Harrogate physio to help England’s World Cup bid in Thailand

A physiotherapist from Harrogate will be heading to Thailand this summer, hoping to help England win the World Cup – again. 

Liam Chapman, 40, will be taking a short break from his usual job as the physiotherapy lead at The Duchy Hospital in Harrogate to accompany the England Veterans football team to the 16th Seniors Football World Cup in Bangkok. He said: 

“Before joining The Duchy Hospital, I worked at Middlesbrough FC as physio and supported the youth teams. The England Seniors team manager approached me and asked if I wanted to join them in Bangkok. I had worked with some of the players before. It was a wonderful feeling to be approached.” 

Photo of Liam Chapman, physiotherapy lead at The Duchy Hospital in Harrogate, who has been chosen to accompany the England football team to the Seniors World Cup in Thailand this summer.

Liam Chapman (centre) was previously physiotherapist at Middlesbrough FC.

The Seniors World Cup tournament was initially conceived by the Senior Football Association of Thailand as a way to promote the country in the wake of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, and has grown to become an annual event. 

Each of the eight teams taking part must have players from different age-groups: three aged 40-44, four aged 45-49, three aged 50+, and a goalkeeper aged 40 or over. They will play a total of five games over six days. 

The team includes former Premier League players who are still in good shape, such as Barry Hayles, Deon Burton and Sean Davis, as well as non-league players still playing in their 40s. Newcomers to the squad Jon Challoner and Matt Bodkin are still turning out at Stamford and Chatham, following long careers in both the EFL and the Conference. Another still playing at 45 as player-manager at FC Malpas is former Burnley striker Steve Jones, who along with Ian Cox and Dean West make up a trio of former Clarets favourites in the squad.

Photo of the 2018 winning England team.

England won one of their six titles in 2018.

England has won the cup six times – in 2009, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2023 – and Liam, who used to play football professionally for Hull City FC, believes that 2024 could be added to the roll of honour. He said: 

“The standard of football is high, and we’ll be out there for 10 days in total. We have a strong squad, and I am confident we can win.” 

England first entered the invitational tournament in 2008 with a team of local players called Harrogate Veterans. It has been so successful that the management of the national team has been taken over by the Football Association, but Liam is keeping our district’s connection with the event alive. He said: 

“My family are really excited about the tournament and I look forward to sharing updates with them while I am out there. 

“In many ways the tournament is more than just football. Research shows remaining active as we get older is great for our physical and mental health. Hopefully, the tournament inspires more people to look into joining a local team sport!” 

In addition to the tournament, the competing teams, which include Scotland, Thailand, Germany, Australia, Iran and the USA, will support the “Football for Kids” programme, where players work with schoolchildren, helping them with coaching and sporting activities. Liam said: 

“I am really looking forward to experiencing the culture and having the opportunity to share my love of the game with others. Sport is so important for people’s health and wellbeing.”

The 16th Seniors World Cup will take place in Bangkok from June 3 to 8, 2024.

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Business Q&A: Mona Norman, Fogal & Barnes

This is the latest in a regular series of Business Q&A features published weekly.    

This week, we spoke to Mona Norman, managing director of Fogal & Barnes Fine Jewellers on Cambridge Street in Harrogate. 

Tell us in fewer than 30 words what your firm does. 

Our boutique on Harrogate‘s main shopping street specialises in engagement, wedding and eternity rings, although we’re also increasingly seen as experts in coloured gems, such as sapphires, rubies and emeralds.

What does it require to be successful in business? 

Fantastic customer service. With the internet now you can buy whatever you want online, so why would people come to me? It’s because we come across a bit more approachable and we offer a personal consultation – 90% of the jewellery we sell is bespoke.

That’s partly why we’ve been shortlisted for Bridal Jewellery Retailer of the Year at the UK Jewellery Awards in London in June.

What drives you to do what you do every day? 

I absolutely love what I do – I eat, breathe and sleep it. I’m so passionate about what we do: making dreams come true. When you see a young girl put on an engagement ring that’s all she’s ever wanted, it’s wonderful – and very emotional. I love our little shop.

