For most people, coping with lockdown and the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic can be challenging. It can be so much worse for people who already struggle with their mental health. 

The Harrogate branch of Mind has been offering its support for the last eight weeks. 

Development manager Helen Greensit, one of a team of three making regular phone calls to check in on people, said the initial challenge was the change in routine. 

“It’s the change, in the fact that they can’t do what they would normally do. And it’s the worry about, ‘can I go and get my shopping?’. Especially for people who are vulnerable and have underlying health conditions – many of them are staying indoors anyway. For others, it has messed with that routine. 

“A little group of them used to go to the pictures every now and again. All that is disrupted. For those who have got a daily routine going, they suddenly can’t do that.” 

The small team at Mind began by calling people to check in, offering to call back once a fortnight or week, or even several times a week if it was needed. Some said they were fine without a regular call – but the team called back after a few weeks, and some said at that point that they would benefit from a regular chat. 

Working together

Through the conversations, Helen and her colleagues also identified people in need of additional help. They liaised with the Resurrected Bites food waste project to arrange deliveries for people who were struggling to get food, as well as speaking to GPs and pharmacies to ensure essential medicine and healthcare were available. 

It is not just people who were already known to Mind who have benefited from its support – a growing number of new contacts are being made and added to the list of calls. Helen is keen to reach even more and welcomes anyone who gets in touch.

A loss of routine made the first few weeks of lockdown hard for many people

In a two-week period, there are more than 170 calls being made to people in the community to check in, have a chat and schedule the next call. As well as supporting vulnerable people, Helen and her colleagues are finding benefits for themselves in the conversations. She said: 

“We’ve opened it up to the community. We’ve said, ‘it’s a community service, if you are feeling lonely and isolated, even if it’s just a weekly chat you want about your pet rabbit, if that’s what you want, that’s fine’.

“A lot of my friends think ‘lucky you, going to work’. I do feel happy I’ve got a purpose and I can come into work and I can do something valuable that’s going to be helpful.” 

Alongside their calls, the team at Mind are now looking towards the next steps, when lockdown eases. The Acorn Centre on Station Parade usually hosts up to 30 people at a time, with some doing crafts and activities, others chatting informally over a coffee, or getting help from the staff and volunteers. 

Planning ahead

Helen said that, in line with government guidance, it may be possible in the coming weeks to re-open to smaller numbers. The phone support is likely to continue for those who are still isolating at home, and to provide additional support for people who can’t be accommodated as often as usual at the centre. 

Having started in her role just weeks before lockdown began, Helen said she has found it challenging – but has enjoyed feeling she was making a difference to people’s well-being. 

“It has always been about the people for me. Supporting and helping people is what drives me. 

“I wouldn’t have imagined it would be quite as strange times as this. It hasn’t really allowed me to get to grips with things in the way we would have done.

“It’s really nice to hear a voice on the end of the phone and think, ‘they sound like they’re doing OK’.”

If you are struggling with your mental health and need someone to talk, you get in touch with Mind on 01423 503335. Their telephone support service is available between 8.30am – 5pm every weekday. For information click here. 

Parking restrictions have been introduced across the Harrogate district, with signs suggesting they could be applied for more than four months.

James Street, Commercial Street and parts of Albert Street in Harrogate town centre have been roped off, along with parking bays on Knaresborough High Street. Pateley Bridge’s High Street and Ripon’s High Skellgate and Westgate have been reduced in width to a single lane.

North Yorkshire County Council’s signs say the restrictions are designed to enable social distancing and are in place until the end of September. However, the authority confirmed on Twitter the parking bays will be closed this weekend, with monitoring in place to determine how effective the measures are.

While shops, cafes, bars and restaurants are not currently allowed to open, the government has said the restrictions could be eased in the coming weeks. NYCC has not confirmed whether the weekend’s restrictions will be extended, though the signs suggest they could be in place until the end of September.

The notices on James Street suggest restrictions could be in place until the end of September

Richard Flinton, chief executive of NYCC, said in a message to residents:

“We are doing our best to limit crowds in those places where lack of space is particularly concerning such as Whitby, Filey, Scarborough and Harrogate.

“We are closing a number of streets, shutting certain car parks and suspending parking in a number of areas. We will also have highways crews looking out for any issues of concern over the weekend and ready to take the action open to us, to respond.”

If restrictions on town centre parking remain in place after shops are allowed to re-open, they are likely to cause concern for businesses already affected by declining footfall before lockdown began. Independent Harrogate, which represents small businesses in the town, has been campaigning for free parking to encourage more shoppers to visit and bolster the local economy.

