Harrogate domestic abuse charity sees cases double

A Harrogate based domestic abuse charity is preparing for an increase of survivors following lockdown. Its CEO says the abuse can happen “closer than you think”.

New Beginnings works with female survivors of domestic abuse around Harrogate. It currently supports 10 women but those numbers of expected to double over the next three months.

Since lockdown, the charity has had to increase its support to a 24/7 Whatsapp group chat, welfare checks and 1:1 video and phone calls. This service has increased by approximately 700% as it is now supporting twice the number of women it was and on a more constant basis.

Over lockdown any plans for women that were housed in refuge centres or waiting for a house had to be put on pause. New Beginnings come in once the women are resettled into houses, its support continues for as long as the woman needs.

Lindsay Oliver, CEO of New Beginnings, said:

“There is a misconception amongst many individuals that despite recent coverage of the realities of domestic abuse that is doesn’t happen around here, with 1 in 3 women within their lifetime suffering domestic abuse, believe me it’s closer than you think!

“We’ve been told by IDAS that there’s a major backlog that will come through following this so we are getting prepared with more volunteers.

A collage of workshops offered by the charity New Beginnings.

The charity also offers a variety of support including workshops to improve emotional intelligence and fresh food parcels.

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Two survivors of domestic abuse, both remaining anonymous, who are being helped by the charity, said:
“I’ve found being a part of the group and still able to have sessions so to speak via group chat and phone calls a great help and still having the support and speaking freely knowing that it’s still private and confidential and I’m not alone.”
Another women said:
“When I moved to Harrogate from an abusive relationship they helped me regain my confidence and myself control, they are such lovely and kind people. They help me and give me so much and I’m so happy to be apart of the group.”

Lindsay added:

“We have continued throughout with welfare checks and catch ups with our clients. We’re currently relying on community support as our funding streams have been delayed. The women mostly want to be able to see the woods for the tree and to put their life back together.”

If you need help or support then you can access the charity via their facebook page @New Beginnings.

To support the charity, click here.

Harrogate indoor play centre in fluffy Downing Street demo

The owner of a Harrogate indoor play centre has demanded the government gives her business the green light to reopen.

Lisa Mee runs Kidzplay Harrogate, which has been closed since the start of the coronavirus lockdown.

She has made every effort to make her play centre safe for children to return but indoor play centres are one of a few industries in England still closed.

Today is the 120 day point since the closure. To mark the occasion Lisa travelled down to Westminster to demonstrate and to Downing Street to hand in a petition.

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Nearly 20,000 people have signed the “Rescue Indoor Play” petition which claims that the government has overlooked children in its decisions.

Standing just outside Downing Street Lisa Mee told The Stray Ferret:

“Children between one and five years old are low risk when it comes to coronavirus. But when we keep them in isolation they are high risk for social and emotional development. A one-year-old came to the centre recently. They have spent half of their life with their parents and nobody else and they really struggled meeting other people, I fear for their future.”

Today is the 120 day point since the closure.

Lisa Mee also fears for the future of her business. With no concrete date of when she can reopen Kidzplay she could potentially have to pay some big bills going forward.

She managed to get a government loan but with the furlough scheme coming to an end she faces a £30,000 bill for her 30 staff. Without further help, Lisa may need to make some tough decisions.

Hospital discharges two more coronavirus patients

Two more patients have this week been discharged from Harrogate District Hospital after being treated for coronavirus.

It brings the total discharged from the hospital since the start of the outbreak to 141.

#teamHDFT pic.twitter.com/UCiogvjoqm

— Harrogate NHS FT (@HarrogateNHSFT) July 16, 2020

Meanwhile, for the ninth consecutive day, no further deaths have been reported in patients with the virus at the hospital, according to figures released by NHS England today.

They show that 19 more patients, aged between 52 and 91, have died across the country, and all of them had underlying health conditions. It brings the total number of deaths in NHS England hospitals to 29,144.

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Harrogate charity for vulnerable predicts more calls for help

Harrogate Easier Living Project (HELP) is preparing for an increase of calls for help from people after coronavirus.

Requests to the charity for food bank and supermarket vouchers have already increased. It says help for practical jobs could also increase as people struggle financially.

From April to June it has supported over 500 families and individuals. Over lockdown it provided a variety of help including dropping off books and puzzles to those isolating and moving beds for covid patients returning from hospital.

The charity was initially “overwhelmed” at the beginning of the pandemic but it was able to recruit over 200 volunteers to help it as demand increased.

Lizzie Hughes, Project Development Worker, said that as lockdown eases people will still need their help:

“Whilst we are receiving fewer urgent requests for support and emergency food shopping now, we are still carrying out on average around 120 tasks every week for people in Harrogate and Ripon. A number of people are struggling financially and we’re seeing a lot more people needing to access the food banks or asking us to apply for supermarket vouchers for them.

“Physical and mental health may prevent some local residents from being able to fully participate in community life for some time to come. We also anticipate an increase in demand for practical help with jobs that have built up during lockdown and need arising from economic hardship exacerbated by the virus.”

