Ripon is preparing for a bank holiday street party after Knaresborough took centre stage yesterday.
Knaresborough Spring Fayre saw thousands of people visit the sun-bathed Market Place.
The activities included a free petting farm, a free craft tent, fairground rides, a spring window competition, a magician and an appearance by the Easter bunny.
It was the second time the spring fayre has been staged by Knaresborough Business Collective, which was set up by a group of small businesses to make the town centre more vibrant.
Yesterday’s event certainly had the town buzzing for the entire six hours from 10am to 4pm.
Collective member Natalie Horner said:
“It was such a brilliant day and a huge success for both the event itself and the shops in town too.
“The weather was lovely and it was so nice to see so much community spirit and joy in town.”
The Nailery won the spring window competition.
The forecast looks a little less kind for tomorrow’s street party on Kirkgate in Ripon, but spirits will no doubt be equally high.
Kirkgate will be closed to traffic from 10am to 4pm while residents and visitors enjoy live music, al fresco dining and entertainment.
The event is part of the Totally Locally scheme being adopted by traders and Ripon Business Improvement District to encourage people to spend with independent businesses in the city.
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‘The council have destroyed 99 years of model boats in Harrogate’
A new fountain in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens has effectively ended a century of model boating, according to the club that has used it for decades.
Claro Marine model boating club pleaded with Harrogate Borough Council to halt the £6,000 installation of the fountain in the boating pond near the cafe.
It said water from the fountain would damage the boats’ engines and jeopardise their hobby.
But the council, which was abolished a week ago, pressed ahead and the fountain was switched on a few days ago.
The pond has been used for model boating for 99 years.
Cub secretary Dave Finnegan, 69, told the Stray Ferret he was “very sad” because it spelled the end of a pastime he had pursued since childhood.
Mr Finnegan said:
“The council have destroyed 99 years of model boats in Harrogate. They will not listen.”
The club, he said, had been told the fountain would be situated in the deep end but it was actually in the middle of the pond, creating more of an obstacle.
The fountain is expected to operate from 9.30am to 6pm each day.
Mr Finnegan said:
“Even if switched off, the fountain is an underwater object to hit or go aground on.
“How do you get a boat back if it’s in the middle of the pond? I will not be sailing in Valley Gardens.
“I would like to thank all the visitors to the pond while I have been sailing for their kind comments and questions.”
The fountain has created an obstacle in the middle of the pond.
Mr Finnegan said the club was now trying to find another pond in the Harrogate area.
Alison Wilson, head of parks and environment services at Harrogate Borough Council, previously told the club:
“As the body [of the fountain] consists of a base and jets there is little infrastructure involved. Once in place, we will consider any protection required to ensure there is no damage to the jets from boats and vice versa.
“We do not wish to curtail your clubs activities, simply make the area more attractive and usable at other times of the week”.
Read more:
- Model boating must continue, says Friends of Valley Gardens
- Model boaters in Valley Gardens call for public support to stop fountain
‘Intense’ talks to save Ripon firm Farmison after buyout collapses
Intense negotiations are taking place over the bank holiday weekend to save one of Ripon’s largest employers .
Premium meat retailer Farmison & Co ceased trading on Thursday and entered administration. Most of the 92 staff were made redundant.
All items on the company’s website are currently listed as ‘out of stock’.
Farmison co-founder John Pallagi told the Stray Ferret he was talking to a consortium led by two Yorkshire businessmen about a management buyout.
It comes after buyout talks with another online butcher, Tom Hixson of Smithfield, fell through.
Mr Pallagi said:
“I hope to have some news by the end of the long weekend.
“Farmison isn’t trading at the moment but I haven’t given up hope. We are an amazing business and this is a great opportunity.
“We have half a million people on our database and an established UK brand that has won many awards. There’s every reason to keep this company alive.”
Mr Pallagi said last night he had been engaged in 48 hours of exhausting talks with the potential new owners after administrators FRP took control of the company on Maundy Thursday.
He said the firm had serviced all orders that had been placed and a “small working team” remained on site to deal with any unresolved issues.