Environmental campaigners argue the quiet roads and increase in cycling and walking over recent weeks should be part of the Harrogate district’s plans for the future. Zero Carbon Harrogate has said now is the ideal time to improve infrastructure for low-carbon transport and encourage people to choose options other than cars.

More visitors were seen in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens today

Visitor attractions

Fears had been raised that, over the first weekend since changes to lockdown advice from the government, crowds could descend on town centres and attractions, making it very difficult for people to keep their distance.

Harrogate’s Valley Gardens today appeared much busier than it has been over recent weeks, with no parking restrictions nearby. Organisations including Yorkshire Water and the Yorkshire Dales National Park issued advice against travelling to potentially busy places.

Mr Flinton added:

“We hope this is reassuring, but you all have a part to play in this, too. Of course, enjoy the outdoors; there is no finer place than our county in my, perhaps biased, view.

“But, please, access open countryside rather than paths, narrow lanes or town and village centres. If you can do so close to your home all the better, and be prepared to change your mind if where you are heading looks busy. Protect yourselves and your family by avoiding crowds and encourage anyone you know who is thinking of coming – to wait until we can offer them a real North Yorkshire welcome in the future.”

What are your experiences of the new restrictions and social distancing across the Harrogate district this weekend? Email us with your views.

Bride to be, but when?

Julie Yeoman, was meant to be walking down the aisle today to marry her fiance, Troy Scott. However, due to coronavirus, they are left in a ‘waiting game’, with no real certainty of when the ceremony will be.

Julie and Troy who live in Harrogate were due to get married at St John’s Church in Bilton today, then on to the reception which was to be at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate.

However, with all weddings put on hold because of the ban on gatherings of more than two people to stop the disease spreading, their big day can not go ahead.

Julie told The Stray Ferret that it has been one long waiting game:

“We spent a lot of time waiting to see what would happen as if we cancelled ourselves we would have to pay… Once the church and venue cancelled, we postponed it to February next year, but we have since found out that our marriage licence runs out at the end of June this year.”

North Yorkshire County Council will be able to carry out what it calls its biggest ever programme of highway maintenance with an extra £3.9 million in government funding.

In total, the Department for Transport has awarded the county £52.6 million to improve roads, pathways, cycle routes and to carry out infrastructure projects.

When the lockdown is lifted fully the council believes it will be in the best possible position to help people get back to work.

The council has drawn up more than 500 individual schemes across North Yorkshire with patching, surface dressing and resurfacing on the agenda.

Some of the locations include Gristhorpe Bypass, Filey, Leeds Road in Harrogate and several locations in Richmond.

Councillor Don Mackenzie, the Executive Member for Access, said:

“We welcome this additional funding from the Government, the second largest amount in Yorkshire as a whole. As England’s largest county, there are thousands of miles of footpaths and highways for us to maintain and this will allow for significant investment in our infrastructure.”

All the works will be undertaken while observing the Government’s social distancing measures aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19.

Earlier this week, the Government announced a £250 million emergency active travel fund as the first stage of a £2 billion investment.

The money will make improvements for cycling and walking such as wider pavements, safer junctions, and cycle and bus-only corridors.

Full details of how much will be allocated to each local authority are yet to be revealed, but councillor Mackenzie said: “We are already working on proposals with regard to this funding and hope to have more information in the near future.”

National Trust venues in the Harrogate district will remain closed to the public this weekend.

It means that Brimham Rocks and Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, Ripon, will not be open for people to travel to as the trust plans a gradual reopening of its attractions in the coming weeks.

People are able to travel anywhere in the country to find a park or beach as the lockdown has been eased, but the trust said its decisions to open its venues will be guided by local judgement.

As part of the easing of lockdown restrictions, the trust plans to reopen some of its larger car parks for its attractions from May 21 to those who have pre-booked places.

People will be able to book parking spaces for venues on the National Trust website from Monday (May 18). Members will be able to book for free, but non-members will have to pay.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire Water confirmed that car parks at reservoirs across the district will still be closed this weekend.

Earler this week, the company warned that people should not travel to its reservoirs, such as Fewston and Scar House, until it has a plan to adapt to government guidance.

It comes as the head of Yorkshire Dales National Park hit out at the government after it gave the green light for people to travel to beauty spots.

Jade Edwards and Henry Stam were meant to tie the knot on May 9, at Rudding Park, but due to coronavirus, their big day has been postponed.

To make matters worse the couple weren’t even able to spend their ‘not wedding day’ together as Henry works as a doctor in A&E at Harrogate Hospital. Jade told the Stray Ferret that the whole thing has been very sad:

 It was meant to be such a special year, it’s just so sad… Henry has moved into an apartment in Harrogate as he is very much on the front line of the pandemic and we have an 11-month-old daughter so he didn’t want to put her or me at risk, so we couldn’t even spend the day together… a few other couples we know got dressed up and had a nice meal at home, but we couldn’t do that.

