THANKS to Elaine Wills for this black and white photograph taken during the coronavirus lockdown in Grassington. The pony, called Hamish looks like he’s doing his bit doing deliveries, says Elaine, who adds the photo was taken by Rachel at Relish shop in Grassington.

“It caused lots of amusement as I put this photo and more taken at the same time and put them on Facebook, friends here in the UK and relatives in Australia . I’ve called it ‘ a bit of nostalgia in Grassington.”

I’VE seen some odd things chucked at the side of the road in the last few months, but never before a drum, pictured. This one was thrown over a wall and got itself wedged against a tree, along a quiet country road, off the A59 - so presumably, the culprit took a diversion off the main road to find somewhere nice and quiet to dump their rubbish. By the look of it, someone had got angry with it and broken it; oddly, it had been thrown out with a dozen eggs, goodness knows what that was about.

THROUGHOUT August, Marie Curie is asking people in Craven to sign up to be part of a team walking miles around their own favourite bit of God’s Own County, while at the same time, raising money to support the work of the frontline charity’s nursing staff as they provide vital care and support to people living with a terminal illness, and their families.

Its newly launched campaign, Walk Yorkshire, asks people to come together as team and see how many times collectively they can virtually walk the 450 mile perimeter of Yorkshire before the end of the month.

All those who take part will set their own target distance and clock up their miles individually - these will then be added into the overall Walk Yorkshire total - and every step the team takes will help Marie Curie offer vital care and support to people and families living with a terminal illness in Yorkshire.

Liz Howlett, Yorkshire fundraising manager, says:“Where you walk, with who and how far is entirely up to you. We are so lucky to be blessed with more than our fair share of beautiful places to go walking across Yorkshire. Whether you choose to walk 15 miles in the Yorkshire Dales, three miles in your local park or a mile round your back garden – you choose! It’s very much a case of the more the merrier so children and dogs are very welcome to join the team as their miles count too.”

Every penny raised will go towards the charity’s hospice in Bradford, and its community nurses, who operate across Yorkshire.

Last year Marie Curie cared for over 3,400 people and families living in Yorkshire. With all its usual summer fundraising events and activities cancelled, it says it urgently needs the continued support of the Yorkshire community to help make sure it can carry on being there in to the future.

“We need to raise £13,888 every hour, 24 hours a day, to give families vital care and compassion when someone they love is dying, and after they’re gone,” says Liz.

To find out about joining the walk, or for how to help, contact walkyorkshire@mariecurie.org.uk or call 01274 386190.

PENDLE MP Andrew Stephenson is calling on small shopkeepers in his constituency, which includes Barnoldswick and Earby, to enter the Best Small Shops Competition.

The contest will celebrate the role small businesses play in their communities, particularly in response to Covid-19. It is open to all shops in the country, not just those in Pendle, and businesses have until September 11 to enter, and winners will be announced in November. All shops who enter will also be promoted to consumers through an online Indie Retail Directory.

The judges will be looking for evidence of a small shops’ entrepreneurial spirit, ways that they have been innovative in their business and what they have done to have a lasting positive impact on their community.

The shortlisted businesses will then be in with the chance to win one of five awards, including the newly launched award for small shops response to Covid-19.

Mr Stephenson said, “We do have some top small shops, which give our town centres real character and support the local economy. I’m delighted that they can be recognised through the Best Small Shop competition and look forward to seeing plenty of nominations from Pendle.”

To enter the competition, visit: www.bestsmallshops.co.uk.

ON THE subject of odd things seen while out walking, on the brow of a hill recently, and bang on a footpath, I came across a piece of turf that had evidently been cut out, removed and put back, pictured above.

I briefly mused that perhaps it was the work of a metal detectorist, but seeing as it was about two feet by three feet, it seemed quite a bit larger than the work of a detectorist. I then noticed a couple of larger inprints close by, which led me to decide it was a spot of wild-camping, although not very wild, it being right on a public right of way. I reckon the campers must have come along with a spade for their large fire pit, and cut it out, before placing it back, and treading it in. There was no rubbish left, but I’m guessing the farmer would not have been too happy if he had come across them in the act.

50 YEARS ago, in the week after the ‘Glorious Twelfth’, the Craven Herald reported on just how good a year it had been for the sport -and apparently, it was ‘not its usual self’.

Main reason was a ‘scarcity of birds’, reported the paper, which continued: “The wet spring upset nesting, and denuded flocks of the past two years had no chance to revive. An experienced gamekeeper declared that several diseases, to which grouse are prone, had taken their toll as usual, but vermin had proved a bigger menace. Foxes did a lot of damage, he said, and carrion crows.

“Bolton Abbey Moors, most famous Yorkshire shoot, where members of the Royal family and cabinet members have often been guests of successive Dukes of Devonshire, heard not a single shot on the twelfth. One of the setbacks that sportsmen now encounter was the large numbers of people who constantly walked over the moors and disturbing the birds, particularly during the breeding period.”

MEANWHILE, 100 years ago in 1920, the Herald reported while no `records had been broken, interesting sport had been enjoyed’.

“The shooting party at Bolton Abbey secured 162 brace of grouse with five guns. This was considered very satisfactory, but by no means a record. Some capital shooting was experienced on the Ingleton moors. On Rombalds Moor, which was shot by a party from Skipton Castle, birds lay very low. They were not expected to be numerous, because of constant rain, and foxes had also done a great deal of damage.

The head gamekeeper said he had not seen so many foxes in years and himself had killed 18 in the past three years while in the same period 84 had been accounted for in a ten mile radius. “

And, over at Ickornshaw Moor, the Cowling freeholders were finding the sport not as it once was. 20 years previously, the moor had been a live place with sweet scented airs and its thousand sheltered nooks guaranteed the presence of large picnic parties throughout the summer months, but now it was largely deserted, said the Herald.