Harrogate Borough Council has confirmed that Ripon Spa Baths will reopen to the public on May 14.

The council posted on its Twitter account that the pool would be open for lane swimming and family sessions two weeks today.

It said the sessions must be pre-booked and can only be 45 minutes long.

Earlier this month, Councillor Stanley Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, had said he hoped to open Ripon Spa Baths and Starbeck Baths in May.

Neither pool reopened on April 12, when covid regulations allowed. The council said this was due to staff shortages and difficulties around social distancing.

Its other pools, including the Harrogate Hydro and Nidderdale Pool, reopened this month. Knaresborough Pool remains closed for urgent repairs.

Ripon city councillors had campaigned for Ripon Spa Baths to be saved after ‘for sale’ boards went up in March and questions were raised over the future of Starbeck Baths when it remained closed.

Cllr Lumley has previously said Starbeck’s pool would be opened “very soon after” Ripon Spa Baths, but the council is yet to confirm a date.

Read more:

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North Yorkshire Police is appealing for witnesses after a group of men began fighting on Knox Chase, Bilton, on Friday April 16.

The incident involved five men, of various ages, physically fighting on the street at around 7.40pm.

The police reported that several residents came out of their homes to try to calm the situation.

Some of the men involved suffered facial injuries.

Police are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to call 101 and quote reference number 12210099520.

If you have already been approached by the police about this incident there is no need to get in touch again.

To remain anonymous, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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Are you a train enthusiast wanting to get your career on track? Newby Hall is advertising for a new full-time driver for its miniature railway.

The stately home and gardens between Ripon and Boroughbridge is looking for a full-time driver and engineer to run its narrow-gauge railway.

The railway has 1.2km of track taking nearly 50,000 passengers each year through the estate’s gardens.

Newby Hall said in a statement the successful applicant needs to be enthusiastic about trains and engineering and have relevant experience. They will have to drive along the steam, battery and gas-powered track and be in charge of train, track and station maintenance.

If your childhood dream was to be a train driver then operations director, Stuart Gill, says this is the ideal job for you:

“This is a chance to perhaps turn your hobby or childhood dream into a career, particularly if you feel your job aspirations have been shunted into the sidings.

“We need someone who has a real passion for trains and engineering, preferably with previous relevant experience, and they also need to be great at managing our team of amazing railway volunteers.”

The successful applicant will also be responsible for the interactive Tarantella water fountain in the children’s play area.

To find out more about the job, click here.

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Spring is in full swing in the Harrogate district, so we asked readers to send in pictures capturing the seasonal beauty.

Here is a selection in our image gallery, which will hopefully brighten your day.

This was sent in by Sue Coates.

Beverley Fox sent this photo of the cherry blossoms on Harrogate Stray.

In Boroughbridge Steph Coward captured this shot of a rainbow.

Mark Hooper also captured the beauty of Harrogate’s cherry blossoms in the spring.

Artemis Swann sent us this close-up shot of Spring florals.

Sue Coates took this on her walk through the Stray this week.

Rooster’s Brewing Company took to social media to appeal for help after new equipment got stuck on the Ever Given cargo ship in the Suez Canal.

The Harrogate-based brewery ordered an automatic labelling machine after previously adding labels by hand.

The new machine was due to arrive a few weeks ago but instead remains over 3,500 miles away.

It was travelling on the Ever Green, which blocked the Suez canal for six days in March and caused chaos for businesses across the world. The ship has now been impounded in Egypt.

Head brewer Oliver Fozard took to Twitter to ask if anyone could help the team “get through a backlog of labelling cans”.

Since putting out the tweet yesterday the company has received numerous offers of help from other local brewers and residents.

Rooster’s director, Ian Fozard, said the company was still in the dark about when its delivery would arrive:

“We’ve still heard nothing, the machine is still stuck. We’ve had offers from various local breweries to help out. It’s more of an irritation than a catastrophe, no one knows when it will be here.”

Mr Fozard said he was grateful so many people had come forward to help.

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• Artisan market set to return to Ripon this bank holiday Monday
• Community rallies round Minskip fire victims after their homes are left uninhabitable

Harrogate baby and toddler groups have been inundated with parents eager to book classes. Some have had to employ more staff and start new classes to meet demand.

