Between 7.10pm and 7.45pm on Saturday 1 June the rear windscreen of a silver Nissan Micra parked on a roadside in Cranswick was smashed.
The damage was done whilst the owner was inside the Women’s Institute room on Main Street.
Nothing was taken from inside the vehicle.
If you know anything about this incident please contact the police and quote crime reference 1977533.
The sun shone on the 3,000 green fingered revellers at the 19th annual gardeners’ fair held at Burton Agnes Hall last weekend.
Over £1,000 was raised for the National Gardens Scheme through ticket sales, and visitors enjoyed the many stalls on offer.
Anna Tindall, marketing manager at the hall, said: “This year’s event was really well attended. Everyone seemed to enjoy the day.
“We raise money for the scheme as it goes back to when Susan Cunliffe-Lister used to do it and we just feel like we want to give something back.
“The event has grown year on year.”
Over the weekend of Saturday 8 to Sunday 9 June there were talks by Jeremy Palmer and Susan Cunliffe-Lister of Burton Agnes Hall, and Steve Wright, who runs gardening courses in Yorkshire.
Each ticket sold saw 50 pence going towards the National Gardens Scheme, which raises money by opening gardens to the public, and gives away over £2.5 million each year to nursing, caring and gardening charities.
For more information on Burton Agnes Hall visit www.burtonagnes.com
The steamy love affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton is not the only drama creating sparks on the set of the iconic film Cleopatra in 1961.
And a young historical adviser, fresh from the cloistered walls of academia in London, is about to become caught up in events more dangerous than she could ever have contemplated.
Gill Paul’s new and excitingly original novel brings to life all the glamour, tensions and politicking of this notorious, big-budget movie in a story that bristles with energy, passion and dark, deadly secrets.
Using a wealth of research and some first-hand anecdotes from British actors John Gayford and Francesca Annis, who both played key roles in Cleopatra, Paul sweeps us back 50 years to the bold, brash backstage shenanigans of the Taylor-Burton film classic.
From Liz Taylor’s extravagances and Richard Burton’s scandalous passion to the Cinecittà film studio’s exotic elephant enclosures and the vast warehouses full of costumes and props, The Affair is a superbly atmospheric and addictive peek behind the scenes of a film that captured the essence of its time.
When 26-year-old historian Diana Bailey arrives on the set, she has left behind her lecturer husband Trevor, a man 18 years older than herself, and a marriage that is in serious trouble.
Trevor, who believes a wife’s duty is to look after her husband, was vehemently opposed to Diana spending six months in Rome but it was an opportunity she simply couldn’t refuse. For the first time in her life, she has a new challenge in the wider world rather than in the ‘dusty little part’ she knows.
But tensions are running high on a set that is more Hollywood on the Tiber than ancient Rome and Alexandria. The film is in financial crisis and a media storm is brewing over the Taylor-Burton relationship.
As Diana adjusts to her new life, she strikes up a close friendship with Helen, a young make-up artist and good time girl, and finds unexpected solace in Ernesto Balboni, the charismatic Mr Fix-It of the film crew.
But Helen mixes in dangerous company and is harbouring a dark secret, one that threatens to cast a long shadow over Diana’s life …
Paul’s beguiling and compelling story captures all the thrilling and sometimes tawdry realities of life on a film set with its warring egos, inherent glamour and fascinating backstage detail as well as delivering a pulsating parallel love story to the famous Taylor-Burton romance.
A gripping read perfect for those lazy summer days!
(Avon, paperback, £7.99)
A village school is celebrating after Ofsted inspectors described it as a good school.
Lockington CE Primary School has been praised as ‘a little school that makes a big difference’.
Inspectors found it had made improvements in all aspects of its work since a previous inspection, which ranked it as satisfactory.
They praised the tangible sense of ‘family’ in the school, where pupils show high levels of care and consideration for each other.
The school has 31 pupils on its roll. They are said to achieve well and make good progress, working to a rich curriculum, with leaders and staff who are hard-working and committed.
The school scored a rating of good in all key areas, including quality of teaching, behaviour and safety of pupils, leadership and management and overall effectiveness.
