A week of free digital events for businesses across the Harrogate district gets under way today.

Harrogate Digital will cover digital connectivity, sustainability of data and how to grow a start-up during lockdown. It concludes with a round-table discussion about ways to grow the tech community in the Harrogate district.

The events form part of the wider Leeds Digital Festival, which began last week.

Harrogate Digital has previously run face-to-face events, but decided to move online to enable more people to attend and avoid coronavirus restrictions. All events are free and can be booked via the Harrogate Digital website.

The events have been organised by Harrogate Borough Council’s SME growth manager Alistair Forbes, along with Martin Whincup from Berwins, and tech entrepreneur and mentor Sanjay Parekh.

Read more: 

• Harrogate hospitality businesses welcome Chancellor’s winter support
• Second lockdown would see Harrogate businesses face battle to survive, says chamber

The week will also see the launch of Co-Lab, a new incubator hub being run by Harrogate Borough Council from Springfield House. While use of the offices has been delayed by covid, support is being offered to new and growing businesses in the tech and digital sector.

Mr Forbes said there is already evidence that new businesses are being formed during lockdown and people are using their time creatively.

“We have had all sorts of different enquiries and ideas come forward from existing businesses I was already working with for new businesses or divisions.

“There are also people who have been made redundant from previous roles and want to start up a new tech-related business. That appears to be as strong as ever.

“Harrogate has been well-known as a place to start a business even if it’s based from home, but there has been a resurgence over the summer in terms of people with new ideas and starting businesses.”

Uniting Harrogate’s town centre businesses with a common voice is one of the biggest challenges facing Harrogate BID as it approaches its second anniversary.

With numerous groups and organisations representing different elements of the town, the BID hopes it can find common ground and bring different factions together to make progress for the benefit of all.

However, even within its own membership, there is no consensus on what the town centre needs. BID ambassador Jo Caswell said it is surprising how wide the range of opinions is on matters like pedestrianisation.

“It’s very mixed. A lot of it is to do with the demographics of the outlet and their customer base and what suits them as a business.

“We’re here to get feedback and put all that information together and put some kind of strategy together as a consequence of it. We’ve been very proactive – I’ve got a good feeling about what Harrogate BID will deliver if we know it’s the right thing that the retailers and general public want.”

Having been in post for five weeks, with the official title of Harrogate Host, Jo has spent a lot of time going from business to business, finding out what they need to make their lives easier in such difficult times.

A Harrogate resident for more than 20 years, she feels a sense of loyalty to the town and is enjoying being able to “put something back” by supporting the town centre. But she has been surprised by the lack of a sense of community across the town centre.

“There’s not as much of a community hub as I thought there would be. Why that is, I’m not sure.

“In a way, that excites me, because I think the initiatives that we’re putting forward are addressing that directly: networking with the councils, meetings with the homeless project. Our responsibility is to bring all those people together, give a bit of cohesion to it and represent those views.”

Harrogate BID’s new project manager, Dawn Gennery

Jo will be joined by a second Harrogate Host next week, as well as project administrator Dawn Gennery, who is supporting acting BID manager Simon Kent in his work.

Alongside liaising between organisations and business owners, the BID is aiming to provide a practical boost for local businesses over the coming months. A £100,000 investment is being made in Christmas lights – compared to around £30,000 raised in previous years through donations – to drive visitors into the town centre.

With retail and hospitality facing the most challenging times in most businesses’ histories, the BID is also working on more schemes to increase footfall and improve the environment of the town centre over the coming months. Measures including additional street cleaning and new planters to brighten up shop frontages through the winter months.

Read more:

• Second lockdown would see Harrogate businesses face battle to survive, says chamber
• Conference sector ‘cut adrift’ says Harrogate events company

Since it was launched in early 2019, Harrogate BID has faced its own challenges. Board members have come and gone – including the resignation of its first manager after less than four months last year, and the departure of four board members including the chairman in April, citing undue influence from local authorities and an inability to make progress on important projects.

Jo recognises the challenges still facing the organisation, but said the reception so far for her proactive approach has been reassuring.

“Generally, I’m finding it very positive. Because Harrogate BID has been quite invisible so far, there’s a bit of scepticism sometimes, but when you talk things through and talk about initiatives, I’ve had very little negative comeback.”

Nidderdale High School has been recognised with a national award for its pastoral care.

In the first ever online awards run by the National Association of Pastoral Care in Education, the school was announced as the winner of the Pastoral Development of the Year category.

