The Grand Turk leaves Whitby for good !

It's not rational, but I felt a little sad when I watched a video of the Grand Turk leaving Whitby today.

You can watch it on the Whitby web hello http://www.whitbywebcam.co.uk/whitby-sequences.php

The music didn't help. I imagined the ship being sad I was silly in reality but human beings are sometimes. It had spent over a decade in Whitby. There seem to be more interested in its last week with people taking photo...

Whitby for the Regatta we wont forget

This is a spur of the moment posting on Whitby fans on  Facebook, about stories and pictures from your past in Whitby. 

http://www.facebook.com/whitbyfans
About 20 years ago Pauline and myself were in Whitby for the Regatta. We were having lunch in the Black Horse pub on Church Street, when a hippy style guy called Lenny approached us in the pub trying and successfully selling us one of his own paintings of Whitby. It turned out that he was a bit of a drunk and this was his way of paying for his beer. To cut a long story short we ended up spending the day with Lenny and his 18-year-old girlfriend and having our full sized portraits painted in exchange for copious amounts of alcohol for him.

The picture above is Lennyright, Pauline middle and me on the right. The following day we are holding Lenny's portraits of ourselves, which cost is quite a few pints of beer!

And the picture below when his girlfriend on the right, along with our friends the glasses of beer :-)

Lenny was in actual fact in our opinion a very good artist and lover of Whitby. A few years later I met him again in Trafalgar Square in London, he was still drinking big-time and still painting people's portraits as a street artist.

PS it was the only time Pauline and myself drank alcohol to some degree all day! But what a heady excitement Whitby regatta day we had, well worth the headache !

As anybody seen Lenny in Whitby recently?

A very memorable Whitby regatta experience

In 1990 Pauline and myself were in Whitby for the Regatta. We were having lunch in the Black Horse pub on Church Street, when a hippy style guy in his 30s called Lenny approached us in the pub trying and successfully selling us one of his own paintings of Whitby. It turned out that he was a bit of a dropout drunk and this was his way of paying for his beer. To cut a long story short we ended up spending the day with him and his 18-year-old girlfriend and having our full sized portraits painted in exchange for copious amounts of alcohol for him.

Lenny was in actual fact in our opinion a very good artist and lover of Whitby. Six years later I met him again in Trafalgar Square in London, he was still drinking big-time and still painting people's portraits as a street artist.

PS it was the only time Pauline and myself drank alcohol to some degree all day! But what a heady excitement Whitby regatta day we had, well worth the headache !

The picture will follow when I have scanned it tomorrow.

Grand Turk has been sold

Seems a shame that the Grand Turk has been sold, it looked good in the harbour. I never realised it was up to sale.


Anyway it's been sold and it will be heading for France on Monday, 15 March so if you would like to take a last look this is your last opportunity.

North Yorkshire Moors Railway beating the recession

Well but least in these times of gloom and doom of recession at least Whitby and surrounding areas is staying strong. According to the figures released by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, which runs from Pickering to Whitby, have revealed that the advent of the so-called "staycation" has helped boost visitor numbers to 350,000 during last year.

Whitby Holiday Cottage

Whitby Jet comes from the monkey puzzle

Whitby Jet comes from the monkey puzzle tree.

Whitby jet can be found on the coastline of Guess where? Yes Whitby :-) This is just the little film below explains the origins of this fine black mysterious stone which can make beautiful jewellery. It explains if you go beachcombing for Whitby Jet which is valuable etc how to tell the real McCoy from black coal stones which are worthless.

I'm going to design a new website which will have all the main historical stories about Whitby and its surrounding coastline. It's going to be in the form of a WordPress blog so that if people wish to comment on storys they will have the opportunity. I'll be including pictures and films.



If you fancy a break in beautiful Whitby take a look at Endeavour Cottage. Totally flexible short-term breaks available from two days onwards.

Old Fishermans cottage near the harbour

Whitby Holiday Cottage

This charming former old fisherman's residence, situated in the very heart of the old town of Whitby only a couple of minutes stroll from the harbour.
The cottage sleeps up to six people in total. Four on comfortable memory foam mattresses but also the facility for an extra two because there are two leather couches one of which is a leather sofa bed with fully sprung mattress. It is located in one of the most charming extremely quiet no way through old yards just facing the old outhouses, making it a quiet oasis . No steps to reach the cottage with easy parkingnearby with a free parking permit provided.
If you want to make contact with the world again from your Whitby hide away we have Internet fast speed broadband for your laptop. 32 inch flatscreen television, also telivisions in each bedroom with freeview and dvd players. Well-behaved pets welcome.

Whitby Holiday Cottage

Whitby Tourist Information 2010 calendar of events

Whitby Tourist Information for 2010 with a list of all the major events that will take place. This blog will be updated throughout the year


Fri 16 April 2010, Sat 17 April 2010 and Sun 18 April 2010
Including Gala Dance with the Moonlight Serenade, Fashion Show and Hairstyling,
Opening Cabaret with Lola Lamour, Dance Classes, Gala Concert, Parade,
Military and Civilian Vintage Vehicles, Victory Breakfast Party,
Living History Displays, Flea Market, Fun Dog Show
Whitby and District Tourism Association in conjunction with
Scarborough Borough Council. Advance Ticket Sales from Whitby Pavilion, tel 01947 604855. REGISTER YOUR INTEREST in the Civilian Parade / Military Parade / Vehicles civilian /
Vehicles military / Flea Market / Dog Show by emailing your name. address,
phone number, email address, website whitby1940s@aol.com or by writing to
H Collett, 22 Rosemount Road, Whitby YO21 1LB tel 01947 821734

Fri 23 - Sun 25 April 2010
Whitby Goth Weekend. See www.TopMum.co.uk for details.
Wed 21 July - Mon 02 Aug 2010 Art Exhibition ‘Fibre, Mud and Metal’

All the items are for sale. National Park Centre, Danby.
Sat 21 Aug 2010 - Mon 23 Aug 2010 WHITBY REGATTA
Sat 22 Aug 2009 - Fri 28 Aug 2009 WHITBY FOLK WEEK
One of the UK’s biggest folk events more..

Sat 16 - Thu 21 Oct 2010 Art Exhibition
All the items are for sale. Old Coastguard Station, Rbin Hood’s Bay
Fri 19 (?) Nov - Tue 30 Nov 2010 Art Exhibition ‘Artisan Christmas’
All the items are for sale. National Park Centre, Danby.

Old Fishermans cottage near the harbour Whitby Holiday Cottage

This charming former old fisherman's residence, situated in the very heart of the old town of Whitby only a couple of minutes stroll from the harbour.
The cottage sleeps up to six people in total. Four on comfortable memory foam mattresses but also the facility for an extra two because there are two leather couches one of which is a leather sofa bed with fully sprung mattress. It is located in one of the most charming extremely quiet no way through old yards just facing the old outhouses, making it a quiet oasis . No steps to reach the cottage with easy parkingnearby with a free parking permit provided.
If you want to make contact with the world again from your Whitby hide away we have Internet fast speed broadband for your laptop.
32 inch flatscreen television, also telivisions in each bedroom with freeview and dvd players.
Well-behaved pets welcome.