Inside Yorkshire

Welcome to the Inside Yorkshire Podcast. A podcast full of stories and tales from the people of Yorkshire. On today's episode, we talk to Stu Price, the owner of Dales Bike Centre in Swaledale, to talk about bikes, bikes, and more bikes!

The Tour de France really opened up a lot of opportunities when it came to Yorkshire in 2014. The cycling legacy has been the annual Tour de Yorkshire which commenced the following year in 2015. The Ard Rock Enduro Festival is also a regular event taking place now the 6th year in Swaledale.

The Yorkshire hills is surely a challenging route to take for professional cyclists. But it isn't just the terrain, many enthusiasts are starting to take notice of how fantastic the way of life is and how the people are. Stu didn't ever plan to move into Swaledale but he loved the countryside and decided to stay. He and his wife built the Dales Bike Centre, which is very popular with visitors who want to explore the place.

The cycling community is indeed growing and Stu is more than happy to share  how it has developed ever since the 2014 Tour de France. So make sure to tune in for more stories!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Swaledale is a great place for mountain biking. It is a fantastic dale in the Yorkshire Dales and one of the best in Northern England. It has amazing terrain. There's miles and miles and miles of tracks. It's one of the reasons why Stu moved to Yorkshire.
• 2014 Tour de France had a massive effect on Swaledale.  It attracted thousands of people to come to visit and the people of Yorkshire were very supportive.
  • Tour de Yorkshire started in 2015. It is a legacy event from the success of 2014 Tour de France.
  • Stu and his wife's Dales Bike Centre, which was built in 2008, also benefitted. They are looking into expanding this year. They're looking into more space – more parking and storage.
  • Electric bikes have had a huge growth market in the UK lately. It opens up cycling to a wider audience. 
  • The Swale Trail. It is good for families who want to start cycling together. The National Park developed this 20km route which traverses along riverbanks, has gates, and a manageable terrain for different skill levels.
  • Ard Rock Enduro Festival 2018, now on its 6th year, is coming to Swaledale. There will be 4000 riders coming to Swaledale this weekend. Stu is very excited about it. It  boosts the tourism and economy of the dale.

BEST MOMENTS

• “Yorkshire grabbed it and ran with it. It really makes me proud to think back on the way villagers reacted and how excited everyone became.” (On Tour de France 2014)
• “It's such a huge boost for the dale and its economy".

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Dales Bike Centre
• Official Website of Tour de France 2018
• Tour de Yorkshire
• The Swale Trail
• Ard Rock Enduro 2018

ABOUT THE HOST

Susan has been living in Yorkshire for over 30 years.She is passionate about the county she has adopted as her home and she never ceases to be amazed at the wealth of talent ‘Inside Yorkshire' and the tales that people tell.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Stu Price moved to Yorkshire and initially worked for the Youth Hostel Association. This led to a small business, hiring out mountain bikes and guiding rides. This rapidly expanded and he now has the Dales Bike Centre in Swaledale which he runs with his wife Brenda.

Little did they know, when they began with this enterprise, that biking would become so phenomenally popular in the area. The Tour de France in 2014 rode right past their door and now they host major cycling events with thousands of participants taking part annually.

CONTACT METHOD

Stu Price (GUEST)

• Dales Bike Centre

Susan Baty-Symes

• insideyorkshire.co.uk
• [email protected]

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Inside Yorkshire Podcast. A podcast full of stories and tales from the people in Yorkshire. In this episode, your host Susan Baty-Symes interviews John Blackie, a local councillor, entrepreneur and rural champion. John tells us what drew him to working as an independent councillor in the North Yorkshire Dales and championing causes dear to his heart.