The report is part of the recent targeted inspection of East Riding schools by Ofsted.
The inspectors recognised the good start pupils make in their reception year, and the progress they make throughout the school, leading to high standards and ‘exemplary’ behaviour by the time they reach years 5 and 6.
Their report says that the dedication of Lockington School’s head teacher to providing the best for the pupils is reflected in the positive impact of the improvements since the last inspection. It also says that the local authority provides helpful support and challenge.
Head teacher Mrs Julie Cattle said the school is committed to continual improvement and aims to go from strength to strength.
“When I took up my post in September 2011 I firmly believed the school could be good or better, and I am delighted to say that we have made it,” she said.
“The commitment of parents, colleagues, the governing body and the local authority has been remarkable in helping to achieve improvements in all aspects of the school’s work since the last inspection. The pupils are wonderful ambassadors for the school.”
Chair of governors Mrs Ellie Girling said: “I am delighted that everyone’s hard work has been recognised and that Ofsted agree that Lockington is a ‘little school that makes a big difference.”
Driffield Times & Post photographer, Pam Stanforth, went along to photograph staff and pupils celebrating Lockington Primary School’s Ofsted report.
For breaking news 24/7 visit our website at www.driffieldtoday.co.uk or follow us on Twitter @driffieldnews
A pair of brave friends are gearing up to hit the heights for charity - and parachute 15,000ft from an aeroplane.
Declan Cooper, 20 of Leconfield, and Joe Pickwell-Smith, 21 of Beverley, will be undertaking the skydive on Saturday 17 August, in aid of Young Epilepsy (YE).
The pair aim to raised £2,000 for the charity and so far have generated £700 toward their target.
Declan said: “Neither me or Joe have the condition ourselves, but know of many friends and relatives that do. Upon doing some research which is all very well documented and detailed on the Young Epilepsy website, we realised more and more how commonplace the condition is and how many people it affects.”
Joe has previously fundraised for YE. To donate visit www.justgiving.com/Ann-Smith1313 or for more information on YE visit youngepilepsy.org.uk
A day of fun and games was enjoyed by pupils at an infants school.
Youngsters, from years one and two at Driffield Northfield Infants School, exercised their mathematical skills and completed a variety of problems and puzzles on Tuesday 4 June.
Sally Gibson, year two teacher at Northfield School, said: “We like to give children more opportunity to use and apply maths in a fun situation, so we gave them problems and puzzles.”
The first annual general meeting of an ME Family Support Group will be held in July.
TEMPO, a group dedicated to supporting sufferers of chronic fatigue and their families, is set to run its AGM on Thursday 11 July at the Driffield Children’s Centre, Beckside, Driffield.
The meeting will run from 9.30am to 11am.
For more information contact chairman Stuart Taylor on 07973 371876 or staylorestates@tiscali.co.uk
A fundraising trio are set to take on an 80-mile sponsored walk in aid of several charities.
Father and son team Stuart, 46, and Charles, 15, Taylor, of Orchard Lane in Hutton, plan to walk the 79-mile Wolds Way route from Hessle to Filey Brigg to raise money for TEMPO - the ME Family Support Group.
They will also be joined by Stuart’s close friend, Travis Plumridge who is fundraising for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Women and Children’s Hospital at Hull Royal Infirmary, Brain Tumour Research Trust and Brain Tumour UK.
“We lost our little girl in September 2011 - she was born prematurely,” said Mr Plumridge, 30, of Scarborough Road, Driffield who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2011.
“I want to raise money for the charities for everything they’ve done for me. Particularly the support that I was given by doctors.”
The team will set off on Friday 12 July aiming to finish on Sunday 14 July.
Charles, who was diagnosed with ME in 2010 and who attends Driffield School and Sixth Form, said: “We are all together but for different causes and I think that is the beauty of it.
“We thought if you are going to do a long walk you may as well do it for charity.”
TEMPO supports to ME/CFS sufferers and their families in the East Riding.
Stuart, chairman of TEMPO, said: “The group tends to focus on what can be achieved with ME. We like to offer support to the families behind the sufferers. There is a lack of awareness about ME. What we found was a lack of support or information.”
