COUNCILLORS were accused of acting like “ego jockeys” during a debate on the role of politics within the Driffield town council chamber.

And Coun David Credland called for ego to be left out of the council chamber as it did more harm to the local authority than politics.

He spoke out as the councillors were asked to adopt a protocol document outlining what was expected of them and of council staff.

Within the document was a section on guidance relating to political groups, which it was said were becoming more of a feature within parish and town councils.

Coun Steve Poessl wanted the section on political groups removing from the protocol and said: “Politics should not affect the council. I know we all belong to different political groups but we all try to work as one. We have always said that.

“When I first joined the council a lot of members were Labour but it was never put across the council chamber that we were here as Labour and you will do what Labour want - or Conservatives or Liberals – we were here for the good of the people.”

Coun Paul Rounding said: “Coun Poessl, I agreed with you word for word. I personally wanted this out.”

But Coun Credland said: “It depends how we care to define politics. Politics is the actual wielding of power and we cannot take out aspects of what we do.

“What I would like to see taken out if we take something out and, if we are going to moralise, why not let’s take ego out because ego does far more harm for this council than any other thing ever will. To moralise about doing good for the public – I wish we would bear that in mind rather than be ego jockeys which, while not pointing the finger at any particular individual, we have all seen happen.”

Coun Credland added: “Politics is not the problem. My idea of politics, to explain why I’m a political creature, isn’t to be lop-sided or ill balanced in judgement, it’s to show clearly what the basis is for the moral compass which hopefully we all have. There is nothing wrong to my mind in a person stating what their moral compass is, where they derive their bearings from. Ego is far worse than politics. I know what my political views are, I know why they are and they form the basis for a moral compass. Anyone who doesn’t want a moral compass or does not have a sense of political direction can sound off as much as they like but I say get rid of the ego.”

Coun Georgina Lucas said the section on political groups was intended to cover for the future: “It’s just to cover us in case anything did happen. Someone might come on to the council with very strong political views who tries to get the clerk to do something. This covers for that eventuality.”

Coun Joyce Fletcher said: “We are not politically minded. Most people do not say what they are.”

Coun Poessl added: “This council has always promoted itself as being non political. The public do not want politics in the council in any shape or form. I am a socialist through I through. I am all for the working class and I know where rights and wrongs are but I do not use a political hammer to belt it home with.”

The council adopted the protocol my majority vote, including the section on political groups.

POLICE are probing the theft of diesel fuel from on Carnaby Industrial Estate which happened overnight on Monday December 10 when someone approached an unattended coach parked securely in a car park and siphoned off all the diesel.

The complainant is a travel company which park and store their vehicles in the rear yard of another company.

A police spokeswoman said: “Someone approached at the rear of business premises where the coaches are stored and using physical force prise two metal slats apart from the perimeter fence and enter the yard.

“Once inside they approached a Volvo coach and snapped the locked fuel cap from diesel tank.

“They then siphoned an unknown amount of diesel from the tank, spilling some in the process.

“They then left the yard the same way and made off in unknown direction.

“The company manager said this is the second time this has happened, the first time was in summer this year.”

If you know anything about this crime please contact the police and quote crime reference 1946907.

criminalS escaped with specialist falconry equipment after breaking into a van at Sledmere.

The theft happened between 8.30am and 10am on Saturday December 15, when a white Citroën Belingo van was parked secure and unattended in a lay by just outside the village.

Someone smashed the passenger side window and entered the van.

A police spokeswoman said: “They stole Hawking tracking equipment for falcons, a box with four transmitters for birds of prey, a surf board in black and white with red strips in a bag, surf wear and a mobile phone.

“The victim was walking his dog at the time of the incident.

“Some of the equipment stolen is very specialised.”

Anyone who comes across it or witnessed anything suspicious around this time at the location please contact the police and quote crime number 1947408.

Officers are also investigating the theft of a Christmas Tree from the front of a property on Main Street, North Frodingham.

Thieves struck overnight on Saturday December 16 unknown, when they entered the front garden of a house and stolen an artificial Christmas tree which was housed in a gold bucket with ribbons and lights on it.

The tree was secured to the wall with thick wire, the wire was cut in order to steal the tree.

If anyone heard or saw anything suspicious around this time please inform the police and quote crime reference 1947700.

BEVERLEY’S annual folk festival is set to hit a high note for its 30th anniversary - by celebrating an important change of venue.

The June 21 to 23 event re-locates to the racecourse for 2013 and with the line-up for the weekend nearly completed organisers are promising a broad mix of artists and attractions.

There will be traditional English music from the Oysterband, popular music from the The Proclaimers, and a mixture of exciting songwriters, including Show of Hands with Miranda Sykes, plus Gretchen Peters, Henry Priestman and Lau.

In between, the festival also features a thriving Comedy Club and Film Club, plus a range of literature events featuring top authors, story tellers and poets.

Recent years have seen a great increase in interest from the younger generation, and there will be a full programme of events organised and performed by some of the best young artists in the country today.