Read more:
- 90 jobs at stake as struggling Ripon firm Farmison seeks buyer
- Kirkgate to close for Easter street party in Ripon
Last year Mr Pallagi sold Farmison, whose customers include Harrods and Fortnum & Mason, to Scottish private investors Inverleith LLP.
He remained as chief executive and a new three-year business plan was agreed. But when the plan faltered he approached Ripon and Skipton Conservative MP Julian Smith and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for help.
Mr Pallagi said:
“I’m a fighter. I’ve been in this business for 21 years and I’m confident we can turn around this wrong turn that we’ve taken.”
Mr Pallagi started Farmison to work with local farmers and encourage people to ‘eat better meat’.
Despite sales doubling to £12m in 2021, the company then made a loss of £2.6m.
Harrogate’s Finlay Bean scores first century of county cricket season
Harrogate-born Finlay Bean has scored the first century of the county cricket season while playing for Yorkshire.
Bean, 20, made headlines last year when he scored 441 for Yorkshire second XI — the highest score in second X1 championship history.
At the time he didn’t have a professional contract and played for York Cricket Club but he was subsequently signed by Yorkshire and made his first class debut against Lancashire in September.
Bean, who studied at Ripon Grammar School and Queen Ethelburga’s, scored 118 off 149 balls against Leicestershire in the opening day of the first fixture of the year at Headingley.
The four-day match is still ongoing.
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Harrogate village cricket pavilion destroyed in suspected arson attack
Arsonists are believed to have destroyed a cricket pavilion in a village near Harrogate.
Firefighters from Harrogate and Knaresborough were called to Weeton Lane in Weeton at 8.40pm last night to reports of a shed fire.
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s incident log added:
“On arrival this was found to be a wooden cricket pavilion which was completely destroyed. Crews used one hose reel to extinguish the fire.”
The incident log did not give a cause of fire but villagers have reported seeing youths fleeing from the scene.
The cricket club in Weeton folded years ago and the pavilion had fallen into a state of disrepair.
Some frustrated villagers are keen to mount a campaign to restore the site to community use.
Man’s hand burned
In a separate incident later last night, Harrogate firefighters responded at 10.30pm to a smoke alarm going off in a house on Olive Grove in Harrogate.
The incident log said:
“This involved a candle which is believed to have been left unattended, causing smouldering to surrounding surface.
“One male suffered burns to his hand, received treatment from fire crew and will make his own way to hospital. Crew also ventilated property. Burn pack used.”
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- Harrogate’s most eye-catching cricketers set for another season
Harrogate’s most eye-catching cricketers set for another season
As another cricket season gets underway, a team from Harrogate is set to begin its 24th consecutive season with a virtually unchanged line-up.
The players are only about a foot tall and have been in a few scrapes but they remain undefeated.
Thousands of people see them each year in the garden of Kenneth and Lesley Simpson on Knaresborough Road, opposite the One Stop shop.
The statues of eight players, two batsmen, an umpire, a sight screen and a pavilion are often admired by passers-by and have become such a landmark some bus passengers ask for tickets to ‘the cricket pitch garden’ as it’s more memorable than the name of the bus stops.
Kenneth, however, has a confession to make — he’s not a big cricket fan. He’s more of a football man, who supports Leeds United and is a former referee.
He is, however, a canny Yorkshireman who created the design as an easy way to maintain his garden. He said:
“We were going to put a football pitch in but because all the statues of players we could find had balls underneath their arms, it wouldn’t have looked right.”
The view from behind the bowler’s arm
Lesley noticed some statues of cricketers at the Harrogate Flower Show and when she spotted some more on holiday in Skegness they had enough for a display.
Over the years two have been vandalised — one was repaired but the other was too badly damaged and had to be replaced. Kenneth, who has lived in the house for 54 years, said:
“Someone took them down Knaresborough Road and didn’t realise how heavy they are.”
All the statues are now fixed into the concrete. Kenneth paints them every other year but the hardest job is cleaning the green grass that passes as the pitch.
One day a member of Marylebone Cricket Club passed by and was so taken by what he saw that he returned days later with the sight screen, which he made. Many have stopped to take photos and compliment the couple.
Lesley said:
“It’s surprising how many people stop and say ‘what a lovely garden you have’.”