To donate contact Stuart on 07973 371876 or email staylorestates@tiscali.co.uk
To help Travis raise money contact 07943 400260.
Four immigration offenders have been arrested by Home Office Immigration Enforcement officers at a restaurant in Driffield.
Acting on intelligence, officers visited Muskan Spice in Market Place, Driffield on the evening of Wednesday 5 June last week.
Checks revealed that four Bangladeshi men had no permission to be in the UK.
Three of the men, aged 40, 29, and 23 had entered the UK illegally. A 35 year old had overstayed his visa. All four men were taken into immigration detention where they remain pending their removal from the UK.
Three of the men were encountered working illegally and the business now faces a potential fine of up to £30,000 to £10,000 per illegal worker, unless it can demonstrate that appropriate pre-employment checks were carried out such as seeing a passport or Home Office document.
A previous visit to Muskan Spice in February last year resulted in the arrest of two other immigration offenders. A fine of £5,000 was imposed on the business for employing them.
Colin Flynn, of Home Office Immigration Enforcement, said: “We are working hard to track down and remove from the country those who seek to abuse the UK’s immigration laws.
“Operations like this are carried out regularly and we have no intention of slowing down.
“The public can be a huge help in our work and I urge people with information about suspected immigration abuse to get in touch.”
Anyone with information about immigration crime can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 anonymously or visit crimestoppers-uk.org
Employers can find information at ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/business-sponsors/preventing-illegal-working/
A bloomin’ marvellous photographic competition is to reward proud gardeners for their efforts.
Driffield in Bloom are leading the competition, for which residents can enter a picture of their garden to win a prize.
Send entries to the Driffield Times & Post offices, in Mill Street or to Sokells in Middle Street South, by Saturday 13 July with names and addresses on the back. Non-returnable.
Celebrations were in order for a well-known pastor’s 60th birthday.
John Gaughan, of Nafferton, is the pastor at Driffield Congregational Church, and enjoyed a surprise birthday party with family and friends on Tuesday 11 June.
During the 1970s Mr Gaughan experienced fame with the band Herman’s Hermits and came to Christianity when he was 39 years of age.
Ben Kane’s superb Spartacus ‘mini series’ takes historical Roman novel writing to heady new heights in the final, pulsating instalment of the slave rebellion that shook the mighty Roman empire.
Hot on the heels of Gladiator, the first chapter of this bold and brutal trip to the heat and heart of an ancient legend, we follow the slave leader’s army to the toe of Italy and a battle set to make or break both of the warring sides.
Kane’s tough, uncompromising prose, allied to a refreshingly human and humane portrayal of the principal protagonists, builds on the events and characters so deftly developed in the first book.
And it’s an epic story conveyed with power, passion, gut-wrenching realism and enough emotion to fill the long and gruesomely historic Appian Way from Rome to Capua.
The mighty slave army, led by Spartacus, has carried all before it, shredding the legions of Rome and bringing ignominy and disgrace to many of the empire’s leading generals.
As the rebels march triumphantly towards the Alps and freedom, it is left to Crassus, one of Rome’s richest and most ambitious generals, to halt the slave army and end the embarrassing revolt.
But can Crassus raise a big enough army and will the defection of former slave Crixus the Gaul, and all his men, fatally weaken Spartacus? The slave leader also hears murmurings of discontent within his vast army of slaves and knows it could quickly turn to outright rebellion.
So while storm clouds mass on the horizon and spies and traitors stalk the land, Spartacus must face the most important choice of his life – move forward over the Alps to an uncertain freedom, or turn back to face the might of Rome and attempt to break its power over them forever…
Unfazed by notable big and small screen representations of the famous Spartacus story, Kane approaches the legendary warrior with a fresh eye, a raw and convincing realism and without recourse to images of a handsome, muscular, romantic hero.
Kane’s Spartacus is as much a fighting machine as a man – he’s fearless, ambitious, inspirational to his men, unforgiving of weakness, a liberal thinker and yet almost as ruthless as his foes.
