Further questions have been raised about the role of councils on Harrogate BID after outgoing board members said their plans were thwarted by local authorities.

After four board members including the chairman resigned last week, two of those behind the critical resignation letter have spoken out further.

Rob Spencer, who runs Townhouse Design, said he grew frustrated that the hard work of board members came to nothing when they tried to get the council to act or agree to their plans. He said:

“One of the things I’m passionate about is having our town looking great to welcome visitors and it certainly doesn’t look as good at the moment as it has done previously. Nobody can afford to be complacent.

“The town hasn’t been looked after to the standard it has been previously, yet council tax has gone up. When we presented that to the council members they were very defensive and very keen to get the BID to spend money from doing additional things to embellish the town or attract people but it shouldn’t be having to undertake basic duties to keep it to a reasonable level.

“It was met quite often with a lot of resistance when it was mentioned to council members on the BID. They would refer to other towns and say Harrogate was better and you would think, ‘that’s not relevant’.

“With our potential and history to encourage visitors, we do have a duty [to maintain a high standard] because Harrogate is a beautiful town and a spa town and quite unique. You can’t afford to think it’s going to stay successful because of that historic interest.”

His comments were echoed by fellow signatory Chris Bentley, of Hornbeam Park Developments, who said: “One of the board members volunteered to liaise with the council over street cleaning. They couldn’t get that any further forward. Now they’re trying to do it with third-party cleaners which brings another level of bureaucracy.”

Harrogate BID says it is working on initiatives to draw people back to town once the lockdown is lifted

The four board members who resigned last week were appointed after applying for the positions at the end of 2019, hoping to bring more positive action on behalf of local businesses. It followed after a difficult first year for the BID, which saw numerous board members step down and the first manager departing after less than four months in post. Mr Spencer said:

“I wanted to do some good and help the town. I had mixed reasons for wanting to come out. I run a small business and I’m involved in that day-to-day and that has to come first. Particularly at the moment, that’s more crucial than ever.”

‘Still a great town’

Last week, following their resignations, Harrogate BID issued a statement saying it was aware of the challenges facing the town and was dedicated to making improvements for the benefit of all its levy payers.

Both Mr Spencer and Mr Bentley praised the hard work of the remaining board members and some of the initiatives they had proposed, particularly to make the town centre as vibrant as possible during the run-up to Christmas, should social distancing allow.

But they said at a time when businesses were facing unprecedented challenges, they had to focus on areas where they could make the most difference, which meant spending time on their own businesses. Mr Spencer added:

“We’re still a great town and there are some great businesses. We’re in unprecedented times and I’m confident things will return and bounce back.

“Everybody in their businesses has to work very hard. When we’re investing in our businesses, we want to know that the council are doing the right things with people’s council tax and are not complacent about things.”

Harrogate Borough Council declined to comment on its involvement with the BID. The Stray Ferret approached North Yorkshire County Council for a comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.

A Harrogate headteacher hopes schools will be given enough time to plan for the return of pupils when lockdown is lifted.

Chris Parkhouse, who has been in charge of Grove Road Community Primary School since 2017, said he has been given no further guidance on the return of schools so far from government, despite speculation in the national press.

Mr Parkhouse said he was given little time to plan for the closure back in March and learned the news from the government at the same time as the rest of the country.

He said he would want time to prepare further social distancing measures at the school to add to those that are already in place.

This could include planning to split children into smaller classes if they are phased back into school by year group.

At the moment, Grove Road teaches 20 pupils from key worker families and a further 300 are taught online.

Chris Parkhouse, headteacher at Grove Road Community Primary School in Harrogate.

The school is also the ‘Harrogate hub’ for children of key workers across the district and is open seven days a week.

As part of preparations for the lockdown, children have been encouraged to wash their hands regularly and assemblies have been cut back to comply with social distancing.

Instead, virtual assemblies are held every Friday by Zoom to keep in touch with pupils and award the ‘star pupil award’ for the week.

Mr Parkhouse said the lockdown has been tough to deal with, but that the school has been prepared.

“I do not think there is a headteacher in the land that has not found it challenging,” he said.

“What I’m hoping for is that we are given more time to make sure that the school is safe to reopen.

“The difficult thing at the moment is that we have not had any further guidance.”

Schools across the nation were closed on March 20 as part of further measures to halt the spread of coronavirus.

In primary schools, exams for year six pupils were cancelled. Grove Road currently has 45 children in that year group.

Mr Parkhouse said he would like to see older children back in school to prepare them for secondary education.

“I hope that we can still help them through this period of their lives and spend a bit more time in school,” he said.

Harrogate District Hospital has reported that one more of its patients who tested positive for coronavirus has died, bringing the hospital’s total so far up to 49.

The person died yesterday and was announced with 204 others in England’s hospitals today. Scotland today recorded another five, Wales another 15 and Northern Ireland another six.

England’s patients were aged between 26 and 101 years old. Three of the 204 patients, who were aged between 41 and 58 years old, had no known underlying health conditions.

The number of deaths hit a peak in April.

The Stray Ferret has mapped out the rise and subsequent fall in coronavirus deaths at Harrogate District Hospital.

The data shows that the hospital hit a peak in the number of deaths in April and particularly April 6 with four deaths on one day.

Today’s death figures are the lowest daily increase in hospitals for around five weeks, when 214 were announced dead from coronavirus on March 29.

Last week the ONS released data on the number of COVID-19 deaths outside of hospitals. In the Harrogate district, 22 people are reported to have died with symptoms of the virus up to April 17th.

Firefighters across the Harrogate district held a minute silence today at 12pm as part of an international effort to remember their fallen colleagues.

Members of the Blue Watch in Ripon and the Green Watch in Harrogate stood outside their bases today to pay their respects.

In total 48 patients have died of coronavirus at Harrogate District Hospital since the outbreak began.

Today’s figures show a further 327 people, who tested positive for the Coronavirus have died in England- that’s below yesterdays figure of 370 and brings the total number of confirmed reported deaths to 21,180.

Patients were aged between 46 and 101 years old. 17 of the 327 patients had no known underlying health condition.

Last week, for the first time, data was released to show the number of deaths in care homes and other areas of the community in patients with suspected Covid-19. In the Harrogate district, 22 people are reported to have died with symptoms of the virus up to April 17th.

St Aidan’s CoE High School in Harrogate has created a virtual performance of “King of Kings” by Yorkshire songwriter Jarrod Cooper.

The uplifting production includes 64 current and former members of the St Aidan’s chamber choir.

A spokesperson from the school told the Stray Ferret:

” During the extraordinary locked-down days of April 2020, we have decided to create a virtual choir performance to the hugely popular worship song. “King of Kings” features regularly in our collective worship at St Aidan’s and is truly an Aidan’s Anthem! “

This column has been written for The Stray Ferret by the Managing Director of Rudding Park Hotel and Spa in Harrogate, Peter Banks:   

I am an hotelier. Sadly, it defines my existence. For 35 years I have worked in, or managed, organisations that provide hospitality and welcome guests 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I am part of the industry that never sleeps. Until now. The “clang” when I closed the gates was both literal and metaphorical.

Suddenly we have no guests, no staff, no reason to get out of bed. To say I feel rootless is an understatement. Strange times indeed.

The view of the pandemic from the Hospitality industry has been in five very distinct periods:

The first was the week when Boris told everyone not to go to the pub and restaurants, but gave us no support. In that week it is estimated that 250,000 hospitality jobs were lost. This was the worst five days in my career. We’ve built Rudding over 24 years, and in 24 hours it all came crashing down.

The second period was one of euphoria, when that wonderful Mr Rishi Sunak (I love him and want his babies!) announced the furlough scheme that saved so many hospitality jobs while the scheme lasts.

The third was one of acceptance and hard work, only 12 of us were not furloughed. We tried to understand how furlough worked, we closed the hotel, turned off all appliances, moved all the furniture, emptied freezers (how much vanilla ice cream does one operation need across five kitchens?) and dealt with a barrage of phone calls from guests who were trying to process the impact on their plans. One guest wanted to know what had happened to his bottle of gin that he had won as a prize in November and left at the Hotel. (yes – really!)

The fourth was settling in to the new normal; zoom meetings, moving bookings, remote working, and starting to understand the financial damage this has done to our industry. We sell serviced space, if we can’t sell that space it is exactly the same as a manufacturer having a warehouse fire and all of his stock going up in flames. Make no mistake, there will be many hospitality businesses (primarily stand alone restaurants), that will not reopen. The high street will be changed for good.

The fifth, and current, is where are trying to reimagine the Hotel of the future, with social distance built in, How welcome will guests feel going to a Perspex screen reception, ordering on an App rather than to a person, less service staff in the restaurant, how do you socially distance in a Kitchen,  booking slots in the steam room, additional and visible cleaning, temperature checks on staff and guests when walking through the door, your barman wearing a mask, 72 hours between hotel room occupancy, a cashless society, no flags on the golf course, no loo blocks open on the holiday park, what will our revenues be like….. The list is never ending and some will come true and some won’t – but the hospitality world that I have known will be turned on its’ head.

For an industry that only exists to facilitate social interaction, discouraging social interaction is against the very core of our being. We thrive on providing “hands on” personal service, and this will not be possible.

