Bickerton, North Yorkshire

Bilton-in-Ainsty with Bickerton is a civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 512, reducing to 463 at the 2011 Census.The parish contains Bilton-in-Ainsty and Bickerton, which are about three miles east of Wetherby in West Yorkshire.

RAF Marston Moor was a Royal Air Force airfield at Tockwith, North Yorkshire, during the Second World War. It was originally called RAF Tockwith, but confusion with RAF Topcliffe led to the name change.RAF Marston Moor was opened on 11 November 1941, the airfield and RAF Church Fenton were the closest airfields to West Yorkshire and would act as a defence should Leeds be attacked. As it happens Leeds was seldom bombed. In 1943, Group Captain Leonard Cheshire was made the station commander. He requested to be transferred to the command of 617 Squadron in November 1943, a vacancy created by the loss of George Holden in July of that year. The move required him to voluntarily step down in rank from group captain to wing commander, which he did. Marston Moor was also in control of RAF Rufforth and RAF Riccall.During the war, American actor Clark Gable was stationed at the airfield before being relocated to RAF Polebrook.

Syningthwaite Priory was a priory in West Yorkshire, England. Syningthwaite is the site of the Cistercian convent of St Mary, founded c. 1150–1160 by Bertram Haget and suppressed in 1535, having been heavily in debt in the early 16th century. At the Dissolution the priory housed nine nuns, the prioress, eight servants and other labourers. The priory site is enclosed by a moat and includes a Chapel Garth.

Walton is a village and civil parish 2 miles (3 km) east of Wetherby, West Yorkshire, England. It is adjacent to Thorp Arch village and Thorp Arch Trading Estate. The village is in the LS23 Leeds postcode area, post town WETHERBY. The nearest locally important town is Wetherby, with Tadcaster and the large village of Boston Spa nearby. Walton has a population of 225. increasing slightly to 225 at the 2011 Census.The name Walton comes from settlement/farmstead of Wealas - native Celts which is what the new Anglo Saxon speaking peoples called the native inhabitants of England. There is strong evidence that in many areas of England taken over by Germanic speaking settlers, the native British (Wealas) remained undisturbed, farming the same land they did when the Romans left. Over time they just adopted or forgot their Celtic tongue (similar to Old Welsh/Cornish) for the language and culture of the newcomers in order to climb the social ladder or were coerced to do so. It was in the Anglo Saxon interest that the native British carry on as usual to ensure the economy produced food and goods for the new landowners. For a while in the 1990s there was a plan to develop Walton into a New Town. Although this plan was never put into practice, the plan could still be brought back onto the table due to the land being still available and the communications in the area being even better.The village has one public house, The Fox and Hound. This suffered a fire recently. The village is overlooked by the eight-storey buildings of the British Library on the Thorp Arch Trading estate. The trading estate was a former Royal Ordnance Factory, Thorp Arch, and it houses the local corporation (Leeds City Council) recycling centre, the British Library Boston Spa, George Moores furniture factory, a sewage works and retailing park (containing Empire Direct, DFS, The Sofa Company, The Greenery Garden Centre and many other retailers). The retail park once housed a Miller Brothers before the company liquidated and a Texas Homecare. There are now speed cameras on the Walton Road, between Wetherby and Walton (the only ones in the area). The village also has a small church. Not being on a main road or itself having any notable features, Walton is little known outside of the Wetherby area of the City of Leeds metropolitan borough.Walton was once on the Harrogate to Church Fenton Railway Line, until it was dismantled under the Beeching Axe in the 1960s. The village itself never had a railway station, the nearest being in Thorp Arch. The village is both commutable for the cities of Leeds and York.

The Church of St. Peter in Walton, near Wetherby in West Yorkshire, England, is an active Anglican parish church in the archdeaconry of York and the Diocese of York.

Tockwith is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England, near the town of Wetherby and the city of York. There has been a village on the site since at least 1086 when Tocvi was mentioned in the Domesday Book. Tockwith's greatest claim to fame is being used as a staging post by Oliver Cromwell prior to the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644. He made reference to Tockwith in his diaries, in which he said: "If heaven should be half as blessed as the fields of Tockwith, all those who should pass St. Peter's Gate shall be met with joys unequalled".

