News & Special Events:-

Sir Thomas Pitches for Yorkshire

During a very successful promotional tour of the US, Sir Thomas Ingilby of Ripley Castle near Harrogate, was given the tremendous honour of pitching the first ball to a crowd of over 6,000 people at a Baseball match in Philadelphia.

When agreeing to the challenge Sir Thomas thought that the team, the Camden River Sharks, was a university team and was mortified to discover that they were in fact a professional Atlantic Baseball outfit. Before his departure to the US he spent time training with the Harrogate-based Menwith Hill Patriots team. Said Sir Thomas, "Apparently it is a massive honour to be invited to pitch the first ball and I was terrified of being laughed off the field!" Commenting on the pitch the general manager of the River Sharks said: "judging by the roars of approval from the crowd, it was obvious that Sir Thomas Ingilby scored a huge hit!"

Sir Thomas was visiting America in his capacity as Director and Deputy Chairman of the Yorkshire Tourist Board in response to an invitation from the Tourism and Hospitality Management Department of Temple University in Philadelphia.

In a bid to develop new markets in the US, Sir Thomas delivered a series of tourism lectures to students and tourism leaders in the area which is populated by over 60 million predominantly wealthy potential visitors to Yorkshire. In addition Sir Thomas began talks with university officials to foster closer links between Philadelphia and Yorkshire by encouraging student interns from Temple University to come and gain valuable work experience in Yorkshire.