Martin House based at Boston Spa near Wetherby has launched an urgent appeal after most of its fundraising events were cancelled or postponed and its shops closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The hospice supports more than 420 babies and children with life-limiting conditions from across Yorkshire and costs £9m pounds a year to operate.

Beckie Wynne, Director of Income Generation at Martin House, said:

“We don’t have the deep pockets and resources of national charities, so we rely on the goodwill of our amazing supporters and volunteers to raise the money we need to provide our care. We only receive around 11 per cent of our running costs from statutory sources, so the money we and our supporters raise is crucial to us.”

The hospice remains open for emergencies and end of life care, but has been forced to cancel its planned respite stays.

The hospice joins a number of charities in the district which have seen their income suddenly dry up. 

Martin House hospice

The charity has launched a Jut Giving appeal. https://justgiving.com/campaign/MartinHouse or those wishing to donate can visit its website www.martinhouse.org.uk/donate.

The Head of Care Services for Harrogate Neighbours, which runs two care homes in the district, said she was made to feel like a criminal when she went to Sainsbury’s on Wetherby Road during special opening hours to buy food for the residents.

Denise McEvoy (pictured above) said she and a small group of care workers from other organisations -all with ID badges and letters –arrived at the store on Friday at 7.30am but were refused entry. Only NHS staff were being allowed in. When Denise insisted on being allowed to enter, the security guard called a second security guard who then called a supervisor who then called a second supervisor before Denise was allowed in. She said, by this time, the other care workers had left in disgust.

“I was furious. As care workers I feel we are undervalued. I was made to feel like a shoplifter, standing there being questioned, whilst NHS staff were allowed in. I refused point blank to leave and finally they let me in”.

Harrogate Neighbours runs Heath Lodge Care Home and The Cuttings – it’s a not for profit organisation that looks after a total of 90 residents who’s average is in the mid 80s.  Management said the staff are working flat out to protect their residents — washing everything that is brought into the homes and will be touched by residents. They are down on staff with 7 members of their team self-isolating.

Staff are even cleaning any cash that is brought into the homes to protect residents

Harrogate Neighbours CEO Sue Cawthray, said she feels the government isn’t fully recognising the contribution of care workers:

“The NHS is vital and the work its staff do is fantastic but we are doing our best to protect vulnerable people and stop them being admitted to hospital. We are doing our utmost and I don’t think it is right that staff in the care sector are often referred to as “unskilled” by the government”.

• Earlier today, Richard Webb, Director of Health and Adult Services at North Yorkshire County Council, praised the efforts of local people to support each other. 

In a statement Sainsbury’s apologised:

“ We are reserving half an hour from 7:30am – 8am from Monday to Saturday in all of our supermarkets to support NHS and social care workers. To help us dedicate this time entirely to these customers, we are asking them to bring a pass or some form of ID with them. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused and hope our Wetherby Road store is able to welcome the group back into store soon.”

The Stray Ferret has learnt that Jack Wills on James Street in Harrogate will not be re-opening after the coronavirus crisis.

The clothing brand, which was founded in Salcombe in Devon, was bought by Mike Ashley in an auction for £12.7m last year.  Mr Ashley bought the retail chain out of administration after competing against Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group. The brand now forms part of Frasers Group

James Street which is seen as Harrogate’s most prestigious retail street, has seen a steady loss of major retailers over recent years – Next, Austin Reed, Swarovski, Cath Kidston and now Jack Wills.  Next moved to the Victoria Shopping Centre and the space is now filled with a discount store. Swarovski closed in February this year.

The Harrogate store is one a number of Jack Wills stores across the UK to close.

The NHS figures this lunchtime show that a third patient has died at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust whilst the number of positive coronavirus cases in North Yorkshire has risen to 75 – up 6 from Friday. The patient died yesterday.

At present, most patients are only tested if they are admitted to hospital with severe symptoms, so figures do not include people who have symptoms but are able to stay at home.

An NHS England statement which released today said of all the deaths:

Patients were aged between 39 and 105 years old and all but 4 patients (aged between 57 and 87 years old) had underlying health conditions.

Their families have been informed.

The Spirit of Masham has tweeted an urgent call for plastic bottles after it switched production from gin to hand sanitiser to help prevent the spread of  coronavirus.

https://twitter.com/spiritofmasham/status/1243942655584763904

The Masham distillery is not the only gin company in the district that has turned from making gin to hand sanitiser. Harrogate Tipple in Ripley which makes Harrogate Gin lobbied the Treasury to remove duty from alcohol so it could make the sanitiser cheaply and provide it at-cost to health workers, the emergency services and community care organisations. It too has struggled to source plastic bottles.

