Photographers Stacey Evans and Sarah Warne, who raised £7,500 taking portraits of people on their doorsteps during covid, are to set up a studio in the centre of Harrogate.

The pair, who raised the money for Harrogate District Hospital, became firm friends in the process.  Both have three young children — Stacey has three girls, Sarah has three boys.

Their new company is called The Studio with Stacey and Sarah and will be based on Station Parade:

Stacey told the Stray Ferret:

“We saw a property become available on Station Parade, the one that had the fire opposite the bus station.

We went to see it and it is perfect. It is very accessible and a great space. It’s been refurbished and feels like new so it’s great. We are getting ready for launch in the next three weeks.”

Stacey has been working out of a studio in the garage at her home and said demand has been so high for her photography she had been turning down work.

She told the Stray Ferret that they had thought hard about whether this was the right time to start a business with the economic climate looking bleak and because they are young mums, but the landlord made it possible.

“The offer from the landlord was fantastic.  He completely understood where we were coming from and we got a great agreement from him.

“The fact is I’ve been turning away so much work. It feels like people are cherishing the moment now more than ever after covid.

“We want to focus on mums — so often it is the mums who are left out of the photos as they’re taking them.. We try to keep it so that mums feel comfortable and encourage them to have photos with their children. I would have loved to have more photos of my mum. I think giving mums the opportunity to have a lovely photo and talk to us as mums is important.

“We want to give bonding moments and special memories.”

An example of Sarah and Stacey’s work. 

Business Breakfast is sponsored by Harrogate law firm Truth Legal. 

The Yorkshire Event Centre is set to host the inaugural Harrogate Art Fair.

The fair, which is designed for all budgets, aims to attract art lovers and investors and will showcase different media including paintings, sculpture, fine-art and creative photography.

Organisers say well-established and emerging artists will display their best and most recent work, which can be viewed and purchased on the day.

The event will also provide an opportunity to meet the artist and gallery owners in person.

Matt Smith who runs the Harrogate Art Fair said:

‘’Not only can you buy a unique statement piece of art to treasure but you take home the lifelong memories of meeting the artist that produced it.’’

Martin House Children’s Hospice  in Wetherby has been chosen as the fair’s charity – it will be selling small artworks donated by artists to raise funds and awareness of the hospice.

The Harrogate Art Fair will held at the YEC on the Great Yorkshire Showground from Friday October 14 to Sunday October 16.

For tickets, please visit www.harrogateartfair.co.uk  or call 01753 591892

Read More: 

• Ex-Timble Inn chef moves to Wild Swan at Minskip
• Business Breakfast: Harrogate estate agents pledges to cut carbon emissions

Harrogate’s Rudding Park Hotel and Spa has won a national award for accessibility.

The luxury hotel received the award at the AA Hotel and Hospitality Awards in London.

The Accessibility Award was a new category and was given to a hotel that has made its property as accessible as possible and provided tailored services for guests with accessibility needs through staff training and guest engagement.

On the same night Grantley Hall in Ripon won hotel of the year for 2022/23 and the Swinton Estate near Masham won the sustainable award.

A famous Nidderdale killer is to be subject of a new production by Pateley Bridge Dramatic Society in October.

The historical play, entitled ‘Eugene Aram’, will follow the life of one England’s most notorious murderers.

Born in Ramsgill in 1704, Eugene Aram was a self-taught scholar who set up a school in Knaresborough.  Yet, for more than a hundred years, he was better known in England for his crimes.

He was accused of the murder of a Knaresborough shoemaker, tried and convicted in York, and hanged at Tyburn on the Knavesmire.

The story of his life and trial has been written by Nidderdale writer Nevin Ward, whose previous local history plays ‘The Dam Play’ and ‘Gouthwaite Hall’ have been very popular.

Mr Ward said the play won’t be at the playhouse but in a local church:

“We love performing in the playhouse, but while it’s closed for renovation, St Cuthbert’s is the ideal location – the raised central dais in the church lends itself to a large cast play where 20 actors play over 40 characters”.

Nevin Ward is well known for the music he incorporates into his works, and ‘Eugene Aram’  will include several songs, many of them written for the production.

‘Eugene Aram’ will be staged in St Cuthbert’s Church in Pateley Bridge from Tuesday 11 October to Saturday 15 October at 7.30 pm, all tickets costing £9. Tickets are on sale now and bookings will be from the website www.pateleyplayhouse.co.uk

Harrogate Business Improvement District will be joined by representatives from Market Place Europe and Destination Harrogate to share plans for Christmas 2022 to businesses.

Last Christmas saw a change to previous years with the creation of the first Harrogate Christmas Fayre, in the town centre from December 3 to 12. Festivities included a free road train called the Candy Cane Express, a carousel, helter skelter and ferris wheel.

It followed Harrogate Borough Council’s decision to deny a licence to the former market organised by the Harrogate Christmas Market on Montpellier Hill.

The meeting this Thursday is at the Yorkshire Hotel’s Sky Bar at 5.30pm.

