Bishopthorpe News and Views

On a cold January day with real winter weather, the palace gatehouse shines in the declining winter sun, and its good to see that the doors are open to give us the view that helps to make Bishopthorpe special.

Happy New Year

to all our readers!

St Andrews Trust that owns and manages the old riverside church has issued an updated report
that can be downloaded in PDF here.

I accept that the three planters looked a little lost on that large expanse, but at least it was an attempt to brighten  up this part of Bishopthorpe. When the winter bedding flowers and the bulbs come through  they will provide some colour to the area.

No doubt those who indulge in this kind of mindless vandalism  live in the village, I only hope that sooner or later their ongoing yobbish actions will lead  to them being caught and punished accordingly.

We know its a bit commercial, but as its midwinter again this should brighten your day!

Everyone loves a ghost story, especially told in the dark winter months - and our ancestors were no exception.  Apparently, through the centuries, many tales were told concerning a number of ghostly figures that once haunted this very locality and chilled the heart of every villager who stepped out at night. 

Read about: The Headless Woman, Archbishop Scrope's Procession and The Rattling Chains.

People of this parish - are you sitting comfortably?  Then click here.

 York Young Peoples Services (formally the Youth Service and Connexions) are running a weekly URBIE sessions in Bishopthorpe, with  funding contributions from the parish council.

URBIE stands for Urban Rural Bus for Information and Education, and the two URBIE's are the services mobile youth clubs.  URBIE is an alternative, mobile resource of information and support, for young people aged between 11 and 19, based within their communities.

URBIE provides a comfortable, safe environment, to deliver planned, purposeful work which has been identified and developed with young people.
The buses are equipped with a laptop to access the internet, television and DVD, art material, board games and refreshments.  The youth workers who staff the buses can also deliver workshops to young people on a variety of issues, including substance misuse and sexual health.  They also carry up to date information on a range of issues relevant to the young people.

URBIE can be visited in Bishopthorpe on a Wednesday from 7-9pm at Bishopthorpe Village Hall Car Park.

For more information about URBIE and the other sessions we run please contact Elle Tovey on 07795 645835 or eleanor.tovey@york.gov.uk
 

The latest Ebor Players pantomime Snow White opened last night to a rousing response from the mixed audience. Amateur dramatics this may be, but right from the start this was a production that was as professional as could be.

Local audiences have come to expect strong performances from the lead actors, and tonight was no exception. The Dame (David Rose) bustled his way to centre stage and took command of the audience, but not before the opening ensemble music and dance routine demonstrated that the cast were out to enjoy themselves too.

Throughout the production the Dame carried along the story - or lack of it - with gusto, ad-libbing her way on and off the stage with aplomb. A solid music hall comic duo with her foil Simple Simon (Tom Davis) developed, to the delight of the audience young and old, as jokes and one-liners whizzed around the newly named Massie Hall. Their slapstick kitchen scene was well contrived with a well sustained radio gag, and even the props behaved themselves!

As last year the Principal Boy Prince Florian (Bobbie Parrish-Moreton) and Principal Girl Snow White (Georgina Sykes) handled their song and dance routines together really well, and the bad, the very bad, Queen Catrina (Philippa Parish) sulked, pouted and was convincingly vain.

The third pairing that took the eye was that of Reggie Rank (Lisa Thornton) and Phineas File (Tracey Patrick), a couple of unlikely lads with strange accents and a tendency to bling it. They obviously enjoyed their parts and could yet challenge the comic leads for audience appreciation.

There are two choruses to the production, and the senior one came on and did their bit and even got some lines of their own - well done all. The junior chorus this year had seven new youngsters from the age of seven, and they were very impressive with their confidence from the outset. Their delightful performances, particularly at the beginning of Act 2, got a rousing audience response. There will be some proud families in Bish this week!

Oh, and the dwarfs? They took a while to appear, but did so with fun in their approach and they looked right too. Hi ho silver mining was a great song for them. The minor parts too came on and provided the threads to keep the story going.

In fact the music throughout was exemplary, with a blend of new and older songs, and some very good snippets of classical themes that set the tone well as scenes started. With even better costumes supplied by Dress Circle in Haxby, excellent scenery, and good lighting and sound effects, the production values were far in advance of what might be expected in a village hall.

This was a first night outing with an audience, and although the action cracked along at a fair pace this will probably adapt to audience reaction, and introduce a bit more light and shade into the plot. Towards the end, the sinister apple and its outcome seemed a bit light and a bit rushed.

Tim Bruce as Director and Chris Higgins as Choreographer are once more to be congratulated on staging such a bold production in limited surroundings. If you have a ticket and can't go, I suggest you would get a very good price on Ebay for it as anyone would be foolish to give this panto a miss.

Copyright Martin P Dudley

Update

You can see an extensive photo gallery of the production here.

Congratulations to all at Bishopthorpe Junior School. In the past couple of weeks  £1461.00 has been raised on two projects by the Friends of Bishopthorpe School and the School itself.  £791 was raised through their raffle and on Sunday 7th of December school children and parents spent almost 5 hours in Marks & Spencers packing  purchases for busy shoppers, this raised £670.00.  The funds raised are to support projects at the school including the construction of a music room.

The next fundraising event will be held at St Crux (the bottom of  Shambles) on the 14th February where coffee will be served but more importantly the selling of last minute Valentine Gifts, so whilst thanking you for all your support over the past weeks it is hoped you will visit St Cruxs on Valentine's Day 2009 for that last minute gift.

Match Of The Day commentator Guy Mowbray is to star in the Ebor Players pantomime, Snow White.

You can read the full story here.