In this illustrated lecture, Dr Kate Giles (University of York) and new Trustee of the Yorkshire Historic Churches Trust (YHCT) will speak about her lifetime of research and her commitment to caring for historic churches. After a short introduction the work of the YHCT by Rory Wardroper, a fellow Trustee, she will share the story of the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Pickering, whose historic scheme of medieval wall paintings sheds light on how past communities have created, cared for and conserved places of worship and church art. The church will be one of the pilots for YHCT’s new initiative, Yorkshire Churches Day, and also has a connection to the Curteis family, as Tobit Curteis has been an advisor on the wall paintings for some years – and he and Kate very much hope that sharing its story more widely will encourage greater interest in and support for its future.

John Bromley-Davenport QC: successful barrister, distinguished actor, writer for the Times and Telegraph, acclaimed after dinner speaker… and cousin of 8th Lord Grantley. Alongside his legal career he also trained at the London Academy of Music and Drama has become well known on both sides of the Atlantic for his solo adaptations of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat, both of which have been met with ongoing media acclaim over three decades; and now Tales from the Bar – the tall tales of his life within the law. Join us for an evening to remember…

Yorkshire-born author and journalist Madeleine Bunting, who spoke so beautifully about her book The Plot, returns to Markenfield this year with a very different topic. Island Song takes the reader back to 1940, when Helene, young, naive, and recently married, waves goodbye to her husband, who has enlisted in the British army. Her home, Guernsey, is soon invaded by the Germans, leaving her exposed to the hardships of occupation.

Forty years later, her daughter, Roz, begins a search for the truth about her father, and stumbles into the secret history of her mother’s life. Written with emotional acuity and passionate intensity, Island Song speaks of the moral complexities of war-time allegiances, the psychological toll of living with the enemy and the messy reality of human relationships in a tightly knit community.

Join us at Holy Trinity Church in Ripon for an evening with Sir Ranulph Fiennes, in conversation with his lifelong friend and fellow adventurer Anton Bowring.

From floating for three months on an ice floe in the Yukon River with just the odd Canadian polar bear for company, to digging out landmines with a Swiss Army knife, and (hold on to your stomachs) cutting off the frostbitten tips of his fingers with a fretsaw on a Black and Decker workbench.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes has raised millions for charities over the last 20 years, and The Friends are hugely gratful to him for fundraising for them this evening. All welcome. Refreshments on arrival. Book signing to finish, with thanks to The Little Ripon Bookshop.