Henry isn’t very emotional, but even he said that at 1pm last Saturday he was looking at his watch thinking about where we should have been… But it’s out of our control, we will just have to look forward to next year.

The couple initially postponed the ceremony to the 4th July, but as time went out they realised that, even if it could go ahead then, that it wouldn’t be the wedding they wanted.

I didn’t want everyone to be in face mask or for my older relatives to not be able to come, so we thought it was best to just push it back until next year… The venue have been brilliant, they have just dealt with the whole thing for us, nothing was an issue.

Laura Lindsay who is a wedding planner in Harrogate, usually organises 50 weddings between April and September. She told the Stray Ferret that this is not something the industry ever imagined having to go through :

 Everything up until august is out of the window for most of my brides… and anyone who is holding out is looking at a different style of wedding day… this is no longer 100 guests it’s on a much smaller scale.

2020 brides will have bought their products, personalised them with their dates date, sent out invites… they are now having to do this twice which is an added expense.

With the majority of weddings this year being moved over to 2021 Laura advised that people secured their dates quickly. She went on to say:

I just want to remind you all when you’re feeling down that your wedding will happen and when it does it is going to be an amazing celebration,  there will be people that won’t of seen each other in such a long time and the whole day will be valued so much more.

Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any coronavirus deaths for a second day.

So far, 54 people have died at the hospital with the last two deaths on Sunday and Monday – however, that may change as the hospital updates its figures.

As of yesterday, Harrogate hospital has released 97 people after they recovered from coronavirus.

It comes as hospitals across England reported another 186 deaths.

The patients were aged between 15 and 99 years old. 10 of those, who were aged between 30 and 94, had no underlying health conditions.

Nearly a quarter of Harrogate care home deaths from the beginning of March involved coronavirus, new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows.

From March 6 to May 1 there were 221 deaths registered in the town’s care homes and, in the same period, 54 of those deaths involved covid-19.

This new data includes deaths where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate but was not necessarily the main cause of death.

Previously ONS data from the same period up to May 1 showed there had been 43 deaths in Harrogate’s care homes where coronavirus was recorded as the actual cause of death.

Now when the ONS also factors in deaths where COVID-19 was not necessarily the cause of death but involved, Harrogate’s care homes have had 54 deaths – a 25% increase.

The difficulty in establishing the extent of the crisis in Harrogate’s care homes

The new statistics have also revealed the challenge of recording deaths in care homes, where people may already be on end of life care.

Southlands care home in Harrogate has faced that challenge after recording six confirmed coronavirus deaths but a further 16 of its residents died before testing was available.

Sandra Hustwick, Regional Director for Southlands care home said:

“Very sadly, we have lost six residents who tested positive for COVID-19. A further sixteen residents passed away before testing was available, though a number of these were expected as they’d been receiving end of life care prior to the outbreak.

“The past months have been exceptionally challenging but the team has pulled together to deliver the best possible care and our home has been entirely free of COVID-19 for the past two weeks. Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those affected. I would like to say thank you to residents’ friends and families, as well as the wider community, who’ve all been so supportive.”

Staff from Ashville College in Harrogate have been busy making scrubs and other PPE for two of the town’s care homes.

The volunteer group makes the items for Heath Lodge, on Pannal Ash Road, and Berwick Grange, on Wetherby Road.

It comes after the college donated around 200 pairs of safety glasses from its science department to frontline hospital staff treating patients with coronavirus.

The volunteers are led by Caroline Beer, Annie Wilcockson, Sarah Mansfield, Helen Thompson, Elizabeth Pennington, and Lynn Conway.

Collectively, the team has made scrubs, scrub bags, face masks, and headbands, to keep health workers’ ears comfortable from hours of mask wearing.

They have also produced artwork of fictional characters to support children’s storytelling at Harrogate District Hospital.

Caroline Beer said: “We all bring different skills to the mix and our pooled talents are benefitting employees and residents at Heath Lodge and Berwick Grange, and young patients at Harrogate District Hospital. We have set up a ‘gofundme’ page to help pay for materials.”

The materials produced so far have been created using donated fabrics and now the team has also set up a gofundme page to raise money for more materials. The Busy Bees plan to continue production for as long as possible to provide vital PPE items to local care homes in need.

Following a donation this week of items to staff at Berwick Grange, Administration Manager, Phoebe Rahtmell said:

“I would like to say a huge thank you for the uniform bags and head bands that were very kindly made and donated to Berwick Grange Care Home. This was a very thoughtful gesture and I would like to pass on our gratitude to everybody involved as I imagine a vast amount of time went into making them all.”