2004

2004

Let's look at what developments were taking place in Whitby in 2004. Cottages on Cliff Street were built in this year, on the site of the old gas board sheds, which were used more recently by a fisherman to make nets. Also on the building front, Bagdale garage, behind Broomfield Terrace, was demolished. The extension to Whitby Museum was also complete. This year also saw the closure of Fairways Garage in Upgang Lane, along with the adjoining Victoria Wine shop. Also in this area, plans to re-build a house in Upgang lane opposite the football ground entrance were passed. Also on the West Cliff, West Cliff Villa in Argyle Road, previously the Beach Hotel, dating from 1897, was demolished after it was bought by developers and Berkeley Mansions apartments were built on the land.

Left: Cottages on Cliff Street on site of gas board; Centre: House re-built on Upgang Lane, opposite the football ground; Right: Berkeley Mansions on site of former West Cliff Villa

In January of 2004, the White House Hotel was given permission to convert a stone building to 5 rooms. The hotel was also given permission provide a balcony to the first floor, atop of the ground floor extension, which was built decades earlier. Also to be extended was the beer store, at ground floor level. The hotel was given a major refurbishment, and was re-opened in March 2004.

The Board Inn in Church Street got permission to extend their bar area into the living room of an adjoining cottage and use the first floor as letting rooms.

Also in January, work by Yorkshire Water, totally £1.4M, got underway. The work was to build 5 new storm overflows & upgrade 3 existing others. The work was complete before the end of the financial year, which saw new storm overflows installed at Win Green, Sleights; off Stakesby Road & Love Lane in grounds of Golf Course; Mayfield Road; Upgang Lane & Esplanade. The existing overflow at Scraper Lane, Stainsacre was upgraded by means of installing a screen, to stop storm & sewer debris escaping from the sewer. The other existing overflows to be upgraded were at the pumping station at Hawsker & also at Sneaton Lane, Ruswarp.

To round off January, the 70-year-old Hinderwell Village Hall was reduced to a pile of rubble, ready for contractors to start building the new, £500,000 hall in its place. Demolition work was undertaken by SGW contractors of Teesside. The new hall was ready by October.

In February, Whitby Town F.C.'s 500-seater West stand was approved. The stand was required for the football club to remain in the league, the Unibond Premier Division, and stood 19.5 metres wider and 4 metres higher than the old stand. The stand was structurally complete by October 2005, but the club had to wait a further few months for a safety certificate to be issued, before anyone could use it. It was also around this time that a new hut was made to house a turnstile at the Upgang Lane end of the ground. A turnstile had stood here for a number of years, but only in a wooden hut.

Whitby Town's new hut to house a turnstile at the Upgang Lane entrance

A cancer drop-in centre the 'Water Lily' was opened at Whitby Mission, run by the community Macmillan Team & supported by Scarborough, Whitby & Ryedale NHS Primary Care Trust. The centre had 5 sessions and it decided to move to a new premises, because of parking troubles, to the Community Centre at Kirkham Close.

A new roundabout was installed in February at the junction of Love Lane, Links View & the A174 Whitby to Sandsend Road. The road prior to this was a crossroads and priority was on the A174. This caused huge backlogs queuing to get out of Love Lane to go towards West Cliff.

A174 roundabout at junction with Love Lane installed February 2004 & also approach from Sandsend with new 40mph buffer zone added

Ruswarp Village Hall was given a £1,000 grant to allow them to upgrade their heating, as the old heating was noisy when in use. A new Neighbourhood Nursery at East Whitby Community Primary School was unveiled, run by the Wooden Horse company.

Moving onto March, 4-month-long work started on the introduction of traffic prohibition to St. Ann's Staith and beyond. This meant removing the right

off the swing bridge, which saw that area paved over. A bollard was also installed on the entrance to St. Ann's Staith, which could be lowered with a key by emergency vehicles or by entering a code on the adjacent machine. This part of the scheme was never brought into practise however, as it was agreed it wouldn't be used until the park and ride scheme was set up, which we are still waiting for today, 9 years later, and instead signage indicated the prohibition of motor vehicles between 10:30am - 4:00pm between 23rd March & 30th September. Also on this scene, in July, a bollard was installed on the western pavement of Church Street, South of its junction with Market Place, to prevent Heavy Commercial Vehicles going onto the pavement and damaging buildings, due to the lean of the road. The bollard was hit several times during the first week of its installation.

The 3 senior schools of Whitby, Eskdale, Caedmon & Whitby Community College, came to an agreement to work together, making much closer links between them, which saw a joint governors committee. Also in the young people's field, the Green Lane Centre was refurbished, thanks to the efforts of local people & East Cleveland Youth Housing Trust.

David Duggleby's auction house at The Paddock was given permission to use a part of the building as living accommodation, as it had been previously. Although it had been used as storage space for many years, it appeared to have once served as living accommodation as there was fireplaces installed.

