Category: Great Ayton
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VE Day: 80 Years On
Eighty years have passed since Victory in Europe Day, a moment etched in the collective memory by black-and-white newsreels showing ecstatic crowds flooding the streets of London and other major cities. But away from the capital, in the quieter corners of Cleveland and North Yorkshire, the mood was more restrained â though no less meaningful,…
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Of Brass Monkeys, May Blossoms and Other Perils
Growing up in Nottingham in the early 1960s, I shall never forget me mam barking ânaer cast a clout till May is outâ whenever I dared venture into the Spring air without full Arctic gearâduffle coat, string vest, probably a balacalva too. She assumed, and I dutifully followed, âMayâmeant the month, which made sense given…
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The Postgate School
Hereâs one Iâve been saving up, not for a rainy day, for today has been anything but rainy, positively sweltering, but a day when being Out & About has been a touch limited. It is a photo of the hallowed âvillage schoolroom museumâ of Great Ayton, proudly preserving the educational shrine where James Cookâlocal boy…
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Lesser Celandine: Poetry, Pollinators, and Piles
Lesser celandine is a welcome sight, provided one enjoys squinting at small yellow flowers. In a hailstorm, it folds itself up, retreating like a weary thing, as Wordsworth put it in The Lesser Celandine. Wordsworth is better known for his poem about daffodils, but he was apparently more enamoured with this unassuming plant, composing three…
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LentâA Season of Daffodils, Fasting, and Fuzzy Maths
Another year, another excuse to photograph some daffodilsâsorry, Lenten Lilies, as they are so charmingly called in Yorkshire. Whether these particular specimens on the bank of the River Leven in Great Ayton are the pure, wild, English variety is highly doubtful, but that won’t be such a tragedy. Now, in case anyone was unaware, this…
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An Abandoned Stone Quarry on Ayton Bank
Someone once told me, or perhaps I read it somewhere, that there were twelve quarries along the edge of the escarpment between Roseberry Topping and Easby Moor, including the one on the summit itself. Do not expect a citation; it is just one of those pointless facts that have lodged themselves in my brain, refusing…
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A Nisly Day over Aireyholme
An old book of weather proverbs I have offers an array of predictions for March, ensuring that, whatever the weather, one can always find something vaguely reassuring within its pages. One such gem is a French proverb: âWhen March is like April, April will be like March.â How profound. The notion of âApril showersâ stems…
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The Teachersâ Bridge
A comment on an old post prompted me to take this photograph. It shows the River Leven meandering lazily through what was once the grounds of the Friendsâ School in Great Ayton. The water tumbles over a small weir on the left, adding a touch of drama to an otherwise tranquil scene, while the so-called…
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Cliff Rigg Scallywags Hideout
A year ago, I wrote about the Great Ayton Scallywags Patrol, a secretive Auxiliary Unit stationed in the area during the Second World War. Unlike the familiar, shambolic image of âDadâs Army,â these men were part of a covert Home Guard unit. If the Germans had invaded, they could expect to last about a weekâhardly…
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A Water Tank, Legal Loopholes, and the Persistence of Bloodsports
One of my first photographs on this blog featured an abandoned concrete water tank below the escarpment of Great Ayton Moor. I had visited it often as a checkpoint on various orienteering courses. On a sunny day, its corrugated tin roof gleamed with a rich, rusty patina. Sadly, the roof has not survived recent storms.…