Impeccable research is always Kane’s trusty trademark and Rebellion includes excellent military detail, finely tuned dialogue enhanced by an authentic Roman mindset and unwavering historical accuracy.
Action, passion and the savagery of the Roman world create an irresistible mix in a story so good, you may have to read it twice…
(Arrow, paperback, £6.99)
THE former owner of a Beverley nightclub with a strict anti-drugs policy has been told he faces prison for allowing a large cannabis factory to be established in an out of town barn.
Adrian Parker, 61, founded the infamous Parkers Nightclub and was running a fish farm and angling business when two men approached him asking to rent a barn for £10,000.
Initially Parker said no, but gave in allowing the men to use his premises. He is now being described as a leading figure in cannabis production.
Parker of Model Farm, Atwick Road, Bewholme, appeared at Hull Crown Court on Monday June 3 and pleaded guilty to a single charge of production of cannabis a controlled drug of class B on November 28 last year. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of illegally abstracting electricity. It follows a Humberside Police raid on his premises when police found cannabis plants and a sophisticated system of production, drying and weighing operation.
Police spotted the cannabis factory from the air using a thermal-image camera from the force helicopter. The premises were used for five cash crops. The two men Parker alleged started the cannabis factory have never been caught.
Crown barrister Philip Evans said it was his view Parker played a leading role in the production of cannabis. He said evidence would be heard about a company set up to buy a Lamborghini. He said there was also evidence of a trading standards investigation.
He said: “The basis Mr Parker puts forward for his plea of guilty is disputed. The conclusion the defence draws is that his role is significant. The Crown says his role is that of a leading one. He says he was put up to it by two former clients at a fish farm.”
Defence barrister Joanna Golding said the dispute would be settled at a Newton Hearing where Mr Parker will call five defence witnesses.
Parkers Nightclub on the outskirts of Beverley ran buses from the town centre to attract drinkers after 11pm. Mr Parker shut the business down after changes in the licensing laws meant drinkers stayed in the town centre. It still has a following on internet sites from Beverley citizens reliving their youth.
Judge Mark Bury told Parker: “In due course you will receive credit for your pleas of guilty. How much credit depends on the finding of fact in your case. These are in any event serious charges, which seem to mean that a custodial sentence is inevitable. Be prepared for that.”
He adjourned sentence for the Newton Hearing to take place at Hull Crown Court on June 27.
Ward councillors will push for help from the leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council to progress the development of a disused site in Driffield.
Councillors Symon Fraser, Barbara Hall and Felicity Temple are set to ask Council leader Stephen Parnaby, at a full council meeting on Wednesday 12 June, to join them in their call for landowners at the cattle market site to redevelop the town eyesore.
“There is a fundamental lack of cooperation - we have waited and we have pressed and we have encouraged all the different landowners to bring it forward as it is their responsibility,” said Coun Fraser.
“The time has come to look at what the council can do.”
Watch the video of Coun Fraser speaking about the issue here, and see this week’s Driffield Times & Post out on Thursday 13 June for the full story.
Plans for a £1,000,000 church rebuild have been brought one step closer to receiving the green light.
An application for full planning permission to pull down the existing Methodist Church in Middle Street North and rebuild a modernised version was recommended to be referred for approval to Eric Pickles, the secretary of state for communities and local government, by East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
The decision was made at the meeting of the Council’s Eastern Area Planning Sub-Committee on Monday 10 June.
The Methodist Church lies in a conservation area, and a separate application for consent to build in the conservation area was also recommended by the planning sub-committee for approval by the secretary of state.
The Reverend Robert Amos, of Driffield Methodist Church, said: “We are highly delighted because we wanted to stay in that position in the centre of Driffield and to continue what we have been doing since 1772. The church building has altered over the years but to stay in that place is what we wanted. This is again a step on the way to rebuilding the church.”
However members of Driffield Town Council are in opposition to the proposal and argue the current building is an historic part of the street scene.
The Trustees of Driffield Methodist Church applied for the build in February this year. An application was originally submitted in February last year but it was withdrawn before it reached the committee stage.
Funding for the church is set to come from a grant from Methodist Connexion with additional finances from other funding bodies.
