Car on roof after two-vehicle collision in Minskip

A car flipped onto its roof following a two-vehicle collision at Minskip, near Boroughbridge, this afternoon.

Roads policing sergeant Paul Cording alerted people on social media at 1.20pm about the incident on the A6055, which is the main road through Minskip.

Sgt Cording said one person involved in the collision was taken to hospital with “minor injuries”.

The road reopened at 1.47pm.

No further details, including the status of the other vehicle and passengers, have been revealed.

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Car crashes into traffic lights at busy Harrogate junction

A car crashed into a set of traffic lights at the junction of Claro Road and Skipton Road in Harrogate this morning.

The white Vauxhall hit the lights at around 8:46am.

Police were called to the scene, but no other emergency services were present.

Harrogate traffic sergeant Paul Cording later tweeted nobody was injured.

The car was towed away just before 10am and traffic levels returned to normal shortly afterwards.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said North Yorkshire Council is dealing with the traffic light repair.

 

Harrogate woman celebrates 103rd birthday

A Harrogate woman celebrated her 103rd birthday last weekend.

Phyllis Elldrige, who is a resident at Manor House care home, on Cornwall Road, was born on November 18 1920, in Hampshire.

Phyllis worked as a nurse and trained in infectious diseases, before moving to the North in the 1950s and working in a handicap hospital in Wetherby.

Ann Lazenby, manager of Phyllis’ ward, told the Stray Ferret Phyllis initially went to Manor House for a two-week respite period in early 2022, but “enjoyed the company so much” she decided to stay.

Ms Lazeby added:

“She was walking up until six months ago. She was even doing her washing just before she came to us.”

Phyllis, who is the oldest resident in the care home, marked the occasion with a party.

Residents and staff gathered to enjoy a Bettys-themed afternoon tea and a singer to entertain them all.

Phyllis’s children, who are now in their 70s, live in Australia but visited her a few weeks prior to her birthday to celebrate.

Ms Lazenby added:

“Phyllis is very comical, very loving and very caring.

“It is an honour to care for her.”

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Business Breakfast: Lucy Pittaway to host ‘meet the artist’ event at Harrogate gallery

Are you already thinking of how to reward your employees this Christmas? Why not choose the Harrogate Gift Card?

The Harrogate Gift Card can be spent in over 100 businesses in Harrogate town centre including retail, hospitality and leisure, whilst keeping the spend locked into the local economy.

Complete a corporate bulk order of over £250 and receive 15% discount from November 1 to 15 with the code ‘HGT15’.

Lucy Pittaway is hosting a ‘meet the artist’ event this weekend at her Harrogate gallery.

The Yorkshire-based artist, who is known for her colourful depictions of the county, will be at the Prospect Place gallery to sign and discuss her work.

Her homeware and gift collections will also be available to buy.

The event will take place from 1pm to 4pm on Saturday, November 25.

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Tockwith-based Pink Moon to offer “all-in-one” events service

The UK’s largest supplier of festival tents and equipment, Pink Moon, is to offer a new events service.

The Tockwith company, which has the largest collection of accommodation structures in the sector – about 5,500 – currently services up to 45,000 customers a year at events such as Formula 1 at Silverstone and music festivals.

It is now offering all-in-one events services to businesses,

Pink Moon managing director Harry Lister said:

“Pink Moon Events is an all-in-one events solutions company.

“It is not just the tent that we can provide, we can also provide everything else.

“We can provide a restaurant and bar on site, toilets and showers, mobile charging, pamper parlour and coffee stands.”

Council threatens to remove mystery ‘no parking’ signs in Harrogate

Several unofficial ‘no parking’ signs have been put up on a grass verge on Wetherby Road in Harrogate.

The signs, which are outside Harrogate Town Football Club, appeared about two weeks ago. It is not known who erected them.

The grass verge is part of Duchy land and is managed by North Yorkshire Council, which is also the highways authority, However, the council has not authorised the signs.

Barrie Mason, the council’s assistant director of highways and transport, told the Stray Ferret:

“We are aware of ‘no parking signs’ being placed on Wetherby Road, close to Harrogate Town Football Club.

“We are investigating the matter and if the signs are found to have been erected without proper authorisation, they will be removed.”

Parking is notoriously difficult around Wetherby Road, particularly on match days. These signs appeared during work to build a new stand at the Envirovent Stadium.

However, the club is not aware of who is responsible for the signs on the verge.

A spokesperson for Harrogate Town AFC added:

“Parking has never been allowed on it.

“Vans/cars were getting parking tickets for a long time before this, but it’s just got worse of late.

“There are several builders’ projects nearby adding to ours, so likely a combined problem and more deliveries etc.”

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Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal 2023: How dementia led two carers to become best friends

This year’s Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal is to raise £30,000 for a much-needed minibus for Dementia Forward in the Harrogate district. 

The appeal is kindly sponsored by Vida Healthcare.

Please give generously to support local people and their families living with dementia. Let’s not forget those that need help this Christmas.

Today, Flora spoke to two women who met at the wellbeing café.

“It’s about knowing there’s someone at the end of the phone who understands what we’re going through.”

Cynthia Storie and Eileen King’s are both carers for their husbands, who are living with dementia, and have found comfort in each other through Dementia Forward’s wellbeing café.

Before their husbands’ diagnosis, Cynthia was a secretary and Eileen was a nanny. They were just like anyone else. But two years ago, everything changed.

Cynthia said:

“Your livelihood is taken from you – it’s a shocking blow.”

She was given a Dementia Forward leaflet following her husband Mike’s diagnosis. Eileen used the helpline service to work out their next steps.

Cynthia added:

“I wanted to make sure Mike could still socialise – he was so used to doing everything for himself.

“He didn’t want to come at all, but after I’d convinced him, and someone brought him a cup of coffee, he was chatting away. Two years later, he’s still here.”

The women said the café is an environment where their husbands feel understood. It combats the loneliness those living with dementia can often feel.

Carers can breathe a sigh of relief knowing their loved one is safe at the café, and can share their experiences with with others facing similar challenges.

She continued:

“You find that friends who you have spent so long going out for dinner and socialising with are so sympathetic at first, but after they realise they don’t understand, you become so isolated.”

 

The café has helped Eileen and her husband more than she could have imagined. She said:

“It helps so much coming here. It’s frightening – you don’t know what’s around the corner.

“It means I’ve got support, and you can offload to people that understand. The staff here don’t judge at all, and they take the guilt away from the carers.”

The women also call each other regularly to check in, visit each other for a cup of tea, and even bake cakes for each other.

Eileen said:

“We, as carers, put on a front. When you’re on your own, you pick up the phone and tell a friend that you need to talk.

“It’s nice when somebody says, ‘how are you?’.”

Dementia has been life-changing for both ladies and their husbands, but the café has brought them some level of peace.

Cynthia added:

“We want people who are reading this to know it takes courage to walk through the door of somewhere like this, but they’re not alone and it’s so worth it to come to these groups.”

Thousands of local families are fighting a long battle with these horrible diseases – and they need your help.

Every donation to our campaign will go directly to Dementia Forward, helping us hit our £30,000 target to buy the charity a new minibus and bettering the lives of those living with dementia and the people around them.

Dementia Forward’s current bus is old and urgently needs to be replaced. The charity would seriously struggle to afford a new one, which is why they need your help to keep this vital service going. Without it, many people living with dementia wouldn’t be able to access the help and support they need. 

Please click here to donate whatever you can – you never know when you, your family or a friend may be in need of Dementia Forward’s help too.

Thank you.

The NHS found that one in 11 people over the age of 65 in the UK are living with dementia. If you need urgent help or have a dementia-related enquiry, call 0330 057 8592 to speak to a helpline adviser.

Harrogate clergyman to feature in ‘Rolex killer’ Channel 5 documentary tonight

A Harrogate reverend will feature in a Channel 5 documentary tonight, which re-counts the crimes of the notorious ‘Rolex killer’.

Revd David Hoskins, who was a minister at Harrogate Baptist Church on Victoria Avenue at the time, will talk about his encounters with Albert Walker, a Canadian fugitive posing as David Davis.

