Welcome to Yorkshire event at the Cleveland Tontine

Did you remember when eating your first mince pie of the season to make a wish. So that is why I had to have another. My excuse as I had forgotten to make my wish.These were indeed the most delicious mince pies created. Gary Verity,David Shields and Rosie Fyfie were all in attendance from Welcome to Yorkshire.A good gathering of folk -some more famous than others but indeed a good crowd to support the Cleveland Tontine and their new look.It was organised by the lovely Heidi Hatfield who is now freelance. Rhiannon Piasecki is now the house manager.A delightful vibrant approachable soul. If you could team a building and business with a person the new owners have already got it right. The Tontine was always a place I held in my heart. Sad the days of the McCoys are finally over.I always thought I would bump into the likes of Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull dining here,maybe Picasso in any earlier light. Times move on and with it comes changes. But the changes are good and the things that remains truly "The Tontine" before Cleveland was added and the new twists appeared. I had pleasure of meeting the famous William Tillyer and his wife. My connect to William would come not through him being a famous artist but to his daughter Kim.I met Kim through the North York Moors National Park workshops organised by Susan Briggs and Catriona McLees. Her father must have passed a lot of his genes down the line as I think Kim is so talented.William has sold his work to David Bowie. No mention of Mick Jagger but the same era. You can see his work at MIMA from 25th October to 9th Feb 2014. MIMA stands for Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art. Friendly staff gave us a tour of the hotel. I already have my eye on some of the wallpapers they have used.

Kate Hardcastle in the Palace Cinema

Must be 40 + years ago since I was in the Palace Cinema in Malton. I remembered as schoolgirls we went to see a film called Rhubarb,Rhubarb. This time Welcome to Yorkshire has joined forces with TV’s queen of customer service Kate Hardcastle from Insight with Passion to offer members the opportunity to attend one of exclusive half day workshops. Kate Hardcastle is a retail and commercial expert respected nationally and internationally. She is a regular contributor and industry commentator on BBC, ITV, Sky News and many more. Kate advises household names to help them reach more customers, transform the customer experience and become more successful. So here we have David Shields as an usher,Sarah Barrowby as the ice cream girl and the very vicious and interesting Kate Hardcastle delivering her speech. Kate was highly delighted with the cake I produced from Sophie Legard's deli- Malton Relish .Sited at the top of the market place this shop should not be missed. Sophie Legard is owner of Malton Relish, a deli recently crowned North East Food Hero on Market Kitchen. I grew up here as the daughter of a local farmer and have always loved food, said Sophie.I was a freelance chef for ten years before I started the shop. I was always struggling to find good, local ingredients, having to go to Leeds or Harrogate to buy them, the idea for Malton Relish came from that really. It all progressed from what the customers want, everything I sell in the shop is from Yorkshire with a lot of items from around this area. I have a food bartering system where people bring me their excess fruit, for example and Ill make it into jams, chutneys etc. I give them half back and sell the other half. Its great because come Christmas all my hampers are full of local produce. Sophie is a supporter of the We Love Malton campaign. Ive certainly become aware of how important it is for businesses in Malton to take some responsibility for keeping the town going, she said.

Richmond,The Georgian Theatre and...

I attended a Welcome to Yorkshire meeting today. I had half an hour to kill before it started, so had a quick look around the town. Richmond has a cobbled market square area and in the middle is the Green Howard's Museum. I sensed a great peaceful as I wandered about.You must visit it to appreciate it as it was hard to explain.No road rage or aggregation Everyone was very friendly and helpful.Wearing their poppies as Remembrance Day is nearly here.Catterick Garrison is just down the road from here. Civilians and military living side by side. Military who are so very very young as they walked down the street on their breaks in uniform doing their shopping.Here it seems understood that life is too short for quarrels and disagreements.Richmond Castle stood in the background watching over the town,bold even as now it is a ruin.
Time to go to the meeting in the Georgian Theatre. A credit to all those who have brought it back to life and a mention of Lady Crathorne who had such drive and interest in this place. David Shields took to the stage and we can report back to headquarters he did a marvellous presentation. The only disappointment he was in every day clothes we did at least expect to be dressed ready for the pantomime.

Y11 at the Grand Opera House in Leeds

Sue and I went to catch the train at Thirsk. Travel intercity like the men do to Y11, then shop the rest of day like women do. We met up at the station with Jessica Barker of Thief Hole Cottages who has some very swish 5 star self catering just down the road Small world that it is- her grandfather-in-law - father of David Barker- of show jumping fame lent me a pony when I was 18 months old. So as you can imagine the train journey went very quickly. It was a brilliant Spring day when we set off arriving in Leeds it was rather cool and no sunshine . Never mind we were off to Y11. The Grand Opera House was packed as Gary Verity unveiled what had happened and what was about to happen in Yorkshire. David Shields with his new Yorkshire.com cap on and Ian Ashton would works tirelessly to help us in the Herriot attractions group.were there. The star of the show was little Violet,pictured her with her mum, Amanda Owens. Blissfully unaware of her claim to fame in the new Dales programme. I love to see these children, what brilliant parents they have bringing them up just as I was as a small child.