April 2011

Your letters

Good old days on the buses

Howard Beck’s article (The view from the bus, Feb) brought out some interesting facts about the Dales bus services of yesteryear, before the car took a real hold of local transport.

He mentions the Nelson brothers, Arthur and Edward (Eddie), whose business, like others, was eventually taken over by West Yorkshire Road Car Company of Harrogate. But I am sure it was Eddie, not Arthur, who managed the Skipton depot well into the 1950s.

As a youth I was sent from Harrogate at short notice to manage the new bus depot at Grassington (now the Royal Mail office), at the time when the local supervisor, Jim Ward (an ex Chapman employee), was taken ill. There were about a dozen staff based there in the 1950s. This was my start to a life-long love of the Dales and moors.

I arrived in Grassington looking for somewhere to stay. A bus took me half way up the main street to a Mrs Harker (or was it Parker?), the driver saying, “she keeps a good table”.

I spent some happy months in the village and remember many of the staff from local families: Deans, Parkers, Spencers, Harkers, Pedleys and Jackie Brotherton the cleaner.

Days were long as I travelled to night school in Leeds and back: motorbike to Ilkley, and then the bus, arriving back at Grassington before midnight.

The New Year’s Eve dance (1957/8) in the town hall was memorable – a carpet of snow greeted us as we made our way home.

David Allen, by email

Welcoming parishioners

I was surprised when I read the article, The flipping vicar (That was the month that was, Feb).

I knew the vicar and his wife in that one summer I had the privilege of covering the three parishes while the family had their holiday. It was a wonderful experience getting to know the Coultons and the parishioners. It very much deepened our love of the Dales.

My wife and I visited the area and some of the friends we had made from that experience, this past September. (It was on this visit I decided I needed to subscribe to the magazine and now look forward to receiving it each month.)

Thank you so much for recognising some of the very special ministries offered by Neville during his tenure in these parishes.

Rev George E Hall, Southbury, CT

Advanced language

Those who were easily able to read ‘initot’, ‘supwidee’, etc. (A dalesman’s diary, March) might like to move on to A-Level now with the following advanced phrases:

Eeessezitintiz burraberitiz
Lerrus gerrus andswesht
Summonem gorragerroff
Weev gorra gerrus imbux
Eedurant purrizeead undert watter
Oowurreewee – wurreeweeizsen?
Astle clowt thee if th dunt giower
Thawanster wesh the erroils aht

I’m sure that none of the Dalesman staff will need any translation!

Joan Metcalfe, Preston

A tragic tale

My late sister, Margaret, and her friend, also a Margaret, spent a couple of days in Malham in the late 1940s. Still a schoolboy, I was intrigued when they told my parents and me of a strange happening in Malham which had been related to them during their stay.

They were told that some time before their visit the body of a man had been found at the foot of the cove. In his pocket was a half-crown wrapped in a piece of paper. The paper carried a hand-written message for the person who found the body to buy themselves, with the coin, a whisky.

I wonder if any reader can throw any light on this happening?

Peter A Rushforth, Cullingworth

Mystery poem answer

I believe that Marion Cox (Can You Help? March) may be thinking of Depper, Awd Meer, written by F Austin Hyde.

However, it is not the farmer wanting to buy horses from the ‘young fella frev Hull’, but the other way round. The farmer has been asked if he has any horses to sell and explains why he would never sell his old mare after all that she had done.

The poem was included in White Rose Garland published in 1949 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Yorkshire Dialect Society. It records that F Austin Hyde was born in Driffield in 1889 and was headmaster of Lady Lumley’s Grammar School in Pickering.

The poem runs to eleven verses.

Trevor Johnson, Ravenscar

Editor – Many thanks to all the other readers who responded

Nicknames stick

Regarding the letter, What’s in a name (Dec), I was brought up in Dringhouses in York in the 1940s and our next door neighbour was called Bim Milner, who was known everywhere as Bim.