The recognition is for the school’s Harmony Project, which saw a group of year 10 students working on a project with pastoral leader Anneliese Walker. They made lanterns at Number 6 Studio Gallery in Pateley Bridge and went trekking with Nidderdale Llamas.

Judges praised the unique and innovative way the project supported young people, enabling them to experience the enjoyment of working confidently and collaboratively with others. They were encouraged to show and receive kindness and understanding, to make future plans together and not to be influenced by difficulties they had faced in the past.

Headteacher Kath Jordan said:

“I am so proud of the work that all of the pastoral team do in school, led by Ms Walker. This project was inspired by the students themselves and was devised by Ms Walker to take them beyond their usual experience to find common ground together.

“We were delighted just to be selected as finalists for this national award. To be announced as the winners is fantastic news and well deserved recognition of the incredible work that the pastoral team do to support all of our young people.”

Read more:

• Western Primary School urges council to tackle road fears
• Rare species found in Nidderdale AONB

A leading Thalidomide campaigner from Harrogate has paid tribute to Sir Harold Evans, the newspaper editor who championed the cause of the drug’s victims in the early 1970s.

Sir Harold – known as Harry – a former editor of the Northern Echo and the youngest editor of the Sunday Times, has died at the age of 92.

He was instrumental in exposing the Thalidomide scandal, which saw thousands of babies in the UK born with severe disabilities after their mothers were given the drug to cure morning sickness.

Thalidomide victim Guy Tweedy, who lives in Harrogate, became a good friend of Sir Harold, and last saw him at his New York club in July 2019. He said:

“I am very sadden by the news of the passing of my dear friend.

“He was an icon. The world’s greatest journalist, and Harry was, and will always remain, a hero of Thalidomiders worldwide.

“What he did for Thalidomide survivors and their families in the UK was enormous. He trod where no one else did. If it wasn’t for him fighting against the establishment, and having the courage to expose this horrendous scandal, we would never have got any justice at all.

“We owe him a huge debt of gratitude that sadly we will never be able to repay. I hold him up in complete veneration and consider him one of the greatest men of all time. My thoughts are with his wife, Tina, and his family at this very sad time.

“I lit a candle to his memory, which is standing in front of a portrait that I had commissioned of him a few years ago. God bless you, Sir Harry.”

Read more:

• Harrogate District Hospital to increase covid tests for staff
• Women to swim English Channel for charity

Some of the biggest names in literature, politics and broadcasting will be streamed directly into people’s homes thanks to the Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival.

Usually held in the town in October, the event has moved online this year and will see interviews with Simon Mayo, Jeremy Vine, Rory Bremner, Jess Phillips MP and more.

From Friday, October 23 to Sunday, October 25, 17 events will be held online – all free for the public to attend. Sharon Canavar, chief executive of Harrogate International Festivals, said

“2020 has been a journey of discovery and adventure, a theme that trails through our programme. For Harrogate International Festivals, reinvention has come out of necessity to ensure survival of our arts charity and to continue in our mission to bring the very best of our events to audiences.

“Whilst there is no denying that this is a hugely challenging time for the Festival, and for artists, through our exciting digital weekend of events, bottling a taste of our usual Festival, we support authors, creators and suppliers and bring them together with audiences as community in a celebration of literature. For we have never needed stories that explore what it means to be human, more than we do now.”

Read more:

• Harrogate district event venues light up in ‘red alert’
• Horror film festival coming to Harrogate this Halloween

Among the novelists taking part are Bernard Cornwell, Lee Child, Ken Follett and Natalie Haynes. Former Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman and bestselling author Ariana Neumann will share their memoirs, while Hugo Vickers discusses the story of Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough.

David Lammy MP, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason and Loyd Grossman are also included in the line-up.

Raworths managing partner Zoe Robinson said:

“The content and delivery may have gone digital, but the inspiration that literature brings will continue to shine through.

“We are once again delighted to be partnering with Harrogate International Festivals and sponsoring the Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival – established as one of the leading literature festivals in the UK.”

The Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival will be streamed through the Harrogate International Festivals website.

Police are appealing for witnesses after a car was stolen and driven at speed around Ripon.

The silver Ford Galaxy, registration MK11 LHD, was taken from Kirkby Road at around 10.25am on Tuesday morning.

It was seen being driven at speed out of Kirkby Drive, spun around in the middle of the road, and making off in the direction of the city centre.