The local creamery management buyout was his first mission and since then he has been involved in numerous projects, most recently helping to set up a community petrol station. His office is abuzz with calls from those needing advice and support, who know that John can be depended upon to roll up his sleeves and get involved.  A true rural champion!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Moved to Yorkshire in 1985 with the intention to start a holiday lettings business, I have always worked for myself as a self-employed entrepreneur.
• In 1995 I was elected to Parish Council, I wanted to offer more of my time to public services and employ people to help in my business. We aim to provide local services, locally accessible for the local communities and now 20 years on we provide a range of public services and the upper-dales community partnership is now acknowledged as a national beacon.
• Austerity is upon us and it may get worse in the future. What we have done in the local council here in the Upper-dales is the antidote to austerity, by providing a range of services to the community.

BEST MOMENTS

• “The little white bus has been such a wonderful thing. An award-winning service.”

• “Local people volunteering, who want to pay back to the community”

• “We were described as a northern powerhouse, I thought that was wonderful”

• “The best people to serve the community is the community themselves”

• “Sometimes out of adversity comes success”

ABOUT THE HOST

Susan has been living in Yorkshire for over 30 years. She is passionate about the county she has adopted as her home and she never ceases to be amazed at the wealth of talent ‘Inside Yorkshire' and the tales that people tell.

ABOUT THE GUEST

John tells us what drew him to working as an independent Councillor in the North Yorkshire dales, championing causes dear to his heart. The Wensleydale creamery management buyout was his first mission and since then he has been involved in numerous projects, most recently helping to set up a community petrol station. His office is abuzz with calls from those needing advice and support... they know that John can be depended upon to roll up his sleeves and get involved.  A true rural champion!

CONTACT METHOD

www.insideyorkshire.co.uk

[email protected]

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Inside Yorkshire Podcast. A podcast full of stories and tales from the people of Yorkshire. In this episode, your host Susan Baty-Symes interviews Michael Wood. Michael was airlifted by YAA after a life-threatening accident when his horse spooked and fell on top of him. This is an inspirational story of his determination to get back on his horse again, and his work to raise funds for those who assisted his survival and recovery.

Susan asks Michael to share his incredible story almost 5 years ago to the day of his near-fatal horse riding accident and the inspirational service of the Yorkshire air ambulance service. Discover how at aged 54 Michael had never really been in the hospital nor did he know the wonderful lengths the NHS and supporting charities go to in order to keep people safe.

Learn how on a beautiful sunny day, riding with his friend, close to the North Yorkshire Moors. Michael was thrown from his horse and needed to be airlifted to safety and immediately operated on to save his life and how it was all captured by BBC documentary ‘Helicopter Heroes'

Michael discusses the near-death experience and emotions he felt, whilst complimenting the unrivalled services provided by the NHS and how he too wanted to give back. Discover the phenomenal lengths Michael goes to, to support the NHS and the charity that saved his life and how after 3 weeks in the hospital and 6 months recovering he was back on the horse doing what he loves.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• No idea the Yorkshire air ambulance existed, or that it was a charity that costs £12,000 a day to run.

• It was an educational trip, and 1 week in intensive care led me to be socially conscious, I watched people come and go and not once say thank you, or give anything back to the system that had helped them.  I wanted to find a way to repay the air ambulance and try and find a different methodology to try and raise funds, so I wrote a book.

BEST MOMENTS

• “These guys saved my life, I would be dead without them.”
• “I was thrown from the horse and I couldn't get my breath back.”
• “It wasn't till they rolled me on a stretcher I knew that something was seriously wrong.”
• “The most amazing thing was visiting the aircraft that saved me, it was a huge learning curve for me and I've never given up since. Never say never.”
• “I never thought I would end up in James Cook hospital, life just deals you that hand.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Michael Wood  Whatever it takes book and DVD contact through www.yorkshireairambulance.org.uk

ABOUT THE HOST

Susan has been living in Yorkshire for over 30 years.  She is passionate about the county she has adopted as her home and she never ceases to be amazed at the wealth of talent ‘Inside Yorkshire' and the tales that people tell.

CONTACT METHOD

www.insideyorkshire.co.uk

[email protected]

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Inside Yorkshire Podcast. A podcast full of stories and tales from the people of Yorkshire. In this episode, your host Susan Baty-Symes interviews Dr Mike Brookes. Those fortunate enough to have him as their GP know why he was nominated as a Fellow of the Royal College of GPs. Mike talks about his nomination and those who work with him in his outstanding practice. He tells us what he does to wind down and about juggling his time to manage a good work/life balance. He also has a pet hate that most of us share!