What has been the toughest issue your company has had to deal with over the last 12 months? 

The cost-of-living crisis. People are taking longer to take decisions to treat themselves. But we stay positive, and we’re confident that things will change. They always do.

Which other local firms do you most admire and why? 

I love the camaraderie between all the jewellers in Harrogate, like Ogdens and I’Ansons. We all do something a little different from each other, and we all try to help each other.

Photo of Mona Norman, managing director of Fogal & Barnes Fine Jewellers of Harrogate, showing off some of the rings she sells.

Who are the most inspiring local leaders? 

My lovely husband, Richard Norman. He does so much for the community and inspires me every day. Giving back to the community is really important to us.

What could be done locally to boost business? 

Harrogate used to be well known for its independent shops, but the other day a visitor to the town said to me, ‘Do you know, yours is the only independent business on the high street?’. The sad thing is that she was right.

We need to chop up some of these big units in the centre of town so that smaller businesses can afford to rent them. After all, why would someone visit Harrogate if there are only big chains here?

There are a few pockets of independent businesses around Harrogate, which is great, but if we don’t use them, we’ll lose them.

Best and worst things about running a business from Harrogate? 

The best thing is all the greenery. We have a beautiful town, and I love living and working here.

The worst thing is that it’s not busy enough. York gets a lot more footfall, and I know it’s a bigger place, but Harrogate’s got a lot to offer too, and we need to emulate York’s success and encourage more out-of-towners to visit.

What are your business plans for the future? 

I work on a five- to 10-year plan. I was going to open more branches, but I changed my mind, so we’re going to keep on doing what we’re doing, in Harrogate. I’m never going to stop working – I just want us to be better and stronger.

What do you like to do on your time off? 

That’s funny – do I get time off?! When I get home, I love to put on Netflix and cook. My favourite meals to make are Middle Eastern, Italian… anything really. I love trying out anything new.

That said, my work is my hobby!

Best place to eat and drink locally?

I love Starling because it’s so laid back and relaxed – and Richard loves the selection of beers. The Little Ale House has a lovely vibe too.

To eat, I love Papa’s on Prince’s Square. It’s a hidden gem with fabulous food and really nice red wine, and it’s not expensive.

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Knaresborough law firm announces move two years after death of founder

Knaresborough law firm Greenwoods Solicitors is to move to the former HSBC bank building on the high street, its owner has said. 

Camilla Greenwood made the announcement yesterday, on the second anniversary of the death of her mother, the firm’s founder, Lynda Greenwood. 

Lynda tragically died in a house fire in 2022, and Camilla has made it her mission to honour her mother’s legacy by making sure the family firm carries on and thrives. 

She told the Stray Ferret: 

“After my mum died, we wanted the high street to know we weren’t going anywhere – the lights were on and we were still at home – but I think the time is right now to move to a bigger space. 

“After 33 years of helping people buy their dream home we are delighted to have done just that ourselves. 

“Even though it’s only a few yards up the road, it feels as if we’ll be far more in the centre of Knaresborough. We’re a community law firm, so it’s right that we should be at the heart of the community.” 

The new premises, at 56 High Street, will have two meeting rooms, separate workspaces for fee-earners and support staff, and a large reception area. It is also all on one level. 

Camilla said: 

“One of our areas of specialism is elderly and vulnerable clients, so it’s important that our premises are accessible to them.” 

Photo of Camilla Greenwood of Knaresborough law firm Greenwoods Solicitors, holding the Triumph Over Adversity award she was presented with at the Women in Business Awards 2024.

Camilla Greenwood with the Triumph Over Adversity award she was presented with at the Women in Business Awards 2024.

The move, which will follow a programme of refurbishment and is expected to be completed before July, is the latest in a series of developments for the firm under Camilla’s leadership. Last year, it overhauled its old offices and took on an extra member of staff, growing the headcount to seven. 