Included are winners of the UK’s national ‘Live and Unsigned’ 2012 competition Co-Co and the Butterfields.

Having been nominated for the third time in 2012 for the Best Family Festival Award in the UK Festival Awards and having twice reached the short-list of top 10 festivals countrywide, the event will have its biggest programme ever of activities for children and families with story-tellers, open mic sessions, making workshops and lots more.

As well as the festival’s traditional “Festival Village” which will be held in the centre of the racecourse with a range of marquees for concerts, craft fair and food stalls, the range of buildings also available enables a mix of activities to take place that are best suited to an indoor environment.

To provide easy accessibility for everyone, the festival is laying on a special shuttle bus service between the racecourse and the town, where it will drop off at the popular spots hosting the regular festival sessions.

Artists already confirmed for 2013: The Proclaimers, Show of Hands with Miranda Sykes, Oysterband, Lau, Gretchen Peters (USA), Steve Forbert (USA), Eduardo Niebla, Sam Carter, Megson, Henry Priestman, Lucy Ward, Allan Yn Y Fan, Blackbeard’s Tea Party, The Young ‘uns, Eric Brace & Peter Cooper (USA), Coco and the Butterfields, Edwina Hayes, Farino, The Whiskey Dogs, Circus Envy, The Duncan McFarlane Band and Folkestra, plus more still to be announced.

* For information go to the festival’s website www.beverleyfestival.com or call the office on 01377 217569.

Single Event and Weekend Tickets are already selling fast and can be obtained on-line from.beverleyfestival.com

A special ‘Winter Warmer’ Weekend Deal is also available until December 31 for all ages plus Families.

Day tickets will go on sale early January.

POLICE issuesd a cannabis warning given to a male who was caught with the illegal drug in North Street, Driffield.

During the evening of Saturday December 8, a suspicious male was detained and searched by a police officer in the memorial gardens near North End Park.

He was found to be concealing a clear plastic bag containing herbal cannabis underneath his left bum cheek as he was sat on the park bench.

The bag was given over to officers and the male was dealt with for possession of cannabis at the local police station.

PART of Driffield town centre will become a traffic no go area for THREE DAYS next summer as residents take to the streets for a massive party.

The town council is proposing to apply for a road closure order at Market Place from 12 noon on Friday July 5 to Sunday July 7.

Plans are moving ahead swiftly for a special event on the Saturday of that weekend, featuring a variety of music and entertainment for all the family.

The road closure is designed to ensure the safety of party-goers and those setting up and dismantling equipment and staging.

Coun Matt Rogers, chair of the events and entertainment committee, told a meeting of the full council that he was currently awaiting prices tor staging and lighting equipment which would be used in the Market Place.

Entertainment would start at 11am on a central stage and continue probably for 12 hours or so, ending at a time which has yet to be agreed between the police, the committee and licensing officials.

Driffield town council has previously agreed to bankroll the event to the tune of £15,000, with another £10,000 if needed.

A budget for entertainment will be considered once staging and equipment costs are known.

Coun Rogers said that once branding and publicity material had been put together, members of the events and entertainment committee would visit pub licensees in Driffield, encouraging them to stage events throughout the week.

The committee would pledge to publicise any events.

Local organisations will also be approached and asked to stage events of all kinds - from coffee mornings and tea dances to displays and exhibitions.

The committee is to meet informally over the Christmas period to discuss co-ordinating the events.

The Troubles in Northern Ireland have rarely proved an attractive proposition for novelists, and Derry author and teacher Brian McGilloway’s ‘no frills’ crime thriller series set in the notoriously dangerous Borderlands is as dark as one would expect.

Dead babies, the terrible grief of families whose murdered loved ones became the Disappeared and the lasting legacy of the province’s violent divisions cast a brooding and sorrowful shadow over the latest outing for Inspector Ben Devlin in a taut, self-consciously social and political murder mystery.

But don’t be fooled into thinking that the shadows cast are too long and too overpowering ... McGilloway’s elegant, almost elegiac, writing and his humane, sensitive Garda detective raise The Nameless Dead from a gloomy reflection on Northern Ireland’s past to a poignant, perfectly-pitched crime story which counterbalances fictional drama with factual history.

This is our fifth case with Devlin, the family man copper whose private life is dominated by his children’s teenage angst rather than any stereotypical battle with the demon drink, a bad gambling habit or skeletons rattling around in his closet.

Respectable, compassionate and doggedly determined in the face of obstructive senior officers, the maverick Devlin always steers a moral course in his pursuit of fairness, justice and the truth.

His patch is on the southern side of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, and here we find him working alongside the north-based Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains, an organisation set up to try to find the bodies of the Disappeared, those people killed and secretly buried in the Borderlands during the early years of the Troubles.

The team is looking for the body of local man Declan Cleary who was reported missing by his pregnant girlfriend Mary Harte in 1976. There were rumours at the time that he had been targeted as an informer who gave information to the police about IRA activities.

Instead, the dig uncovers the skeleton of a disabled baby in what is believed to be a 19th century ‘cillin,’ an unconsecrated burial place once used for unbaptised infants, but it doesn’t look like this one died from natural causes.