A new footpath was created, linking the new Whitehall Landing housing development to Larpool Woods, thanks to a grant & local volunteers. Much controversy was created though when the developers, Harrison's, created a 2-metre-high, concrete wall without seeking planning permission. The builders claimed that it was required as a flood defence mechanism, but they were made to take it down and apply for permission. This they did, and this time, they would build it out of stone.

7th April saw Whitby's Spar shop on Stakesby Road move to the other side of the road. The newly-built store, stood on the site of the former Arundale garage, and would sell Spar petrol & diesel. There was the chance for people to view the store the night before the official opening, when the Spar donated £1,000 to the Great North Air Ambulance on request from the Fire Service, who had attended the evening. The former garage was largely modernised in 1985/86 to provide a modern car showroom, service bay, forecourt facilities & shop area.

Also in April work was complete at the Coliseum cinema, which saw raked seating installed. A total of 100 seats were installed in such a way that they could be taken out of the way when the room was used for another use. The cinema closed its doors in October 2003 to allow preparatory work to start, which saw the main work start in November. An arts lottery grant of £23,000 and local funding equalling that amount, including grants from both the town & borough council, made the project possible.

A boundary wall of a house in Aislaby was moved to allow greater visibility when exiting the driveway. The house, Beech Hill, had the wall dismantled and re-built, meaning a mature horse chestnut tree had to be removed, but 10 more trees were planted after the works, to accompany a landscaping scene.

A Kingdom Hall for Jehovah's Witnesses was opened in April at 54 Upgang Lane, on the site of what was known as 'Moggy's Hall', which had become rundown. Stones from the old building were re-used in the building of the hall, which was done by volunteers from around the country.

Left: The new Spar garage on Stakesby Road; Right: The new Kingdom Hall, 54 Upgang Lane

The Salvation Army Centre at St. Peter's Court was given a £55,000 revamp, after having the building leased to them for at least another 15 years. Also around this time, a footbridge at Sandsend was destroyed after heavy rian, for the third time since it was re-built by volunteers in 2000. A wall at the foot of Lythe Bank was also damaged.

In May, a pre-fabricated classroom at Caedmon School was destroyed by arsonists. The local green grocers 'Sun Flower' closed their shop after 18 months in business at Whitby Station as the owners got sick of motorbikes outside on the Station car park. They later opened up a shop at The Parade.

Whitby Job Centre was given a major refurbishment and had to close for 10 weeks. Signing on for the unemployed was waived but for people with part time jobs who received benefits and signed on were still required to sign on. A temporary phone number for Whitby people was set up in Scarborough to answer any questions.

Work on connecting the villages surrounding Staithes to a gas main was delayed by about 4 months, after problems with the contractors. It was also promised that during the current financial year (before April 2005), the 50mph speed limit installed about 2 years before at Birkbrow to Waterfall Roundabout was to be extended South of Castleton Road end. Other works on the A171 were the addition of right-turn lanes at the junctions of Castleton & Liverton & the narrowing of lanes at Slapewath.

In June, the 'Steps Appeal', which was on-going for 14 weeks, reached its target of £199,000, to allow repairs to be carried out and prevent erosion of the 199 steps after they had been closed to the public for the first time in their history. People and businesses each bought a step for £1,000 and a plaque was later erected at the top of the steps with the names that the 'owners' chose to call their step. Work got underway on repairing the steps in August, while a further appeal was put out, this time to buy a lamp post or bench, for £1,000, to raise further money for the steps.

Around this time, a plaque was also installed on the garden wall of a house on Bagdale. The house, number 13, was built by William Scoresby, along with 2 houses next door, and it was also where he later died.

In sporting news, at Whitby Town FC's AGM, Charlie Woodward, the clubs secretary of 13 years, resigned, at the end of the season which saw the Conference North & South formed, above the Northern Premier League, which Whitby Town were, and still are, in. Whitby Town just missed out on automatic 'promotion' to the new league, as they finished 15th in the league, the top 13 being promoted. 14th-20th had to battle it out along with the champions of the Northern Premier League First Division, in a play-off competition. The blues lost their first game however, at home to Radcliff Borough on penalties, after the game finished 2-2 AET.

Moving through the summer and into July, Ruswarp school had a £28,000 extension opened by the Bishop of Whitby, which provided the school with a room for the nurse and dentist to use, which could also be used as a classroom, equipped with an interactive white board. Also on the school front, Caedmon had some additional classrooms built sometime in this year to the rear of the stage of the main hall adjacent to the changing room area.

Also in July, Greenwoods menswear shop in Sandgate was suddenly closed down, leaving shoppers having to go to Redcar or Middlesbrough, to the other 2 branches in the area. The harbour saw some cargo trade, with the exportation of stone to a power station outfall South of Hornsea. It saw 1 ship per day, a 50-metre vessel, leave the port for a period of 2 weeks. Permission was granted to demolish 7.5 metres of a 28 metre wall at the Ropery, to make way for 3 private car parking spaces for numbers 58-60, which were being built at this time.

