Father Christmas visited Rosedale Abbey this evening, delighting young and old in his brightly colored sleigh, with Santa’s helpers from the Ryedale Lions  collecting for local good causes.

We wish Father Christmas well on his busy rounds of local villages and towns and look forward to seeing him again next year.

The annual Christmas Fair in aid of the Rosedale Community School was held in the school hall on Thursday 23 November. In a very festive atmosphere, just over £570 was raised to support school activities, an excellent effort all round:

Thanks to all the stall holders and to those who donated prizes for the raffle and who ran activities to entertain the children. And off course, to Santa for turning up and dishing out presents!

And a reminder that Father Christmas will be revisiting the dale on 4 December at 4.40pm, parking up by the school gates, so come along and give him a warm Rosedale welcome.

Father Christmas is taking time  out from his very busy schedule in December to call in on Rosedale Abbey and spread his Christmas cheer on Monday 4 December at 4.40 pm. He will park his sleigh just outside the school gates and will be escorted by his elves from the Ryedale Lions:

All are most welcome to come along and greet Santa with a heart yo ho ho or two!

The dale’s traditional pre-Christmas auction was held in the Coach House Inn  on Saturday 18 November 2017. Amongst much merriment and relaxing inhibitions, masterminded by Dave Seller as the auctioneer, assisted by Sue Foster and Ena Dent, with Lorraine Dale and Pam Seller keeping the money flowing in, the grand sum of £1430 was raised for good causes, including the Reading Room, Yorkshire Air Ambulance and the Rosedale Community Fund.

As ever, huge thanks to Dave Oakey and the Coach House team, to those who donated auction lots so generously and to all who helped make it such a memorable evening.

The coffee morning in aid of the Women’s Institute held at the Coach house Inn on Saturday 4 November raise just short of £330 and the Church Appeal stall in the craft fair raised £200 – excellent results and a tribute to the generosity of those who attended.

As always, many thanks to all who contributed their time to organising the two events, to all who contributed prizes for the raffle, to those who also gave donations to the WI and the ‘Save Rosedale Abbey Church’ appeal and to Dave Oakey and the team at the Coach House for the excellent coffee and biscuits.

A group of local volunteers, armed with buckets and spades on Saturday 28 October, dug down through the mud and discovered the original upstream entrance to the Reeking Gill culvert, with Shaun Doughty having used a digger to clear the site (see previous update on 4 October). Work will now continue to shift the rest of the debris from the entrance and expose more of the large stone archway. Muscle power and determination won the day and well done to all.

Work has also been done to clear some of the smaller culverts along the old railway line so that water no longer builds up and threatens the integrity of the track bed.

A fuller progress report will be given around the New Year, so that all can see how this marvellous project is progressing. Meanwhile please look at the NYMNPA call for volunteers poster and join in.

A craft fair and the Women’s Institute Coffee Morning will be held at the Coach House Inn, Rosedale Abbey, on Saturday 4 November starting at 10.00am. On display and for sale will be hand-made, high quality local crafts including jewellery, Christmas cards, calendars, gifts and decorations, cushions, turned wood and much more.

So come along, enjoy a cup of coffee, the raffle and cake sale and support our local WI, then browse at the craft fair for those special Christmas gifts.

We wish a warm Rosedale welcome to Helen and Graig, the new proprietors of Abbey Stores. Currently they are busy re-stocking the shop but are open for business apart from the tea room which they hope to have up and running by Monday 23 October.

Call in any time to say hello and watch this space for further details of opening times and the like once they have settled in.

Update: from 23 October, Abbey Stores will be open from 08.30 to 5.00pm every day of the week for breakfast, light lunches and teas.

Work on the Land Of Iron project continues apace in Rosedale. The repair done to the track at Stone Kilns is greening up nicely and will be barely visible from a distance by this time next year:

New, bigger interpretation boards have been placed at the three kiln sites:

Work is currently ongoing to clear the upsteam entrance to the major culvert under Reeking Gill to prevent the dangerous build up of water behind the embankment: