A Week in the Life column with Keith Tordoff

I bumped into a chess grandmaster on Pateley Bridge High Street last week. I remember growing up and hearing on the news about chess grandmasters who were usually from Russia.
Local food hero Paul Kendall is pictured with TV and radio presenter Clare Balding.Local food hero Paul Kendall is pictured with TV and radio presenter Clare Balding.
Local food hero Paul Kendall is pictured with TV and radio presenter Clare Balding.

When I was at school there were chess clubs but I could not play the game as I didn’t understand the rules. However, I was good at draughts understanding the rules and tactics needed to get into a position with my white or black disc piece to leap frog over my opposition’s disc.

I could not get my head around chess and to this day I still cannot play the game.

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The chess player I met on the High Street told me he was on route to Scarborough for a weekend chess competition and he was looking forward to eating lots of fresh seafood whilst there.

I said that we are fortunate as we have a fishmonger selling fresh fish including ‘pawns’! I wished him good look and said see you mate but wished I had said ‘checkmate’.

Talking of fish, we are so fortunate to have a shop selling fresh wet fish which of course is Kendall’s Fishmongers.

Now Paul who owns the business as most of you will know is a third-generation butcher who is passionate about what he does. Paul is definitely a food hero of mine as he is always so cheerful, positive and friendly when you go into his shop (Paul is featured in this week’s Nidderdale Voices column).

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On Saturday when we are holding the first Nidderdale Food and Drink Festival, Paul will be offering samples of his products in his shop as well as at a stall in the Memorial Hall. Talking of meat, how about some authentic Jamaican Curry.

On Saturday as part of the Nidderdale Food and Drink Festival, Tea Cups cafe at the auction mart are offering just that. Made as it should be with goat’s meat which is low in fat and calories, sampling will be available from 10am to 2pm on the day when the meal itself is available at only six pounds fifty. You can, as always at Teacups, have a cup of good old Yorkshire Tea for only fifty pence. You can’t go wrong!

As part of the Nidderdale Food and Drink Festival, most food businesses will be offering free sampling during Saturday to showcase their products and specialities.

There are so many wonderful food businesses in Nidderdale with passionate people who are so enthusiastic about what they do.

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We have so much to shout about in this area and that is why as part of the Nidderdale Food and Drink Festival we are going to recognise someone who has contributed voluntarily for the community over many years.

At what will be the first Nidderdale Community Hero awards, a trophy will be presented to a worthy recipient at a ceremony in the Memorial Hall at 2pm by Anne Jones, the Mayor of Harrogate.

Clare Balding OBE will also be in the Memorial Hall at 2pm having kindly agreed to return to the area having been here earlier this year when she was walking the Nidderdale Way for the BBC Radio 4 Ramblings programme. Talking of the programme, I was chatting with two ladies on the High Street who said they were staying in a holiday cottage in Pateley Bridge having decided to come here from their homes in Dorset after listening to Clare on her Ramblings whilst in Nidderdale.

The visitors were a party of six all enjoying their first visit to the area and excited that they will be able to come along to our Food Festival and who knows, even bump into Clare Balding – their hero!

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