Suzannah Rogerson, Author at The Stray Ferret

£7.8 million awarded to help make Harrogate Bus Company’s fleet all-electric

Harrogate Bus Company and North Yorkshire County Council have been awarded £7.8 million as part of a joint bid to make the firm’s fleet all-electric with the delivery of 39 zero-emission buses.

The project will cost almost £20 million in total, with around £11.5 million being invested by Transdev – the French parent firm of Harrogate Bus Company.

It will see 20 single-decker and 19 double-decker buses provided over the next three years, as well as the supporting charging infrastructure.

All the new vehicles will have next stop announcements, USB power and free Wi-Fi.

The joint bid was originally made for more than £8 million, and the £7.8 million received will be used to improve vehicles on routes, including the high-profile 36 from Ripon through Harrogate to Leeds.

The money is coming from the government’s £200 million Zero Emission Bus Regional Area fund, which is delivering almost 1,000 new buses across the country – including 221 in Yorkshire.

Criticism of Harrogate’s level of funding

Councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at North Yorkshire County Council, said the successful bid signalled the authority’s intent to foster a more environmentally-friendly generation of public transport.

His comments follow repeated criticism against the county council over its high proportion of bids for travel-related funding being focused on Harrogate, due to the town being the largest centre of population.

When asked if other areas of the county would see similar schemes, Cllr Mackenzie said:

“Clearly we would be keen to convert all buses that are used in North Yorkshire eventually to electric.”

Earlier this month, Cllr Mackenzie also said he was “confident” that Harrogate would still be able to trial a park and ride service despite funding cuts to a separate government scheme.

The Bus Back Better initiative is seen as key to the government’s “levelling up” agenda, but has seen its funding more than halved from £3 billion to £1.4 billion.

New bus lanes

North Yorkshire County Council has bid for £116 million from the scheme to fund its Bus Service Improvement Plan, which also includes new bus lanes, more cash support for services and other upgrades across the county.

However, Cllr Mackenzie previously said it was unlikely that the county council would get “anything near” the full amount it bid for. He added:

“Even if we get reduced funding – which is likely – I’m confident there will be money for the various interventions we want to make in Harrogate, including a pilot for a park and ride.”

The county council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan includes £23 million for new bus lanes, £74 million for other infrastructure changes and £14 million for support for bus services.

There is also an aim to increase the 12.1 million passenger journeys in North Yorkshire in the year to March 2019 to 14.3 million journeys by 2030.

Harrogate Hydro renovations a long-term gain, says diving club

Harrogate District Diving Club has said the looming nine-month closure of Harrogate Hydro will be worth the short-term disruption.

The club, which has more than 50 members and helped produce Olympic champion Jack Laugher, faces the prospect of not being able to return to its home pool until next year. The Hydro is due to close for major refurbishment on April 8.

Some divers will train at other venues, including Shipley diving pool. Others will stop training altogether until the Hydro reopens. Since the announcement of the Hydro’s closure two divers have left the club.

Divers can also use Jennyfield Styan Community Centre for dry land sessions using a full size diving board. These sessions allow divers to dive off the board onto a crash mat.

Harrogate Hydro, Jennyfield Drive.

The diving boards have not been in use since November 2020 due to structural problems.

The renovation work will include new diving facilities at the same heights as before. Club chair Leanne Jalland said:

“We welcome the closure and renovations, whilst it is not ideal to be away from the pool in the short-term. The current diving facilities were at the end of their life and needed to be replaced.

“A little short-term disruption without a pool while the new diving facilities are being rebuilt is worth it because the new facilities secure the future of diving in Harrogate for a few more decades.”

Ms Jalland added the club had been preparing for a loss in funds due to the work and had secured funding from Sport England to fund hiring space at other diving venues.

She said:

“We are passionate about introducing more children in our community to diving and while the Hydro is closed that will not stop. Considering that during the start of the pandemic we only had a dozen divers left, we’ve managed to grow the club considerably during a difficult time period with limited facilities and resources.

“So imagine what we can do with our new facility. We can’t wait for next year, the future is looking bright for our club.”

The £11.8 million refurbishment will give the Hydro a new two-storey extension, entrance, cafe and reception area.

There will also be a new fitness suite and the changing areas will be upgraded.

Mark Tweedie, managing director of Brimhams Active, which Harrogate Borough Council set up last year to run its leisure facilities, said the plan was to reopen the pool first in nine months time.

Up to 300 athletes set to take part in Harrogate Triathlon

Harrogate Triathlon will return on May 8 — and as many as 300 people could take part.

The triathlon, which will take place in the grounds of Ashville College, has been going for about 10 years and new event director Paul Sykes hopes it will get bigger each year.

The most recent event, in September 2021, saw an increased number of participants after a covid hiatus. Harrogate Tri Club, which organises the event, hopes to capitalise on the eagerness of people to get back into events after lockdowns.

Mr Sykes said:

“Triathlon is one of the fastest growing sports in the UK and our sprint and GO TRI distance events are perfect for anyone who is curious about or new to the sport. We have a great venue at Ashville College, and this year’s event will be bigger than ever as we will be hosting an under-18s event for the first time.

“It promises to be a great family day out and I’d really encourage people to either sign up or come along and spectate if they’re at all curious.”

The event is run by Harrogate Tri Club volunteers. Photograph: Harrogate Tri Club

The main event is the sprint triathlon, which involves a 420m pool swim, 24km bike ride and a 4.6km run. The run goes along Green Lane and Yew Tree Lane whereas the bike ride takes participants towards Beckwithshaw.

The second event, called a GO TRI, is aimed at people who are less confident about tackling the sprint triathlon. It consists of a 180m swim, 12km bike ride and a 2.3km run.

There is also an event for juniors, aged 8 to 18-years-old, which ranges in distances depending on age.

The Tri Club, which organises the event, said the event was set up in 2012 following the London Olympics.

There will be stands from multiple brands including Harrogate’s Cold Bath Brewery and OTE Nutrition from Leeds.

Boroughbridge volunteers needed to man initiative to reduce surplus food

Volunteers are being urged to come forward to help run Boroughbridge Community Larder — a new initiative in which surplus food is given away for free.

The community initiative, set up by Boroughbridge Lions and Boroughbridge Community Care, will stock surplus food from local shops, households and allotments which is then available for people to take home for free, regardless of means.

The main aim of the set-up is to reduce food waste.

The larder will be open on a Wednesday afternoon but organisers say more volunteers are needed to offer their time before it can open.

After an appeal on the Stray Ferret last October, Boroughbridge Methodist Church offered one of its church rooms for use. The room will have shelving for vegetables and dried goods, a fridge and two freezers.

Lions member Sue Johnson said:

“People can drop off any surplus food they have as long as it is within the best before and use by dates. For example, allotment owners might have a glut of courgettes in the summer, likewise people who have fruit trees might have lots left over which we would be more than happy to accept.

“The whole idea behind it is to stop and reduce food wastage because sending food to landfill creates methane which is bad for the climate.”

Any food that isn’t taken on a Wednesday afternoon will either be frozen, given to farmers for animal feed or, once organised, given to schools for breakfast clubs.

The community larder project is being run in partnership with Hubbub which runs 200 similar schemes across the UK. It has also received £1,000 from North Yorkshire County Council.

Ms Johnson added most of the food will be coming from Morrisons at first but she hopes local coffee shops and bakers in Boroughbridge get involved.

Ms Johnson has asked anyone who can help to email bbrlions@hotmail.com.

Stray Gardener: The golden rules to growing tomatoes

The Stray Gardener is written by Rudding Park’s Kitchen Gardener, Fiona Slight. Fiona has worked in horticulture for more than 30 years in the UK and abroad, and specialises in growing fruit and vegetables for fine dining. This month, Fiona gives her golden rules for growing tomatoes.

I was 13 years old when I grew my first tomato plants, after inheriting a glasshouse when we moved into a new house. I was coached in what I thought was the secret art of tomato growing, by a lovely old man who lived around the corner. In fact, if you just stick to a few simple rules, tomatoes are really easy to grow, and the rewards when the fruit are ready are well worth the trouble.

The golden rules to growing tomatoes:

Don’t sow the seed too early, unless you have a heated glasshouse with lights and automatic ventilators it is far better to wait until late March, early April when they will grow far more successfully. Tomatoes hate getting cold. (They really do sulk!)

Choose between cordon or bush varieties, cordons need to be trained up canes, tied in, and the side shoots removed to stop them branching out and to focus the effort into flowers and fruit. Bush varieties don’t need to be trained and will grow well in a pot or hanging basket. The seed packet will tell you which they are.

Golden Sun tomatoes

Grow the plants in a good multi-purpose compost, or you can get special tomato growing bags with the compost ready mixed.

Water regularly and try to avoid giving the plants too little and too much water. Tomatoes are very sensitive to fluctuations in moisture.

Feed once a week when the first fruit has set with a high potassium fertiliser. There are some very good organic tomato fertilisers available.

Try to keep the temperature around 16 degrees as tomatoes really do resent being too cold and too hot.

If you are growing tomatoes in a greenhouse, get the doors and ventilators open during the day to encourage in pollinating insects for a bumper crop of fruit. You can also spend a little time in the middle of the day, gently tapping the plants to get them to release their pollen (a very satisfying job, honestly!)