In September, Greenwoods was named Family-Run Business of the Year at the Knaresborough Business Awards; in February, Camilla picked up the Triumph Over Adversity award at the Women in Business Awards; and last month the firm won a Special Recognition award at the Stray Ferret Business Awards. 

Camilla added: 

“It feels like a really positive step to actually own our own premises. We’re the keepers of our own destiny now, and that’s a special thing for the business.” 

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Plan to turn central Harrogate offices into flats

A new planning application in Harrogate has further highlighted the trend towards town centre living. 

An applicant named as Govind wants to turn the offices on the first, second and third floors of 5 Cambridge Road into three flats.

Each apartment will take up a whole floor and have two double bedrooms – one of them with en suite shower room – as well as an open-plan kitchen, living room and dining area. 

The property stands between William Hill and the Cambridge Café, opposite The Den. 

Changing the use of town centre properties from class E – the term used by planners to denote commercial, business and service usage – to C3, residential, has become increasingly common in recent years.

In 2021, the government introduced a new permitted development right  to allow changes from E to C3 without planning permission in most cases.

The aim was to reverse the decline of town and city centres that have experienced an exodus of retailers and company offices in the wake of covid. The increase in online shopping has led to falling footfall on shopping streets and the trend for home-working has resulted in less demand for office space.

The decision on this latest application, which is being handled by agent Elite Dwellings Ltd, will determine whether the conversion falls under the permitted development rules or whether the applicant needs to give prior notification of development.

The consultation period on the application will run until Monday, April 8, and council planning officers aim to make a decision on the case by Friday, May 3. 

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Golfers gather at Rudding Park to meet the President

Golfers from clubs across the Harrogate district and beyond will converge on Rudding Park next month for special annual event organised by the area’s governing body. 

The Meet the President event held by the Harrogate & District Union of Golf Clubs (HDUGC) will see 120 golfers take on Rudding Park’s Hawtree Golf Course – the home course of 2024’s president Phil Kitching – before more than 150 guests attend an evening event at the Rudding Park Hotel. 

Founded in 1943, the HDUGC spans 13 golf clubs, spanning Otley and Ilkley up to Bedale, and Thirsk and Northallerton, as well as all the clubs in Harrogate and Knaresborough, and represents more than 9,000 members at a local, county and national level.    

Attendees at the event on Friday, April 26 will include the captains and lady captains of all 13 HDUGC clubs, as well as officials from five other Yorkshire inter-district unions. 

Matt Wharldall, of Rudding Park Golf Club, said: 

“The HDUGC runs 44 events throughout the year, and this one is the only one that is by invitation only.  

“This year’s Meet the President event promises to be the best yet. As well as the usual breakfast, golf, barbecue and President’s speech, this year we’ll be holding an auction and raffle to raise funds for junior golf.” 

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Council applies for cash from chewing gum firms

The drive to clean chewing gum off the county’s streets has taken a step forward following a decision by North Yorkshire Council. 

The local authority has agreed to apply for a grant of up to £27,500 from Keep Britain Tidy to purchase specialist chewing gum removal equipment. 

Keep Britain Tidy is administering the grants on behalf of the Chewing Gum Task Force, which brings together some of the UK’s major chewing gum producers, including Mars Wrigley, which makes Orbit and Extra, and Italian-Dutch firm Perfetti Van Melle, best known as the maker of Fruit-tella and Smint, in a partnership to remove gum litter from UK high streets and prevent future littering. 

Participating firms have pledged to invest up to £10 million over five years to achieve two objectives: cleaning up staining caused by gum and changing behaviour so that more people bin their gum. This is the third year that grants have been available, but this is the first time that North Yorkshire Council has applied for a grant from the fund.

The grants are supplemented by fully-funded gum litter prevention packages for each council, including targeted behaviour change signage and advice, designed and produced by social enterprise Behaviour Change. 

Last year, 55 councils across the UK benefitted from the grant fund, and the £1.65 million distributed helped clean more than 100 acres of urban streets.