His real name was William but when, as a small lad he was asked his name, he would
reply ‘Me Bim’.

A character in York for well over fifty years has been ‘Shell’ and it wasn’t until recently that I discovered his name is Gerald Edson.

When I asked him about his nickname, he said that it went back many years to when he was a small boy and his friends called at his house to see if he was coming out to play. His mother told them he wasn’t as he was shelling peas.

The name stuck.~

David Kendall, Nether Poppleton

Waterfall beauty

I enjoyed reading the article on waterfalls (March) – photographing cascading water is one of my passions.

One of my favourite falls is only a small one, but none the worse for that. It is a roadside one on the River Dee at Stonehouse in Dentdale. I have had many a lunch break while out walking or cycling at this peaceful spot.

I have attached a photograph. I have one or two other waterfall pictures on my website www.chrisdysonphotography.com.

Chris Dyson, by email

Striking reconstruction

Regarding the article, Hidden gem from Swaledale’s past (Jan): “the little rustic bridge near Adelaide Level in Arten Gill was built some time between October 2008 and November 2009; builder unknown but very striking indeed”.

Adelaide Level has recently been reconstructed by members of the Yoredale Mine and Cave Group (YMCG), a group of slightly aging mine explorers based in upper Wensleydale over the last two to three years.

The original entrance had collapsed for about six feet (2 m) and getting into the mine was like going down a rabbit hole to find yourself standing waist deep in very cold water and sticky mud. The gill ran close by the entrance and whenever it was in flood some of the muddy peaty water would run in.

The idea at first was to enlarge the entrance and lower the water and it was during this time the keystone was found. Work on digging out continued and slowly the idea of rebuilding the arching came about. About six feet of arching was built to bring it into line with the original entrance, and muck in the level was cleared down to the old floor level and a retaining wall built to keep the beck water away. Work finished about a year ago.

The keystone seen in the photograph is an exact replica of the original which is due to go on display in the museum in Reeth later this spring.

L Mason Scarr, Recorder YMCG

Thanks to dalesman

I was delighted to read the article, back in November 2008, about Roly Heseltine written by my old school friend Peter Laing. It was Peter who introduced me to Swaledale and to Roly in the mid 1940s when, as schoolboys, we spent many holidays walking around Muker and Keld.

We lost touch in 1950 after going our respective ways but thanks to Dalesman we are now in touch again and have been able to meet and talk about our Swaledale memories.

Brian Perkins, Sheffield

Can you help?

I would like to know if anyone knows anything about, or owns, a piece of oak furniture carved by Margaret Bourne (née Oliver).

Margaret was born the daughter of a farmer near Howden, in the East Riding, in 1862. I believe she was working as an art teacher in Selby around the turn of the century and later moved to Scarborough where she married a local butcher, George Bourne, in 1904.

At some point in her life she took up carving oak furniture, ranging from small decorative chairs to much larger pieces including a sideboard and a hall stand.

I have no idea where she learned her art, but the pieces are beautifully carved and must have taken hours of work. I have been told that she carved a piece every year for several years to be sold at the local church fête. I have a piece made by her, carved with her initials, and dated 1908.

I also own a large selection of her carving chisels, which are marked with her initials both before and after she married. If any readers have any information I would love to hear from them. There can’t have been many women wood carvers around, especially ones who chose to work in a hard and difficult wood like oak.

Jennifer Wilson, by email

Recently, when flying out from Leeds Bradford airport, I saw a plane on the runway with the white rose on the nose and Yorkshire in large lettering down the side. Grand. 

Now is this the new Yorkshire air force? Can any one give me an explanation?

Val Walker-Wilton, Threshfield

Family Quest

The Dalesman website contains a comprehensive alphabetical section on people searching for their Yorkshire roots. Please click here.

We welcome readers' letters, which should be sent to:
Dalesman, The Water Mill, Broughton Hall, Skipton, North Yorkshire BD23 3AG
Or email: paul@dalesman.co.uk

The editor reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity.