February 2009 Archives

Valentine's day saw St Crux in York being taken over by FBJS (Friends of Bishopthorpe Junior School) for an event which was extremely successful in that some £1450.00 was raised towards the Big Project. This project is an exciting long term  project in partnership with the school to raise £1000,000 a huge amount of money to fund the building of a dedicated music area and to improve existing library facilities. Including the amount raised on saturday just short of £15,000 has been raised since March 2008.

I went along to St Cruxs and was delighted to see the level of support of so many parents and other helpers who worked very hard to make the event such a success, and the food was good as well, my congratulations go to them all.

The organisers offer their gratefull thanks to the Co-op in Bishopthorpe who so kindly donated all the ingredients necessary to make the fabulous sandwiches which were on sale. Thanks must also go to all the wonderful parents for donating cakes, buns and biscuits. FBJS is surely fortunate in being so well supported by the community.

Main Street has been looking less than picturesque of late, but we're assured that it's all in a good cause.  Since before Christmas, Yorkshire Water has been upgrading the water mains throughout the village in order to improve the quality of our water.

It's frustrating to find the streets turned into obstacle courses - and to spend a day without water on tap - but consider what it must have been like when it had to be pumped up from wells and carried back home in buckets.  This didn't, of course, apply to the Palace household because water was pumped into the building directly from the murky depths of the Ouse.  That continued until 1863 when the scientifically-minded Archbishop Thomson arrived.  He installed a water tower and pump house in Acaster Lane which made use of a well.

As for the rest of Bishopthorpe's residents, they had to wait a while longer.  In 1880, the vicar, with his colleagues of the vestry, tried to interest the York New Water Works Company in laying a mains water supply.  Unfortunately, a guaranteed rental of £80 per annum was demanded and the idea was quickly dropped.  The village had to wait until 1898 before a mains supply was ordered through the District Council - and by this time, most of the local wells had been condemned as unsafe.   

Frustrated?  Let's hear it for the 'good old days'!

St. Andrew's Church