General public booking for the 2015 Ryedale Festival opens on Monday 18^th May. The Festival runs from 17 July to 2 August.

This year, alongside the now-customary high-class classical music and performance, there will be jazz, music workshops, a series of talks, the brass ensemble Aedelfrith (at Botton), and last but not least the Red Hedgehog Tavern (recreated in the Milton Rooms)!

The Triple concert at Castle Howard and the two Double Concerts at Sledmere House are sure to be very popular, so early booking is advised.

Finally, the Rydale Festival has become renowned not least for its opera productions. This year’s staging, Franz Lehar’s comic operetta “The Merry Widow” promises to be a crowd-puller.

For full details of the 51 events in this year’s Ryedale Festival, and how to book, visit the Festival website: http://www.ryedalefestival.com

People have been heading to the Slingsby Village website in record numbers recently.

But now is the time to head to a polling booth in the Village Hall, if you’ve not already done so.  Break a turnout record, why not?

OK, it’s too late to ask you to vote early, but we do here get the chance to vote twice, once to elect our MP for Thirsk and Malton, and once to elect our Ryedale Councillor.

If you’re one of the hard-working people of Slingsby that all parties wish to attract, perhaps reading this after a hard day in the office/shop/farm etc, please make sure you have exercised your democratic right – and have properly earned your right to complain about the next government.

With the outcome so finely balanced, your vote has never been more valuable.

Governments may come and go, but the Slingsby Village Website goes on……

1, 2, 3, May 2015, on a road near Slingsby

Yellow bicycles are appearing once again at roadsides, which can mean only one thing – Le Tour de Yorkshire is coming soon.

The race takes place on the weekend of 1-3 May.

It will pass through many of the iconic places of North Yorkshire, including Scarborough, Whitby, York, and Slingsby, pardon? yes, we repeat Slingsby needs to be on your list of places to  check out for a stop or a stay over the weekend.

Close to Castle Howard, Slingsby lies just 12 miles from Pickering on Stage 1 and a mere 7 miles from Norton on Stage 2.

Slingsby’s celebrated Scarecrow weekend takes place over the weekend. Slingsby is one of the very few places still to have traditional dancing round the Maypole, and the Maypole celebration takes place this year on 4 May.

The Slingsby Village website carries everything you need to know about our locality.

For more on the race itself, visit http://letour.yorkshire.com