Mike has been the GP in Reeth for the last 11 years and served in Iraq in 2003 as an armed forces doctor before settling in Yorkshire. Find out more about the amazing work Dr Brookes and his team do and exactly why he was nominated as a Fellow of the Royal College of GPs, the biggest medical college in London.

Susan and Mike discuss the extra work Mike does outside of the practice that includes end of life care at the Royal College of London and improving healthcare for military factions. Learn Mikes opinion on the future of the NHS and why, whilst centralisation can improve services, for rural areas it can mean people with illnesses have to travel large distances to get treatment.

Finally, discover the plans Mike has for improving the environment and helping local businesses by encouraging trade waste and selling it on to fund projects in the local community such as sports clubs.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Reeth Medical Practice was graded as outstanding, and Dr Brookes says " We have a great team here, they're very dedicated and spend a lot of time trying to make me look good"

The Royal College of GPs is the biggest medical college in London. It is the face of the industry. Dr Brookes was nominated for his work in his rural practice.

BEST MOMENTS

• “Over the winter my wife and I ended up camping out in the surgery to make sure we could get in.”
• “I spent quite a lot of time in the middle east, I was a doctor in Iraq during the 2003 invasion.”

ABOUT THE HOST

Susan has been living in Yorkshire for over 30 years. She is passionate about the county she has adopted as her home and she never ceases to be amazed at the wealth of talent ‘Inside Yorkshire' and the tales that people tell.

CONTACT METHOD

www.insideyorkshire.co.uk

[email protected]

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Inside Yorkshire Podcast. A podcast full of stories and tales from the people of Yorkshire. In this episode, your host Susan Baty-Symes interviews Helen Callear from the Yorkshire air Ambulance service. Helen tells us all about the challenges this fantastic charity face, by providing emergency rescue services throughout Yorkshire.

Susan and Helen discuss the humble beginnings of the 18-year-old Yorkshire air ambulance service and the amazing role the service provides to the people of Yorkshire, knowing help is only 20 minutes away!

Discover how in the 5 years Helen has been with the service they have moved from a single helicopter to two fully kitted out and operational H145 helicopters servicing the whole of Yorkshire from two separate locations. Learn more about the cutting-edge technology and insider stories about this wonderful service.

Finally find out more how this amazing service is funded by the very people it aims to help, and how incredible volunteers work to help keep people safe.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Helen talks about how many call outs they average per day

"We do about 3 per day, but it really depends. Over the 2014 Tour de Yorkshire we went out 42 times over three days. This year we were the chosen charity for the Tour de Yorkshire and were out there with our fundraising team across the whole route"

We need £12,000 a day to keep the operation running, that's about 4.4million a year to run the service. The medical fit-out for each helicopter is £500,000 and the helicopter alone costs £6 million.

We cover 5.4 million people throughout Yorkshire all with the two H145 helicopters that can reach speeds of 160mph, fly night missions and fly into major trauma centres.

We work very closely with other air ambulance charities and the criteria are always patient need, so we help each other out cross-county, 40% of what we do is road traffic collisions.

BEST MOMENTS

• “There is a window of opportunity to whisk those at risk away and into major trauma centres in about 10 minutes.”
• “One fundraiser has helped raise over £50,000... Just think about how many lives that has saved.”
• “Incredibly reliant upon volunteers...they are the ones late at night putting in the work.”  

VALUABLE RESOURCES

https://www.yorkshireairambulance.org.uk/

https://www.yorkshireairambulance.org.uk/donate/

[email protected]

ABOUT THE HOST

Susan has been living in Yorkshire for over 30 years.She is passionate about the county she has adopted as her home and she never ceases to be amazed at the wealth of talent ‘Inside Yorkshire' and the tales that people tell.