‘Davis’ was a member of his congregation in the early 1990s. Unbeknown to him or the rest of his congregation, Walker — who claimed he and his daughter had recently moved to Harrogate after “selling his New York bank and looking for a quieter life” — was on Interpol’s most-wanted list at the time.

Reverend Hoskins told the Stray Ferret that Walker and his daughter fooled everyone:

“They attended church most Sundays.

“He was urbane, dressed in blazer and striped tie, dark and good looking — he was a real smooth operator.”

However, 52-year-old Walker was actually on the run from officials after fleecing 70 clients out of nearly $4 million back in Canada.

Although never successful in swindling the members of Harrogate Baptist Church financially, Walker certainly tried, Mr Hoskins added.

He said:

“It was around the time ICI was making a lot of people redundant.

“I called a meeting to discuss how this may affect local people and he attended. He posed as a financial advisor and said he could give advice on how to invest.

“Luckily, no one in the congregation actually give him any money, but all of us bar one member, Molly, were fooled by him.”

Mr Hoskins said the conman, who lived on St Leonard’s Oval, was a “charmer”, but noted his daughter Noel, whose real name was Sheena, was “quiet and didn’t have much to say”.

It was later discovered Walker also pretended his teenage daughter was his wife.

Harrogate Baptist Church. Pic: Betty Longbottom via Geograph.

The reverend told the Stray Ferret that after around 18 months, Walker and his daughter “vanished”. Mr Hoskins said neither he, nor his congregation, heard a word from the pair again.

It was in Harrogate, however, that Walker met his soon-to-be murder victim, 51-year-old Ronald Platt, and his girlfriend Elaine Boyes.

After befriending the couple, who lived and worked in the town at the time, they told the conman about their dream to one-day move to Canada.

Walker, who was still posing as David Davis, offered to make them directors of his new company to help them save money to make the big move.

Eventually, after funding their retirement move to Canada, Walker assumed Mr Platt’s identity.

However, after Mr Platt and Ms Boyle’s relationship broke down abroad and she moved back to Harrogate, Walker moved to Essex to continue his bogus life.

Ronald Platt.

In 1996, after Mr Platt had also moved to Essex, Walker took him on a boat trip off Plymouth. On the boat, the Lady Jane, he struck Mr Platt unconscious and tied a weighted anchor to his trousers before throwing him overboard.

Weeks later, two fishermen dropped their nets and discovered Mr Platt’s body, which was identified thanks to the Rolex Oyster on his wrist.

Mr Platt was wearing the Rolex Oyster at the time of his death. It had been serviced at a Harrogate jeweller several times, which helped to identify his body and later led to Walker being dubbed the Rolex killer.

The case was eventually solved, and Albert Walker was sentenced to life in prison for embezzlement and murder at Exeter Crown Court 1988, but was transferred to a Canadian prison in 2005.

When asked how he felt after discovering Walker’s crimes, Revd Hoskins said:

“We were just sad that we hadn’t picked up on it — it was so shocking.”

Walker, now 77, was granted parole in June this year after serving 26 years behind bars.

The Devil in Disguise: The Murder of Ronald Platt will air on Channel 5 at 10pm tonight.

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Ex-solicitor died of hypothermia in Harrogate cabman’s shelter, inquest hears

A former Harrogate solicitor died of hypothermia in a cabman’s shelter on the Stray, an inquest has heard.

Richard Wade-Smith, 67, was found “unresponsive” in the distinctive green shelter on West Park, opposite Hotel Du Vin, at 7.15am on September 15.

Besides hypothermia, Mr Wade-Smith’s cause of death was also attributed to alcohol dependency, bipolar affective disorder, hypertensive heart disease and coronary artherosclerosis, the opening inquest in Northallerton heard yesterday.

He worked for a number of Yorkshire law firms and ran his own legal service from Wedderburn House. But his life descended into a downward spiral after a string of criminal convictions.

He was subject to a restraining order after ramming his car into his wife’s Harrogate home and subjecting her to “mental torture” on Boxing Day 2021.