The new church will be accessible to all, energy efficient, with many facilities for worship and a cafe.
See the Driffield Times & Post for further updates on the application’s progress.
Driffield Wolds Decorative and Fine Arts Society is celebrating its silver anniversary on 27 June with a special musical evening and supper at Sledmere House.
The Vice Chairman on NADFAS will be attending from London, as well as the North East Area Chairman of NADFAS from Sheffield and chairmen from neighbouring societies.
The second night of the amazing Northern Grand Finals of the Humberside Police Rock Challenge took place at Grimsby Auditorium last week involving twelve primary and secondary schools from across the north of England, Ireland and Scotland displaying the very best of youth talent.
Longcroft School and Performing Arts College, of Beverley, claimed second place with their visually stunning performance ‘Tears of the Geisha’ depicting the effects of arranged marriages, receiving a gold framed award from the High Sheriff of Lincolnshire, Mr Toby Dennis.
They also received a number of prestigious awards including Ansvar Insurance Award for Performance Skill, Vivergo Fuels Award for Drama Skills, and the Police Service for Northern Ireland Award for Concept Interpretation.
Deputy Police and Come Commissioner for Humberside Police Paul Robinson said: “Tonight we have seen some absolute fantastic performances by all schools portraying some very difficult and complex issues in a truly dynamic way.
“The level of professionalism is outstanding and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner will always continue to support Rock Challenge as it give our local young people such terrific opportunities.”
Ward councillors will push for help from the leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council to progress the development of a disused site in Driffield.
As the Times & Post went to press, Driffield and Rural Ward councillors Symon Fraser, Barbara Hall and Felicity Temple were set to ask Council leader Stephen Parnaby, at a full council meeting on Wednesday 12 June, to join them in their call for landowners at the cattle market site to redevelop the town eyesore.
“There is a fundamental lack of cooperation - we have waited and we have pressed and we have encouraged all the different landowners to bring it forward as it is their responsibility,” said Coun Fraser.
“The time has come to look at what the Council can do.”
The derelict cattle market site, which is a source of angst for many people, received planning permission from East Riding Council for a supermarket, housing and community centre in 2010. However the landowners at the site have yet to develop the piece of land.
Coun Fraser, who in the past voiced support of a supermarket being built at the site, said: “We are unsure of what the Council can legally do but the time has come to begin to put pressure on the various private landowners who are failing to deliver for Driffield and we are starting talks with council officers to press for action.
“We are hoping we can get the existing landowners who are at loggerheads, who are unwilling, unable or simply unprepared to come to agreement to bring forward long needed development for Driffield.
“We as councillors faced opposition from people who claimed a supermarket would ruin Driffield. It is painfully obvious to anyone that these people were wrong, and what Driffield needs and has needed for a number of years is the supermarket that we as ward councillors have fought for in the past.”
Prior to Wednesday’s meeting a spokesperson for the Council said: “The council granted planning permission for this site in May 2010 and it is now for the landowners to develop the site in accordance with that permission.
“We monitor the site’s condition regularly and take action as necessary to ensure its safety.”
Since planning permission was granted for the cattle market, protest from local residents and businesses against a supermarket at the site - part of which is owned by Tesco, has been widespread.
Andy Rafter, who owns the greengrocer Rafters in Middle Street South, has been vehement in his opposition of a supermarket. “Somebody like Symon Fraser, they need to be putting pressure on these people saying you have got two options: either develop it or investigate the possibility of compulsory purchase,” said Mr Rafter.
“There is nobody in this town that wants to see that site developed as much as me, I desperately want to see it developed, but not as a supermarket.”
He said: “It is a prime site and Driffield is a great location. It isn’t about my business it is about being part of Driffield.”
A spokesperson from Tesco said: “Tesco owns some land in Driffield on the plot known as the ‘Cattle Market’ site which we were previously considering for a store development.
“We are keen to sell the land and will consider all reasonable offers.”
See next week’s Times & Post out on Thursday 20 June for an update on the meeting’s outcome.
Long before ‘the sisterhood’ burnt their bras in the 1970s, a diverse group of young women were declaring their female independence in the same spirit of reckless determination.