A number of local companies have said since April 12th when lockdown partially eased, demand has been “unbelievable”.

For many new parents these classes give them the opportunity to socialise with other new parents as well as getting their babies interacting with others.

For some the wait for a space may be a little longer with one Harrogate company saying their waiting list has over 100 names on it.

Emily Savage runs Hartbeeps in the Harrogate district, she said:

“The demand is huge right now. With social distancing I’m running at 65% capacity levels against pre-covid so that is limiting spaces too. Parents not being able to go out as much means they all want to come to classes for social interaction.”

Emily holds classes at Calcutt Village Hall, Harrogate Gymnastics on Hornbeam park and Pannal Village Hall. She has introduced new weekend classes for parents that are now back at work.

Emma Savage who runs Hartebeeps around Harrogate is dealing with huge demand.

Natalie Ramsey who owns Baby Sensory Harrogate has seen a similar level of demand. She has has to employ a class assistant to help with the covid cleaning in between classes.

She said:

“The demand has been massive. Parents are just desperate for a bit of social interaction. I’m looking at opening more classes in Harrogate, I asked on facebook last night and the response was massive. I’m just looking ahead to 21st June for a bit of normality but I’m not holding my breath.”

Read more:

• Community groups and charities in the Harrogate district are being invited to apply for £2,500 grants
• Knaresborough couple campaign for ‘Matilda’s Law’ after the death of their baby girl

The Little Gym in Harrogate holds about 44 classes each week but still has people asking for more. Owner, Kate Henebury, said:

“It’s been unbelievable. We are adding more classes left, right and centre to meet demand particularly the new parent classes. We’re also busy recruiting for more staff to meet the demand because it is so huge. It’s just nice to be open again.”

Two fundraising pages have been set up to help families whose homes were damaged by a major fire in the Harrogate district in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The blaze began in a semi-detached house in Minskip and caused 100% fire damage to the first floor and smoke damage throughout.

The neighbouring property is also reported to have extensive smoke and fire damage.

People are rallying round to support the two families, so far raising almost £7,000 to go towards new furniture and appliances.

Two gofundme pages have been set up. The first was set up on Sunday by a friend of the owner of the house where the fire started, and has already raised £6,633.

The second was set up yesterday for the neighbour who has had to throw away a lot of belongings.

Both families are currently living elsewhere but are in need of donations to replace lost items.

Numerous posts have been made on local Facebook groups to encourage donations and people have offered bedding, children’s clothing and some furniture.

Read more:

• A deliberate fire started in Knaresborough becomes one of many locally in recent weeks
• Two friends have raised £1,500 after shaving their heads for Macmillan

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service sent three crews to the address on Roecliffe Drive just after 1am Sunday morning.

It believed the fire was caused by a candle in one of the bedrooms, but this has yet to be confirmed.

Nobody was injured but the fire left the home in which it started uninhabitable.

A spokeswoman for the fire service told the Stray Ferret it was fortunate nobody was hurt.

Minskip is about a mile from Boroughbridge.

A Harrogate man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to 17 child sex offences.

Dale Tyson’s crimes included sexual communication with a child and distributing indecent images of a child.

Tyson, of Christina Street, used an alter ego online to talk to children and get them to send sexual images of themselves.

York Crown Court heard he would pretend to be a young North American man to build stronger relationships with his victims in order to obtain more graphic images.

The 17 offences related to 10 children in the UK and USA. However, North Yorkshire Police said in a statement it believes there are many more.

Tyson pleaded guilty to seven counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, six counts of making indecent photographs of a child, three counts of intentionally encouraging an offence and sexual communication with a child.

North Yorkshire Police Detective Sergeant Steven Alderson said:

“This case really highlights the fact that it is almost impossible to know if the person you are speaking to online is who they claim to be.

“The young victims who came forward showed incredible bravery in speaking to the police about what happened to them and in speaking out they have helped protect many more young people from Tyson’s deplorable behaviour.

“The investigation spanned the UK and USA, with fantastic work from our investigators at North Yorkshire Police who managed to locate a number of these victims, without whom the case would not have been so strong.”