By combining targeted street-cleansing with specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum, participating councils have seen reductions in gum littering of up to 80% in the first two months, with a reduced rate of gum littering still being observed after six months.

However bad North Yorkshire’s gum problem is, many other places have it far worse. Mexico City, for example, employs an army of full-time gum-cleaners, and New York – dubbed the “gum splotch capital of the world” by the New York Times – has been waging a well-publicised but losing war against discarded gum since the 1930s. Singapore even banned chewing gum in 1992, and people spitting it out onto the street risk fines of up to $1,000.

North Yorkshire Council’s decision to apply for the grant was only approved by the its Corporate Director, Environment and Assistant Director, Resources on Wednesday (March 27), but the deadline for grant applications to Keep Britain Tidy fell at midday today.

The Stray Ferret has asked North Yorkshire Council whether the deadline was met.

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What the UK’s top climate scientist wants from the next governmentRipon indies prepare for Easter bank holiday street party

Small independent businesses in Ripon are hoping to “blow the roof off” the city on Monday with an Easter bank holiday street party, organisers say. 

From 10am to 4pm, the day will feature artisan sellers, street food and live music, all designed to raise the city’s profile as a thriving cultural centre. 

The event will be part of the Totally Locally scheme and is supported by Ripon Business Improvement District (BID). All BID members will have £10 offers on the day. 

The event, which will be centred on the south side of Market Place, has been organised by Richard Hughes, owner of Manchega, the Spanish tapas restaurant on Kirkgate, and Paul Page, owner of street food vendor Squid & Tonic. 

Richard told the Stray Ferret: 

“Grassroots independent businesses like ours are at the sharp end of interacting with visitors, and we want to work together to raise the level of what Ripon has to offer. 

“Events like this really showcase the city and help to promote our great independent businesses. We’re looking to blow the roof off Ripon!” 

Manchega and Squid & Tonic will be joined on Monday by food providers including The Portly Pig, Prima, Mario’s Restaurant 27, Syrian Street Food and Jaflong, which last month was named Bangladeshi Restaurant of the Year at the National Curry Awards. 

The day’s soundtrack will be provided by a range of acts on two stages, including Time Machine, Knaresborough Vista Social Club, Jack & Amy, Mark Truelove, Freddie Cleary, Paul Astley, Ukrainian violinist Nadia Violin and Ripon’s own All For One Choir.  

Richard said: 

“We’re very excited. North Yorkshire Growth Hub have told us there are more independent businesses per head in Ripon than in any other town or city in the UK. We’re inviting the whole community to help us celebrate that.” 

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What the UK’s top climate scientist wants from the next government

There can’t be many people whose grasp of environmental issues is broader than Professor Piers Forster’s. Locally, he’s patron of Zero Carbon Harrogate and has campaigned against the expansion of Harrogate Spring Water’s bottling plant, but in his day job he operates at a different scale altogether.  

He’s professor of climate physics at the University of Leeds and director of the university’s Priestley Centre for Climate Futures, and since 2018 he’s also been interim chair of the government’s Climate Change Committee (CCC), representing the UK at the COP28 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai last year. As a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), he was instrumental in getting the world to aim for a global warming limit of 1.5°C and helped persuade the UK government to adopt its Net Zero 2050 target.

One week he can be talking about saving saplings in Rotary Wood, the next he’ll be advising on global carbon reduction targets.

When the Stray Ferret spoke to him at his home in Harrogate, he’d just got back from Oslo; in a couple of months he’ll be off to Bonn, in December it’s Azerbaijan, and at some point he expects to go to Beijing for bilateral talks with the Chinese government’s advisers. 

The irony of someone with his brief jetting off around the world is not lost on him. He said: 

“I fly for work because I’m an international climate scientist, but I am now more conscious of whether I really have to get on an aeroplane. 

“I’m not at all perfect, but I have become more conscious of my green carbon footprint over time. We have an old diesel car. We could have an electric car, but I don’t drive the car at all, really. I drive it once every four months. 

“I walk into town, I take public transport to work at the University of Leeds and go down to Westminster on the train. I walk to the supermarket to get the exercise. 