Flappers, those daring rebels of the notoriously restless post First World War generation, have been glamourised, mythologised and demonised in the 90 or more years since their antics scandalised polite 1920s society.
So who were these charismatic characters whose stars burned briefly and brightly but whose ultimate destinies were often lonely, painful and tragic?
Judith Mackrell, a celebrated dance critic, sweeps us back to those heady, trail-blazing years by focusing her entertaining and yet ruthlessly objective study on six very different women who between them exemplified the range and audacity of that innovative generation.
Diana Cooper, Nancy Cunard, Tallulah Bankhead, Zelda Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and Tamara de Lempicka were far from typical flappers but they shared the same desire as many other young women to reinvent the way they lived.
Although they danced the Charleston, wore fashionable clothes and partied with the rest of their peers, this particular group made themselves prominent among the artists, icons, and heroines of their age.
Talented, fearless and wilful, they possessed personalities that transcended their class and background, and between them they blazed the trail of the New Woman around the world.
Starting with the first fashionable acts of rebellion just before the Great War, and continuing through to the end of the decade and the devastating Wall Street crash, Mackrell’s engaging book is both a book of titillating revelations and a serious social history.
Dislocated and isolated by the shocking events of the First World War, women from different social circles began to meet and mix through the women’s rights movement and the emergence of a new popular culture, which included cinemas, clubs and jazz music.
This was, as Mackrell points out, ‘a decade on the move’ with passenger flights taking off, improved train travel to continental destinations and faster, larger liners crossing the Atlantic.
Diana Cooper, born Diana Manners, youngest daughter of the Duke of Rutland, first displayed her rebellious streak when she became a volunteer nurse during the Great War and then married Duff Cooper, a penniless man with no prospects, funding his political career by working as an actress.
Nancy Cunard, a member of the famous shipping line, left behind an unhappy childhood to become a political activist and writer, living a life of bohemian excess in Paris and taking a string of lovers.
Another Paris exile was Tamara de Lempicka who fled her privileged lifestyle and the Russian revolution only to find herself penniless with a baby daughter and a feckless husband. A talented artist, she launched a successful career painting Art Deco style portraits and indulging her rampant sexuality.
Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of writer Scott and the couple said to epitomise the Twenties, also settled in Paris along with Josephine Baker, the legendary chorus girl from St Louis who took the city by storm.
In England, outrageous American actress Tallulah Bankhead brought her many and varied talents to the London stage. A self-declared lesbian, she quipped ‘My father warned me about men and booze, but he never mentioned a word about women and cocaine.’
As the Depression descended, the golden age of the flapper disintegrated into the ascendancy of fascism and another disastrous world war.
Mackrell’s lively, engaging biography paints a fascinating portrait of just six of the flappers who defined their era and who paved the way for a sea-change in the way women perceived both their own lives and their roles in the wider world.
(Macmillan, hardback, £20)
On Saturday 29 June the Chapter House Choir York will travel east to Beverley to give its first ever concert at Beverley Minster.
The choir is delighted to be performing in another splendid building – its usual venue is at York Minster in the Chapter House, with which it has been associated for nearly 50 years. The evening’s programme spans four centuries. The choir will be performing two Renaissance works, Byrd’s Four Part Mass, written in the 1590s, and his invigorating setting of Psalm 150 Laudibus in Sanctis which also featured in the choir’s recent concert at York Minster. Parry’s poignant Songs of Farewell, composed during World War I towards the end of the composer’s life, and two pieces by contemporary composer Eric Whitacre are also on the bill; Whitacre’s atmospheric Sleep and I thank you god for most this amazing day promise to sound very special indeed in the splendid acoustic of Beverley Minster.
The choir’s Musical Director, Stephen Williams, said, “Beverley Minster is a fantastic venue and we are privileged to be performing in such a warm and welcoming space. Used to the intimate setting of York Minster’s Chapter House, the choir is excited about singing in the larger setting of Beverley Minster”.
The concert will take place at Beverley Minster on Saturday 29 June, 7:30pm.
Tickets priced at £12, £10 and £7.50.