2006
It
was in this year or at the end of 2005, that the Universal Garage workshop was
moved up onto
Beckholme, Lowdale, Sleights
In January of this year, plans were passed for a change of use at a premises in Marine Parade, which would see half of a shop change into an Indian restaurant. The building, at 1-3 Marine Parade, was previously a restaurant until 2003, when the present owners, Mr Mohammed & his wife, wanted to convert it back into a shop. Now though, part of it - number 1 - was to still be the shop part, 'Whitby Fashions', and numbers 2-3 was to become the restaurant, 'The Shakira', run by the same people.
20th
January of 2006 saw the last show take place by the Fairmead Concert Party's at
the Friendship Rowing Club. The group first performed in 1980, at the Fairmead
Social Club at Larpool, which is where it continued putting on various
performances & raising thousands of pounds for charity, until the Fairmead
(then the Oak Tree) was closed around 1997, and the group were forced to find a
new home, which they did at the Friendship, where they performed since. Also in
January, 2 extra flats were added to the ground & lower ground floors of
the former County Hotel on
In
February of this year, 3 homes were built on steep land between The Ropery
& Church Street, after Strata Construction conducted excavation works,
securing the ground for the 4-storey buildings. Plans were passed for the upper
floors of Thirkills picture framing shop in Flowergate, to be converted to 4
flats. 2 one-bedroom flats were to be included on the first floor, a 3-bedroom
flat on the second floor & a 4-bedroom flat on the third floor, all with
access from
February also saw Sleights Cricket Club's 80-year-old wooden pavilion demolished and re-built, in a £60,000 project. Money for the project initially came from the Sleights 200 club and village appeal, which raised £15,000, with the rest coming from various sources, including 'Yorwaste', who donated £16,190 & a substantial grant from 'DEFRA', through their rural enterprise scheme. Other money came in from the lottery-run 'Awards for All scheme', the 'Jack Burton Trust', 'Northern Electric', 'Scarborough Borough Council' & many local businesses including 'Keith Brown', 'Wilf Noble', 'BHD Partnership' & 'Cowen Windows', while a donation from 'Whitby Round Table' was used to replace the old cricket scoreboard. The official opening of the new pavilion was held on 3rd September of this year.
Sleights new cricket pavilion
Also
on the sporting front, but on a sadder note, Whitby Albion Club's Clubhouse was
set for demolition, after plans were passed in February to replace it with 8
flats and a 1-bedroom maisonette. Moving North, Mickleby Tip was closed down
for good on 14th February, meaning people living nearby now faced a 20-mile
round trip to
On 27th February, Whitby Library closed its doors to allow the library to be extended. From March 13th, library users could use the coliseum for limited library use whilst the work was underway.
March
saw the arrival of a large crane in
It was
also in this month that the Functional English School on Chubb Hill, opened in
1977, formerly a convent, was closed down due to high operating costs. Another
business to close in this year, was the Handyman Store, which occupied the
building of the former Whitby Dry Cleaners, in
Left & Centre: GK - Handyman Store on Stakesby Road shortly before demolition; Right: The site flattened as seen on 24th October 2006
Plans
were passed in this month to allow conversion of the first floor above Holman's
Bookshop in
The
Seamen's
In
health & safety news, a fence was erected and within a week taken down
again at the end of
In
April, the Royal Hotel was sold off as part of a long-term lease, along with 37
other hotels country-wide, owned by W.A. Sheerings, to property investment firm
Moorfield Group. The sale allowed W.A. Sheerings to pay debt taken on a year
previous, when the company Wallace & Arnold, owned by the coach holiday
group, merged with
Stakesby Manor as it appears today
It
was in April that the new cricket season started, and teams visiting
Top from left: Whitby Town FC's old
stand; New stand during works; New stand after opening
Bottom left, Left centre & Right centre: Whitby Town FC's old club shop
building before being integrated under the new stand; Pile of rubble in the
corner where the new cricket pavilion will be; The new cricket pavilion
Bottom right: Boarding replaced at the seaward end of the pitch
2nd May saw Coastal & Country Coaches take over route 92, which ran from Whitby bus station via Stakesby Road and the West cliff, before returning to the bus station. The route was formerly run by Arriva, but Coastal & Country's 'MYBUS' would now take care of it. Also in May of this year, the 'Port Hole', selling fair-trade products, opened a new shop in Church Street, to run alongside their existing shop in Skinner Street. Also in this month, the Army Cadets moved into their new home, an £86,000 portable building in the grounds of Caedmon School, with store rooms, 2 lecture rooms, offices, a canteen, toilets with disabled access & a main parade room. In May also, new disabled facilities were installed at Whitby Leisure Centre, after £51,000 was granted to Scarborough, Whitby & Ryedale Learning Disabilities Partnership from the Strategic Health Authority. The work included installation of a large changing room with 2 changing beds, support aids & shower facilities. A special hoist with ceiling tracks was also installed, which could carry a user and allow them to enter either pool unaided.
