A reminder that the A170 at Sutton Bank is scheduled to close for annual maintenance starting this Monday, 5th September 2016. The closure is expected to last a week, depending on weather. Diversions are promised through Coxwold and Ampleforth.

Saturday 10th September from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at All Saints’ Church Slingsby. “Ride and Stride” day and mini market.

Refreshments, cake and produce stall, raffle and good quality second hand stall. This will take place inside the church if it is wet.

Walk, cycle or drive to the church, enjoy a cup of coffee and cake and see if there is anything on the stalls to take your fancy.

At 11 am there will be a guided tour of the church for visitors and local people who wish to learn about the unique historic features of the building.

This event coincides, as last year, with the Yorkshire Historic Churches Trust Open Day, ‘ Ride and Stride’, which encourages all churches across Yorkshire, including those which are not regularly accessible, to be open to visitors. Some use it as an opportunity for sponsored cycle and car tours for fund raising, and others just follow the trail for interest. More information can be found on the YHCT website HERE

All Saints’ Church heating and lighting needs serious repair and upgrading and the Church Council is raising funds to tackle this large project and also to create other facilities such as a toilet to make the building fit for 21^st Century use. This event is intended to raise funds for this project. Please come if you can.

According to the F.A. website HERE the September 2016 fixtures for Slingsby Football Club  are:-

Saturday 3rd September (today) 2 pm (home) v Sinnington

Tuesday 6th September 6.15 pm (away) v Kirkbymoorside

Saturday 10th September 2 pm (home) v Ryedale

Tuesday 13th September 6.15 pm (away) v Wombleton

Saturday 17th September 2 pm (away) v Kirkdale

Saturday 24th September 2 pm (home) v Rosedale.

Fuller details on the F.A. page above.

Our thanks to Geoff (author of Geoff’s Walks – regularly updated) for this:-

“The offer HERE may be of interest to residents as well as summer visitors.  The offer is genuine and does work as I have used it myself.

For £28 instead of the usual £56 you can get a voucher for a day return ticket for two adults and two children (4-15 years inclusive) to travel between Pickering and Whitby (or vice versa) and visit any of the stations in between, including Goathland of ‘Heartbeat’ fame. Print the voucher and hand it in at the ticket office at the station. Simple.

Yorkshire Arboretum

The Yorkshire Arboretum has a nifty searchable database of its plants and an interactive map HERE.

Fun and instructive to find a favourite or unusual tree on the map, then at the Arboretum.

(From the Arboretum homepage http://www.yorkshirearboretum.org/ use the dropdown menu “Arboretum” then “The Collection”.)

The Arboretum says of the map:-

“We believe the Yorkshire Arboretum is the only UK garden to have this type of resource. It’s really simple to use, with clear search menus and simple buttons to select the background information displayed. Just search for a tree and click on the pin for information from the database. Please give it a try and tell us what you think.

The interactive map is part of our Geographic Information System (GIS), developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York using data from a full topographic survey conducted last year by Latitude Surveys, all linked to the Arboretum’s own database. A huge amount of time has also been given by volunteers and staff and we’re grateful to everyone who has helped create this incredibly powerful tool.

The GIS project has been made possible through generous funding from the Peter Sowerby Foundation and the Tom Sherwood Bequest: this assistance makes it possible to plan for the Arboretum’s long-term future.”