Recent articles

Kids Can Do It
Kids Can Do It a crafting in cardboard and stripwood practical actvity day. 'standard' materials provided or bring your own. pre-printed designs and patterns available to prepare at home first. adults and teens welcome if accompanied by Under Year 7's they're helping cafe open for teas, coffee and biscuits
Child's Chair by Peter Barker
From a website comment by Mr Derek Barker:""My father Jim Walker formerly a gas meter reader was born in a cottage adjacent to the church gates. Unfortunately I do not know which one of the pair he was born in. As a child he used the chair shown in the photographs. My father who passed away in 2004 told me that it was made from oak taken from Hampsthwaite Church. I make no claims as to its provenance but there is just a chance that it was made by Peter. The Teddy which gives scale to the chair is over 100 years old and belonged to my father in law Arthur Myers of Stubhouse Farm (Emmerdale site) in Harewood Park."
22 Platoon from Army Foundation College
THIS COMING WEEKEND 21st and 22nd JUNE!I am delighted to announce that 38 young soldiers from22 Platoon at the Army Foundation College will be hosted here todo 'good works' around the village towards their Duke of Edinburgh Award.Please welcome them, thank them, and if you wish, join them!They will be working 1030hrs - 1530hrs around Feast Field on Saturday,followed by Memorial Hall then Village Centreand ending at the churchyard on Sunday.Our Community PayBack Team have kindly loaned several gardening tools,we have sourced others, but if you are able to loan any, especially clippers,trimmers, shears, forks or half moons etc. that would be very helpful.Please label them bring along to leave in the Memorial Hall Foyer
Hampsthwaite Housing
Local planning authorities need to regularly identify and update their supply of sites for housing development as part of their adopted local plan. North Yorkshire Council is currently drawing up a new county wide local plan and a new consultation (Issues and Options) is about to begin.
VE-Day80 8 - 10 May 2025
Our Memorial Hall was built to honour the fallen in two world wars and give thanks to those who returned. It is appropriate therefore that we play our full part in the national celebrations and village activities are planned for May 8th VE-Day and Saturday May 10th 2025
Blind Peter Barker
Remembering Hampsthwaite’s Blind Joiner - an article by Shaun WilsonLike the market town of Knaresborough, who had ‘Blind Jack’ – John Metcalf, the road builder of Yorkshire in the eighteenth century, the small rural village of Hampsthwaite had it’s blind hero also, almost a century later – Peter Barker who became known as ‘The Blind Joiner of Hampsthwaite.’ Though there are some similarities between John Metcalf and Peter Barker’s lives, these are purely co-incidental and each fulfilled a life, character and career in their own right.
The Execution of Hannah Whitley
Arsenic Poisoning in Hampsthwaite - The Execution of Hannah Whitley In 1789, Hannah Whitley of Hampsthwaite used a pie as the delivery medium for a fatal dose of arsenic, with the poison concentrated in the crust. She claimed She had been coerced into the act of poisoning by her employer, a local linen weaver named Horseman, who was involved in an on-going feud with the intended victim.
Jane Ridsdale
JANE RIDSDALEAged 33 years, born at Hampsthwaite, near Harrogate, Yorkshire, her height is 31 ½ inches.She is remarkably chearfull & enjoys very good health.Published July 1st 1807 by Jane Ridstale, at Harrogate where purchasers of this Print will have the opportunity of seeing and conversing with her
Joshua Tetley
Joshua Tetley was the founder of Tetley’s Brewery in Leeds, and he retired with his wife Hannah to Hollins Hall on the outskirts of Hampsthwaite (Hollins Hall Retirement Village).
Scrubbers and Stones
SCRUBBERS & STONES - Sat 29th June 10.30am - 2.30pm - Entry FREE! Explore the Memorials at St Thomas a'Becket Memorials Treasure Trail - for children if all ages Self-Service / Self-Checkout BBQ from 12 noon (inc. veg option) Food £2, Drink £1, Donations? - yes please! Hot & Cold Drinks Laptop & Screen to show Mapping Hampsthwaite’s Past Use a Bucket & Brush to help reveal Inscriptions on the older memorials . . . or just Sit & Enjoy CORPUS CHRISTI BRASS BAND . . . from 11.30am . . . followed by Afternoon Tea & Cakes at the Memorial Hall!

Hampsthwaite Memorial Hall Arts and Crafts Studio

Link to https://fcccommunitiesfoundation.org.uk/funds/fcc-community-action-fund

Hampsthwaite Memorial Hall Arts & Crafts Studio

Following the 70th Anniversary of the Memorial Hall’s first establishment in 1953, we were delighted to obtain full planning permission to create a much needed Arts and Crafts Studio extension. Visitors to Hampsthwaite may now see that we also secured sufficient funding to start building this exciting new community space, thanks to a combination of local supporters, a generous grant from FCC and NYC allocations.

The extension has created the opportunity for additional activities, which a practical workspace facility such as this is able to accommodate. For example:

Improved back-stage facilities to help in props and scene construction for drama and similar events.
There os now a more suitable space for practical craft work generally (we have had folk building bee hives in the dining room before now!)
A Repair Shop type facility is planned for early 2026. See www.repaircafe.org/en and www.remakery.org/
We will adopt the name Our Shed to describe a place where men and women can come to just meet and 'potter' or perhaps also work alongside Community PayBack personnel to perform village maintenance tasks or make things for the school for example. See menssheds.org.uk
We will promote general practical hobbies space for all ages. See www.stem.org.uk/ and wiki.dtonline.org/index.php/Category:Primary_Technology
Courses will be encouraged for antique restoration, woodworking or jewellery for example..
The Sun Room is now freed up to accommodate a Community Library, drop-in cyber cafe and family history centre.
In general, for those with an interest in the natural world, this practical workspace can also be where plant and fruit tree propogation, building bird boxes, bug hotels or hedgehog homes can be done for example.- or even bee hives!

And the work has started!

Arts & Crafts Studio / Repair Shop / Re-Makery / Our Shed

We Fixed It at Our Shed - Click to enlarge

And there's more!

Photograph taken outside the original Memorial Hall in 1965 reveals the possibility of creating a Sun Terrace outside the Sun Room of the current Hall . . . . . an opportunity not to be missed whilst New Lodge Contractors are on site with all the necessary heavy equipment and expertise? (click on images to enlarge)

Outside the Sun Room in 1965

Entertained by the local silver band

Sun Terrace created in 2025?

4 ways to help make this happen:

Easy Fundraising - this is FREE : it will cost you nothing.

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/hampsthwaite-memorial-hall/

Local Lotto - £1 per ticket but you could win £25,000

https://www.thelocallotto.co.uk/support/hampsthwaite-memorial-hall

JustGiving - the simplest way to just give what you can a fford

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bryan-thompson-4

BACS transfer - or just make a donation directly via BACS

Acc.Name: Hampsthwaite Memorial Hall SortCode: 53-50-21 Acc.No.: 00312932

Very many thanks for any help you feel able to provide. Without good public support this simply cannot happen at all.

Village Market

MEMORIAL HALL ARTS & CRAFTS STUDIO : PROGRESS MONTH BY MONTH
Work completed by New Lodge Contractors with funding to date from North Yorkshire Council (Section106) and FCC Communities Foundation following 'seed funding' generously donated by local residents and businesses.