Four men and teenagers, aged between 13 and 20, have been arrested and released under investigation while enquiries continue. A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said:

“Officers are requesting the public’s assistance to help establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

“In particular, they would like to hear from anyone who saw a silver Ford Galaxy being driven at speed and erratically in the Ripon area between 10.25am and 11am that day. They would also like to hear from anyone who saw a group of young people running away from the Thirlway Drive and College Road area towards the town centre.”

Read more:

• Ripon businessman jailed for 80mph police chase in Knaresborough
• Vandalism closes Ripon playground

Anyone with information, or CCTV, dash-cam or doorbell camera footage, should email deborag.utley@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk or call North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option two and ask for Deborah Utley.

Alternatively, to report information anonymously, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12200166679.

A further seven new covid cases have been diagnosed in the Harrogate district in the last 24 hours.

The figures, produced by Public Health England, take the total number of confirmed cases in the district since the start of the pandemic to 933.

However, residents across the Harrogate district have reported difficulty in accessing testing, even when they have symptoms. A mobile testing unit visits Harrogate’s Dragon Road car park twice a week.

The latest figures come amid a picture of a growing number of cases across the country, as the government prepares to introduce further restrictions in an attempt to reduce the spread.

Read more:

• Harrogate Town kids coaching centre closes after covid case
• Second lockdown would see Harrogate businesses face battle to survive, says chamber

Last week, North Yorkshire declared a major incident amid an increase in cases in the county. Selby and Scarborough districts have also been listed as “areas of concern” by the government.

However, Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any deaths in patients with covid since July 19.

Police arrested three people after reports of an altercation involving a group of teenagers in central Harrogate last night.

Officers were called to Montpellier Parade at 7.40pm on Monday, with several vehicles rushing to the scene.

A witness told the Stray Ferret that officers pulled over and made arrests on Beech Grove, near its junction with West Park.

Officers stopped on Beech Grove to deal with reports of an altercation involving a group of teenagers

However, after making enquiries at the scene, police released all three suspects. North Yorkshire Police said this morning that enquiries into the incident are continuing.

Information can be reported to the force by calling 101 and using reference 12200166372.

Burglars stole a car from outside a house on Stonebeck Avenue after breaking in and taking the keys in the early hours of Sunday.

It happened between 1.30am and 2.30am, and the car was found abandoned with damage the following day.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said:

“Officers are appealing to anyone who saw or heard any suspicious people or vehicles in the area on Saturday night or Sunday morning, and in particular are appealing to any residents who have CCTV or smart doorbells that might have captured the suspects on camera.”

Anyone with information should call North Yorkshire Police on 1010. select option two, and ask for Mark Nursey, or email mark.nursey@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk.

To report information anonymously, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Quote North Yorkshire Police reference 12200165204.

Read more:

• Police appeal after spate of Harrogate burglaries
• Police arrest man after incident in Harrogate Town centre

The president of Harrogate Brigantes Rotary Club has reached the summit of Everest – without leaving Yorkshire.

David Hayes and 20 members of the group have been covering the equivalent distance of Everest since late August.

They covered 3,900 miles and climbed 106,000 feet – which they calculated to be the Yorkshire equivalent trekking 1,525 miles and 1,056m feet to Everest’s summit.

Among those taking part was Graham Chilvers, who completed his distance and height quota by walking up and down the steps at Knaresborough Castle each day with his dog, Jet. Four Rotarians climbed Yorkshire’s highest peak, Whernside, on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year, while Tony Doveston went up and down the stairs of the high-rise building where he lives.

Tony Doveston contributed to the Everest challenge by climbing the stairs in his high-rise apartment building

Guy Wilson trekked up and down the hill behind his house, David Russell and John Benedict cycled, while others rowed, used a step machine, and walked around the Stray in Harrogate. One hardy participant even contributed to the total distance as he recovered from knee replacement surgery.

On reaching the ‘summit’, Mr Hayes said:

“I am only standing here because of the enormous efforts of club members over the last few weeks.

“Daily they have walked, climbed, cycled and rowed to build up the real distance and height that were needed to get me here. They’re all in their 70s but they’ve put their bodies through a gruelling regime to get us to our goal.”

The fundraising total so far stands at £3,500, with donations still coming in. The money will be split between the Brigantes’ Covid Relief Fund, mental health charity Wellspring, and Carers’ Resource.

A blog of updates on the expedition can be found on the Brigantes’ website.

Read more:

• Harrogate charity sees 44% increase in counselling referrals
• Harrogate charity hopes to break second hand school clothes stigma