traffic to the western dales, seeking a quiet and very colourful walk on the land between Grassington and Malham. The sun shone on Boss Moor and a big owl was floating along the gritstone walls till ushered away

  • Dogged by George

    Saltmarshe is a hamlet on the Yorkshire side of the River Ouse about five miles upstream of the Humber Estuary. We visited because Mr Ayre from Elvington, an Evening Press reader, sent in a tempting route. Thank you, we enjoyed the walk very much. The

  • In bloom

    George Wilkinson boards the bus for daffodil country When I mentioned to a Farndale friend that I was going out for a walk in his valley he said without a smile 'daffodils are not the only flower'. Farndale sees 50,000 visitors over Easter, when the banks

  • Further moor

    VICTORIA Ellis recently did an Evening Press walk on the North York Moors near the Hole of Horcum. There has been a fuss about it. A walker has phoned the paper complaining that her party was turned off the route; farmers have phoned the paper complaining

  • Room for all

    There were streaks of snow on the colder slopes of the Cleveland Hills but in Great Ayton, ice cream consumption continued institutionally at Suggitts' caf. Visitors to this famous refuelling stop looked out over the River Leven; hard core cyclists slurped

  • Take it easy

    You may think that travelling to Hawes deep into Wensleydale for a three-mile toddle is a long way to drive for a short walk. We had our reasons. One, we wanted a look at the Dales Countryside Museum which is showing an exhibition called Tracks In Time

  • Walk in the woods

    We took a random route to Pickering Castle turning uphill at the North York Moors Railway station, up through the slopes of old terraced houses. I noticed three stones named Ellis in a Quaker graveyard, a pleasant place to lie, eternity with a view. The

  • Nought-y but nice

    Today's eight-mile route is a splendid way to stride into the New Year. We started at Pateley Bridge, crossed the River Nidd and took the quiet back road through the village of Bewerley. The next half-hour is a slog uphill and part of a popular little

  • Low down

    VICTORIA ELLIS takes a gentle stroll through the lowlands surrounding Brearton Brearton is surrounded by Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Ripon and Harrogate, the closest about three cross-country miles away. But the little village is tucked away from the

  • Victoria falls

    Victoria Ellis discovers a mobile phone is an essential piece of kit for lone walkers There were walkers about but the goose presiding over West Ayton's village green was hardly welcoming, very protective and advancing with lots of hissing. I gave a bit

  • Just Swale

    GEORGE WILKINSON stretches his legs before an appointment with the surgeon's table... If you drive the road from Thirsk to Ripon you will have been stopped at the start of this walk by the traffic lights on the bridge over the river at Skipton-on-Swale

  • East to Reasty

    I broke my rule of 'never try to get anywhere on a Bank Holiday' to do a route recently recommended by the North York Moors Authority. This is useful for me as I don't have to worry about it too much and I think will be nice for you as it's a pleasant

  • To the edge

    GEORGE WILKINSON hops on the Moorsbus for the 'forbidden land' The Moorsbuses have been cruising the North York Moors like a fleet of Marie Celestes. Here is a chance to take a ride and do a linear route recommended by the parks authority. You jump off

  • Rye grin

    George Wilkinson is enchanted by an evening stroll around Nunnington NUNNINGTON had already settled in for the evening, Nunnington Hall resting after its daily flux of visitors. The River Rye was running in clear, just a little coloured. A touch of breeze

  • Roman around

    George Wilkinson discovers a walk full of interest through Roman remains at Malton. Today we have a super little easy wander, chock-a-block with interest, straight out from the market town of Malton. Derventio, a Roman fort site, makes a good start. Once

  • Round and about

    Deep into the far reaches of Nidderdale, at Scar House Reservoir, there was but one other car. I asked the occupants which way they were going round the water. They thought anticlockwise. Using the plughole principle, and being in the Northern Hemisphere

  • York bag rightful reward

    YORK CC have stormed back into the Oxbridge Yorkshire ECB Premier League title race without bowling a ball. The Clifton Park-based side looked to have suffered at the cruel hand of fate after defeat against rivals Sheffield Collegiate and the cry off

  • Will greatest story be told?

    Chief Reporter Mike Laycock explores just what will be needed to save York's Mystery Plays. WANTED: people with drive, commitment, enthusiasm, expertise, experience, ability and - above all - time, to ensure York's Mystery Plays are kept alive. Salary

  • Help us to save Mystery Plays

    THE Evening Press today launches a major campaign to keep York's world-famous Mystery Plays alive. Readers have responded with dismay and outrage ever since we revealed last month that the Plays will not be staged next year, with no major production in

  • St John boost

    Dalepak Foods at Leeming Bar presented St John Ambulance North Yorkshire with more than £12,000 - the result of their year-long fundraising efforts. The money, raised through events such as a raffle, lottery bingo and a 400-mile sponsored cycle ride around

  • Drama at York festival

    ACTORS from the York Shakespeare Project are planning to perform a light-hearted play in York city centre as part of this weekend's Eboracum Roman Festival. The 20-minute playlet, loosely based on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, has been written specially

  • Musical tribute to church composer

    A CELEBRATION of the life of a church composer will take place in East Yorkshire next month. More than a dozen hymns written by the Rev Caryl Micklem will be sung at All Saints' Church, Pocklington, on Sunday, August 3, at 3pm. Mr Micklem was an influential

  • Couple's diamond days

    A YORK couple who entertained the troops during the Second World War have proved they are the perfect double act by clocking up 60 years of marriage. Len and Joan Drinkel, both 82, of Westfield Place, Acomb, were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary

  • Deadline nears for Yorkshire awards

    POLLS to celebrate the region's unsung heroes are set to close. The nominations for the first Heart Of Yorkshire Awards will close this weekend after weeks of voting. The awards, launched by the BBC and the Variety Club of Great Britain, are to recognise

  • Memorial concert

    A memorial concert of music and singing is to be held in memory of Pamela Inns. Pamela, who died of cancer last year, will be remembered by three musicians who knew her, at 7.30pm on September 6, at Central Methodist Church, St Saviourgate, York. All

  • Books for sale

    Thousands of second-hand books are on sale at Central Methodist Church, in St Saviourgate, York, as part of an effort by a former York minister to raise funds for the Englesea Brook Museum of Primitive Methodism, in the Potteries. The Rev Stephen Hatcher

  • Daredevil Leanna aims to be rally's Starr turn

    PICKERING traction engine rally steams into town next week - with the promise of a terrifying Wall of Death to wow the crowds. Motorcycle nut Leanna Starr will be attempting the daring stunt as part of a series of attractions at the rally, which runs

  • Science City takes a look at hi-tech arts

    YORK'S future status as a world-class science city has been under debate. Leaders of the Science City project last night debated the future of the project and its importance to the city as part of the Without Walls Vision for York. One of the key areas

  • Desperate cancer cash plea for wife

    A NORTH YORKSHIRE man whose terminally-ill wife is in Mexico receiving alternative cancer treatment has made a desperate plea for help to raise an extra £5,000. Kevin Axelby, 42, of Wharram-le-Street, near Malton, raised £18,000 and borrowed a further

  • Barn storm

    YORK City chief Chris Brass has hit back at an unprovoked attack by the League Managers' Association by being asked to be judged at the end of the season. Brass, who was celebrating his 28th birthday today, became the youngest manager in the League when