Matthew Chapman, Harrogate BID manager, said:

“At Thursday’s BID Club, we will be informing businesses what will be happening within the town centre this festive season.

“We will be joined by Destination Harrogate and Market Place Europe, who will update us on this year’s Christmas Fayre, including location and number of stalls.

“This meeting is open to all businesses within the BID area, and will be an opportunity for them to ask questions, and to find out how that can get involved with making Christmas 2022 a festive season to remember.”

To reserve a space email info@harrogatebid.co.uk..

M&S temporarily closes cafe at Harrogate Oatlands 

How the food hall will look.

Marks and Spencer has temporarily closed its cafe at its Oatlands food hall in Harrogate.

The company planned to close the cafe for good as part of an expansion of its Leeds Road site, but decided to retain it after a customer petition.

But a smaller, new-look cafe will open when the expanded site is launched.

The rest of the food hall will continue to trade throughout with some areas blocked off while the work is underway.

Store manager David Anderson said:

“We’re delighted to confirm that as part of the upcoming extension and refresh of our Harrogate Oatlands store, customers will be able enjoy a new-look M&S cafe alongside a fresh-market style food hall, offering a bigger range of M&S food products than ever before.

“We expect to complete the works later this year and will keep the local community updated as they progress. We would also like to thank local residents around us for their ongoing support as we work to improve the store.”

Read More: 

• Business Breakfast: Harrogate private hospital joins forces with Mumsnet
• Business Breakfast: Knaresborough firms to be quizzed on energy bills

The Stray Ferret will suspend publishing district news today until after the funeral service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

A Ripon man has composed a poem for the late Queen and her husband Prince Philip.

Amateur poet Peter Moonscion told the Stray Ferret that he was interested in the relationship The Queen had with her husband, Prince Philip:

“I was inspired by the longevity of their relationship and their devotion to each other and when Philip passed away I started thinking about it.

“The poem is trying to look past her title and look at the person – it is not about Queen or Empire.

“I was considering using the title ‘Dutys End’ — in the sense that, now in heaven, she can focus on being herself and on her husband and not being our Queen.

“It was an inspiration that even into their old age couples can still love each other deeply and one has to pass away before the other”.

Mr Moonscion (pictured left) says he generally writes a poem quickly when the thought and mood comes to him and it can take only an hour or so to write.

He has already posted it on social media groups where it was well received:

To sleep

I lay me down at your side.

And comforting, my brow you stroke.

And smiling warmly with such pride.

Heaven’s sense, your eyes evoke.

Your lulling scent now brings me peace,

like incense whispers Paradise.

It takes me back onto the Heath.

Where met we in another life.

Then as your lids begin to give,

you mouth three words I last you gave.

A tender phrase for which we live

and quiet times like this we save.

And while you sleep, I watch you still.

In awe of beauty’s faithfulness.

Though sweeter now as I fulfil

My promise, to the end caress.

Your warmth one last time bids me sleep.

A shorter rest than yours my dear.

And so, I pray time may soon reap

the one you leave behind in tears.

Now gently, as our eyes are closed

I find your hand and softly tether

two halves of a dream proposed

so long ago amidst the heather.

And as we sleep here side by side,

two vessels full dusk leaves behind.

Then floating with life’s ebbing tide,

one vessel empty dawn will find.

Goodbye my dear, I love you so

and pray that we’ll soon meet.

Farewell my love I hope you know,

you made my life complete.

Peter Moonscion

Read More: 

• The Queen’s funeral: Harrogate district arrangements for Monday
• The Queen’s funeral to be televised at Ripon Cathedral

A former manager in Harrogate’s Claro League is looking for football players from the late 1970s and early 1980s to take part in a reunion.

Harry Teggin, who managed the Claro Catholic team between 1967 and the 1983/84 season, is organising an event at the Bilton Club on Friday, September 23.

After realising that he had begun only seeing some of his fellow footballers at funerals, he decided a more positive event was needed.

Mr Teggin said:

“I’d had enough of that really. Let’s have one where we’re not saying goodbye.”

He is hoping to reach players from multiple clubs in the Claro League from the period such as Belford, Gluepot and Harrogate Phoenix.

At the time, many teams had formed around pubs or youth clubs.

Read more

The Claro League ended in 2017 after a drop in interest levels in Sunday league football. Only six teams had applied to play in the following season.

Some teams applied to play in West Yorkshire but others were disbanded.

It marked a decline from the 1970s when the league was one of two in the town and had five divisions,

Teams came from as far away as Wetherby and Tadcaster.

‘We’ve always been a close-knit team’

When he started out as manager at Claro Catholic, Mr Teggin said his job mainly involved getting players home from nights out and setting up the pitch on a Sunday morning.

But friendships formed and still endure today. He said:

“We’ve always been a close-knit team and we always had good camaraderie with the other teams.”

Some of the players, Mr Teggin revealed, later went on to play for Harrogate Town.

The former manager urged anyone who was involved to contact him and come to the event.

