Coastal Flavours of Whitby

We are lucky to live in such a vibrant and busy town and we were pleased to see a new event come to Whitby, particularly as it involves food!! Irene Myers has done a fantastic job at organising this event which hopefully will become an annual one, or better still twice a year. We bought some fabulous chocolates from Lauden Chocolate of Leeds and some very tasty extra virgin rape seed oil from Gold from the Wold. The mugshot on the right is Graham Collinson who was manfully looking after an information stall at the event. Graham owns Discovery Accommodation but has sneakily started competing with B&Bs by offering a breakfast option as well, just goes to show that you can't trust anybody!! (Only joking Graham). For more information about the Coastal Flavours of Whitby, see the article in Whitby Gazette. Can't wait for next year...

Folk Week

We were fortunate to have Pete Morton, one of this year's performers, staying with us. Having obtained tickets we had been to see Pete earlier in the week at a small venue but he was also part of the final 4 hour concert in the Pavilion. One of our regular guests told us about a particular song of Pete's called "Another Train" which had been an inspiration to him whilst undergoing treatment for throat cancer. This is obviously a popular song as when Pete asked for requests it was by far the most called for, if you would like to hear it, or see the lyrics, click on the link above. All in all it was a good concert and Folk Week, many said their favourite yet.

It is a shame that the Folk Week and Regatta clashed and it would be a bigger shame if this caused the organisers to shift Folk Week to another town. Without any doubt Folk Week is the biggest single event in the Whitby calendar, rivaling Goth Weekend for popularity but unlike the gothic event it is a full week of activity that takes place all around town. It isn't viable to have two major attractions on at the same time.

Christmas in August

What a strange way to spend a sunny August afternoon! This year is our fourth in Whitby and we haven't been to any of the Folk Festival events until this week, but on Tuesday we broke our duck when we went to the Conservative Club to see Pete Morton (more of him in tomorrow's blog). As we had the tickets and we'd enjoyed Tuesday we thought why not see what else is on. That is why Christmas came early as today we went to see John Kirkpatrick in his concert "Christmas and Crumpets". John is a former member of the 70s band Steeleye Span. It was certainly a different way to spend an afternoon, listening to a Christmas concert while the sun shone outside, surreal but fun!!

Regatta

Once again the Red Arrows were the stars of the Regatta closely followed by the finale of the usual firework display from the East Pier, it was a shame about the light pollution from the fair though. Undoubtedly most people enjoyed themselves and as ever the Arrows were amazing, although we cannot help but consider the environmental impact of the event with the air display, fireworks, electricity used for the fairground etc...This year, and apparently next, the event clashes with the annual Folk Week causing problems both for businesses and visitors. It would be nice to think that for 2010 the organisers would not stubbornly stick to a conflict of dates which benefits nobody other than the Regatta who gain extra revenue from the large influx of Folkies and their followers. There is no need for the dates to clash and it is far easier to move the Regatta than Folk Week. Hopefully Scarborough Borough Council, Whitby Town Council and other authorities will see sense and not allow the same situation next year. Rant over, later this week we will write about the Folk Week.

Bridge Centenary

There have been no postings to the blog for a while, that is because people in Yorkshire say "If tha's nowt to say, say nowt" we've had nowt to say recently.

On Saturday, however, Whitby's swing bridge centenary was celebrated in style with a splendid event being organised by WDTA who must be congratulated on their efforts. The Cleveland police band and Marske fishermen's choir entertained and many of the organisers and other locals turned out in their Victorian regalia.

John Freeman, one of the main organisers, has a great art gallery in the old town which is well worth a visit.

Click here for more photos.

Whitby Gazette coverage

Guests see air ambulance rescue

Our guests Mark and Sue witnessed a rescue of a 58 year old man who had fallen into the harbour on Sunday evening. A local man who works on the local speedboat went into the harbour to help save a man who had fallen off of the quayside. His colleague called the emergency services and the air ambulance took the unfortunate man to Scarborough hospital. Sue always has her camera to hand and some of her photos are online in our images section from a previous visit earlier this year.

The report of the rescue is in the Whitby Gazette.

World Champion milkman!

Paul Mendelsohn, our milkman, teamed up with his brother Mike to win the World Quoits Championship pairs at Beamish museum. Mike also won the singles. A full report is in the Whitby Gazette.

Quoits is a traditional sport played in most of the villages around Whitby and can be a pleasant way of spending a Monday or Thursday evening watching one of the league matches at local pubs.

Quoits appears to be an easy game and the rules are quite simple but the precision with which these guys throw a 6lb ring of steel is amazing to watch.

Street Choirs Festival comes to Whitby

The "Street Choirs Festival" has come to town and, despite the weather forecast, the sun has been shining. Singers from around the UK have descended on Whitby to sing at various points around town and to compete at the Pavilion this evening. Tomorrow there will be a farewell picnic on the beach, weather permitting. We enjoyed walking around and stopping off at the various places to get some free entertainment. An interesting and new event for Whitby, but sadly the festival has a new venue each year.

http://streetchoirwhitby.org.uk/

Waiting for a kiss?

Our guests having arrived earlier than expected meant that we could go out for an afternoon walk rather than the usual evening stroll along the clifftop or into town. We walked along the old Scarborough - Whitby railway line and down into Ruswarp. We are real cheesy and always kiss as we go through a "kissing gate" so Julie was waiting for me which gave me a chance to take a photo. Even though it was lovely and sunny it was not as warm as last week which made it perfect for walking. As we came home past Pannett Park I realised that I had never taken a picture of the floral clock, ideally I should have been about 10 foot taller to get the best image, but here it is anyway.

Whitby Soul Weekender

Another music weekend in Whitby - the annual "Soul Weekender". We are full for the weekend as everyone here booked as they left last year. Much as we like soul music, our days of partying until 04:00 one day and 06:00 the next are long gone, not that they were ever there for Julie!! (She likes her sleep, beauty or otherwise)