Bempton Pub making history

SINCE taking on the White Horse Pub in Bempton earlier this year, landlords Arthur Woodhouse and Andrew Artley have made a point of taking the community role of a village pub very seriously. The pair run a weekly quiz on a Tuesday night with the proceeds going directly to Bempton and Buckton organisations. They have also supported a charity quiz night for the brain tumour trust and hope to do more in the future.
Arthur and Andrew have also worked closely with one of their neighbours, Jeff Wardlow, who is known to many with his passion for the history of the village he was born in. Thanks to Jeff there are now over 100 pictures of bygone Bempton, displayed in the White Horse, showing the various aspects of village life including Bempton’s famous Climmers, the RAF camp, the early schools, the blacksmiths, the many farms with their workers and of course many of the characters who are well known in village folklore.
The White Horse has planned several activities for the next few months, details of which, can be found on the pub’s Facebook page. Arthur and Andrew are delighted that Thursday 2nd February, will see the first evening talk hosted by the White Horse “The Many Schools of Bempton and Buckton” which will bring alive some of the pictures on the walls and they hope that many of the residents will come along and hear about this fascinating topic.
The proceeds of the night will be in aid of the Brain Tumour Charity in memory of Jeff Wardlow’s late wife, Dawn.
The regulars of the pub however made a comment to both Jeff and Arthur, saying “it’s all very well showing the old folks and the history of years ago, but you need to be thinking of us making history nowadays”!
This set Arthur thinking, and he quickly came to the conclusion that many people may well share their own memories on things like Facebook. But he began to think, how will future generations access the village history?
So a perfect opportunity arose earlier in the summer, when the pub car park was re-surfaced. Arthur and Andrew decided it was time to make some modern day history. They asked Neville Nicholson (Chair of the Parish Council) to perform a ceremony and along with a few regulars the event was recorded for posterity.
Arthur said, “some people thought this was all a bit of a joke and yes it was a bit of fun, but it had a purpose. We are lucky as a pub to have someone like Jeff who has been prepared to share part of his valuable photographic collection with us and our customers, but we want to make sure we keep making memories here in the heart of Bempton village”.