The Harrogate Tipple distillery production manager Andrea Natiello and co-founder Sally Green, Ripon

For a little light relief this Sunday here are two Harrogate residents who have tried online shopping for the first time.

As many people will experience as they start to get to grips with online deliveries, they didn’t quite receive what they thought they’d ordered……

Long queues are appearing outside supermarkets in Harrogate as the number of people shopping at any one time  is being restricted. The new social distancing measures at Waitrose in the town centre (pictured above) meant people were waiting outside for around half an hour before they could get into the store.  A similar situation was reported to be happening at other supermarkets.

The queue at Waitrose in Harrogate, which snaked around the car park, was organised and patient 

In a statement on it’s website Waitrose said the measures were to protect both staff and shoppers .These include:

• Limiting the number of customers in our shops at any one time.
• Dedicated marshals per store to help manage queues, reminding customers of the two-metre social distancing rule.
• Introducing floor signage in all shops to ensure customers keep two metres apart when queuing at checkouts and at welcome desks
• Screens have been ordered to be placed at checkouts to protect customers and Partners
• Fewer checkouts open to maintain social distancing for our Partners.
• Partners will have the option to wear a protective visor, if they wish.
• Asking that only one customer or family occupy a lift at any one time.
• Encourage customers to shop in a cashless and contactless way to prevent unnecessary contact.

Fire fighters from Harrogate’s Blue Watch joined people from all over the district this evening saluting NHS workers and “Clap for our Carers”.  Across the district people clapped from windows, front doors  and balconies.

The fire fighters parked outside Harrogate District Hospital — their fire engine lights flashed and sirens sounded.  Hospital staff came outside to clap and cheer too.

If you took some pictures or video of your family thanking the NHS please send them to us at contact@thestrayferret . We’d love to publish  them.

The opening of a new £10m Ripon retail park featuring an M&S food store is to be delayed due coronavirus. The development on the edge of Ripon was due to open on 29^th April.

New recruits, who were due to start working at the M&S store in Rotary Way just off the Ripon bypass, have been advised that the opening date has had to be put back and the timescale for the opening is not currently known, because of the uncertainty that the coronavirus crisis has caused.

The St Michael’s Retail Park scheme, which was first granted planning permission by Harrogate Borough Council in 2017, is being developed by Marshall CDP and the M&S unit, is currently at the fit out stage.

When fully open, it will feature a number of retailers, including Pets at Home.

M&S, the anchor store within the development, is due to provide 80 new jobs, including people who have been recruited locally. A spokesperson for M&S said:

“Due to the current unprecedented situation we have had to unfortunately postpone the opening of our Ripon store. We will keep the community updated with more information on the opening as soon as we can.”

In a letter to the Stray Ferret, Paul Baverstock, a former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party, who lives in Harrogate accuses the council’s conservative Leader, Richard Cooper, and local MP, Andrew Jones, of a lack of leadership and poor visibility during the coronavirus crisis.

Mr Baverstock, who now works  at a senior level in the health sector, says he contacted Mr Jones to put himself forward to help after the MP announced he wanted to create “an army of volunteers” but says he received a generic email response. Mr Baverstock argues that the MP is well meaning but out of step with the urgency of the situation and how local people feel.

Since the advent of Covid 19, both Harrogate’s MP Andrew Jones and the leader of our borough council Richard Cooper have been nigh on invisible and practically silent. ..Andrew Jones, our MP, needs to take the lead and grab the council by the scruff of its neck and get it moving. The people of Harrogate are crying out for it.

Andrew Jones MP

He offers Mr Jones some communications advice:

He should work with local radio station Stray FM to comment immediately – “down the line” – following the PM’s daily briefing. This could become an opportunity for local residents to dial in and discuss their concerns with their elected representative. Mr. Cooper, the leader of the council should join him too. They could live stream these from their respective isolations so we can see them, as well as hear them, becoming truly accountable.

• Mr Baverstock’s letter to The Stray Ferret in full

He urges both Cllr Cooper and Mr Jones to start bring together local experts to provide clear and free advice, use technology and social media to connect people and get their messages out. He ends with:

So come on Mr. Jones and Mr.Cooper.  Get up and onward, get brave, get visible, get creative and give us the energetic leadership and accountability you were both elected to provide, for Harrogate in Westminster and for Harrogate Borough at home. This is not a time for business as usual. Nothing will ever be the same again. We need and deserve better, now and tomorrow.

The Stray Ferret asked both Cllr Cooper and Andrew Jones MP to respond to Mr Baverstock’s letter. Neither has yet done so.