A volunteer from HELP takes their pony to meet an isolating couple to cheer them up.

Gill, a HELP volunteer, took her pony Maple for a socially distant walk round the houses of some of HELP’s isolating clients to cheer them up.

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The organisation offers a support network for those in need of help across Harrogate and Ripon. Over lockdown HELP has been working with the most vulnerable to assist them in any way they need.

Lizzie added:

“From April to June, we supported an additional 501 families and individuals, carried out 822 shopping trips and 112 people received befriending phone calls. We appreciate that doing someone’s shopping isn’t going to be the answer to all their problems so we have been making welfare calls to all our clients offering them additional support.”

 

Bistrot Pierre set to close Harrogate restaurant

Le Bistrot Pierre in Harrogate looks set to be among the first restaurant casualties of the Covid-19 crisis.

The Cheltenham Parade restaurant’s owners filed for administration on Tuesday after struggling to find funding to see them through lockdown.

The business was immediately sold to Bistrot Pierre 1994 Ltd in a pre-pack deal, but the new owners have chosen not to reopen six of the 25 restaurants around the UK, including Harrogate. Administrators have confirmed 123 redundancies, but have not said how many of these will be in Harrogate.

Joint administrator Will Wright said:

“COVID-19 and the prolonged lockdown period has presented large swathes of the casual dining sector with significant funding challenges, and Bistrot Pierre has been far from immune.

“Despite exploring all alternative options, including relief schemes like the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan, the directors took the difficult decision to file for the appointment of administrators. We are pleased to have been able to conclude a transaction which preserves the majority of the business and associated jobs, ensuring the chain’s 25-year presence on local high streets can continue.”

Bistrot Pierre is the first restaurant in the Harrogate district to confirm its closure following the coronavirus lockdown. The Yorke Arms at Ramsgill has announced it will not reopen its restaurant, but instead become a country house for private hire.

The Country Living St George Hotel was closed in May after its owners, Shearings, went into administration. Hospitality businesses have told The Stray Ferret their futures could hang in the balance if Harrogate Convention Centre is not reopened this year, bringing much-needed trade for hotels, guesthouses, cafes, restaurants and bars.

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North Rigton residents stage last ditch attempt to fight ‘nightmare’ build

Residents in North Rigton say they will continue to fight council plans to build more homes on their street.

The battle started in 2006 when Harrogate Borough Council planned to demolish all of the garages in Brackenwell Lane for more homes.

Harvey Alexander, chairman of the North Righton Community Association, said they managed to get the council to partially back down then.

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They argued that the space in front of the garages is the only turning point and the grass there is also where kids play.

Years later Harvey says the council has broken its promise to leave the area alone. He fears that, if the development went ahead, it would also create a “nightmare parking” situation.

“You can see how crowded the street is at 6.30pm and it gets worse later on. It’s going to be a parking nightmare. The council are going against the promise they made back in 2006, it is frustrating. This would cause chaos, there are plenty of other places to build homes. We don’t have the amenities.”

Harvey Alexander standing next to the garages

Six garages could be demolished for development.

The council has proposed to demolish the six-car garage to erect two dwellings on Brackenwell Lane, losing ten car parking spaces in total.

Currently, there is no date for the council to make its decision on the development. The Stray Ferret approached Harrogate Borough Council for a comment but did not receive a reply.

Out-of-work benefit claims fall slightly in Harrogate district

The latest figures for people claiming out-of-work benefits show a slight drop in unemployment levels in the Harrogate district.

In June there were 3,740 people claiming out-of-work benefits, down slightly from 3,990 in May.

The figures were published today by the Office for National Statistics and are accurate up to June 11. They reveal that 3.9% of the district’s population were claiming out-of-work benefits, a decrease from 4.5% in May.

Of those, 2,135 were men and 1,605 were women.

Harrogate is below the UK figure of 6.3% for people claiming the benefits, which includes Job Seekers’ Allowance and Universal Credit. The ONS said that the labour market has stabilised but the long-term outlook remains uncertain.

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Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician at the ONS, said:

“As the pandemic took hold, the labour market weakened markedly, but that rate of decline slowed into June, though this is before recent reports of job losses.”

In his summer statement, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that from August to January, any company that hires an apprentice aged 16 to 24 will receive £2,000 from the government, while those that hire apprentices over 25 will be paid £1,500.

The announcement was welcomed by the principle of Harrogate College, who told The Stray Ferret that it will boost jobs in the district.

Harrogate hospital investigates bullying culture in estates department

Hospital bosses in Harrogate will launch an investigation into a “culture of bullying” in the trust’s estates department which some staff described as “toxic”.

Behaviour cited in a report included defacing tools or belongings with offensive graffiti, collectively ignoring or ostracising people and damaging belongings of individuals, including gluing of equipment or lockers.

It comes as Harrogate and District Foundation Trust commissioned consultancy firm Deloitte to carry out a review into the trust’s culture and leadership.

The review included Harrogate Integrated Facilities (HIF), a subsidiary of the trust which runs the hospital’s estates.

