Helen Johnson Freelance Journalist
Alastair the Cooper makes casks Alastair Simms is a cooper: he makes wooden casks, most commonly seen as beer barrels. He began, he recalls, “When I had a school Continue Reading →
Winning formula Everyone loves to win, and at Resurrection Bikes in Harrogate, they have a winning formula. By recycling bikes they win on every front: they save old bikes from Continue Reading →
Celebrations! Appleton Wiske Post Office re-opened today. When our former Postmaster retired, I feared that we would lose our shop and Post Office. Indeed, the Post Office closed last Continue Reading →
Pantomime season It’s Christmas, so it’s pantomime season. And in Appleton Wiske, as in many other villages, it’s a home-grown, home-produced Christmas pantomime. But in an age of TV, with Continue Reading →
Christmas preparations There is much joy to be had in the anticipation of Christmas – a joy captured by children as they make their Christmas preparations. For Dalesman Magazine this Continue Reading →
Christmas in Yorkshire can be dark, dull and cold. But at Ravensworth Nurseries in Yorkshire, Christmas heralds a munificence of glowing scarlet poinsettias filling acres of cosy, heated glass houses. Continue Reading →
Tim Laurie is a landscape archaeologist who has devoted years to studying ancient woodlands and trees in three Pennine Dales. After years of dedictated study, Tim gave me an interview Continue Reading →
This year sees 950 years since England was conquered by Duke William of Normandy, afterwards known as William the Conqueror. The losses to England were on a par with the Continue Reading →
My first ever piece of fiction is released today in Golden Clippings, an anthology by Thirsk Write Now, a creative writing group that meets in the Golden Fleece, Thirsk. I only Continue Reading →
1066: a year indelibly stamped in English consciousness. We all know that England was invaded in 1066, that William of Normandy conquered England. But there was an other invasion Continue Reading →