The Connecting North Yorkshire  project has received up to £16.4m to bring high-speed broadband to all residents and businesses in the region by 2017.

Connecting North Yorkshire is a programme led by North Yorkshire County Council, working with partners including NYnet.

The funding has been granted by the government’s Broadband Delivery UK(BDUK) organisation.

North Yorkshire was chosen in October 2010 as one of four areas for a pilot rural broadband project.

The county council’s broadband company, NYnet, is also working with the European Regional Development Fund to secure match funding.

This would bring the total investment to between £25m and £30m.

A procurement process is under way for the building of the new network. This process is expected to take 12 months and should be completed by June 2012.

What next?

• Download the North Yorkshire Broadband Strategy here
• Ask and get answers to rural broadband questions in the AMT Forum

So what are those benefits and how do you make your town’s festival a success?

Why and how to run a festival

To help towns run more successful festivals and events, develop new ideas and learn from best practice, AMT in partnership with North Yorkshire County Council put on an intensive one-day workshop covering the ‘why’ and ‘how to’ of festivals at Conyngham Hall, Knaresborough on 28 September 2011.

This workshop was geared up to voluntary and community bodies or local authorities interested in developing new festivals and events in their towns or improving existing ones.

Feedback from the event was 100% ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’.

Main presentation

The workshop kicked off with a whistle stop ‘How to’ guide in the morning led by Wendy Clews from Create Arts Development Ltd giving plenty of tips and warnings of potential pitfalls.

• Download Wendy’s presentation here: Scarborough Coastal and How to Run a Festival  {opens pdf}

Festival case studies

Delegates then had the opportunity to hear from three towns that had held successful festivals: some well established and others newer, held in towns both large and small:

Knaresborough Bed Race

• Download the Knaresborough Bed Race presentation here {opens pdf}
• Find out more here: www.knaresborough.co.uk/bedrace

Malton Food Lovers Festival

• Download the Malton Food Lovers Festival presentation here {opens pdf}
• Find out more here: www.maltonfoodfestival.co.uk

Grassington Festival of Music and Arts

• See photos of the Grassington Festival of Music and Arts {opens pdf}
• Find out more here: www.grassington-festival.org.uk

Cost

Attendance at this workshop was subsidised to enable community groups to attend, with fees starting at just £25 including lunch.

Venue

The seminar was held at Conyngham Hall in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, HG5 9AY.

Programme

For more information about the day please see the Festivals Workshop Programme

What next?

• Read reports from past AMT seminars here
• Share your thoughts or ask questions on how to attract more visitors to your town in the AMT Forum
• See more upcoming AMT events

The prize at stake for the “Best Dressed Lady” competition was a 2 night B&B stay at Luxury Castle Hotel Swinton Park, a £50 tote betting voucher, Hair Cut and Colour at Peter Gotthard, Manicure and Pedicure at Skin Sanctuary and a £200 voucher for Passion Boutique.

So ladies were out dressed to impress, which made the racecourse a very colourful and spectacular scene.

Debbie Grogan was awarded “Best Dressed” with Pauline Hill from Knaresborough coming in at a tight 2^nd and Georgina Radcliffe  from Dishforth a proud 3^rd place.

With an astounding hat Carol Fawthrope from Tonge won the “Best Hat”.  Congratulations to all ladies for putting in such an effort for the occasion.

Ripon Races – a friendly day out

Racing is often stereotyped as an exclusive hobby for avid racegoers or horse lovers but this misconception is damaging to the reputation of the sport. New racegoers can have an equally good time and the industry welcomes a wide range of people for a variety of purposes.

Ripon Races is very friendly and perfect for those less familiar with racing to give it a go – a new race goers’ guide can be found on the racecourse website to dispel any apprehensive feelings. If you want to try something new this year, racing at Ripon is highly recommended for a great day out.

A family occasion, a social event, a unique day out with friends, a celebration, stag party, hen party; Ripon Races is the place to be. With the Ripon season in full flurry and the summer weather beginning to pick up it is highly advisable to pay a visit for a guaranteed enjoyable day out.

Racedays remaining:

• Monday 4 July (first race 6:50pm)
• Saturday 6 July (first race 1:50pm)
• Monday 1 August – Children’s Day (first race 2:15pm)
• Saturday 13 August (first race 2:20pm)
• Monday 29 August – Bank Holiday (first race 2:25pm)
• Tuesday 30 August (first race 2:00pm)
• Saturday 24 September (first race 2:00pm)

What next?

To find out more go to www.ripon-races.co.uk or call 01765 530530

The wartime garden at Northdale Horticulture will provide a range of volunteer activities for members of the local community.

Co-ordinated by Northdale – in partnership with Age Concern and the Northallerton and Villages Community Forum – the working allotment will show what can be produced in a limited space and on a limited budget.

“The garden will demonstrate the techniques and practices employed by ordinary families to supplement the limited official food supplies during the Second World War, “ said Simon Cross, Manager of Northdale Horticulture.

“It will also show how a relatively small space can be employed to produce home grown fruit, vegetables, meat, honey and eggs. The garden will be maintained by a team here at Northdale working with volunteers from the local community.”

And it will be coupled with displays of wartime memorabilia and experiences of local people.