When this is all over, and we emerge from our caves, shaking our heads and wondering if it was all a bad dream, please go to your local restaurant, pub, hotel, golf course, holiday park or spa and give them your support. As Hoteliers and service professionals we need to look after people and make people feel happy. It’s why we do our job and it’s what we’re missing dreadfully.

As we say in Hospitality before a particularly difficult service –“I’ll see you on the other side”!

The night Peter closed the gates of Rudding Park

The hard work of NHS staff is being recognised with a piece of community artwork on Otley Road in Harrogate.

Railings at the junction with Harlow Moor Road have been decorated with blue ribbons, a yellow heart and the letters NHS in tribute to those saving lives around the country.

Andrew High, who put the ribbons onto the railings, said he wants members of the community to add their own decorations too. He said:

“If you’ve got family who have been treated, or people you know who work for the NHS, it doesn’t matter. In your own little way, just attach your bit of string or ribbon – whatever you have to hand.

“It will be nice to see more ribbons attached to it so we feel part of something. There are a few more slowly appearing.”

New ribbons are already being added to the railings by members of the community

Andrew was also the mastermind behind the decorations put up on Otley Road for the UCI Road World Championships last year. A member of the congregation at Harlow Hill Methodist Church, which was open every day for the community to gather and watch the cycling, he wanted to draw attention to the stretch of road which was a prominent feature in the racing routes throughout the week.

As well as the UCi colours in ribbons around the trees and benches, Andrew put lettering on the railings at the junction spelling out “Harlow Hill”, “Welcome” and “Yorkshire”. He said:

“I had planned this year to do the Olympic rings and every time someone from Yorkshire got a medal, I was going to put a gold, silver or bronze medal on with their name on. Of course, that hasn’t happened.

I thought it would be nice for the NHS to go up and people to add their own little bits. After the UCI, there was a nice feeling among the hill that we had joined together. That was an enjoyable experience. This isn’t, but it is nice to know we’re a community and people are thinking of and looking out for each other.”

In the three weeks since the Harrogate Scrubbers launched, the group has swelled to nearly 700 members, raised £16, 594 and delivered 445 scrubs to Harrogate District Hospital. In fact, such has been the success of the group, that it has found sourcing supplies and getting packs out to so many volunteers challenging.

Harrogate Scrubbers was set up by Fran Taylor, a maths teachers at St John Fisher High School in Harrogate after she heard about a national shortage of PPE. She said being a part of Harrogate Scrubbers has helped give people a sense of purpose:

“I never dreamed we would inspire the community so much, but the response has been truly amazing! We have people cutting out packs, sewing, delivering packs, there really is a role for anyone.

It isn’t just helping the NHS, it has given a lot of people a purpose and is helping their mental health in isolation. Everyone can chat on the group, ask for help and then showcase their work. It has become a little community and one I am proud to have started.”

PPE being delivered to Harrogate Hospital

A whole host of companies have become involved to help the Scrubbers out with some of their logistical problems. Architects Bowman Riley, printers Enid Taylor and interior designers Blue Sky Design in Boston Spa all helped printing patterns for the volunteers.

Bettys & Taylors Group, through their community recycling project the Cone Exchange, and Harrogate Cook Ltd sourced them 1,000 paper carrier bags on the day the request went out.

Reusable nappy makers Totsbots donated waterproof fabric, design company Standout Media provided the group with a new logo, which will be followed by a website and social media support, and finally Hotel Chocolat in Harrogate donated bags of chocolates to go out in the packs to thank volunteers.

For information on how to donate to Harrogate Scrubbers visit: https://tinyurl.com/harrogatescrubbers

Eurovision 2020 may not appear on our televisions as we know it this year, however, thanks to Tom Taylor, former Ashville College pupil and now local comedian, there will be a star-studded “Isolation Song Contest.”

This will be the first of its kind and will include many famous faces from the world of entertainment, including Mel Giedroyc, Divina de Campo, Nick Helm, Tim Vine, Måns Zelmerlöw, Josie Long and Neil Hannon.

Each act was randomly assigned a country and has been given one week to compose an original Eurovision-style entry and music video for that nation before the Isolation Song Contest.

The finale is to be shown online at 8pm on tonight, and all money raised will go to three national charities – The Trussell Trust, Crisis and Refuge.

Tom Taylor told the Stray Ferret:

“I am working every hour to get the show ready. On the night I’ll be launching the contest and then handing over to ‘special guests’ who will introduce each act ahead of their isolation performance.

All the songs are original compositions, and I must say on the whole they are very good. As well as it being a fun show that people can enjoy from the comfort of their own homes it is great to be able to raise money for such worthy charities.”

To donate, visit www.isolationsongcontest.com where you will also find a link to watch the show.