A warm welcome at Wombleton (From Gazette & Herald)

A warm welcome at Wombleton

Wombleton has no shop, no school, no church and no post office. But what it does have is a wonderfully eclectic mix of residents, all ready to pull together, help each other out and ensure any newcomers to the village have an especially warm welcome.

Oh yes, it also has a thriving village pub, The Plough Inn, structurally one of the oldest buildings in the village, and a lovely, newly-refurbished village hall, and a recreation ground.

Joan and Ron Graham, of Fylde View, moved to the village when they were married some 30 years ago.

Mr Graham is now retired, having worked for Ryedale District Council for 18 years, while his wife is a parish councillor and village hall committee booking secretary.

"I love everything about the village," said Mrs Graham. "Neither of us has ever wanted to move."

She went on to praise the village hall, saying it had become the centre of the community, especially since it was refurbished and gas central heating was installed last year.

Plenty of activities take place in it during the week including a nursery school, a mother and toddler group, circuit training, whist, an Over 60s Club, a YCA, domino drives and so forth.

Wombleton Church of England School closed in 1982. The premises were sold and the money raised was invested for use in helping with local needs within the ecclesiastical parish of Kirkdale. The trustees of the Kirkdale Parish Charity meet twice a year to consider requests for grants to aid recreational or leisure time activities and education as well as to relieve hardship caused by illness or old age and to advance religion. Anyone who thinks they would like to apply for a grant should write to the Rev J M Warden, Kirkdale Vicarage.

Jean and Peter Lerew live in The Old School. They moved to Wombleton from Wokingham, Berkshire, nine years ago as soon as Mr Lerew retired from his job as auditor.

"Wokingham was so busy and crowded," said Mrs Lerew. "We haven't regretted our move for a minute. It would take a lot to get us back down south."

Mrs Lerew is secretary of the village hall management committee, having completed a three-year stint as chairman.

"The thing we noticed when we first came up here is that it's such a mixed community," she said.

Mr Lerew is secretary of Ryedale Recorded Music Society and has recently become secretary of the Federation of Recorded Music Societies Ltd and he has also been a parish councillor for two years.

"One of the chief things I like about the village is the very good village life," he said. "The way that people look out for each other is not nosey-parkerish but genuine concern."

Richard Knocker, of Manor Farm, is a director of the Classic Party Company, which provides marquees, chairs, tables, floral decorations and so forth, for many local events.

As well as doing events at Castle Howard and Duncombe Park, the company recently provided facilities for the Harry Potter team when they were filming in Goathland.

A former military pilot, who flew in the Gulf War, Mr Knocker left the armed forces and moved to Wombleton with his wife Anne, who was from the village, and their children, Oliver, 11, Poppy, 8, and Toby, 5.

"A lot of locals live here," he said. "There are very few holiday cottages and rented houses. People are here all year round. We have a really good cross-section of people including plumbers, joiners, electricians, doctors. There's a really good community spirit."

His mother-in-law, Joanie Mackenzie-Smith, lives with the family. Her husband, the late Colin Mackenzie-Smith, was a partner at Pearsons and Ward Solicitors, Malton. She has lived in the village since the end of the war.

"It's a very busy village with an enormous amount of young children," she said. "The school closed because they said there would only be eight children but I think there's something like 68 now. It's very much a young person's village. It's an extremely active village and they have a good cricket team.

"When we first came here, there were only about two people that had cars and there were four or five small holdings which have now all gone."

How times have changed. The parish council has just succeeded in getting rumble strips and signs in a bid to try to curb the number of cars speeding through the village.

Mrs Olive Botterill lives with her son Paul in East Terrace. All her children were born in a house in High Street. "I like the village," she said. "Everyone is friendly. I wouldn't like to move now. I would rather live in a village than a town. The chapel in the Main Street is closed now and we have services in the village hall once a month."

Builder Ray Gamble and his wife June moved to the village in 1966 after they got married.

"I like village life," said Mrs Gamble. "I like the YCA. We have about 30 members which is really good. You meet up with not only people who have been here for a long time but also those who have just moved in. It keeps you in touch. We have a village hall to be proud of. There's a lot of unseen and volunteer work that goes into it. It's the hub of the village."

Paul Gamble, the couple's son, lives in Kirkbymoorside but still runs his sign writing business from his parent's home in Wombleton. He has been running his business for 15 years and does work for the National Trust as well as for pubs, houses, farms and local businesses. "I would live in the village if I could afford the houses," he commented.

Mrs Edith Ventress, of Main Street, was born in the village and met her late husband Bill in the Methodist Chapel. "I have seen a lot of changes," she said. "I used to know everyone, now there are a lot of people I don't know but everyone who has moved here have been really good people."

Sue and Henryk Doktor, of Back Lane, have lived in the village for 37 years. They bought the land where their present home stands. "It was one of the first new houses to be built here," said Mrs Doktor.

One of the biggest changes she has noticed was how much the social mix of the village has changed. When they moved here, naturally most of the inhabitants were farm workers or working at Slingsby's Planes or Russells. Now there is a much greater mix of people in the village.

A former chairman of the parish council, Mrs Doktor explained that the Domesday book described Wombleton as "waste". It was rebuilt as a planned village with, what seem to be, evenly-sized plots down Main Street.

It has always been an agricultural village. When the 1851 Census was taken, the majority of people living in the village were farm workers. With the coming of the railways soft fruit farming became an additional source of income but just about all the orchards have gone now.

The nearby airfield is within the township of Wombleton and flying activities are still on-going. During the war it was a Canadian conversion unit. Pilots, who were used to flying Spitfires or two-engined planes were trained to fly four-engined ones. When necessary, it appears, they also supplied aeroplanes for raids.

The mayor of Kirkbymoorside, Tony Clark, is leading a scheme to erect a memorial stone near the entrance to the airfield to commemorate the Canadians who spent so much time in the area and as a 'thank you' from Ryedale residents. They need to raise £1,000 and are currently a quarter of the way there thanks to grants from local parish and town councils as well as Ryedale District Council.

Mr Clark is confident they will reach their total by the time the dedication ceremony takes place, hopefully on May 28. If anyone would like to make a donation, there is a bank account called the Wombleton Airfield Memorial Fund at the Kirkbymoorside branch of the HSBC.

Updated: 14:51 Thursday, February 08, 2001