The East Yorkshire village with a strong community spirit and a dark past

The village is run by a number of committees who take care of the playing fields, village hall and church.

Vice chair of Newbald Parish Council, Beccy O’Sullivan, said that for a village of its size the number of committees and the amount of fundraising which took place was remarkable.

The Village Hall is a great example of how the community pulls together. Mrs O’Sullivan said the old building had become unsuitable and unsafe, so the Newbald Village Hall Committee set about securing funding and grants to completely refurbish this important facility. It is now home to a number of different groups, live music, theatre, comedy and pop-up cinema.

Newbald is also one of the few remaining villages which owns its own park, known as the playing fields. This means money needs to be raised to maintain the facility and there is an active Playing Fields Association.

“The PFA hold a gala and on Christmas Eve have carols on the green, which is lovely. There are mince pies, mulled wine and the steam organ comes from Little Weighton.”

As well as hosting the annual festive event, the communal green holds an interesting piece of the village’s past – a large flat stone which is known as the ‘whipping stone’. The story is that a man was whipped to death there in 1624, but it is also possible the stone is the base of the old market cross.

Being part of the Wolds Way, the village has a number of visitors who can stop for refreshment at the two pubs, The Gnu and The Tiger, both of which serve food.

“We are surrounded by lovely countryside and wildlife. The Parish Council works with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to look after the water voles and an unusual shrew which lives around here,” Mrs O’Sullivan said.

There are no shops in North Newbald but to ensure people are not without staples, bread and milk is available to buy from the Norman church dedicated to St Nicholas and the village hall hosts the mobile Post Office on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Community is a key part of the village from a toddler and baby group, youth clubs through to Women in Newbald, a cake club, the WI and the Newbald Natter which encourages older residents to get together with a pick-up service for those who need help.

“Newbald is a lovely village to live in,” said Mrs O’Sullivan.

“There is such a strong community spirit which embraces everyone.”