The Commission’s remit does not allow criminal prosecutions from any evidence they uncover and there can only be limited forensic examination of any remains found. Their role is simply to recover the bodies and give families the opportunity to bury their dead.

Devlin is unconvinced that this applies to the body of the little girl and while he is reluctant to fan the flames of the area’s past, he cannot let a suspected murderer go unpunished and sets out to discover the truth.

But now the secret is out, more deaths follow. Devlin must trust his conscience, even when that puts those closest to him at terrible risk...

McGilloway’s uncompromising story is a subtle exploration of the notion of ‘limbo’ – babies abandoned in makeshift graves because the Catholic Church deemed them ‘unblessed,’ the edgy no-man’s-land between North and South and the despair of those who cannot find closure for their missing loved ones.

The Nameless Dead also forces those of us at a distance from the Troubles to re-evaluate our concept of ‘peace’ and to recognise that the people who lived through the hostilities cannot easily draw a line under events that have left so many psychological scars.

(Pan, paperback, £7.99)

THREE Driffield lads are enjoying their superb experience spending winter in Australia playing cricket.

All three are members of Driffield Cricket Club and Sam Drury, Ben Kohler-Cadmore and Ollie Ezard have this last week said how much they are enjoying it, for various reasons.

All three played their part in this last season’s success of Driffield cricket Club’s first team and are continuing that form 10,000 miles away, while enjoying Christmas together and seeing in the New Year together in Sydney!

Kohler-Cadmore, who is based in Albury three hours from Melbourne, said: “I am really enjoying my time. The weather is constantly above 30 degrees and apparently it’s only going to get hotter until the end of February.”

But he joked, “however living with Sam I am sure we’ll be sick of the sight of each other by the time the season for Driffield rolls round.”

They are playing a mixture of two-day games and one-day games. The two dayers are a maximum of 80 overs per side and the one dayers are only 40 overs per side.

Playing club cricket for New City Phoenix in the Cricket Albury Wodonga competition, Kohler-Cadmore and Drury’s side are top of the league having only lost one game.

They are also playing rep cricket for the CAW side and are in the quarter finals of the Sydney Cricket Ground Cup, with the final played at the famous ground. They have also got to finals day for the T20 competition which is called the Konica Minolta Cup. They will be playing that at the Manuka Oval in Canberra this month.

So far Kohler-Cadmore has scored over 300 runs, averaging over 50. He added: “The club train twice a week, which is good because we’re able to practice on anything that we think needs looking at during the week properly before every match.

“So by the time the start of our season back home we should have ironed out any problem areas for us, and we should be seeing it well. And we will be looking forward to getting back in the Driffield changing room.”

Although the Ezard is not with his Driffield team mates, they do meet up and all spent Christmas together in Melbourne with Ezard and his team mates.

Sam Drury said: “I am really enjoying my time, despite living with Cadders.

“The weather’s been spot on so far but the two days it has rained have been Saturdays so we’ve had two washed out days of cricket.

“The kind of cricket I’m playing at club level is a lot different to back home (one day and two-day games.

“Our home ground’s wicket (New City Phoenix) is pretty much as flat as they come, but at some away grounds we’ve played at tend to be slow turners.”

Like Kohler-Cadmore, Drury is also going well with the bat, scoring three 50s, with a top score of 85 and averaging over 40. Sam said: “I really want to get above 50 by the end of the season, while I have also taken seven wickets at about 15 a piece.

“I’m working hard on my bowling with the coach to improve my action and become more accurate.” But Sam admitted it can be difficult batting in warmer climbs. “Yes, it can be difficult whilst batting. I’ve been trying to bat without a helmet as much as possible, and had a couple of problems with sweat going in my eyes and also the flies out here can be pretty off putting. I’ve started to bat with insect repellant on, so although the pitches are roads, and the ball doesn’t swing about half as much as at home, there’s other problems to contend with.”

Sam said of playing with the representative team, “It includes some of the best players I’ve ever played with. I’ve played quite a few games for them and we’ve had success so far reaching the finals day of the T20.

“I’ve been up and down the batting order in the T20s but have bowled pretty well when I’ve been thrown the ball.

“And hopefully come April 1, I will be a better all round player and I’m already looking forward to playing for Driffield again and defending our cup title.”

Driffield bowler, Ezard, is playing for Royal Park Brunswick in the Victorian Turf Association.

He said: “I am really enjoying playing out here, despite it being more batsman friendly.

“The pitches are a lot slower than I expected. I thought Driffield’s was slow but these are a different kind of slow deck. The balls out here are Kookaburras and they are four-piece balls which means the seams are pretty non-existent, so all in all it’s hard graft being a seam bowler.

“The conditions are very hot and humid with strong breezes, as Melbourne is on the south east of Australia.

“We play majority of the season as two-day games with day one being played on the first Saturday (maximum 80 overs) followed by day two the following Saturday, again with a maximum of 80 overs.