This column has been written for the Stray Ferret by Dr Terry Bramall CBE. The Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation is based in Harrogate and has been for many years one of the UK’s largest donors to the Prince’s Trust.

I first met the Prince of Wales some thirty years ago when he came to Durham to open a small housing estate for the Durham Aged Miners Housing Association. He was charming, interested and engaging and made the occasion very memorable.

Nearly 20 years later when my colleagues and I had sold our company, my wife Liz and I formed our philanthropic foundation. We were determined to make a difference and thought quickest way to get results was to offer change to young people and the best deliverers for that purpose was the Prince’s Trust.

Within 18 months we were one of its biggest supporters.

During the last 15 years we met and observed the King many times. We found out why the Prince’s Trust was so successful. He took an intimate interest in assembling the right people to work with, visiting their offices and meeting the youngsters who join the programmes that they offer. Its impact on the lives of some of our most vulnerable young people has been profound and we have witnessed that. Normally when royalty make visits they don’t spend long in one place. My wife and I visited an annual Trust prize giving one year at the Odeon, Leicester Square. The now King sat on the stage all afternoon, shaking hands and congratulating all the nominees from around the country. This was truly an example of his devotion to his causes and beliefs.

Up to now, he has been, at times, a controversial figure. That is principally because he has been before his time. I think of his bringing quality design to individual housing, housing estates and villages. In farming he was promoting growing our food organically. Behind his ideas, his aim was to improve the health of people and the planet. Today we realise that the controversy arose because he recognised the benefits before the majority and, as Prince of Wales, he could fight for these causes.

As King, of course, he can’t because he now has a constitutional role working much more closely with Parliament.

I know he recognises this and I look forward to him establishing himself and bringing his dedication to service that I have experienced through being associated with the Princes’ Trust.

I know he will be relinquishing his leadership role of the Trust and consequently we will not meet as we have but I believe he will be a very worthy King.

Read More: 

• Column: The Herculean responsibility of inheriting a role at a young age
• Column: I discovered the close personal interest Charles takes in those charities he is involved with

Changes to bin collections across the Harrogate district have been confirmed for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Harrogate Borough Council has announced that all collections will take place a day later than usual from the day of the funeral which is being marked with a bank holiday on Monday 19 September.

This will affect garden waste, refuse and recycling collections, and all household waste recycling centres will also close on Monday.

The date changes for bin collections are as follows:

• Monday 19 September will be Tuesday 20 September
• Tuesday 20 September will be Wednesday 21 September
• Wednesday 21 September will be Thursday 22 September
• Thursday 22 September will be Friday 23 September
• Friday 23 September will be Saturday 24 September

Normal collections will then resume on Monday 26 September.

Meanwhile, all council-run leisure centres in the Harrogate district will also close on Monday “to allow the team to pay their respects to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” the council said.

Customer services for both the borough council and North Yorkshire County Council will also be unavailable on this day when Harrogate’s Civic Centre will close.

Anyone who needs to get in touch with the borough council in an emergency should call 01423 556300.

Read more:

• Ripon hornblower holds two-minute silence for The Queen
• The makers of Ripon’s royal miles of bunting
• The Queen’s funeral: Harrogate district arrangements for Monday

One of the largest Women’s Institute groups in the district has celebrated its 10th Anniversary.

Knaresborough WI is the biggest of the town’s seven WI groups and is the only one that meets in the afternoon.

Yesterday it held a tea party to celebrate but also used the event to commemorate the Queen and pay tribute to her. The Queen herself was the longest serving member of the Sandringham WI.

Christine Keane was the first president of the Knaresborough WI back in September 2012:

“There appeared in our local supermarket an advertisement which said the Federation would like to start a new WI in Knaresborough in the afternoon which was quite a new thing as traditionally they’re always in the evening.

I had just retired and I went along to a meeting. There were only 8 of us there and none of us knew anything about how to run one or how they worked.

“Fortunately we grew quite rapidly in that first year and we got better at it as our experience grew.”

Christine said being a part of the WI has given her to much:

“Friendship, love, support and education. I’ve learned so much. There are so many opportunities that you wouldn’t get in any other organisation to do things”

Read More: 

• Queen’s coffin drape supplied by royal flag makers in Knaresborough
• The Queen’s funeral to be televised at Ripon Cathedral

Over the years the Knaresborough WI grew so large it had to move to its current home of The Hub at St John the Baptist Church.

It now has a membership of 65 and is the second largest in the North Yorkshire West Federation, which is based in Ripon.

Maddy Willmott the current president said:

“Being an afternoon WI we are geared to older members but we take on any age and do have some younger members. We are never short of people and currently we have a waiting list.

We meet, we chat, we drink tea! Tea is the stalwart of the WI. We have a very successful book group, we have a craft group  and a walking group.

“We try to keep up with the times and adapt.”

The Stray Ferret asked both Christine and Maddy who would be their dream WI speaker — the answers …Gyles Brandreth and King Charles III.

Knaresborough WI is one of the largest in the district