Welcome to the North York Moors National Park

Celebrating the North York Moors

2012 is the 60th anniversary of the North York Moors National Park.

Throughout the summer, residents and visitors to the North York Moors have been enjoying the inspiration that artists, dancers, young writers and musicians gain from the National Park.

 At the final event of the Diamond Year, on 28 November, the young writers and composers celebrated their successes at The Moors National Park Centre.

A fanfare for the Moors

Richard Bracknall, 17, from Prior Pursglove College in Guisborough, won the Inspired by the North York Moors composition competition.

Finalists from secondary schools around the Park were treated to an entertaining evening by eminent York composer, Andrew Carter, who reviewed all the pieces and announced the winners.

Alex Richards, 14, from Ryedale School was second, with third prize going to Christopher Loader of Northallerton College. All the finalists received vouchers from Banks (musicroom) who sponsored the competition alongside Minim Music of Kirkbymoorside who presented a wooden metronome to the winner. The winning school, Prior Pursglove, received a piano from Banks (musicroom).  

Children’s Story Competition

Our 60th anniversary celebrations included a story writing competition for local schools. The competition was open to junior school children from the primary schools located within the Park. A total of 14 schools participated and over 300 children wrote stories!

Stories had to be inspired by weird and unusual place names taken from the map of the North York Moors and no longer than 500 words.

The stories were read by a panel of seven judges and first, second and third prizes were awarded to each of the four year groups. All twelve winners received a map and a compass plus book tokens worth £60 for first prize, £30 for second prize and £20 for third prize. We are grateful to the New Lyke Wake Club for sponsoring the book tokens for the first prize winners.  

The prize for overall winner was split between two children, both of whom wrote stories which were outstanding for their ages. These two children each won a framed picture illustrating a scene from their story painted by a professional artist Julie McLinden.
 
In addition, local children’s author Theresa Tomlinson will visit the schools of the two overall winners to talk to the children about what it is like to be a professional writer and answer children’s questions.

Take a few minutes to read some of these fantastic stories and disappear into a world of dragons, monsters, magic and amazing happenings in the North York Moors! 

Winning Stories

Meet the Judges

Book tokens for first prize winners kindly donated by the New Lyke Wake Club www.lykewake.org

Guests at Sutton Bank 

July saw Sutton Bank National Park Centre welcoming the Olympic torch as it detoured from its route to be photographed at the "finest view in England", heralded by the Ryedale School Jazz Band.

Another high point of the year was the opening of the new Lime and Ice exhibition at Sutton Bank by comedian and geologist, Hugh Dennis. 

Inspired Landscape

An exhibition of new work by six renowned artists was held at the Inspired by... Gallery at The Moors National Park Centre.  William Tillyer, Len Tabner, Peter Hicks, Joe Cornish and Gillies Jones are at the very top of their respective fields with their work featuring in exhibitions all around the world. Linking them all is the North York Moors, the place where they live and are inspired.

 

The book, Inspired Landscape, which contains the works from the exhibition together with essays from the artists and a celebration of the North York Moors National Park by Richard Burridge is available from our online shop.

 

You can also enjoy a gallery of the images from the exhibition.

This exhbition was funded by the Arts Council and the North York Moors National Park Authority.

Your Place

Your Place provided the opportunity for 60 artists to exhibit in the Gallery. Inspiring and expressive pieces of art from 60 artists invoked the special qualities of the North York Moors.

This exhbition was funded by the Arts Council and the North York Moors National Park Authority.

Terrarium

Terrarium is a dance duet especially inspired by the North York Moors. Encapsulating the wild beauty of the landscape, it is a stunningly original dance event choreographed by Simon Birch, composed by Jon Hughes and designed by Becs Andrews.

Terrarium toured the North York Moors in July and August, taking dance inspired by the special qualities of the National Park to stunning outdoor venues and new audiences.