“My wife’s Australian and going back there has a big carbon footprint, but I do not think that preventing people from going to see their family around the world or escape the wet, dreary winter… I think it’d be very difficult to say ‘You can’t do that’.” 

It is this sense of pragmatism – a practical approach rooted in an appreciation of the world as it is – that politicians across the spectrum value, and is perhaps why Prof Forster is still in post at the CCC six years after he was appointed to it temporarily. 

He also appears to be a glass-half-full kind of climate scientist, a tendency that always goes down better than doom-mongering, which inevitably implies reducing services or spending more money. 

He said: 

“We see wildfires in Portugal and Spain and we’re beginning to see them coming to this country now. We’ve had incredibly high temperatures in Canada, we had huge fires sweeping across California, and they shut down Silicon Valley for a bit. We’ve seen drought in China that meant they couldn’t supply water to their industries, so they had to shut them down for a bit too.

“If you look at the UK, we get off better than virtually any other country, and yet we’ve had by far the wettest winter ever recorded. Flooding is the greatest threat for us.

“But I’m an optimist. I think we have the ability to stop this. We’re not on track, of course, to hit our targets, but we’re also not completely off track. With concerted effort we can get back on track.

“We ought to be able to build more resilient infrastructure, and there’s opportunity now with the whole Net Zero transition thing, with brand-new grid and energy storage and offshore and onshore wind, or onshore solar. We do have the opportunity to try and make our towns and countryside more resilient.”

Photo of Harrogate resident Professor Piers Forster, who is interim chair of the government's Climate Change Committee, at the meeting in Incheon, South Korea, to approve the ​IPCC's 1.5C report in 2018.

Prof Piers Forster at the meeting in Incheon, South Korea, to approve the ​IPCC’s 1.5°C report in 2018.

While the benefits to the environment of developing a more sustainable economy are clear, he says that there are business opportunities that could further incentivise their development. He said: 

“It’s going to be challenging for the SMEs – they’re going to struggle with all the red tape, so we have to try and make it easy and support them to change. But for our other industries, especially the financial-type service industries, there are big opportunities, not only to support decarbonisation here, but also decarbonisation around the world, for example, we can reduce the cost of borrowing to build renewable energy in, say, Nigeria.” 

A prerequisite of Prof Forster’s CCC role is that he remains broadly apolitical, lest the credibility of his advice be compromised by perceived partiality.

But he does worry that, faced with the apparently conflicting priorities of high office, governments often tend to do far less than they say they do. For example, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, recently said that government plans to build new gas-fired power stations were in line with the recommendations of the CCC, which has said a “small amount” of gas generation without carbon capture is compatible with a decarbonised power system.

Prof Forster said:

“That’s technically correct, but it’s all about the quantities. We need to talk about the trajectories. In the 2035 timeframe he spoke about – that’s only a 10-year timeframe – we think there’ll be instances where we do need to get a little bit of electricity generation from gas. But if you look at the quantities of it, its tiny. It’s only about 1 or 2% of the country’s energy supply. So it does almost completely disappear by our 2035 target. After that time, we expect to go completely to renewables potentially, but that will take a bit more time. Basically, the amount of gas we need in this country is expected to decline, and decline very significantly.”

Taking the difficult decisions on climate change is not something every government is willing to do, but which one would be best placed – or most able – to do that is not something that Prof Forster, as arguably the country’s foremost climate scientist, can comment on. But he said: 

“I can’t say which party would be best for the environment, but I definitely would say that whichever party gets in, they have to get on with it.  

“What I’m a bit worried about currently is the things that need to be done. For example, we had an announcement just recently saying that they’re going to delay the clean heat market mechanism. This is to make air-source heat-pumps much more attractive compared with gas boilers, and just by delaying it and trying to call for one more consultation, it kicks the whole thing slightly into the long grass. Quite a lot of things are being kicked into the long grass.  

“Exactly the same thing is happening with bio-energy and carbon capture, with a big pipeline going into the North Sea.  