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Harrogate’s Rachel Daly on target as England win Finalissima
Harrogate-born striker Rachel Daly scored in the penalty shootout as England beat Brazil to win the Finalissima last night.
The match, in front of 83,000 fans at Wembley and broadcast live in ITV, saw Euro 22 champions England take on Copa America winners Brazil.
England led 1-0 at half-time but Brazil pounced on a goalkeeping error in injury time to take the match to penalties.
With the score at 1-1, Daly — who came on as a substitute in the 73rd minute — put England ahead with a powerful drive and the Lionesses went on to win 4-2.
They are now unbeaten in 30 matches.
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‘Unforeseen circumstances’ delay Oak Beck Bridge replacement — again
A starting date for a £1 million scheme to replace Oak Beck Bridge in Harrogate has still to be set.
North Yorkshire County Council planned to begin work in January last year after saying the current bridge on Skipton Road was in poor condition.
But in June last year, council bridges manager Philip Richardson said the scheme had been delayed due to “unforeseen circumstances” and it was still in talks with Yorkshire Water.
Ten months on, the Stray Ferret asked North Yorkshire Council, which has replaced the county council, for an update.
In a statement that was identical in parts to the one issued last year, Mr Richardson said:
“We realise the importance of replacing Oak BeckBridge. Unfortunately, we have not been able to progress the scheme as quickly as we would have liked due to unforeseen circumstances.
“We are currently in discussions with Yorkshire Water about diverting a sewer to make way for the project. Please be assured that we will begin work as soon as we are able.”
The volume of traffic using Skipton Road is expected to increase after Tesco was granted planning permission to build a supermarket at the nearby junction of Skipton Road and Ripon Road.
When it was awarded the £1.1 million contract to demolish the bridge and build a new one, Leeds-based Howard Civil Engineering said the project would take 24 weeks.
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- ‘Unforeseen circumstances’ delays start of Oak Beck Bridge scheme
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Key witness in Trump court case used to run Harrogate media firm
A key witness in Donald Trump’s court case used to run a media company in Harrogate.
David Pecker was chief executive of American Media Inc in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential elections. Court documents say he agreed to be the “eyes and ears” for the Trump campaign to prevent negative stories.
AMI owned the tabloid National Enquirer and was at the heart of the ‘catch and kill’ policy in which it paid hush money to bury stories to protect the former president. Trump is alleged to have falsified accounts when paying back the money.
Adult entertainer Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who both claim to have had affairs with Mr Trump, received payments.
AMI acquired Weider Publications, an international fitness and bodybuilding media company with offices at Windsor Court in Harrogate, in 2003.
The Harrogate business, which was run by an American, employed about 30 people and published European and Australian editions of the market-leading magazines Muscle&Fitness and Flex. It also ran a mail order business.
Mr Pecker kept a close eye on developments in Harrogate and often summoned staff from the town to America for business meetings.
He authorised the decision to close the Harrogate office in 2015 and sent a message to staff thanking them on their final day. The building, in the shadow of Windsor House, was later converted to flats.
Windsor Court has been converted from offices to flats.
Despite being a major player in US media circles, Mr Pecker keeps a low media profile so his testimony is eagerly anticipated.
Ryan Goodman, a former special counsel at the Department of Defense, tweeted this week that “David Pecker is going to be a star witness”.
Trump is alleged to have falsified records “to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election”.
He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsification of business records and claims Judge Juan Merchan “hates” him.
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- Tim Stedman to star in Harrogate Theatre panto again
Tim Stedman to star in Harrogate Theatre panto again
Panto legend Tim Stedman will return to Harrogate for the 23rd time this Christmas.
Harrogate Theatre announced today Mr Stedman will play Idle Jack in Dick Whittington.
The production will run from November 22 to January 14. Tickets are already on sale.
Mr Stedman’s first appearance at the Victorian theatre on Oxford Street was in Sleeping Beauty in 2000. Since then he has become a huge favourite.
A Harrogate Theatre spokesperson said:
“Stay tuned as we release more information on the cast and creative team throughout the year.”
The spokesperson added this year’s production would be “packed with sparkle, silliness, and side-splitting jokes”.
You can book online here or via the box office on 01423502116.
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