Harrogate’s first Mosque could open at former Home Guard clubHarrogate’s first-ever Mosque could open at the former Home Guard club on Tower Street.
Plans have been submitted by the Harrogate Islamic Association (HIA) to convert the building, which was also a Victorian hospital, into a place of worship for Muslims.
The HIA was established in 2011 and has been looking for a permanent place to convert into a Mosque for years. Other attempts to find a home have fallen through.
Around 100 worshippers currently meet in the Quakers’ Friends Meeting House on Queen Parade.
Zahed Amanullah, from the HIA, told the Stray Ferret that they hope to run religious, community and charitable events at the building. It would also support Syrian and Afghan refugees who have moved to the area.
Harrogate Islamic Association
The building had been on the market for £500,000 and Mr Amanullah said the HIA will have to raise funds to complete the purchase, which is subject to planning permission.
He said:
“We thought this is our best chance to have somewhere in the town centre. The location is fantastic.
“We recognise its historical value and we want to be mindful of that when we restore the building. We will retain its period features. We’re not going to put a minaret up or anything like that, it’s needed as a space. Nothing will be added.
“We see ourselves as part of the fabric of the town. We’re all in Harrogate because we love Harrogate. We have a very diverse community of Muslims from Asia, Africa and England, but the nearest mosque is more than 15 miles away.
“It’s a rare vacant spot where there are no facilities for the community and it will easily handle our weekly needs.”
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Harrogate historian Malcolm Neesam told the Stray Ferret that the building has historical importance to Harrogate. It was originally the town’s second hospital from 1873 until 1883 before being used as Harrogate’s first custom-built Masonic Hall.
It was also where Harrogate’s Crimean War hero Sgt Major Robert Johnston died.
With the advent of the Second World War in 1939, the local Home Guard began using the building as a social club to relax with a drink and play snooker.
Since 1987, the ground floor has been used by various businesses including Sweet Tooth Munchies.
According to a letter from a former Home Guard club member that is contained within planning documents, the club was forced to disband and close the venue in 2015 because it did not have enough money to repair a leaking roof.
There have been two planning applications in recent years to demolish the building and build four flats in its place, but they were both withdrawn.
Harrogate Borough Council will make a decision on the latest planning application at a later date.
Harrogate’s former registry office demolished ahead of rebuildA Victorian villa in Harrogate that was formerly a registry office and a Citizens Advice Bureau has been demolished.
Hornbeam Park Developments has planning permission to build new grade A offices on the site of Victoria Park House on Victoria Avenue.
The developer will rebuild the facade and some walls as part of the new building, which will include a two-storey extension.
It was previously owned by Harrogate Borough Council, which sold it for £1m in 2016 to help fund its move to new headquarters at Knapping Mount.
A report in 2017 said the building suffered from extensive subsidence, mould and was no longer fit-for-purpose.
Computer generated images of how the building will look.
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A plan to demolish the villa and replace it with a modern-looking office block, submitted later that year, received an objection from Historic England.
The public body said the building, which was built in 1864, “epitomises the special character and identity” of Harrogate. It said plans to demolish it would “strike at the heart” of what makes the town unique.
Plans to build this modern office block on the site were scrapped after objections.
Following this, the council said it would no longer support the application and the developer withdrew it.
New proposals, which retained the facade of the existing building, were approved in November 2018 by the council’s planning committee.
Harrogate Town’s Boxing Day clash with Bradford postponedHarrogate Town‘s game away at Bradford City on Boxing Day has been postponed due to a covid outbreak in the Bradford squad.
Bradford City told the English Football League that it would be unable to field a full team for the fixture due to the number of covid cases in their squad.
The Yorkshire derby was one of the most eagerly awaited matches of the year for Town fans, with a large crowd and a festive atmosphere expected at Bradford. It will now be rearranged.
A host of games in the Premier League and the English Football League were postponed over the weekend due to covid outbreaks.
Harrogate Town are due to travel to Tranmere tomorrow in the second round of the Football League Trophy.
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Stonefall candlelit vigil remembers war dead at ChristmasAbout 60 people, including the Mayor and Mayoress of Harrogate, lit candles for more than 1,000 fallen soldiers at Harrogate’s Stonefall Cemetary yesterday.
Harrogate mum Benji Walker has been running Candles for Heroes every year since 2018 because she does not want the soldiers to be forgotten.
Yesterday’s vigil raised over £300, which will be shared between the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which maintains the site, and armed forces charity Help for Heroes.
Ms Walker said:
“I have a son who serves in the Yorkshire Regiment. It’s important to me. They should always be remembered. Christmas is a special time anyway for family, so it’s a nice time to remember the sacrifice they gave.”
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Stonefall is one of the largest war grave sites in northern England.
The cemetery was created in 1914 but most burials are airmen who died during the Second World War when bomber command bases were established in Yorkshire. About two-thirds of the dead are Canadian.
Air pollution risks from Harrogate’s wood-burning stoves ‘cannot be ignored’A campaigner from Harrogate says more should be done to highlight how wood-burning stoves damage the environment.
A study published on Friday found the stoves contribute to almost half of the cancer-causing air pollution particles in towns and cities.
Government data found that wood-burning stoves are the single biggest source of PM2.5 particles in the UK, three times more than transport. Breathing in the particles is known to exacerbate lung conditions, such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
The stoves have seen a boom in popularity over the past decade, with many people seeing them as cosy and rustic additions to their homes.
Some Harrogate district residents in older houses also find stoves and open fires an important source of heat during winter, but Harrogate man Brian McHugh believes over 90% of them are not really needed.
He said air pollution from wood-burners “can no longer be a taboo subject”.
“People have not been responding to the fact that there is a real danger here.”
Mr McHugh, who has written articles on the subject, said some people get defensive when they are told that stoves contribute to air pollution and take it as a personal affront.
He said:
“They feel it is an attack on their identity.”
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Mr McHugh said wood-burning stoves should be seen as a public health risk, similar to smoking or excessive drinking. He’d like to see Harrogate Borough Council launch a public information campaign to inform people of the risks.
He added:
“We have also restricted all sorts of consumer products in the past.
“I think the winter months are an especially good time to talk about air pollution as a while, as both outdoor and indoor air pollution tend to be worse in winter in the UK.
“Harrogate Borough Council has a range of resources and tools at their disposal to disseminate information, whether that is through email, flyers or signage.
“There are local organisations that promote a reduction in local ambient air pollution through Walk to School days and people are being informed about pollution through this direct action. A campaign to start a No Burn Day as a starting point, could be a huge breakthrough.”
Harrogate adventurer completes dangerous mission to reach ‘African pole’A Harrogate adventurer has claimed to be the first person ever to reach the African pole of inaccessibility, which is the continent’s furthest point from the ocean in any direction.
On December 6, Chris Brown and his team completed a dangerous mission through a politically unstable region to get there, which is in the middle of a dense jungle.
The pole is over 1,100 miles from the nearest coast and is near the town of Obo in the Central African Republic (CAR). It’s close to the borders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.
Mr Brown said he faced threats from “poachers, rebels and mercenaries” to reach the point, which took years of planning.
He said:
“[I was] not put off too easily by the various warnings and danger signals, I spent nearly three years planning on how to get there.”
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Mr Brown’s team included two security advisors from the United States, four soldiers from the CAR army and a photographer.
Army protection: Arnoux, Eric, Gustav and Frederic
The journey began in London on a flight to reach Bangui, which is the capital of CAR, via Brussels, Kigali and Duala.
They then chartered a flight from Bangui to an airfield at Obo to then get on a helicopter, which took them to the jungle.
Mr Brown said:
“After that we had to resort to picking our way through fairly dense jungle with the heli hovering above our position, out of small arms fire range, in case of emergency.
“The helicopter hovered over our position in the jungle as a deterrent and in case of emergency evacuation – keeping an altitude above small arms fire!”
“I took a couple of minutes to look around and thought wow, I’m in the middle of Africa. I was looking around at the jungle, it’s very oppressive. I’m a ginger northerner and I was dripping in sweat, taking it all in. It was fairly surreal.”
There are seven different poles of inaccessibility in the various continents and Mr Brown hopes to visit them all. He’s heading to Antarctica later this month.
Most of his friends and family all say the same thing about his adventurous hobby.
“They all think I’m mad!”
Harrogate’s home for witches, spells and crystal ballsMystical Ways in Westminster Arcade is not your typical high street shop.
