Whitby swimming for charity event

WHITBY swimmers are being encouraged to get in the swim in aid of an annual Marie Curie Cancer Care event at the town's leisure centre pool.
Swimathon 2009 is open to everyone, and will be encouraging people to set their own personal challenge by accomplishing a distance of their choice. Swimmers can challenge themselves to the top 5K challenge, 2.5K for intermediate swimmers or 1.5K for those who swim occasionally. For those interested in joining forces with friends, colleagues or family, the 5K challenge can also be completed as part of a team.

It is one of the U.K.'s biggest charities Marie Curie Cancer Care. Providing high quality free home nursing, giving terminally ill patients the chance to die at home supported by their families. As well as providing a home nursing service, the charity runs a number of Marie Curie Hospices across the UK.

The Swimathon will take place from 16 to 19 April at 500 pools throughout the country. To find out more or enter the 2009 challenge go to www.swimathon.org

Sad news Whitby archive Centre is closed down.

Whitby Archive centre unfortunately shut down this week.

It contains hundreds of years of Whitby's heritage but the Archives Centre had its lease terminated.

On Wednesday of this week legal notice ending the lease on the building in Flowergate was served by bailiffs .

Apparently they were acting on behalf of the Yorkshire Congregational Union who are trustees of Flowergate United Reformed Church, where the centre is based.

Directors of the archives centre said they are very upset and are desperate for support.

It is hoped there will be more information next week.

The building, which was once used as the church hall, contains old photographs, relics and copies of the Whitby Gazette dating back 150 years which are there for safe-keeping .

There is a sign on the door now says anyone who enters the Whitby Archives Heritage Centre will be prosecuted for criminal damage.

Memorabilia has also been donated by many local families or those with a connection to the town.

Reverend Helen Drummond of Flowergate United Reformed Church told the Gazette the archives, which is run by a dedicated team of volunteers, owes £2,500 in rent for the past six months.

She said she understands the centre, which has been in the building for eight years after moving from Grape Lane, failed to secure funding after applications for grants were turned down last year.

She said: "Unfortunately they could not pay their rent. It's a very, very sad situation. I've not had to deal with anything like this before. I was hoping it would not come to this. We did suggest to them they tried to have some sort of public awareness raising thing, they seemed to think they had done all that before when they were moving from Grape Lane.

"We have offered a couple of meetings with them and they did come to a meeting with us. We asked them what their financial situation was and they had virtually no money and no definite prospect of getting any at all."

Rev Drummond said the rent money from the archives centre goes to balance the books and also pays her wages.

She said now the lease has been terminated nothing more can be done and she hopes the volunteers and any other people who have material at the archives will arrange its removal until alternative arrangements can be made.

"It's been very much in our thoughts and prayers," she added.

It is unclear what will happen to items stored in the Archives. A contact number for Lupton Fawcett, the Leeds-based solicitors placed on the front door is incorrect and when tracked down by the Whitby Gazette, nobody from the firm returned our calls.

Never before seen Frank Sutcliffe pictures I've come to light!

Frank Meadow Sutcliffe is famous for his images of Whitby and surrounding areas and this week it has been revealed that there are some images are never been seen before.
Very close to the harbour you have The Sutcliffe Gallery which is on Flowergate. They have bestowed around 200 original and highly thought of pictures by this artist.
The gallery is owned by Mike Shaw, and he owns and the rights to Frank Meadow Sutcliffe's collection of around 1,600 photographs, and four years they have been restoring the images which have great historical value.


There are many shots of Whitby old fishing town with rural scenes and images of the surrounding area. In many of his shots it shows the old characters and fishermen of the town.

There are some wonderful pictures of the West Cliff showing the original Union Mill, cows grazing on Runswick Bay beach, Whitby Abbey before the First World War, coastguards firing pistols, Pannett Park and the opening ceremony of Whitby's swing bridge 100 years ago.

Until recently these photographs and never seen the light of day and have been kept in a dark storeroom partly due to the size of the collection and also it is very time consuming to work on each photograph which is on a glass plate.

Last Tuesday the Sutcliffe Gallery reopened after major refurbishments and will be showcasing the new pictures.

Unfortunately Sutcliffe did not name his photographs this has meant that Mr Shaw, with help from his wife Trish, have had to used old records started by his father Bill Eglon Shaw, who bought the collection 50 years ago, to help identify some of the pictures.

The following comment from Mike said it's an exciting time as not only has the gallery re-opened and celebrated 50 years, but he too celebrated his 50th birthday last month.

He said: "People may think they have seen all of Sutcliffe's pictures but they haven't, they have seen up to 400 of the entire collection of 1,600.

"Sutcliffe's photographs are part of Whitby's heritage and local people are proud of his amazing work.

"We are delighted to be able to now have extra display space to be able to show many more pictures so come and have a look."

By your copy of the Whitby desert on Tuesday for the eight-page supplement which will show the never before seen Frank Sutcliffe photographs.