“If you bat first you can obviously declare before the 80 overs, and if you bowl you can bowl a team out on day one and have a bat that same day. So basically you play the full 80 overs each week so could both end up batting twice depending on how well you bat.

“I have had a bit of success, with nine wickets so far. I am nearing full fitness after coming out here with a knee and shin injury. Thankfully my personal trainer out here is getting me into good shape and with the help of Steve Reid (Victoria seam bowler) I have been making little tweaks to my bowling action so I should add a yard or two of pace ready for next season.

“I have also been working hard with coach Graham Kinchington (former Denmark national coach and of Hampshire) on my batting. It’s been great to get in the nets and work on my batting as I just didn’t have chance last season due to work.

“But it’s good fun, I am living with four other English lads and Graham is also here too so it’s a pretty good gig I have.

“The club have been great and looked after me really well and the lads at the club are a good bunch, so it’s been easy to adjust.

“I have just had a game washed out which means I have missed more games of cricket in Australia than in England!

“But hopefully by the time I get back to England on April I will be better off for the experience playing out here, fit and raring to go again for Driffield for what is a huge season for us all.”

AS hundreds of revellers gathered in Driffield’s Market Place to joyfully usher in the New Year, the milestone marked challenging times ahead for property owner in the region who have been affected by flooding.

Communities and businesses around the town have been devastated by the legacy of heavy rain which has fallen over the past few weeks.

As the Driffield Times and Post went to press, much of Burton Fleming remained under water - a situation unlikely to change for some time.

Officials at Driffield Rugby Club are also waiting for the water to subside so that they can assess the damage to an all weather pitch which currently remains submerged following the deluge.

Floods also forced the cancellation of two rugby fixtures, including the annual Steve Knowles memorial game, amid health and safety concerns over car parking and drainage.

The annual New Year ball at the rugby club was able to go ahead but there remains some doubt as to whether the fourth team game will take place this weekend. The first, second and third teams are all playing away.

* See also pages 3 and 4

Lancashire’s rich social, cultural and industrial history has made the hunt for our ancestors an increasingly popular and addictive pastime.

But family history novices often don’t know where to start, particularly with the bewildering array of records and archives now available, so finding a trusty guide is an invaluable first step.

Sue Wilkes, an established expert on industrial heritage and a well-known family historian, has put together this invaluable handbook packed with practical advice and information as well as an excellent background to Lancashire’s history for those tracking down ancestors who lived or worked in the county.

As well as helping you to trace when and where your ancestors were born, married and died, it gives an insight into the world they knew and a chance to explore their lives at work and at home.

In the first part of the book, Wilkes describes the origins of Lancashire’s major industries – the cotton, coal, transport, engineering, shipbuilding and other trades which helped to forge Britain’s great empire.

She looks at the stories of important Lancashire families such as the Stanleys, Peels and Egertons, and famous entrepreneurs such as Richard Arkwright, the Preston barber who developed the water-frame, in order to illustrate aspects of Lancashire life and to show how the many sources available for family and local history research can be used.

But the ancestors of ordinary Lancashire folk also played their part in the county’s history whether they fought for Britain, spun cotton, hewed coal, tended a steam engine, tilled the fields or waved a Chartist or suffragette banner in pursuit of electoral reform.

The second part of the book is a directory of the most important ‘tools’ for tracing family history. Relevant documents, specialist archives, libraries, background reading and other sources are recommended, as well as databases of family history societies, useful genealogy websites and places to visit which bring Lancashire’s past to life.

Even those seeking family history before 1837, the advent of civil registration, can break through this ‘barrier’ through the use of records from medieval courts, government, church, trade and industries.

No stone is left unturned in this fascinating and essential companion for anyone seeking out their Lancashire roots.

(Pen & Sword, paperback, £12.99)

PARISH councillors have lodged “very strong objections” against plans for an electricity producing anaerobic digester at Leven.

FD Bird and Sons have applied for planning permission to build on land north of Yarrows Aggregates Ltd.

The scheme would involved the creation of a building containing a combined heat and power unit, drying floor and control room, an anaerobic digester, a feed hopper, a silage clamp, a bio-gas store, a digestate store and a sub surface slurry tank to produce electricity in the form of renewable energy.

The application will be considered today by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council planning committee and officers have recommended approval subject to conditions.

The digester would recycle agricultural waste, maize, poultry manure and bio-ethanol stillages generated mostly from the local agricultural area.

The plant would occupy an unused section of 0.97ha of Yarrows Aggregates Ltd’s Little Catwick Quarry.

The electricity generated would be used to power the quarry operations, with surplus exported to the national grid.

Leven Parish Council very strongly object to the scheme because they believe it is an industrial and chemical process which should be treated as such.

They argue that the process can be temperamental, especially if the Ph or temperature is wrong, then the whole process grinds to a halt.

Councillors also argue that there is no indication as to whether the applicant has carried out a hazard analysis assessment. They also claim the application is lacking a great deal of other important information.

A funeral service was held at the East Riding Crematorium on Friday, December 21 for Mr Maurice Dandy of Wansford Road, Driffield who died peacefully at home on December 10. He was 79.