Bitz & Pizzas were given the go-ahead to extend their opening hours on a years trial basis by 30 minutes each night, making the new closing times 1am on Friday & Saturday nights & 12am Sunday - Thursday nights.

58-60 The Ropery with the large section of wall removed

In August planning permission to build a house on a grass verge area of Highfield Road was granted. The house was to be called 'Highfield Mews', at 2A Highfield Road. The former Fishburn Park Methodist Church had permission granted which would see it transformed into 2 flats.

Also in the Fishburn Park area, Little Oaks Nursery closed its doors for the last time after being told to vacate the building by 27th August. The Diocese of Middlesbrough, who owned the building promised to look into either providing the nursery with a new building within the housing development or to find them an alternative premises. It proved to be out of budget however so the nursery, after nearly 14 years, folded. The building, dating from 1877, was demolished to make way for a housing development, built up on a terrace with car parking below - semi-underground. It seemed the Diocese wanted rid of the building for about 2 years previous to the move, but things only officially came to light in March of this year after Little Oaks was issued with a notice to vacate the building by 1st April, but were later promised a further 2 months or more while the Diocese looked for alternative arrangements. Plans were passed to allow the demolition of the building and construction of 24 flats with parking underneath in April of this year. The building, in Albion Terrace, was the former St. Hilda's R.C. school, which became Little Oaks in 1990, which Melanie Foulston & her husband set up from scratch. The nursery cared for 22 two & three year-olds and 6 babies.

Gazette Photo: The former Little Oaks Nursery building

A 150-year-old York stone pathway along the front of Esk Terrace was to be refurbished after residents formed 'The Esk Terrace Co-operative'. They used reclaimed stone to lay the path and re-used some original stones where they could. Metal bollards were also installed to stop cars using it to drive on. The footpath at the end, to the bottom of Waterstead Lane and over to Bog Hall was also repaired by Roy Jay, hoping to construct a development of 15 houses on the land at 'Old Hall' on bog hall fields. The path was closed from the middle of August, initially for about 3 weeks, but it was then closed for approximately 6 months to allow the work to be carried out. He insisted it had nothing to do with the proposed housing development as it didn't go near that site.

In footballing news, Whitby's longest serving and most successful manager got the sack in September after winning only 1 of the opening 5 league games, after being at the helm for nearly 9 years. Dave Logan took over as caretaker-manager, before being appointed as full-time manager during the following close-season.

A non-emergency police number was set up for North Yorkshire Police, which came into force in September, meaning people could ring 0845 6060247 for less urgent calls, instead of ringing their local police stations. The old local numbers were taken out of use in November.

As one business closes another one opens was the case in the Autumn, as October saw the Burberry Clothes shop in Market Place close for good after trading for 8 years. Meanwhile The Reading Room Gallery was opened, based in the lower ground floor of the Resolution pub in Flowergate. It was around this time that a new waste transfer station was built to the rear of Fairfield Way, which was soon occupied by Yorwaste. October saw the opening of another business in the town, Leanne's Nail & Beauty Studio, which opened in Flowergate.

Some local business news also came out of this year when Beevers vacated their showroom in Crescent Avenue, which saw Harrison’s car showroom move into the premises, moving from round the corner on Upgang Lane. The building was previously used as a car sales garage from the 1960's to as late as 1991. It was at this time that Beevers of Whitby was destined to be closed & staff to be made redundant, but thanks to Paul Stephenson taking over the reins of the business - along with his father & brother-in-law – Beevers was to live on in Whitby & people’s jobs were saved. Prior to this take over, the family owned Castle Interiors in Scarborough & Bridlington and consequently after the take over, the Castle Interiors stores took on the Beevers name. This year also saw the opening of The Stables Restaurant & accommodation at Cross Butts Farm after farm buildings were converted.

October marked the month when 'Friends of the Old Railway' was formed, a group of people committed to preserving and maintaining the old railway path from Whitby to Scarborough. A £6,800 grant was given to Coliseum Kids from North Yorkshire County Council, which allowed them to re-tile the toilets, lay new carpets and decorate the main room at the Eskmouth Scout Hall. Around this time, the Meals On Wheels offices were moved from Victoria Place to the first floor of the Coliseum. Also October, the CCTV system for Whitby Harbour was upgraded.

In November, Whitby Dog Rescue found itself a new home after being told to vacate its former premises in Scoresby Terrace. Their new home was to be in the Church House Centre, Flowergate. Moving upstream to Sleights, plans for 11 houses were passed at Beck H olme, Lowdale, which included 2 semi-detached & 8 detached houses. The scheme would see a bungalow demolished and a cul-de-sac added to the bottom of Lowdale Lane near the cricket field, which would also allow access to the bowling club. Back in Whitby, a new cafe, 'Solomon's Creperie', was opened in Whitby's Skinner Street.