Wednesday 25 February 2015

Twitchers and Fellow Bird Watchers - Time to wash your winter blues away

Wednesday 18 February 2015

Tour de Yorkshire - 1 - 3 May 2015

Monday 2 February 2015

The outcome of the Chelsea Pensioners visit

Between the breakfasts and the dinner the Chelsea Pensioners visited St Benedicts school in Ampleforth. At school it was Williams 6th birthday and so he had his photograph taken with the Chelsea Pensioners and his granddad was in the Army so it was nice this happened. We also had a raffle and with all donations and the monies we would like to thank everyone who helped us raise £1000 that went back down to London. It is to be used in the Margaret Thatcher Infirmary which is for the frailer and ill inmates of the RH Chelsea. I handed over the cheque which they were going to drop off at the Hospital before they headed straight out again to watch Chelsea football team play against Liverpool. Just before they went there was one last presentation and that was to our lovely local lady Doctor Mechie who is retiring. My mum and dad donated one of the Ampleforth roses to her and here you see her with a smile who has made many an ill person feel a lot better.

Monday evening with the Chelsea Pensioners

As well as the breakfasts we hosted at Dinner at the White Swan in Ampleforth.Robert Thompson and his staff did a wonderful job feeding the 54 diners to a full roast beef dinner. George Pickles ,the Ripon Hornblower came along and talked of the history of the Ripon Hornblower spanning over 1100 years. Kevin Hollinrake who is standing for our local MP in the elections in May and his lovely wife Nikki attended. Kevin presented the Chelsea Pensioners with 2 of the Tommy's Roses which were grown by RV Rogers of Pickering and kindly given by Ian Rogers. The roses were grown on soil brought back from the Flanders Battlefields and will be planted in the Royal Hospital Chelsea Gardens along with 2 of the Ampleforth roses which are supporting Help the Heros. We gave the latter as a momento of the Chelsea Pensioners time with us. Young Tom Cranage who is whipper-in for the Sinnington Hunt and also the horn blower for the Ampleforth Beagles. Tom was the runnerup in the National Horn Blowing Competition in 2014. He didnt realise he could take a breathe,so we hope he wins this year. A good night was had by all, which ended in the early hours with the Chelsea Pensioners at the forefront of the celebrations

The Breakfast Mornings with The Chelsea Pensioners

We hosted breakfasts on Monday and Tuesday to raise funds for the Chelsea Pensioners. It was interesting morning to guests who had time to talk to the ChelseaPensioners about their service experiences and also we hope they enjoyed their breakfast too

Carr House Farm B&B in Ampleforth hosts fundraising breakfasts

Carr House Farm B&B in Ampleforth hosts fundraising breakfasts TWO Chelsea pensioners will be enjoying a home-cooked Yorkshire breakfast next week at a fundraising event organised by a local B & B. Anna Lupton and her husband Jack Peckitt, from Carr House Farm, in Ampleforth, are hosting two morning 'parties' to raise funds for the Chelsea Royal Hospital as part of Breakfast Week. Three years ago the pair raised almost £9,000 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, and decided to organiser another fundraiser after meeting a group of Chelsea Pensioners in October. As part of the event, there will be a dinner at the White Swan in Ampleforth where George Pickles, the Ripon Hornblower, will make a special address to guests. Ian Rogers, of RV Rogers in Pickering, will also present two of Ampleforth roses to the visiting Chelsea Pensioners as well as two locally grown Tommy’s Roses. Both varieties of roses have been bred at RV Rogers in Pickering – the Ampleforth variety is raising money for Help for Heroes and the Tommy’s Rose has been specially created for the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of The Great War. Anna said: “Back at the beginning of October we were privileged to meet some of the Chelsea Pensioners when they came to North Yorkshire, so I have had this plan in my head since then.” "Unfortunately, due to family illness I am not able to give as much time to feeding 120 at in one go as I did last time, plus it also took weeks of hard work and generosity from a host of people. Anna added: “But with it being Breakfast Week - the week bed and breakfast people taken it upon themselves to raise funds for good causes - I still want to do something." The breakfasts will be held on January 26 and 27 at 9.30am with the dinner at the White Swan on the first night from 6.30pm Anna said help had been provided by Robert Thompson and his team at the White Swan and former licensees from the area Jim and Wendy Davison. "Two Chelsea Pensioners are staying with us and will head both breakfast tables each morning," she added. "They are such lovely people and it wonderful that a couple of them are able to come back to Ryedale and join us for this event."