The service was conducted by the Rev James Anderson & the organist was Mr Peter Maw.

Maurice was born in Lowthorpe, the 4th of 5 boys. He attended Harpham school. He worked on various farms in the area lastly for Mr Bruce Temple.He then had a few seasons on grounds maintenance with the East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

He married Doreen at Kilham in 1956 and they went to live at Wold Farm in Driffield. They went on to have two sons Paul and Andrew. They moved to live in High Street in Nafferton in 1964 and lived there until 2009 when they moved to Wansford Road, Driffield.

Maurice was a keen sportsman playing football and cricket for Lowthorpe and Kilham in his younger days. He continued his love of sport as a supporter of local teams as well as national teams, often getting up early to listen to cricket on the radio He bred and showed budgies and rabbits and he enjoyed gardening. He had a great love of the countryside and country traditions.

He will be greatly missed.

Family mourners: Doreen Dandy (wife(), Paul Dandy & Jayne Palliser (son & partner), Andrew 7 Lucy Dandy (son & wife), Liam Dandy & Kemba Lucas-Lyon (grandson & partner), Matthew Dandy, Darrell Dandy, Rachel Dandy & Jordan Dandy (grandchildren), Malcolm & Edna Dandy (brother & sister in law), Margaret Dandy (sister in law), Jennifer & Ashley Welbourn (niece & husband), Julie & Andrew Hartley (niece & husband), Neil & Julie Dandy (nephew & wife).

Others present: Molly & Richard Palliser, Colin & Margaret Buckton, John Kettlewell, Sheila Cowton & Michael Duggleby rep Angela, Vera Tordoff, Christine Wildridge, Simon Wildridge rep Helen & Gordon & Ann Tyler, Wendy Simpson rep Frank, Dorothy & Ian Hill rep Kate & Penny, Dulcie Wright rep Karen & Julie, Peter Gibbons rep Celia, Valerie Peacock, Mr L Rawdon, Dennis Nelson, Keith Nelson, Mrs Dorothy Smith, Barbara & Brian Harrison rep Margaret Trees & Marilyn Jordan, Bruce & Jill Temple, Paul Temple rep Ted Atkinson, Steve Burdass, Mrs D Coleman, Mr D Plowman, Joyce & Joe Tuplin, Jane & Steve Sharp rep Brian & Sue Mellonby, Edna & Dennis Sharp (sister in law & husband), Stuart Sharp rep Paula, Megan, Kelly & Ben, Rob Coutts & Susie Long, Jill Booth rep William Booth, Harvey Booth & Adrian Hanrahan, Helen Lawrence, Jean & Tom Coutts, Peter & Sheila Croft, Linda & Gordon Calvert, Sharon Coutts, James Robins, Rob Coutts, James Coutts, Susan Beachell, Jeanette Neal, Sophie & Charlotte Neal, Mrs I Rispin rep Mark, Philip Walker, Keith Rounding, James & Sue Coutts rep Mike, Lynsey, Owen & Scarlett, Sarah Coutts rep Michelle & Amy, Adrian Croft, Tom Rispin, Andrew Carr rep the family Liz Easterby.

A funeral service was held at the East Riding Crematorium on Wednesday, December 19 for Mrs Doris Mary McGillivray, of the Beaumont Nursing Home, Stamford Bridge, (formerly of Nafferton) who died suddenly in the Beaumont Nursing Home on December 8. She was 88.

The service was conducted by the Rev Robert Amos and the organist was Mr Steven Westaway.

Doris was born in Kilham in 1924 and grew up there. She attended school in Kilham. She had one brother, George Tate who was ten years younger than her. She joined the forces at the age of 17 and became a NAFFI girl. During the war years she met, and when the war ended married her late husband Alexander McGillivray at KilhamChurch. They then moved to St Andrews in Scotland to start their married life together. They had one daughter Isabel. A few years later the family moved back to Kilham and then to Nafferton. Always returning to Scotland for holidays enjoying time with family and friends.

Doris started to work for the East Riding Council at Nafferton schools, where she worked until she retired in 1984 after 35 years service. She became Cook in Charge at the school canteen and she was affectionately known by all the school children as ‘Mrs Mac’

Doris and Alec had a long and happy marriage, celebrating their Golden Wedding.

She was a member of the Nafferton Women’s Institute for 50 years, enjoying the monthly get together with friends. On retirement she joined the Nafferton Bowls Club where with Alec, spent a good number of years playing bowls together.

Family Mourners: Isabel & Mike Rogerson (daughter & son in law), Andrew & Clare Rogerson (grandson & wife) also rep Adam Rogerson (great grandson) & Joanne, James, Jessica, Jennifer & Jonathan (granddaughter & great grandchildren), Chris & Sue Tate (nephew & wife) also rep Sarah & Emily (great nieces).

