By midday more than 50 cars were parked on the verges around Swinsty reservoir today. It was a similar picture at Thruscross. It’s the first day since the seven week lockdown that people have been allowed to drive to take exercise and many took full advantage of the new rules.

The new guidelines conflict with the wishes of North Yorkshire County Council, the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Yorkshire Water which owns the reservoirs and their adjacent car parks. All clearly do not want people to drive out into the countryside at this stage.

Like others the Stray Ferret spoke to at Swinsty today, Rachel Wesson and her son, Rory, had driven up from Leeds to walk their dog.

“We’ve been doing the same walk for a long time now, we live in a built up area and it’s nice to have a proper day out.  We have brought a picnic. When I saw the car park was shut though I did wonder if it was alright to come but I know we are allowed to do this”

Rachel Wesson and her son Rory at a picnic table this lunchtime at Swinsty reservoir

This, though, is the problem for the parish council. Graham Hebblethwaite, the chairman of Washburn Parish Council, says that with car parks shut and people continually arriving, even during lockdown, it has given them a real problem with access and wrecked verges.

Graham Hebblethwaite, chairman of Washburn Parish Council at the top of the lane leading down to Swinsty

He says they now want Yorkshire Water to open the car parks:

“People park on both sides of the road – even across gates. The police have been around many times even during lockdown but nothing seems to happen.  The car parks should have been opened today to stop all the mayhem”.

Fewston Parochial Hall near to the reservoirs where they’ve had to put NO PARKING signs up

The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year has seen a record number of submissions this year as it celebrates the centenary year of Agatha Christie’s first novel. Aptly, 10 of the 18 novels in the long list are written by women.

The award is part of the annual Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival which is managed  by Harrogate International Festivals. Historically, the winner is announced on the opening evening of the festival but this year the event has been cancelled due to coronavirus.

Instead, the winner will be revealed in a virtual awards ceremony on 31 July, where the author will receive £3,000, and an engraved beer barrel provided by Theakston Old Peculier.

The longlist was selected by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers, members of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee, and representatives from T&R Theakston Ltd, the Express, and WHSmith.

Reducing the longlist to a shortlist is now down to a public vote. So if you’re a lover of crime fiction and have time on your hands during lockdown – you can read them all and vote for your favourite on: www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com

Here is the long list:

My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Atlantic Books)

Fallen Angel by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown Book Group, Abacus)

Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver (Orenda Books)

Cruel Acts by Jane Casey (HarperCollins, Harper Fiction)

Blue Moon by Lee Child (Transworld, Bantam)

The Long Call by Ann Cleeves (Pan Macmillan, Macmillan/Pan)

Red Snow by Will Dean (Oneworld, Point Blank)

Platform Seven by Louise Doughty (Faber & Faber)

Worst Case Scenario by Helen Fitzgerald (Orenda Books)

The Lost Man by Jane Harper (Little, Brown Book Group, Little, Brown)

Joe Country by Mick Herron (John Murray Press)

How the Dead Speak by Val McDermid (Little, Brown Book Group, Little, Brown)

The Chain by Adrian McKinty (Orion Publishing Group, Orion Fiction)

Conviction by Denise Mina (VINTAGE, Harvill Secker)

Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee (VINTAGE, Harvill Secker)

The Whisper Man by Alex North (Penguin Random House, Michael Joseph)

Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Headline Publishing Group, Wildfire)

Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce (Pan Macmillan, Mantle/Pan)

Cycling campaigners and environmental groups in the district have called for “pop up”  temporary cycle lanes and lower speed limits to encourage people to continue cycling and help walkers with social distancing.

Jemima Parker of Zero Carbon Harrogate said the group has written to Andrew Jones MP and David Bowe, the county council Corporate Director Business and Environmental Services, asking for temporary changes.

Zero carbon Harrogate would like to see a 20mph speed limit in urban areas, more street space allocated for “active travel” (pedestrians, mobility scooters and cyclists) and encouragement for cars to be parked on the road rather than the pavement.

Harrogate District Cycle Action has published a list of “post-lockdown travel improvements” that, amongst others, include:

• Closing streets to cars at school drop off and pick up times
• Add temporary cycle lanes by putting up barriers and making streets one-way
• Close off town centre roads to cars
• 20mph limits in built up areas and “car free weekends”

In Knaresborough, town councillor Hannah Gostlow has urged the County Council which is in charge of highways to reduce the speed limit to 20mph between King James School and High Bridge in Knaresborough and around the towns schools, as well as increasing cycle lanes in the town.

“Our High Street is usually a fast and busy road that discourages cyclists, narrows our footpaths for pedestrians, and disconnects shops from the town centre, this scheme aims to let our town recover and breathe again. As well as a 20mph scheme I would also like to see cycle lanes where possible, and local businesses encouraged to take a lead on green transport initiatives”

The calls for parking bays to be made into cycle lanes in Harrogate are at odds with Independent Harrogate, the body which represents the town’s independent retailers. It’s called for free parking to be kept indefinitely to encourage more people to come into Harrogate by car when the shops finally open.

The Stray Ferret has asked North Yorkshire County Council for a comment. It said it was working to give a response as soon as possible.