Margaret Brice from Age Concern added: “It is hoped that the garden will give young people the opportunity to learn about what life was like on the Home Front and older people the opportunity to share their experiences – whether they be good or bad.”

The garden was open to the public on June 18 and 19 at a 1940s themed event.  Visitors sampled recipes from the era and talked to older people about their wartime experiences. The garden is now open to visitors at any time.

On a related note, a seed and produce swap is taking place on 3 July at the new Northallerton Town Square.

What next?

Anyone wishing to donate wartime memorabilia to the project should contact Simon Cross at Northdale Horticulture on 01609 770 269. Collection of larger items can be arranged.

To share memories of life in Northallerton during the war contact Margaret Brice at Age Concern on 01609 771624.

Not only does it boast 54 fantastic guided walks over the glorious Dales but also an impressive list of writers and entertainment including local crime writer Peter Robinson, Baroness Shirley Williams, Pam Ayres, Ann Cleeves (author of ITV series Vera), leading climber Anne Pennington and many more.

A pre-launch event on 9 July features Gervase Phinn.

The first Richmond Walking Festival was started in September 2000 by a small group of local enthusiasts led by Mike Sheehan, owner of Alt-Berg, the Yorkshire bootmakers. Alt-Berg is still making classic leather boots at Mike’s factory in Richmond North Yorkshire, and is the last remaining traditional walking boot manufacturer in the UK.

After a break for foot and mouth, the event is now recognised as an outstanding friendly festival set in one of the most beautiful areas of the country.

What next?

• Find out more about the Richmond Walking and Book Festival on booksandboots.org

The historic market town of Malton attracted more than 10,000 enthusiastic visitors to its Food Lovers Festival weekend on 21 and 22 of May.

This was the first complete festival weekend for Malton celebrating Yorkshire’s finest foods and drinks, and it received glowing praise from the crowds of visitors who flocked to the Market Place to enjoy and buy from around one hundred high quality food and drink producers.

They also enjoyed meeting all the celebrity patrons and chefs including cookery guru Rosemary Shrager and food writer and columnist Tom Parker Bowles.

Tom Parker Bowles was entranced by the town and the festival and said:

“The quality of the produce on show, and the conversations the stall holders have with visitors at an event like this puts Malton on par with the best in the country. It is a total joy to be part of it and l can’t wait for next year.”

Tom was one of the foodie demonstrators in the Country Warmth Cookery Theatre, one of two presentation areas.

Rosemary Shrager also gave a cookery demonstration of her guinea fowl recipe to an enthusiastic audience, and then took time to meet the visitors and sign copies of her latest book at Hoppers, the main bookseller in the town, which sold a record 45 copies.

Foodie heaven

The opportunity to purchase local fresh fruit and vegetables, meats, fish and gourmet speciality cheeses, cakes, pies, oils, relishes and top quality kitchen equipment, and to sample a variety of street food, really made the weekend a huge foodie success.

One of the surprise sell out successes of the weekend was the brand new Welcome to Yorkshire Taste Trail which allowed visitors to seek out a range of venues around the town that offered tasting dishes in return for pre-purchased vouchers.   Hundreds of tasting dishes were consumed with many venues around the town calling for replenishments to keep up with demand.

Cupcake crazy

One stall specialising in cupcakes recorded 800 sales and Mennells sweet shop made and sold an extra 200 chocolate bars on the Sunday.

Another producer of baked goods sold out by 1.30pm on the Saturday and baked through the night to ensure sufficient supplies were available for the next day’s trading.

Over the two days there were 22 cookery demonstrations by some of the region’s best known chefs, including Andrew Pern, James Mackenzie, Peter Neville, Dan Farrell, Rob Green, Robert Ramsden, Stephanie Moon, Tim Bilton, Georgio Alessio, and Betty’s Cookery School, who all played to packed audiences.

The highly acclaimed Beer and Wine Festival within the Milton Rooms also proved a sell out with some 3000 pints of beer and cider sold over the two days, and wine tutorials given to many.

Tom Naylor-Leyland of Fitzwilliam Estates said:

“The sheer numbers of people coming into Malton to enjoy the array of chef demonstrations, to taste and purchase the wonderful fresh produce direct from the makers and growers over the weekend was phenomenal.

“The whole town was buzzing and the popularity of the Taste Trail meant that visitors had a real incentive to explore and discover all that the town has to offer, whilst enjoying some exceptional food and drink. We have had some very positive feedback and we are already thinking about next year’s event!”

New restaurant opens in Malton

This summer sees a new restaurant opening in the Market Place in Malton run by Gemma and Anthony Gillham, who was one of the chefs who gave a demonstration at the Food Lovers Festival.

The New Malton Restaurant will be a warm and welcoming pub-restaurant open all day and well into the evening offering freshly-made, locally-sourced food.

More festivals for Malton

The Roman Festival and the Literature Festival, both launched last year, will be featuring again in the busy market town’s agenda.  Put 23 and 24 July in the diary to see Romans in the town, and 22 and 23 October for books, readings and literary events.

What next?

• Visit www.welovemalton.co.uk and www.maltonfoodfestival.co.uk to find out more about what’s on in Malton