The Second World War Experience Centre, based in Otley, West Yorkshire, England, is a registered charity and museum/archive which was set up in 1998 to preserve personal memories of the Second World War before they are lost forever. The archive is international in scope and holds letters, diaries, photographs and papers donated by individuals - the collection is unique as it concentrates only on the Second World War and personal experience. A network of volunteers across the UK also tapes record veterans' memories for the Centre, and its collection now numbers in excess of 9000 lives. The Centre is used by researchers, students, schoolchildren, authors and members of the public studying for degrees, books or simply their family history. The Centre's mission is "To collect and encourage access to the surviving testimony of men and women who lived through the years of the Second World War, and to ensure that different audiences share and learn from the personal recollections preserved in the collection".

ROF Thorp Arch was one of sixteen Second World War, UK government-owned Royal Ordnance Factory, which produced munitions by "filling" them. It was a medium-sized filling factory (Filling Factory No. 9).It was located on the banks of the River Wharfe, north-east of the two villages of Boston Spa and Thorp Arch; and four miles south-east of the town of Wetherby, West Yorkshire in England.

Thorp Arch Trading Estate is a trading estate, with both industrial and retail space, 3 miles (5 km) south-east of Wetherby in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England. The estate occupies the major part of the site of a former Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF), ROF Thorp Arch, in the parishes of Thorp Arch and Walton. There is evidence of its former use around the site which was similar in layout to the former ROF Aycliffe in Darlington, County Durham.

Cattal is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England, about 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Knaresborough, and is located 12 miles (19 km) west of the city of York. Cattal is located on the River Nidd. Despite being a small village it is served by Cattal railway station on the Harrogate line (operated by Northern); the railway station generally provides an hourly service to the nearby cities of York and Leeds. The village has one pub, The Victoria which is located close to the railway station and close to the village. Cattal has good transport links to the nearby cities of York and Leeds as it is located just 1-mile (1.6 km) east of the A1(M) motorway this road also connects Cattal with much of south-east England including London. It's also just off the A59 which connects north-east England to the north-west, including Liverpool.

St Helen's Church is the parish church of Bilton-in-Ainsty, a village west of York in North Yorkshire, in England. Although no church in the village is mentioned in the Domesday Book, the various Saxon fragments incorporated in the current building suggest that there was a previous church on the site. The current church was built in about 1150 by the Haget family. In 1160, its advowson was granted to Syningthwaite Priory, then in 1293 it became a prebendary of York Minster. In the first half of the 13th century, north and south aisles were added to the nave, and in the 15th century, these were extended along the chancel. More new windows were inserted in the 17th century, and the porch door is dated 1633. It is claimed that the church served as a military hospital following the Battle of Marston Moor, in 1644. A satirical carving of a crowned snake, in the church door, has been attributed to a Royalist officer held prisoner in the building. From 1869 to 1871, the church was restored by George Gilbert Scott, who removed a west gallery, replaced the pews, and found parts of various early crosses buried in the churchyard. The church was Grade I listed in 1966. The church is constructed of limestone and cobbles. It has a four-bay nave and three-bay chancel, aisles, a south porch, and a bellcote at the west end. The bellcote dates from the 17th century and is believed to have replaced a bell tower. The west wall has a restored Norman arched window, with an oculus window above, and the south aisle has a possible Saxon window in its west wall, reset in the 13th century and restored by Scott.Inside, the aisles have arcades with circular piers. The chancel has remains of a piscina, and has corbels in the eaves with early carvings of animals and two sheela na gigs. There is also a carved mass dial. There are fragments of three 10th century Anglo-Norse crosses, and one Saxon cross. There is a brass monument of about 1400, which is believed to depict an abbess of Syningthwaite. The plain bowl font was moved from Tockwith. There is also an altar table from about 1600 and an eagle lectern of similar date.

The Wetherby News is a local weekly tabloid newspaper published on a Thursday and based in Wetherby, West Yorkshire, England. The newspaper was founded in 1859 with its offices on the High Street next to the Angel Inn. The paper's news editor is Janet Harrison, with Jean MacQuarrie as group editor of the parent Ackrill Media Group. Amy Craven is sports editor. The paper is part of the Johnston Press stable. The paper's news and sport patch includes Wetherby, Tadcaster, Boston Spa and Sherburn in Elmet, covering local events from rural North Yorkshire to parts of urban north Leeds such as Slaid Hill, Alwoodley and Whinmoor. The newspaper has its offices on Westgate in Wetherby. The Wetherby News carries a large property supplement, covering Wetherby as well as the surrounding districts. It also has an in-depth weekend supplement, a full weekly guide to what's on in West and North Yorkshire, entertainment news, live music and cinema guides and full classified listings. The Wetherby News has a partnership with Tempo FM with whom it provides a weekly news review every Friday morning. In 2012 the Wetherby News became a tabloid and moved its publications from a Friday to a Thursday.