This month it moved to a bigger location in the arcade on Parliament Street to accommodate Harrogate’s first tarot card reading room.
It’s owned by Jay Clarke and Joanne Mayben, self-declared witches who say they can summon energy and communicate with spirits.
Believers can buy dreamcatchers to ward off nightmares, crystals to summon good energy and incense, which can help cast spells that attract money, love, protection or light.
Ms Mayben said she gave up a potential job with the police to follow her dream of being a spiritual medium and tarot card reader full time, but some people in her home of Pateley Bridge were critical of her choice.
“Someone said ‘oh my god, you shouldn’t be practicing the arts of the devil!’
“Movies have made witches evil. I’m an electric witch. I’m drawn to fire, crystals and candles.”
The two are dressed head to toe in black, but Mr Clarke insists it’s nothing to fear:
“We wear black not because we’re gothy or scary. People are scared of black, but it’s the best colour for repelling negative energy.
“In life, there is no light without dark, you have to have that balance.”
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Mr Clarke said Harrogate has an undercover community of people into spiritualism and mediumship.
“Some people are ‘in the closet’ and they might sneak in to buy a crystal.”
They say there is a big demand for tarot readings, which are available Monday to Saturday from 10am until 4pm, costing £25 for 30 minutes.
Practitioners such as Ms Mayben use tarot cards to purportedly gain insight into someone’s past, present or future.
Mr Clarke said:
“We don’t bullshit. The cards don’t lie and we don’t either, if something negative appears in the cards we’d work you through that.”
Ms Mayben saw the Stray Ferret reporter’s white dog in her crystal ball
Skeptics say tarot readings are fake, and some people are put off by negative experiences with mediums on Scarborough seafront, but Ms Mayben encourages anyone visiting the shop to have an open mind.
She says she can also communicate with spirits — just don’t call them dead people.
“I have been poked and pushed in the face by a spirit, sometimes I get clear words”.
Ms Mayben says one of her gifts is summoning and understanding energy, so what sort of energy does Harrogate have?
She says:
“Harrogate could be so much more. Everything is asleep and it’s laying dormant, but we are here to wake it up.”
Anger after Harrogate builder James Moss declared bankruptThree women owed thousands of pounds by Harrogate cowboy builder James Moss have said they feel let down by the system after he was declared bankrupt.
Mr Moss has lost a string of civil court cases in recent years for poor quality or unfinished building work. He owed over £30,000 to five different homeowners who won cases against him.
Going bankrupt means that Mr Moss, who lives in Summerbridge, won’t be liable for his debts and it is unlikely his claimants will ever see a penny they are owed or recover legal bills.
‘Completely flabbergasted’
Karen Macgillivray-Fallis spent her life savings on a £30,000 garage conversion in Burton Leonard for her elderly mother-in-law, but Mr Moss left it in such a state it had to be demolished.
Her mother-in-law passed away and Ms Macgillivray-Fallis blames Mr Moss for denying them of their final days living together as a family.
She said:
“I am completely flabbergasted how easy it is for someone who owes money to declare themselves bankrupt.
“I am not a big business, I am a normal person who has lost life savings in an attempt to provide a home for my elderly mother-in-law who never had the opportunity to come and live with us due to the actions of Mr Moss. She died alone in April 2019.
“It is very frustrating that the court look at all the evidence, make a decision and then the decision seems to be unenforceable. I have worked for charities all my working life so I really support systems that protect people in genuine need but I have not seen any evidence that this is the case with Mr Moss.
“It is really important to me that justice prevails and we will be taking further steps to ensure that this happens.”
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Gill Lawrence works for a homeless charity and takes vulnerable young people into at her home near Wetherby Road whilst they get back on their feet
Mr Moss left a £13,000 kitchen conversion half-finished whilst pocketing almost the total agreed quote.
Ms Lawrence said she feels “let down” by the legal system, which has cost her even more money trying to recover the money she was owed.
“I have paid to take him to court, who agreed with me. They instructed him to pay me £8,700 which he refused to do. The courts do nothing else to ensure you get the money they have instructed him to pay.
“At that point I think it should be up to them to enforce payment, but no, you have to pay them even more money for them to instruct payment, and then you have to pay even more money to instruct bailiffs to collect from him.