Others present: Mrs Grace Sanderson rep Julie Spence, Rita Riggs, Nancy Grace, Dorothy Hyde, Janet Woodcock, Edna Thompson, Tony & Eileen Thompson, Fiona Gavigan, Gillian Calvert, Ruth Murray, Roy Dowson rep Nancy, Cicely & Helen (cousins), Brenda & Philip Davison rep Les Cockerill & Madge Crawley , Nick Woodhead, Peter Gibbons rep Celia, Sue Johnston, Ann Gordon, Sue & John Stubbs, Christine Shaw rep David Robinson, Julie Daubney & Paul Shaw, Jill & Peter Errington, John & Maureen Johnston, Mrs Sheila Sykes, Carolyn & Martin Pevleve, Peter Hodgson, Lee O’Shea, Alan & June Bielby, George Kellett, Nigel & Shirley Brass, Pamela & Brian Kirby, Brian & Sue Mellonby rep Margaret Johnson, John & Jill Seaton rep Joan Shawcross, Paul & Cathy James.

A funeral service was held at All Saints’ Church, Driffield on Thursday, December 20 for Mrs Alwyn Simpson (formerly of Pockthorpe), who died peacefully in Scarborough Hospital on December 9. She was 88.

The service was conducted by the Rev Malcolm Exley and the organist was Mr Martin Salter.

Alwyn was born in Whitby in 1924. She attended Cliff Street School and then the County School in Whitby. Her father was a jet manufacturer. After leaving school she trained as a State Registered Nurse at Scarboorough Hospital.

She married George who was a farmer in 1948 and they lived at Pockthorpe until they retired and moved to Driffield.

She was a member of the Women’s Institute for many years, firstly at Kilham and then Driffield. She was a volunteer with the WRVS helping with the hospital trolley service and she was also a member of the Driffield Ladies Luncheon Club. She enjoyed playing bridge, gardening and music.

Family Mourners: Elizabeth & Paul Stephenson, Janet & John Rennison, Caroline & Stewart Elliott (daughters & sons in law), Margaret Walker (sister), Jayne Priestman (rep great grandson Christopher) & Michael Moss, Sarah & James Halligan, Helen & Ian Woodruff, Richard Stephenson, James Stephenson & Lucinda Cawood, Thomas Elliott & Eleanor Proudfoot-Sackur, Mark Elliott, Philip Elliott (grandchildren), David Smith, Stephen & Linda Smith, Fiona Hughes (nephews & niece).

Others present: Mr & Mrs P Sawyer, Mrs D Cracknell, Mr & Mrs B Stephenson, Mrs H Good, Mrs Sue Dennis, Mrs Margaret White, Sue Dillon, Richard & Jane Headlam rep Peter & Mary Naylor, Marjorie Cooper rep Sally Beswick, Sharon Dean, Eileen Rowbottom, Freda Watt, Mr John Watt rep Mr D Searby, Mr P Owen, Malcolm Copeland rep Billingshill, Mrs Margaret Botterill, Mr & Mrs C Robinson, Susan Hyde rep Riverhead Hall, Mrs E Bell rep Driffield Ladies Luncheon, Basil Thompson, Mr & Mrs B Howland rep Mr & Mrs M Minns, Mr & Mrs Mike Foreman, David Watt rep Yvonne Watt, Betty Taylor, Mrs A Byas, Di Watson rep the family, Mr & Mrs Maurice Riley, Mrs D Duggleby, Jill Ellis rep Driffield WI, Ann Dunnington rep Driffield WI, Jan Parr rep Mrs Scruton & Mr Geoff Parr, Val Wilson, Rev David Everatt, Mrs P Butterworth rep Mrs A Pollard, Mr & Mrs John Williamson, Mrs William Wright rep Mr Wright, John Jefferson rep Jean Beachell, Mrs Daphne Padwick, Mrs S Franklin, Mr & Mrs I Rogerson, Mr & Mrs F Ullyott rep Jennifer, Mark & David, Margaret Smith rep Janette & Simon, Simon Minns rep James Mortimer Ltd.

A funeral service was held at All Saints’ Church, Driffield for Mrs Muriel Harrison, of The White House, Driffield, who died peacefully in The White House on December 8. She was 87.

The service was conducted by the Rev Andrew Ison and the organist was Mr Martin Salter.

Muriel was born in Watton and attended Beswick School. During the war she was in the Land Army. She met Tom and they married in 1947. After their marriage they lived in Kilnwick where they stayed for 57 years. She helped on Cawkeld Farm potato picking and enjoyed many happy days working with the other women. She taught her daughters how to bake and knit, she enjoyed her garden, growing vegetables and keeping pigs just after the war years.

They later moved into Driffield and Muriel and Tom enjoyed going on bus trips. She was very family orientated and loved spending time with her family.

Sadly, shortly after Tom died Muriel had to go into care but she still enjoyed going into town in her wheelchair and the trips out with the White House.

She will be greatly missed.