Tomatoes growing in a polytunnel

As mentioned before, cordon tomatoes need to be trained. They can either be grown and tied into canes, or can be grown up string that can be would round the plant as it grows upwards. Both ways work well, and as long as the plants have their side shoots removed regularly, they stay tidy and produce a good number of flowers (just make sure you don’t remove the growing tip as this would stop the plant growing any taller and possibly means you would lose out on more flowers and consequently more fruit).

In most cases, once you reach around six trusses it is worth taking out the growing tip then, to allow the plant to put its energy into fruit production before the weather starts to get cooler and the day length gets shorter. Bush plants are much easier just give them room to grow and they will get on with it.

Multiple varieties of tomatoes.

By the end of July you will start to get fruit ripening and all the hard work will suddenly become worth it. Until I grew my own tomatoes, I would refuse to eat them as I thought they tasted vile. That is when I realised why, they were not allowed to ripen properly on the plant. A fully ripened tomato picked straight from the plant, that is still warm, is a thing of beauty.

Go on, get sowing!

Fiona’s Five Top Tips for April:

1. Sow seed indoors for courgettes, marrows, pumpkins and squashes at the end of the month.

2. If possible, protect fruit blossom from late frosts.

3. April is the perfect month to sow a wildflower meadow.

4. Loosen any tree ties to avoid them becoming too tight over the growing season.

5. Sow hardy annual flowers for a colourful summer season.

Ex-chairman of Starbeck Bowling Club admits stealing £3,334

The former chairman of Starbeck Bowling Club has pleaded guilty to stealing more than £3,000 from the organisation.

Donald Palmer, 70, of Eleanor Drive, Harrogate, volunteered to carry out work on footpaths at the club in 2019.

He was given multiple signed, blank cheques to buy materials but used them for his own benefit.

At Harrogate Magistrates Court yesterday, Palmer admitted stealing £3,334 between November 15 and December 13, 2019.

He was ordered to pay back the sum at a rate of £140 a month and escaped further punishment.

Solicitor David Dedman, representing Palmer, said his client had taken “advantage” of the club’s trust and was sorry for his actions. He said:

“This is a tricky case for a number of reasons. Mr Palmer voluntarily did the works at the club. He agrees he took the money, he was given blank, signed cheques and took advantage of this. The club benefitted and lost as a result of his actions.

“He is 70, has never been in trouble and lives off his state pension. I would ask we deal with this here rather than going to crown court.”

Magistrate Christopher Harrison agreed it was difficult to reach a verdict. He told Pamler:

“We’ve taken into account your guilty plea, good character and that you have no criminal history and the probability of you troubling a court again is unlikely. We are going to give you a compensation order to pay the £3,334.51 back to the club.”

‘A shame it came to this’

Club secretary Steve Day told the Stray Ferret after the hearing he noticed funds had “dwindled” when he received a bank statement.

He said when the money wasn’t reimbursed, the club decided to take action.

Mr Day added:

“We are pleased it has been resolved, it was just a shame it had to come to this. Mr Palmer was chairman and first team captain and was always very supportive of the club.”

The club, situated next to Starbeck Baths, dates back to 1920 and has eight league teams.

Knaresborough survey reveals key issues for local people

Speeding, mental health and activities for young people are among the main issues concerning Knaresborough residents, according to a new survey platform.

Multiple town groups set up Knaresborough Voice this year to give local people the opportunity to discuss what matters to them. With devolution looming, the groups wanted a platform for people to discuss where investment in the town should go.

Knaresborough Chamber of Trade, Knaresborough Connectors and North Yorkshire County Council are among those supporting the venture.

The platform uses technology called Polis – an artificial intelligence-driven software designed to find communities’ complex views.

People offer anonymous responses or agree and disagree with other people’s statements on certain topics.

Three conversations so far

So far, the platform has been used to start three conversations:

What’s most important in making Knaresborough an even better place to live and work?
Should there be a default speed limit of 20mph – rather than 30mph – in the town and in residential areas?
The state of mental health in the area after the two years of covid.

The conversation about what’s most important in Knaresborough is the first to be completed.

It generated 116 responses, which received almost 5,700 votes.

Over 80% of respondents agreed there needed to be more opportunities for young people; that the town should welcome diversity; that there is a need to fill the gaps in the town centre offer; that pavements needed to be kept tidy and safe and that more needed to be made of York Road car park.

The groups behind Knaresborough Voice hope it will become a well-used platform for debate that can impact decisions made by local councillors.

Peter Lacey, a chamber committee member, said:

“The platform was set up in the light of devolution to collect views and connect community groups. A conversation starts by a someone suggesting a topic and we work to shape the statements and post the survey.”