“He has still refused to pay. So now he has declared himself bankrupt, I feel like I have been let down three times, by him, the courts and the bailiffs who I paid a fortune to and I’ve ended up with nothing. How can that be right?.”
‘More regulation is needed’
Vicky Cooke is a French teacher from Ilkley who needed a new roof on an extension at her home. Ms Cooke paid Moss £3,400 for the job, and he even offered a 25-year guarantee that the work would be built to last.
But after apparently completing the job it took just two months for the roof to start leaking.
Ms Cooke said:
“I’m not really surprised that Mr Moss is declaring himself bankrupt. The debt will be written off. In the meantime, we’ve worked hard and honestly to earnt the money to pay a reputable roofer to repair what we’d already paid to Mr Moss to do.
“The whole building and roofing trade needs regulating to protect consumers from cowboys like James Moss.”
‘The system is unfair’
Andrew Gray, founder of Harrogate law firm Truth Legal, said the small claims court process was stacked against the claimant and that “crafty defendants” know how to play the system.
He said:
“If a claimant engages a solicitor to pursue a claim, then, even if the claim succeeds, the claimant is unlikely to recover their legal costs. In claims for smaller sums, perversely, the legal fees can dwarf the amount of damages. With or without lawyers, the process is slow and always stressful.
“When defendants become insolvent, the litigation process usually becomes pointless, further annoying a genuine claimant, who is left significantly out of pocket and further aggrieved.
“Frankly, the system is unfair and is deserving of a significant upheaval.
“Crafty defendants know how to play the system, to the massive disadvantage of the rule-following majority.”
The Stray Ferret asked Mr Moss to respond to this article but we did not receive a response by time of publication.
Teenager arrested after disturbances in JennyfieldsNorth Yorkshire Police has arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion of attempted burglary and criminal damage in the Jennyfields area of Harrogate.
The Stray Ferret was contacted by a reader today who reported several cars were vandalised on Sutton Grange Close in the early hours of this morning. They also said there was an attempted burglary on the street.
Posts on social media suggested cars on nearby Hartwith Drive and other streets nearby had also been damaged during the night.
A police spokeswoman said it received reports of an attempted burglary at a property on Sutton Grange Close at about 3am this morning. She added:
“A 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted burglary and criminal damage. He is currently in police custody.”
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Otley Road business owner ‘fuming’ about cycle path worksThe owner of IXP Security on Otley Road in Harrogate has said he is “fuming” about prolonged works to build the new Otley Road cycle path, which he believes has put customers off visiting his store.
Work has continued throughout November and December to build the first phase of the new cycle route between Harlow Moor Road and Cold Bath Road, which is part of a package of sustainable transport measures in the west of Harrogate. It is due to end this week.
The security store has been on Otley Road for 50 years and sells safes, intruder alarms, locks and CCTV systems.
Owner Marcus Wayman said footfall has evaporated since work began and he has been unimpressed with the “etiquette” of contractors working on the scheme.
“We’ve been subjected to a significant period of time where we’ve been disadvantaged. I can’t get access to my front door all the time. Whilst I bow to the skill of road builders, their ability to follow etiquette is limited.
“They have travelled across our shop’s apron with great big heavy trucks. That concrete footpath has survived 50 years, it’s all smashed up now.
“I’m fuming about it. Stuff has been strewn all over my apron. I move safes in and out of the showroom, which I can no longer do.”
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To accommodate the cycle path, a bus stop has been moved closer to Mr Wayman’s shop.
He believes this could be hazardous for pedestrians who might have to dodge out of the way of cyclists. He has complained to North Yorkshire County Council but said he has been ignored.
He added:
“NYCC are servants to the voters in this town who pay their wages, but they are absolutely incapable of being talked to. They seemingly refuse to get back to you quickly.
“There aren’t many businesses as old as us in the locality, is this the way to treat people? Where has the courtesy gone in life?
“From start to finish I have had a gripe against the whole scheme, there’s no democracy.”
Melisa Burnham, highways area manager at NYCC, said:
“Feedback from residents and businesses is very important to us and can help shape the delivery of this and future schemes. We will liaise with the business owner and identify how best we can support him whilst the works continue on Otley Road.
“We appreciate works of this nature have an impact on the local community and we would like to extend our thanks for their ongoing patience.”