CONTACT METHOD

www.insideyorkshire.co.uk

[email protected]

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to another episode of the Inside Yorkshire Podcast. A podcast full of stories and tales from the people of Yorkshire. In this episode your host Susan Baty-Symes interviews Andy Kluz a former journalist, interviewer, documentary maker and writer.  Andy talks to us about his life in Yorkshire as a broadcaster and documentary maker and how he has now turned his hand to writing. His recent book, Fire of God, asks us to ponder on what might have happened if King Harold had survived the Battle of Hastings.

Susan and Andy dive into the humble beginnings of Andy's career in journalism and how a chance meeting opened the door for an esteemed career at the ‘Northern Echo' in Darlington. Andy explains how after hitchhiking across Europe he felt the call of both Yorkshire and a career in Broadcasting as he secured a job at radio Tees until 1990 before being headhunted by Tyne Tees.

Susan moves on to ask Andy about the interesting story behind his barn conversion in Richmond and how his home in the sprawling Yorkshire countryside could possibly be one of the oldest houses around with a core dating back to the 13th/14th century.

Finally, Susan and Andy discuss his most recent book ‘Fire Of God' an alternate history novel on the battle of Hastings, that poses the question of what if King Harold has survived the battle of Hastings? As Andy says... "I love alternate history, the thought in the back of my mind was always what if King Harold has survived the battle of Hastings?  There is some evidence from Henry the First to say he met a man in Chester who convinced him he was Harold. So what would have happened if he had survived…?"

BEST MOMENTS

• “Yorkshire is god's own country and I wouldn't live anywhere else.”  Andy

• “My biggest pleasure - The railway story, told from the North East perspective.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Andy Kluz - Fire Of God - https://www.amazon.co.uk/FIRE-GOD-Andy-Kluz/dp/0244323828

ABOUT THE HOST

Susan has been living in Yorkshire for over 30 years. She is passionate about the county she has adopted as her home and she never ceases to be amazed at the wealth of talent ‘Inside Yorkshire' and the tales that people tell.

CONTACT METHOD

www.insideyorkshire.co.uk

[email protected]

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Inside Yorkshire Podcast. A podcast full of stories and tales from the people of Yorkshire.  In this episode your host Susan Baty-Symes interviews Heather Ritchie the President of TIGHR (The International Guild of Handhooking Rugmakers) and founder of the not for profit Rug Aid Organisation, teaching visually impaired Gambians to make rugs. What a tale she has to tell!

Susan introduces Heather's amazing story that has taken her to America, Canada, Australia and even to teach in Africa. Heather wasn't originally from Yorkshire but since falling in love the with Yorkshire Dales in 1971 she has been there ever since and her passion for helping others through her wonderful rug making skills is something to behold!

Susan and Heather discuss the incredible work she has done in Africa, and how the fine art of rug making has helped to provide vital medicine and an important education to visually impaired Gambians. Heather's inspiring story includes tales of teaching 50 blind beggars to make rugs, fundraising to build schools and even sending white canes and talking watches over in an attempt to improve their quality of life.

Discover how Heather managed to lease a building in Gambia, paint it purple, orange, red and yellow and turn it into the most colourful workshop around for visually impaired Gambians to come together, make rugs and raise funds to support themselves.

Susan and Heather conclude that rug making gives these wonderful people  confidence and independence.

BEST MOMENTS

• “My mother wasn't a rugmaker, people always seem to think if you're a rugmaker you take after your mother.”

• “When teaching 50 blind beggars to make rugs I had to get the message across to them. I began talking about fishing, you've got your hook you've got your net, and they all know fishing.. so it helped them understand”

• “They could make a living from rug making and it helps them support themselves and their families.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

http://www.rug-aid.org/

https://www.sightsavers.org/

ABOUT THE HOST

Susan has been living in Yorkshire for over 30 years. She is passionate about the county she has adopted as her home and she never ceases to be amazed at the wealth of talent ‘Inside Yorkshire' and the tales that people tell.

CONTACT METHOD

www.insideyorkshire.co.uk

[email protected]

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.