Chief mourners: Cynthia & John Dawson, Joan & Malcolm Bentley (daughters & sons in law), Mike Ibbertson (son in law), Sonya & Sean Bendelow (granddaughter & husband) rep Charlotte Grace (great granddaughter), Aimee Dawson & Rupert Clemmit (granddaughter & partner), Sarah & Neil Hastings (granddaughter & husband) rep Robert & Katie (great grandchildren), Michael Ibbertson (grandson), John & Daphne Elliott (brother & sister in law), Steve & Brenda Pettinger (cousin & wife), Kathleen & Brian Swaby (cousin & wife unable to attend), Trevor Harrison rep June Harrison, Tina & Warwick Ivel & family & Jackie & Ian Sinton & family, Brian & Barbara Harrison rep Angela Goodwin, Keith Harrison rep Sue Harrison, Caroline Elliott rep David Elliott & Carole & Adrian Croft (nephews & nieces), Darren Harrison (great nephew).

Others present: Brent & Jill Flint, Jenny Shaw, William & Jill Lamb, Joan Hardy rep John Robson, Heather Young rep Maurice Young, Audrey & Ernie Weightman, Jennifer Mullinger, Jessie Cooper rep David, Ruth Rawson, Mr & Mrs John Hill, Ann Knaggs rep Friends of Guiding, Sheila Hara rep Mike Hara, Judy English,Joan Savage, Louise Dawson rep Paul Savage, Mr & Mrs H W Thompson, Jennifer Newlove, Mrs Wendy Wilson, Christine Clark, Pauline Caley rep Tom Caley, Mrs J Hughes, , Sharon Simcox rep The White House, Gill & Cedric Calvert rep Linda Elvidge, Pam & Val rep The White House, Gillian Farmery rep the family, Mrs Joan Warkup rep Keith Warkup, Andrew Warkup, Ann & Ray Berriman rep Mr & Mrs K Pickering & Mrs J Pickering, Liza Noble, Mark Flint rep Mr & Mrs B Flint, Ann Johnson, Mr & Mrs P Hara, June Taylor.

Dear Editor,

In Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ Mammon, one of the fallen Angels, is described as having his eyes ‘downward bent’ almost permanently, in admiration of Heaven’s pavement of beaten gold before God ejected him along with Santa’s other supporters.

Every time I walk around Nafferton and Driffield this extract springs to mind - not because our local council has provided such luxurious pavements but because of the quantity of dog mess which has to be avoided, not to mention the vomit, in Driffield’s main street after the weekend’s excesses and the dreadfully uneven pavement along Nethergate in Nafferton. One daren’t allow one’s vision to stray from where one’s feet need to be placed for a moment.

I dared to challenge one dog owner who had allowed his two Labradors to mess, off the lead, on a public right of way through the parks in Nafferton.

He announced that he’d never cleared up after his dogs in 25 years as a Nafferton resident - what a proud boast!

What exacerbated the situation was that sheep were grazing this land and dog faeces are carriers of particularly devastating parasites for sheep. His dogs shouldn’t even have been off the lead, a right of way doesn’t give automatic permission to roam free, especially when the dog owner isn’t prepared to clear up after the dog.

The dark nights also enable many deceitful dog owners to escape their obligations thus helping the spread of canine diseases - as people they can’t be very pleasant; such irresponsibility suggests selfish, arrogant, inconsiderate beings. Clearly descendants of Milton’s Fallen Angels!

Emily Redman

Nethergate

Nafferton

Think of David Nicholls’ One Day, add a week’s worth of northern humour and you have what could be one of the year’s funniest and most romantic books.

Breezing in on the wave of 2013 is Mhairi McFarlane whose very modern, very witty and very wonderful debut novel is a true labour of love.

Five years in the making and set in Manchester, the beating heart of the north, You Had Me at Hello also comes straight from the heart.

It’s a rollocking, rumbustious romantic comedy which bubbles over with engaging – but very credible – characters, slick dialogue, plotlines that tug at those heartstrings and all written with a nudge, a wink and an irresistible sense of fun.

Central to the story is that old ‘love story’ chestnut ... what happens when you meet up again with the boyfriend ‘that got away,’ the man you adored (and still do) but who slipped through your fingers, probably never to be seen again.

Rachel Woodford is a ‘doormat’ kind of girl who works as a court reporter, has been dating dullard Rhys for far too long, still lives with her old Manchester University flatmates and is well and truly stuck in a mind-numbing time warp.

But then Ben, her old uni flame whose memory has never really stopped lighting her fire, turns up again in Manchester ten years later and it’s as if she’s ‘woken up after a coma, been jolted back to life by a favourite song.’

Only trouble is that solicitor Ben is married to the beautiful, clever Olivia and his evidently shiny, joyful and functional existence puts into sad relief her own ‘decade-long stasis,’ making her feel as if she ‘sits around in a moth-eaten Miss Havisham graduation ballgown, listening to a crackly recording of Pulp’s ‘Disco 2000’.’

Is their bittersweet reunion going to be the final chapter of their long-running story, or could it be the beginning of a whole new blockbuster?

Easy to read and hard to put down, McFarlane’s creative and cuddly concoction is a slow-burning, wry and funny love story with plenty of width and depth to keep the smartest and most demanding chick-lit readers hooked to the very last page.