“On these very big decisions, we need to see a government that is bold enough to do it.” 

Those “very big decisions” span a wide range of policy areas. In agriculture, he’d like to see less farmland given over to cattle and more reforested, in housing he’d like all newbuilds to be fitted with an air-source heat-pump to head off the necessity of retrofitting them in 20 years’ time, and he’d like HS2 and the Trans-Pennine high-speed lines built too. He said: 

“Whatever big infrastructure the government can build that is sustainable is a really good thing to do.

“Remember all the fuss about building the Channel Tunnel, and how much it cost? We can’t survive without it now, and that is a really good thing for our economy, ultimately. These things are worth it.” 

He adds: 

“You have to come up with a solution that works for everyone. You have to be quite pragmatic, and I think the more we can be based on the evidence and the more we can try and take the political shenanigans out of it, I think that is ultimately the way to get to where you want to go.” 

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Business Q&A: Simon Taylor, Boroughbridge Marina

This is the latest in a regular series of Business Q&A features published weekly.   

This week, we spoke to Simon Taylor, owner of Boroughbridge Marina.

Tell us in fewer than 30 words what your firm does. 

We offer a full range of boating services, including equipment and boat sales, repairs, maintenance and mooring. Basically, anything to do with a boat.

What does it require to be successful in business? 

Flexibility is the biggest thing at the minute. And understanding – you’ve got to have understanding for each other’s needs, because not everybody wants the same thing.

What drives you to do what you do every day? 

I just enjoy running the business. I like looking after the customers and seeing people enjoying the marina. I like knowing that it’s their choice to be here, to use the marina in a capacity where they’re enjoying being here.

What has been the toughest issue your company has had to deal with over the last 12 months? 

The weather. Over the summer we had some good weather, but through the winter flooding made life very tough. The marina is obviously at a low point geographically, and if it rains heavily up in Wensleydale, the Ure floods and we get it. That also prevents people from coming down here and getting to their boats.

A large part of what we do is online sales, and we’ve felt the pinch there too. Usually, people spend money on their boats through the winter so they’ll be ready for the summer, but this year it’s been very quiet and people are only just starting to turn their attention to their boats. I think it’s due to the financial situation – people are trying to save money where they can.

Also, when we came out of covid, we all wanted to get out and enjoy being outdoors, and lot of people bought boats. But that means that most of the people who were going to get one have now got one, and the market’s dried up a bit. There are a lot of boats standing idle in garages, without any money being spent on them.

Photo of Simon Taylor, owner of Boroughbridge Marina standing by a jetty with moored boats in the background.

Which other local firms do you most admire and why? 

Newby Hall always seem to have a good way of marketing their experiences. They’ve got a really varied, year-round range of activities on offer – I sometimes feel a little envious of that!

Who are the most inspiring local leaders? 

Anybody in the hospitality trade is inspirational to me, because it’s such a difficult business to operate in. It’s so up and down. I take my hat off to them.

What could be done locally to boost business? 

We get a 75% rate relief because we’re classed as a retail and leisure business. That’s a huge help, and I hope it continues.

Best and worst things about running a business from the Harrogate district? 

The best thing is the fact that we’ve got some really great customers. In fact, we’ve made some good friends through our customers. Also, I love the fact that people use our business for their pleasure. People enjoy being at the marina.

What are your business plans for the future? 

We’re looking at buying the marina from our landlord, the Canal & River Trust. They offered it to us for sale, and all I have to do is raise the funds. I’m hoping to have bought it within the next 12 months.

What do you like to do on your time off? 

My ‘go to’ is motorsport. I’ve got a little Peugeot 205 and do a bit of rally-driving and co-driving. The last one I did – and the biggest one to date – was a five-day event in November that took us through England, Scotland and Wales.

Best place to eat and drink locally? 

I like the Grantham Arms in Boroughbridge – the food there is very good. And in York, we often end up going back to the Cut & Craft, where they look after you really well, and serve superb steaks at sensible prices.

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