Member Article

Pauline signs off after 16 years of volunteering at The World of James Herriot

Pauline Pengelly has been a volunteer at The World of James Herriot in Thirsk since 1998 when the attraction was preparing for its 1999 opening. Pauline has been one of the longest-serving volunteers at the attraction and her move to retire to the Yorkshire Dales has precipitated her departure. Management and staff recently organised an emotional thank you send off and gift presentation for Pauline.

In a personal letter to managing director Ian Ashton, Pauline recounts the pre-launch activities with other volunteers:

“I have enjoyed my 16 years as a volunteer which all started in 1998 when a notice appeared in the local paper appealing for volunteers. As an animal lover I thought this could be for me and I duly went along. We were given a pep talk and then presented with a number of instruments to identify. None of us had a clue but it was tremendous fun and quite hilarious guessing what a particular instrument was.”

Work began in a freezing warehouse in Northallerton where many of the attraction’s artefacts and themes were prepared whilst the former home and veterinary surgery of Alf Wight In Thirsk was converted into the World of James Herriot.

“I have met many interesting people from all over the world especially our American friends, most of whom must dot every i and cross every t in their quest for information about Alf Wight. Young vets are quite happy to talk about how they were inspired by Alf’s stories and from a very young age deciding to follow in his footsteps.” added Pauline.

The World of James Herriot is Winner of the Visitor Attraction of the Year Award (Up to 50,000 visitors) in the Welcome to Yorkshire White Rose Tourism Awards for 2014 presented at the annual black-tie awards ceremony at The Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate in November.

“Pauline will be missed by all of the the team at the World of James Herriot and as her letter also mentions, the house has many stories to tell and still has the feeling of a family and happiness. Volunteers like Pauline is one of our key assets because they are as passionate about the story of Alf Wight and share it enthusiastically with our visitors every day” comments Ian Ashton, managing director.

Previously owned by the local council, WoJH has been run since 2012 by a team of Herriot enthusiasts with a vision to continually develop it and attract more visitors. Our passion for WoJH means we have increased visitor numbers year on year since taking it on.“ comments The World of James Herriot managing director and chairman of the Herriot Country Tourism Group, Ian Ashton.

The James Herriot Statue and Legacy Fund has been developed as a tribute to Alf Wight, author of the books about the life of a country vet, which inspired two films
 and the long running and immensely popular TV series All Creatures Great and Small.

The initiative aims to provide bursaries for people wishing to enter the veterinary world and for whom the James Herriot stories have been an inspiration. The installation of the James Herriot Statue in the gardens of the Centre will take place on Saturday 28th March 2015.

Ian Ashton added: “We have invested £25,000 to date to improve our visitors’ experience and as a result, we have increased visitor numbers to 27,000 in a year, widened our global appeal and created a profitable business.”

Pictured L-R: Ian Ashton, Pauline Pengelly, Rosie Page (Alf Wight’s daughter)

For further information please contact:

Ian Ashton, World of James Herriot, 23 Kirkgate, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 1PL

Tel: 01845 524234 E-mail: mail@worldofjamesherriot.com

Press Contact: John Gallery, Great Potential. Tel: 07967 032623

E-mail: johngallery@greatpotential.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Gallery .