The findings will be taken to Knaresborough Town Council next month in the hope they will be used to shape its decisions.

Cundall Manor appoints Christopher James-Roll as headmaster

Cundall Manor School has appointed a new headmaster to replace Amanda Kirby, who has been at the school for 20 years.

Christopher James-Roll will take over leadership at the school, where Stephen Fry briefly taught English, in September.

Amanda Kirby has taught at Cundall Manor since 2003 and was appointed headteacher in 2019.

The independent school, set in 28 acres at Cundall between Ripon and Thirsk, caters for boys and girls between the ages of 2 and 16. Many are from the Harrogate district.

Mr James-Roll, who has a BSc (Hons) in science and IT, began his early career in financial services before qualifying as a teacher in 2010.

Since then, he has gained a Masters in educational leadership and held a number of senior positions in co-educational independent school settings. He moved to Sherfield School in Hampshire in 2017. He said:

“I have long admired Cundall’s reputation for creating happy, well-rounded children, where academic excellence can sit alongside an individual learning experience and my family and I are very much looking forward to moving to this idyllic setting in North Yorkshire and working with its excellent team.”

Outgoing head Amanda Kirby.

Outgoing head Mrs Kirby said:

“It has been an incredible 20 years for me and all my family, during which time the school has transformed from a small independent prep school in North Yorkshire into a nationally recognised school and a destination of choice.

“I am extremely proud of our happy, thriving community, highlighted by a parent’s recent comment that ’if you could have designed a school for your children, Cundall would be it!’. I am confident that, with Christopher’s leadership, it is very well placed to face the challenges of the years ahead.”

The school is holding open mornings on Saturday and on May 21.

New marketing agency launches in Harrogate

A new marketing agency called Next Chapter has launched in Harrogate.

Charlie Hartley, founder of creative agency Impression, set-up the company. Working alongside marketer Daniel Swepson, the agency will offer market and consumer research, strategy, digital advertising, search engine optimisation, content strategy and social media.

Mr Hartley said:

“We shall be delivering more advanced services within strategy, digital marketing and SEO and Daniel’s experience aligns perfectly with this vision.”

Mr Swepson said:

“We’re both clear in our vision and intend to do things differently from other agencies. From the start we shall enable brands to challenge and disrupt. Our strategies are bespoke and aim to break the mould, pushing our clients to lead the way in their sector.”

Chartered surveyors help Harrogate charity expand

Yorks Cancer Research / Carter Towler Max Vause Tony Graham

Max Vause, of Carter Towler (left) and Tony Graham of Yorkshire Cancer Research.

Chartered surveyor Carter Towler is to help a Harrogate charity expand its network of shops.

Yorkshire Cancer Research currently has shops in Ripon, Knaresborough, Tadcaster and Northallerton. Carter Towler has been tasked to find five suitable retail units per year for the next three years.

Tony Graham, head of retail at Yorkshire Cancer Research, added:

“By having Carter Towler working with us we will be able us to scale-up our retail operations quickly and efficiently. By 2025 we are aiming to have 20 outlets.”

Leeds-based Carter Towler is one of the largest independent property consultants in the north, with 55 staff.

Linley & Simpson staff fundraise for charity partners

Linley & Simpson’s Aydin Arslan, Kerry Ferguson and Greg Smallwood.

Staff at Harrogate estate agency Linley & Simpson are embarking on the National Three Peaks Challenge to raise funds for a young people’s hospice.

A dozen employees, including property manager Aydin Arslan, branch manager Kerry Ferguson and land and development consultant Greg Smallwood will bid to scale the summits of the highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales – all within 24 hours in June.

The challenge forms the centrepiece of the company’s pledge to raise £25,000 for Martin House Children’s Hospice, at Boston Spa, as part of its 25th anniversary year.

Linley & Simpson, which has more than 20 branches across Yorkshire and The Humber, has raised more than £100,000 for the hospice since their partnership began six years ago.

Fire dancers and art installations take over Harrogate’s Valley Gardens

As the sun went down this evening, Harrogate’s Valley Gardens was lit up with fire and lights on the opening night of a new event.

The Fire and Light Experience is curated by Harrogate International Festivals and Culture Creative.

For tonight and the next two nights, they have taken over the lower part of Valley Gardens and filled it with fire lanterns, art installations and fire dancers.

The trail is open from dusk until 10pm tonight, tomorrow and Saturday.

Here are some images from the opening night of the fire and light spectacle:

Jane Porter, who was visiting Harrogate on holiday, said:

“It’s just something completely different and it’s lovely to get outside whilst it’s warm too. I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s definitely not the thing I expected to be doing in Harrogate but I’ve loved it!”