No further deaths have been reported by Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust in the data released by NHS England today. 32 deaths were reported across the North East and Yorkshire region.

The total number of deaths at the hospital stands at 51, with 82 patients discharged after treatment for Covid-19.

The last death confirmed by the trust was on Monday, May 4th. However, it can take several days for deaths to be confirmed and added to official figures, particularly over weekends.

Today’s figures show a further 178 deaths confirmed across England, bringing the total of 23,149

Statistics released by NHS England only cover patients who were treated and died in hospitals. A further 39 people had died in the community across the Harrogate district until April 24, according to information released by the Office for National Statistics this week.

This column is written for The Stray Ferret by Jemima Parker, Chair of Zero Carbon Harrogate*

When we started to go into lock-down I knew that Covid-19 would bring significant carbon emissions reductions for the District. Cutting our greenhouse gases and playing our part in the global response to climate breakdown is something I have been advocating for years. But not like this. Not with the shutdown of our amazing local businesses and heartache of lives lost to the virus.

Sure I, like many, have been enjoying waking up to a quieter world each morning without the roar of traffic out of the window; being able to hear the birds in the Valley Gardens; breathe clean air on Skipton Road and soak up those clear blue skies across the Stray without contaminating contrails.

It feels like a little window into a low carbon world, but it’s missing the vibrant economy that can go with it.

Strangely, I have found the pandemic crisis a levelling experience, with my own world of living in a continual state of climate emergency (10 years left to radically reduce our carbon emissions or millions more die), now shared in some ways with my friends and family.

Working from home has been normalised. Having food deliveries – as my family have done for years (from the lovely local Organic Pantry) – is all the rage and even creatively eating up all the bits and bobs at the back of the fridge is now obligatory.

In these difficult days, pockets of hope have surprised me. I was cheered by how quickly we got it, we acted, the science of the virus was understood, the risks evaluated and the radical changes required in our behaviour adopted. Next stop climate science, risk assessment and adaptation?

It has been a joy to see a resurgence of localism, neighbours walking to the local shops and others out exploring previously neglected footpaths – why wouldn’t you, we live in God’s own county?

I have been overwhelmed by the plethora of community groups that sprung up from nowhere to provide support, from Pannal to Pateley, Bilton to Boroughbridge. This community resilience, this coming together to support each other, will help as we adapt to the changes required to prevent the worst extremes of climate change.

How many of these positives can we capture and take forward as we begin the long and difficult task of rebuilding the local economy? We can’t go back. Can we go forward investing in more resilient local, low carbon businesses, creating green jobs, valuing all our key workers and giving a true value to the natural world that sustains our very existence?

*Zero Carbon Harrogate is an organisation dedicated to making Harrogate District a net zero carbon community by 2030 in order to secure a sustainable future- for more information click here.

Merryfield cul-de-sac off Hartley Road in Harrogate where they had decked the road out in red, white and blue..

Alistair Ratcliffe (above) from the Oatlands Community Group prepared tea parcels to give out to the elderly and vulnerable. The group delivered around 150 today. One of the happy recipients who raised a glass to the group to say thank you….

Along Mallinson Oval there was a carnival atmosphere…

The residents of Tewitt Well Road in Harrogate came out in force this afternoon to sing the National Anthem and raise a glass to commemorate VE Day..

Here are more images from a noisy, happy road enjoying the day:

This History is written for The Stray Ferret by Harrogate historian, Malcolm Neesam:

On Tuesday 8^th May 1945 a full sized likeness of Adolph Hitler gazed across West Park Stray surrounded by a replica of his Mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden. It had been placed there as the crowning display of a huge bonfire and assembled by the Harrogate Home Guard, who, at dusk, stormed the display, and to frantic cheering from the assembled townspeople, captured the effigies of Hitler and his cronies, before the Mayor lit the bonfire that burned “Berchtesgaden” to the ground. Beyond this scene of rejoicing, Harrogate was a sea of bunting and the flags of allied nations, which filled not only the town centre, but nearly every suburban street as well. In the main shopping streets at the town’s centre were displayed large portraits of the King and Queen, Prime Minister Churchill and allied leaders, Field Marshall Montgomery and other military luminaries.

Street party Harrogate 1945

Joyous crowds surged through the town centre that day, whose drab and neglected appearance, the result of five years, eight months and five days of wartime austerity, was temporarily brightened by brightly coloured displays, although the need to conserve energy precluded the use of gas or electric power, exceptions being made at the Royal Baths, and Municipal Offices where Mayor G. Spenceley had greeting the crowds gathered in Crescent Gardens. People continued to surge through the centre of the town throughout the day, despite heavy rain showers, although the streets cleared in time for both the Prime Minister’s broadcast, and the King’s speech.