He was later jailed for 10 months for breaching the order and was jailed again in June this year for indecent exposure on Stockwell Lane in Knaresborough.

The inquest was adjourned to a full hearing at a later date.

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Moorside Primary School in Ripon rated ‘good’ by Ofsted

Moorside Primary School and Nursery, in Ripon, has been rated ‘good’ by Ofsted.

The findings were published in a report yesterday following a two-day inspection in September.

Government inspectors rated the school and nursery, which has 168 pupils, ‘good’ in all four categories: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management.

It was the first assessment since Moorside Primary School and Moorside Infant School amalgamated in 2019.

Inspectors said the school “lies at the very heart of its community” and found “pupils enjoy attending school”. They added:

“Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), establish positive relationships with staff. They describe their teachers as ‘caring’ and ‘kind’.

“Parents are effusively positive about the school. One parent captured the views of many in saying: ‘Our children are so lucky to start their education at Moorside. The school is a credit to itself and the community.’”

The report praised the wide range of opportunities given to children, including various clubs and the on-site forest school, as well as trips out into the local area – citing a recent trip to Fountains Abbey.

The school has high expectations of pupils’ behaviour, the report added, and said “pupils enjoy the praise they receive for their good behaviour”. It said:

“They treat their teachers and each other with respect. They talk politely and confidently to visitors, enjoying opportunities to talk about their school.

“Pupils say that they feel safe and they know they can share any concerns with staff.”

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The report said staff are “well trained” and they have a good understanding of the subjects they teach, while leaders and governors have a “shared ambition for the school and its pupils”.

Inspectors also found the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are “carefully considered” and adjustments are made to enable these pupils “to successfully access the same curriculum as their peers”.

It added:

“Pupils study a well-sequenced curriculum for personal, social, health and economic education.

“They learn about positive relationships, mental health and the benefits of diversity. Pupils learn about British values.”

The environment of the “warm and welcoming” early years department was found to be “bright and inviting”.

Areas of improvement

Despite the “ambitious” curriculum, inspectors found the school had not “defined precisely the important knowledge that they want pupils to learn”, adding:

“Consequently, some pupils struggle to retain their learning and, therefore, cannot build on this over time.

“The school should review some aspects of the curriculum to ensure that there is greater clarity for teachers about what pupils should know and remember at each stage of their learning, across all subjects.”

It also said, although the school “prioritises” reading, some pupils are given books to read that are “too difficult” and “not well-matched to their phonic ability”, meaning they “struggle to practise” what they have learned.

“The school should make sure pupils’ reading books are well matched to the phonics pupils know.”

‘A fantastic milestone’

 In response to the report, Claire Rowett, headteacher of Moorside Primary School and Nursery, said:

“I would like to thank the dedicated and committed staff and governors who have been part of our unique journey, and helped us to not only physically build a school, but a strong community ethos with children at the heart of it.

“I would also like to thank the parents for their overwhelming support; working in collaboration with us to support their children and for also sharing their views with Ofsted where 100% of them said that they would recommend our school to another parent.

“This is a fantastic milestone on Moorside’s journey to celebrate and the school endeavours to continue to build on their success in the future.

“We are always pleased to share our wonderful provision that we have grown here a Moorside and offer opportunities for prospective parents, families and members of the community to visit at any time.”

Harrogate ice rink installation gets underway

Work to install the Harrogate Ice Rink in Crescent Gardens is underway ahead of its return for the festive period.

Crescent Gardens has been fenced off to prepare the site for its opening in 10 days.

The rink, which debuted last year, was set up by Events by Cynosure in collaboration with Destination Harrogate – the North Yorkshire Council tourism organisation.

Events by Cynosure has a three-year deal to operate the rink as part of the Harrogate Christmas Fayre, which will also be returning next week.

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This year, there will also be an outdoor bar, food stalls and a tipi with an indoor seating area.

A carousel, bungee trampolines, a frozen swing and game stalls will also be on offer for children to enjoy.

The ice rink will run daily from Friday December 1, to Sunday, January 7 2024.

Skating costs £10 per person for a one-hour session and bookings can be made now.