Tyson, whose trial was heard on Friday, is also subject to a sexual harm prevention order for an indefinite period.

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North Yorkshire Police added that anyone who thinks they or their child may have been a victim of online abuse should report it to the police.

If you are worried about online sexual abuse or the way someone has been communicating with you online and you would prefer not to speak to the police, you can report confidentially online through the child exploitation and online protection command centre here.

The NSPCC also has a range of resources for parents to help them keep children safe online.

Harrogate Grammar School is celebrating a record nine offers from Oxford and Cambridge Universities to its sixth form students.

It is the highest number of Oxbridge offers in the school’s recent history and follows considerable disruption to schools caused by covid.

Headteacher Neil Renton said:

“We are incredibly proud of our students in securing offers at such world leading educational institutions.

“In the context of such difficult circumstances, students have shown resilience, independence and determination.”

“Much of their preparation and support took place remotely and this created different opportunities to support students in their application.”

The students participated in the school’s sixth form scholars’ programme, which helps to develop confidence, curiosity and independent thought to help succeed at top universities.

The programme includes presentations by academics, discussion groups, interview workshops, mock interview sessions and support for aptitude tests.

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Among those receiving offers are year 13 students Ruby Johnson and Lucy Bowman.

Lucy, who has an offer to study natural sciences at the Cambridge University, said:

“I can’t wait to start the next chapter of my life there. It has made all my hard work worth it and I finally have something special to look forward to at the end of these strange times.”

Ruby, who has received an offer to study philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University, said:

“I am very grateful to the school for the support they provided throughout the application process.”

The nine students that received offers from Oxbridge were for the following courses and colleges: mathematics at Downing College, Cambridge; natural sciences at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge; philosophy, politics and economics at St Peter’s College, Oxford; music at Keble College, Oxford; linguistics at Downing College, Cambridge; engineering at Emmanuel College, Cambridge; engineering at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge; psychology and behavioural sciences at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and geography at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

A Knaresborough couple are campaigning for changes to maternity services after ‘avoidable delays’ in delivery led to their baby daughter’s death.

Whitney Pickup went into labour at Harrogate District Hospital on July 2, 2018.

She was advised by doctors to proceed with a natural delivery even though her first child was delivered via emergency caesarean section at another hospital.

Following an unsuccessful forceps delivery, her daughter Matilda was born by caesarean section with severe brain damage.

Matilda was admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary before being transferred to Martin House Hospice, where she died at nine days old.

Ms Pickup, 33, and husband Andy, 35, subsequently instructed medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate the care provided by Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.

An investigation, carried out by the trust, found “there were avoidable delays in achieving the delivery of Matilda which caused or materially contributed to her sad death”.

Among the problems identified by a subsequent Root Cause Analysis Report was a failure to obtain previous maternity and delivery notes, which would have alerted doctors to the risks involved as well as avoidable delays in the operating theatre and communication issues.

The couple are now campaigning for Matilda’s Law to make it mandatory for hospital trusts to share antenatal, maternity and labour records if the mother is under the care of a different trust in future pregnancies.

Ms Pickup, who is also mother to Charlie, five, and Isaac, one, believes her daughter’s death could have been avoided if the hospital had requested her medical records. She said:

“It’s still so difficult for me and Andy to accept that Matilda is no longer here and she didn’t get to experience any sort of life.

“What makes it worse and all the more upsetting is knowing our daughter’s death could have been avoided had the hospital simply requested my medical records, making them aware of the risks.

“We will never forget Matilda and she will always be part of our family.  We now want to honour her memory by it being law for trusts to share relevant information to improve patient care and ensure staff are aware of any potential complications.

“If we can prevent this happening to anyone else than at least we can take something from what we’ve had to go through.”

An inquest into Matilda’s death, which is expected to last for four days, started in Harrogate yesterday.

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Victoria Moss, the specialist medical negligence lawyer representing the couple, said:

“Through our work, we sadly come across too many families left to pick up the pieces following the death of a baby following avoidable failings.

“We would urge trusts to always work in partnership, not only by sharing patient records so the best possible care plans can be put in place, but also by sharing best practice. This we believe would reduce the number of mother and babies either seriously injured or killed.

A spokesman for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said it would comment after the inquest.