Harrogate residents pose for VE day 1945

The borough court continued to function on VE Day, the main business being concerned with granting licences for dancing and extensions for liquor and music, all essential aspects of the coming celebrations on the following Sunday, which at the request of the King, would be a day of national thanksgiving and prayer. A service was planned at St. Peter’s Church attended by the Mayor and full Corporation, followed by a brief ceremony at the War Memorial in remembrance of the fallen. In the afternoon, a grand parade was to occur on West Park, when participants would include American military personnel, units of the Home Guard and Civil Defence, representatives from the British Legion, St. John Ambulance Brigade, the Scouts and the Guides. Flag bearing youth groups present included the Sea Cadets, Army Cadet Corps, Air Training Corps, Girls Training Corps, Boys Brigade, and the Civil Defence Messengers. After a short open air service, the parade marched via West Park and Parliament Street to the Municipal Officers in Crescent Gardens, where the Mayor took the salute from a specially constructed platform. The Mayor’s rousing speech reminded the townspeople of the ordeal they had undergone, and that until Japan had been overcome, the resolve of the people must be continued. He ended his speech with the sincere thanks of the entire Corporation for what the townspeople had achieved through their great sacrifice.

This History is written for The Stray Ferret by Harrogate historian, Malcolm Neesam:

At the outbreak of war on 1st September 1939, Harrogate’s population experienced the greatest transformation of its history. There was a big influx of evacuated civil servants and their families from London and other major cities which the government feared would immediately be subjected to mass bombing. In addition, hundreds of evacuated children were billeted in the town. And then, within weeks, the town was made the centre for the allied pilots training scheme, whereby hundreds of pilots and other airmen – British, Australian, Canadian, New Zealanders, Indians, French, Polish etc. – eventually received training in the struggle against Hitler. Within weeks, Harrogate was crowded, the air being filled with often strange accents, some recognisable, others unfamiliar. 

Then there were the new norms to be observed. Strict rationing of food, fuel and power, and the disappearance of many valued consumable objects from the shops, where queuing became an unwelcome practice. Conscription emptied the town of its young men, and so many of its young women took on new and unaccustomed work roles that the older generation predicted a social revolution after the war. 

Harrogate’s schools were provided with air raid shelters, and staff and pupils drilled in what to do in case of an attack.  All children had to carry gas masks, as the horrors of the First World War were still within living memory.  

Ploughing on the Stray 1941

Within a month of the start of hostilities, the Stray was used to graze sheep, but in June 1940, the Council agreed to plough 102 acres to grow crops. The Valley Gardens flower beds were converted into vegetable plots, but as the local dogs caused too much damage, the beds were planted with annual seeds instead. Land throughout the town was used to provide allotments, including areas of the Stray at Leeds Road, the railway sides, the Granby and Empress. Several huge water tanks were put up around the town to fight fires, with one of the biggest located on the Stray opposite Victoria Avenue. 

Salvage was collected assiduously, with most of the town’s ornamental railings being torn up and carted away. Pig bins became a common site, and even the grandest of houses kept a bin where scarp food was stored for weekly collection, although these soon became a source of complaint as they became smelly. 

The town received a visit from a solitary Nazi bomber on 12th September 1940 when bombs were dropped on the Hotel Majestic, destroying the hotel’s great Wintergarden, a house in Swan Road, and blowing out nearly every shop window in the town centre. Naturally this only stiffened morale, which received a great boost when Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Field Marshall Montgomery visited Harrogate in 1944, where they were photographed with the Mayor at the railway station. 

The bombing of Swan Road Villa 1940

 Although the Royal Hall and the town’s six cinemas were all closed at the outbreak of war, due to fear of mass bombing, they soon reopened and provided much needed entertainment throughout the conflict. Many local amateur groups flourished, as did groups from the evacuated civil servants and the various military forces stationed in the town. At the highest of professional levels, all the big London theatres sent their shows to Harrogate, and in 1941 alone, visits were made by the Royal Opera House, Sadler’s Wells, The Royal Ballet, the Old Vic, and the London Symphony Orchestra.  

Humour thrived, and the British Restaurant chain became the butt of many jokes about gristle, bone and lumpy custard, Harrogate’s British Restaurant being housed in Wesley Chapel’s School Room. At an official level, the Council agonised about the future of the Spa, and everyone knew that things would never be the same again when peace was declared.                                  

Malcolm Neesam- Biography

Malcolm Neesam was born in Harrogate and graduated from the University of Leeds as a professional archivist and librarian. He subsequently worked in Hereford, Leeds, London and York where, for twenty-five years, he was North Yorkshire’s County Music and Audiovisual Librarian.  Malcolm is a much-published author. In 1996 Harrogate Borough Council awarded Malcolm the Freedom of the Borough for his services as the town’s historian.

This is the first time Malcolm has written for The Stray Ferret- and we will be publishing much more from him in the future as he has kindly agreed to write many histories of Harrogate for us in the coming year.  We hope you enjoy reading them. 

In total 48 patients have died of coronavirus at Harrogate District Hospital since the outbreak began.

Today’s figures show a further 327 people, who tested positive for the Coronavirus have died in England- that’s below yesterdays figure of 370 and brings the total number of confirmed reported deaths to 21,180.

Patients were aged between 46 and 101 years old. 17 of the 327 patients had no known underlying health condition.

Last week, for the first time, data was released to show the number of deaths in care homes and other areas of the community in patients with suspected Covid-19. In the Harrogate district, 22 people are reported to have died with symptoms of the virus up to April 17th.