With its pleasing mix of romance and reality and a seemingly bottomless store of hilarious one-liners, You Had Me at Hello is a welcome breath of fresh air to blow away the cobwebs of 2012.

(Avon, paperback, £6.99)

A funeral service was held at the East Riding Crematorium on Monday, December 17 for Mr John Burdis of Little Driffield who died suddenly but peacefully on December 8. He was 74.

The service was conducted by the Rev Malcolm Exley & the organist was Mr Peter Maw.

John was born in the Airman’s married quarters at RAF Driffield in 1938, the middle of three sons. His dad died in World War 2 and his mum died during his early teens.

He attended school mainly at Little Driffield, which he was very proud to say he attended, particularly as he spent all his married life yards away from where the school used to stand in the village, he also attended Driffield School.

He started his working life as a farm labourer (he had a lifelong love of animals). His career mainly involved driving HGV’s, finally retiring from the Yorkshire Water Authority due to ill health.

He met Pat in 1962 and they married in Skerne in 1965. They moved to the marital home in Little Driffield after watching it being built. They went on to have three children and later two grandchildren. He always considered his parents in law Mum & Dad, no longer having his own.

He was a member of the St John Ambulance and he particularly enjoyed first aiding at motor cycle meetings/road racing and rugby matches in the local area. He was also passionate about driving, it was more than a career to him. He loved animals, he had numerous pets over the years including dog, cats and keeping and breeding various breeds of birds.

He was extremely proud to be a Yorkshireman, his favourite saying was ‘Yorkshire born and proud of it’.

Chief mourners: Mrs Pat Burdis (wife), Mr Steven & Mrs Lynda Burdis, Mr Paul & Mrs Anne Burdis (sons & daughters in law), Mrs Julie & Mr Mark Hirst (daughter & son in law) also rep Ryan & Keryn Hirst (grandchildren).

Others present: Pam & Nigel Kelly, Gwendoline Cook, Philip Cook, Maurice Wilson, Pearl Mcglen rep District Nurses, Sylvia & Brian Berry, Mr & Mrs I B Broom, Simon Pryor rep Maria Pryor & Wendy Pryor, Jean Hirst, Bob & Janet Overfield, Mrs D Lacy rep Mr M Lacy, Terry & Maureen Edmond, Sybil Throp, Andrew & Janet Cage, Keith Philipson, Mr & Mrs J Corkins, Mr & Mrs F Felton, Mrs S Burdis.

A funeral service was held at the East Riding Crematorium on Monday, December 17 for Mr Malcolm William Hickson, of Woldholme Avenue, Driffield, who died peacefully in hospital on December 10. He was 74.

The service was conducted by the Rev Malcolm Exley and the organist was Mr Peter Maw.

Malcolm was born in Driffield and attended school there. He worked at Sugar Mills before joining the Army at the age of nearly 18 where he served for 22 years. After leaving the Army he went to work at Leconfield as a Driving Instructor for the Ministry of Defence and stayed there until he retired.

He met his wife Brenda when they were both 15 and working at Sugar Mills, they married in Hessle in 1958 and they had been married for 54 years when he died.

He enjoyed gardening, computer games, holidays and had a lifelong interest in all sports, in his younger days he played hockey and football for the United Nations in Cyprus.

Malcolm was very family orientated, he loved spending time with his family and he will be greatly missed by them all.

Chief mourners: Brenda (wife), Michael & Rita (son & daughter in law), Gary & Cheryl (son & partner), Craig (grandson), Darren & Sophie (grandson & wife), Josh, Hayden (grandsons),Kellie (granddaughter), Joyce & Ron Dibble (sister & brother in law), Sue & Jenny Hickson (sister in law & niece), Joan Merritt (sister in law) also rep David Merritt & family (nephew), Paulla Ecclestone rep Malcolm Ecclestone (niece & Husband),Janet & Karl Hardy (sister in law & husband), Jonathon Hardy (nephew), Dorothy & Chris Grey (niece & husband), Lynette & Andrew Edeson (niece & husband), Tracey & Kevin Todd (niece & husband), Rodney & Teri Dibble (nephew & wife), Anita Salmon (niece), Liz Hickson & Rachel Barr (niece in law), Michael & Naomi Grey (nephew & wife), Christine Hickson rep Kevin Hickson (nephew & wife).

Others present: Charlotte Temple, Robert Stone, Lauren Temple, William Temple, Sue Walton, Sarah Walton, Norman & Jill Robinson, Yvonne Johnson, Ruth Wharram, Marion Ake, Sandra Ake, Mr & Mrs T Seline, Susan Malster, Cedric Robson, Arthur Robson, Stan Bird rep Elaine Bird, Mr & Mrs W Willis, Mr A Welburn, Malcolm Ake.

PROPERTY professionals in Driffield are being given an opportunity to have their achievements recognised at an awards ceremony.

The 2013 Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Pro-Yorkshire Awards - which has coined the title of ‘the regional property Oscars’ - will close their submissions on Friday January 18.

The annual awards celebrate and reward original initiatives in land, construction, property and environment sectors. For more information or to enter visit www.rics.org/Awards.