Also in May, work was complete at West Thorpe Sheltered Accommodation on Stakesby Road, which saw the complex re-open, after £2M was spent on the building. Before work began, the complex had 37 units and works saw the one-bedroom flats modernised, with new kitchens & improved heating systems fitted. The bedsits were re-modelled, creating 8 more one-bedroom flats & 10 two-bedroom flats. A new link corridor was created, linking the original building with the wings & residents could now also enjoy a larger communal room & conservatory, and also landscaped gardens.
Also in June, Scarborough Borough Council & Whitby DAG teamed up to provide 3 beach-friendly wheel chairs, costing £2,700 each, which could be hired from the West Cliff beach for £2.50 for 3 hours. In the closed season of football, Whitby Town manager and former player Dave Logan resigned, as a job opportunity turned up on the oil rigs that he 'couldn't resist'. Lee Nogan was appointed as new manager during the pre-season friendlys.
Whitby's Black Dog Brewery was back in business after Tony Bryars bought the business off Mr. Hartas. Mr. Bryars, lived at Houlsyke Farm, just a few miles out of Whitby on the A171. Hambleton Ales had been brewing the former Black Dog recipes, but that was now to cease and production was to move back to Whitby. Also in June, HSBC bank in Baxtergate installed a second cash machine without planning permission, but luckily for them it was later voted by councillors to keep the machine in place.
Moving out of town, a gate was erected by some residents of a street in Sleights. The bottom part of Lowdale Lane was where the gate was put up, with one that had already existed at the other end of the road, nearest the railway station. The new gate caused much anger amongst some residents of the street though, some of whom didn't want to get out of their cars every time to open and close the gate. The road, between numbers 43-79 Lowdale Lane, wasn't a private road, it was a public bridle way. There was nothing that the highways department or any other authority could do about the gate though, as long as it remained unlocked. It was said that a gate did exist at the site, albeit a little further out onto the main part of Lowdale Lane, outside number 40, although that was a long time ago, before a vehicle ran away down the hill.
At the end of June, the Family Centre, formerly Helredale Play Centre, closed its doors after only having welcomed 46 kids through its doors since opening 3 months previous. Tax payers now faced footing the bill of £7,000, created by the centre, since re-opening. Also at the end of June, the toilets at Church Street car park were demolished, after the council decided to close them in September 2005.
In July, groundwork was started on the new sports facility at Lythe, just West of the school. The new facility, made possible thanks to thousands of pounds raised by residents and more than £271,000 granted from the Football Foundation, was to boast Junior & Senior football pitches & a cricket pitch with pavilion, as well as a bowling green. Money from DEFRA & Yorventure was also granted, as well as from the Normanby Charitable Trust. Cleveland Land Services was the main contractor during the works. Goldsborough Football Club previously used the pitch at Lythe, and the previous changing facilities were nothing more than a portable cabin.
Also in July, plans were passed for 5 houses to be built on the site of the former police garages at Waterstead Crescent. The garages were bought by Carr Hall Developments. Also in July, Network re-opened, again in the Coliseum, over a year after it closed its doors, thanks to funding from a legacy and Scarborough Borough Council. Two benches were removed from Marine Parade due to the owners of the newly-opened restaurant, the Shakira, complaining about the benches being used to change babies nappies. The decision to remove the benches was much to the anger of locals however, and the benches were very quickly re-instated.
26th July saw the official moving in date to the new coastguard facility on Captain Cook's Crescent. The £200,000 state-of-the-art building, housing proper changing area with shower facilities, new training facilities and office space, replaced the old coastguard station which was creeping ever-closer to the edge of the East Cliff.
The 18th August was the official day of the unveiling of the floral clock in Pannett Park. The clock was originally installed to mark the Queen's Coronation in 1953, but since then the clock had been subject to vandalism and sadly, the mechanism was broken. But, thanks to Friends Of Pannett Park, a group of volunteers formed in 2005, this was all put to mends. The clock was replaced and the beds replanted in time for the Britain In Bloom judges. During November, 18 volunteers worked hard to re-vamp the lily pond in the park, removing overgrown foliage & graffiti.