Following interviews with 52 members of staff and 63 surveys, the report found “widespread concerns” over bullying, leadership and poor recruitment practice in the estates department.

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The report said a “significant number” of those interviewed explicitly stated that bullying was taking place or described events that could be labeled as such. But, it added that it was concerned that some of the reports were dismissed as “banter”.

It said:

“We find it concerning that a significant number (over 20) of those interviewed from within estates dismissed the issues described above as ‘banter’, ‘childish pranks’ and ‘fine, a bit of a laugh’. 

“We were also concerned at the number of staff during interview who felt that some of the behaviours identified above could be excused, on the basis that it was felt recruitment processes had been mishandled or people ‘weren’t up to the job’ or ‘didn’t fit in’.”

Meanwhile, Deloitte found that the approach to recruitment at HIF “did not demonstrate good practice” and recommended a thorough review of its policies.

Among the findings included a number of applicants who were shortlisted and appointed without demonstrating essential criteria and some posts which were not advertised in line with policy.

Further concern was raised over the lack of leadership in estates, with 45 of the 52 members of staff raising concern over communication, decision making and senior management isolating themselves from other workers.

Steve Russell, chief executive of Harrogate Hospital

Steve Russell, Chief Executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said the hospital is committed to addressing the findings in the report.

Following the report, the trust board agreed launch an investigation which will be carried out by an external body into reported bullying and poor recruitment practice in the department.

Steve Russell, chief executive at the hospital trust, said the organisation was committed to addressing the findings in the report.

He said: 

“Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust is a values driven organisation; Respectful, Responsible and Passionate. We emphasise the need to treat each other with kindness, civility and compassion. Our strategy is focused on the pursuit of quality improvement and we believe that improving the experience of all our colleagues will lead to better care for our patients.

“To help further improve in delivering the best possible employee experience and in turn the best possible patient experience, a specialist team from Deloitte were commissioned in August 2019 to undertake a neutral assessment and to help us understand in more detail views of which areas we should and could improve upon.

“Deloitte found many important positives about the trust as a place to work and the culture that is fostered. Almost everyone they spoke with described the trust as a ‘great place to work’ and described the culture using words such as ‘friendly’ and ‘family’. Many who had worked elsewhere in the NHS compared the Trust positively to their other experiences.

“At the same time, Deloitte found areas in which there are issues that we need and want to address. We are naturally disappointed to hear this, but pleased, that now identified, we will be to create a better working environment for colleagues and become the outstanding place to work delivering the level of care that we all aspire to.

“We are committed to addressing the findings of Deloitte’s work. We have already put in place new measures to support individual services to develop, and we are taking specific actions to better support staff.”

Council agrees consultation over Stray exchange land

Senior Harrogate councillors have approved a public consultation over three plots of land to be designated for the Stray.

Last night, senior councillors on Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet agreed to hold a 12 week public consultation this summer over which plot is the most suitable.

It follows length discussions between the authority and the Duchy of Lancaster over land to be exchanged for verges on Otley Road which will be removed for a multi-million pound cycle route

As part of the Stray Act, a suitable plot of land must be offered in exchange.

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The three areas identified are:

It comes as North Yorkshire County Council looks to press ahead with the cycle route on the stretch of road between Harlow Moor Road and Beech Grove.

The area of land outlined in Harrogate Borough Council documents earmarked to be exchanged as part of the Otley Road cycle route.

The project has already been delayed and the negotiations over the Stray land have been a further stumbling block for the second phase of the scheme.

Borough council leader, Richard Cooper, said the authority had to show it was in favour of sustainable means of travel.

He said:

“We talk about sustainable transport a lot and now we are delivering some.

“It is important that we do that because when we campaign against things like the relief road nearby the Nidd Gorge and say we are in favour of sustainable measures, but fall at the first fence when they are put forward it dampens our credibility when we say we are in favour of sustainable transport.”

However, earlier this week, the Stray Defence Association (SDA) raised concern over the amenity value of the second and third options outlined by the council.

Harrogate boxers get ready to fight back

A Harrogate based community boxing club says it is excited to get back in the ring after over three months out.

Harrogate Amateur Boxing Club is a voluntary group which caters for all ages and abilities. In the last year the team of boxers has won 8 out of 11 of its fights until lockdown cut the season short.

Since then, the boxers have kept their fitness up by doing home workouts and have recently moved training outdoors in small groups. However, on July 25 the club will be able to open its gym doors again.

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Jacob Millar boxes for the club and won the Youth Yorkshire Challenge back in November. He told The Stray Ferret that he is looking forward to getting back into training.

He said:

“Training during lockdown has been okay, it’s more the motivation that has been lacking because there’s so little to look forward to. It will be great to get back to the gym and continue training.”

two boxers pictured with belt

Ben Smith and Jacob Millar pictured with winning belt.

Normally the club runs sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from beginners to ‘active boxers.’ Head coach Ben Smith told The Stray Ferret:

“Our aim is to incorporate discipline in a fun learning environment where young people can enjoy themselves and learn how to take care of themselves in and out of the ring.”