Left: Coastguard Station, Captain Cook's Crescent; Right: Pannett Park's floral clock, restored to its former glory by Friends Of Pannett Park
Sleights show was held at the cricket pitch for the first time in the show's history, making good use of the newly-built pavilion. In previous years it had been hosted by the school. Incidentally, Barclaycard gave Sleights School £250, to re-decorate their reception classroom around this time. At a similar time, Hawsker & Stainsacre Village Hall was given £250 from Yorkshire Bank to enable them to re-cover the hall's floor. A portable seafood take-away in Pier Road was demolished and re-built in pan tile & brick.
During the summer, Hugh Rayner & his partner Maureen Imray opened up a new restaurant at number 4, The Parade, simply called "Number 4". The premises was formerly Jig Saw restaurant, opening in 2003 & prior to that it was Nicholson's Veterinary, which closed around a year earlier. The couple had previously been in charge at the White House Hotel for the past few years. A new veterinary opened at Number 10, The Parade sometime after Nicholson's closed, under the name of "Clevedale Veterinary Practise". It was also around this time that the Red Chard Grill Pan was opened at 22-23 Flowergate in the former Finley's Cafe premises.
Number 4, formerly Jigsaw restaurant, before being converted from Nicholson's Veterinary Practise
September saw the Toy Library in Skinner Street re-vamped, thanks to a grant from the Rural Target Fund. 14th September was the official opening day of Fairways Court retirement homes, performed by Radio 2's former 'Good Morning Sunday' show host, Don Maclean MBE.
1st October was the official re-opening of the 199 steps, after money raised by the townsfolk was spent restoring them. A plaque was added at the top of the steps recording whom each step was dedicated to. An 18-month trial run to ban HGV's of more than 3.5 tonnes from entering the upper part of Church Street, between the times of 10:00am & 4:30pm, was launched & loading facilities were provided in Bridge Street.
Lythe School got a new dagoden, which was hit by many setbacks during its construction. It was the work of what were year 6 pupils before the summer break, but as it wasn't 100% complete by the time they left. The school invited 2 of the former pupils back - Dougie Elias & Elizabeth Marsay - to a grand opening.
Also in October, the dredger 'Saltwick' was fitted with a new arm costing £88,000, after the other one snapped off during work in January. The old arm was 13 years old and had outlived expectation.
In November, over a mile of railway track between Castleton & Kildale was renewed with continuous, welded track, which would give passengers a much smoother ride.
Building work was well underway which would see 17 three-bedroom cottages in 3 blocks, built on land adjacent to Captain Cook's Haven at Larpool. An equipped child's play area was also included as part of the plans by Property Holdings (Pennine) Ltd, which were passed in April of this year.
Also in November, Fyling Hall School, built in 1918, celebrated the opening of its extension, which was to house 20 computers as part of a new ICT suite. The extension also allowed the school to offer new sports facilities to its students, after the opening of the new extension, by Whitby MP, Robert Goodwill.
Also in sports news, Caedmon School were to get a new astro-turf facility where the former tennis courts were situated. The money for the project came from various sources.
In November also, 30 mileposts & 40 finger posts were restored as part of a £16,000 project, which involved replacing missing figures, giving them a lick of paint & embedding them with concrete, to make them less likely to be stolen. The work was carried out by North Yorkshire Moors National Park and some posts had to be moved towards the front of roadsides, to make them more visible & prevent them being damaged by grass-cutting equipment. The project was paid for by the North Yorkshire Moors National Park Authority, the Highways Agency & local parish councils.
December saw Whitby's North Yorkshire County Council Library re-opened, after £500,000 works, which included an extension being built, housing a reference-only section. The former children's area of the library was now a IT suite with cafe bar, and a disabled toilet was added with baby changing facilities. In January of 2008, plans were passed for the library to install an enclosed platform lift was added to the front of the building.
Whitby Library & its extension with the platform lift added in 2008
Moving out of town, firstly to Hinderwell, the village pharmacy on the High Street was closed for good, leaving residents no choice but to travel to Loftus, should they require prescriptions or medicine. Staithes surgery did start to dispense drugs in the new year however. Meanwhile, at Fylingthorpe, the toilets at Kingston Field, near the children's play area were to be demolished, with Scarborough Borough Council footing the £3,320 bill.
30th December saw a long-established business close its doors for the last time in the form of KW Smith Electrical Shop in Victoria Place, where the business had been since moving from Station Square, which was one of the now-demolished railway front shops.
Also
in this year, Highfield Mews on
Left: Highfield Mews,
