Workers at Stainburn Forest uncovered unexploded shells yesterday and called North Yorkshire Police for help.

Officers attended at around 4pm and located four mortar shells before calling in the Army’s EOD team.

The bomb squad inspected the shells and determined that they were inert, and then removed them.

A spokesperson for the police said:

“Police were called at 3.45pm on 23 April 2020 by the Forestry Commission, to report that suspected unexploded shells had been uncovered during work in the forest at Stainburn Moor, near Harrogate. Officers attended, located four mortar shells, and liaised with the Army’s EOD team. They determined that the shells were inert, and removed them.”

The Stray Ferret approached the Forestry Commission for a comment, but did not receive a reply by the time of writing.

Phoebe, 10 and Hermonie, 7, live across the road from the new Nightingale hospital in Harrogate. After watching all the work over the last three weeks and joining in on the weekly clap for our carers, they decided they wanted to do something in return.

The Smith sisters came up with the idea of designing t-shirts to help raise money for charity. They have called their venture KidSmith and all money raised will go to HELP Harrogate.

“Our designs are to celebrate how the community has come together to help those in need and we hope they will be a reminder of some of the good things that happened during this really hard time. We chose HELP Harrogate to try and help them continue to support older and vulnerable members of the local community during the Covid 19 crisis.”

Mum, Phillipa Smith told the Stray Ferret that she is very proud of the girls willingness and desire to try and help:

“It’s so lovely to see how excited they are when orders come in for something they have designed themselves. We’re all really pleased to support HELP Harrogate, they are a fantastic local charity on the ground every day helping our community at this awful time.”

Harrogate District Hospital has reported that two more of its patients who tested positive for coronavirus have died.

Both patients died on Thursday and it brings the hospital’s total up to 38. Their families have been informed.

It comes as a further 761 people with coronavirus died across the UK.

England recorded 587 deaths, Wales reported 110 deaths, and 64 patients died in Scotland. Northern Ireland has not yet released its figures.

The figures released only include those who have been tested and treated in hospital. Deaths elsewhere, such as in care homes, are not included.

Of the 587 patients who died in England’s hospitals, the patients were aged between 40 and 102 years old.

34 of the 587 patients, who were aged between 50 and 102 years old, had no known underlying health conditions.

A total of 58 patients have now been discharged home after being treated for coronavirus at Harrogate District Hospital.

Steve Russell, Chief Executive at Harrogate Hospital told the Stray Ferret that the Clap for our Carers has become a really important way to celebrate everyone’s contribution.

For the fifth consecutive week NHS staff, firefighters and local residents joined in on the applause from outside the front of Harrogate district hospital.

Armed forces brought senior NHS to Harrogate’s Nightingale Hospital after landing a Chinook helicopter on the Stray this afternoon.

It landed at around 1pm between Wetherby Road and Knaresborough Road, drawing onlookers as the occupants disembarked.

The Stray Ferret understands the helicopter was used to transport senior NHS staff to the temporary Nightingale hospital, which was officially opened on Tuesday via video link. At present, it is not being used to treat patients, but will remain available until needed.

Eyewitnesses reported that the visitors were taken by van towards Harrogate Convention Centre, before returning two hours later. After a number of people gathered to watch proceedings, officers from North Yorkshire Police arrived to ask them to move back and disperse.

The chinook helicopter left the Stray at around 3.30pm. The NHS Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber had not responded to our request for more information about the visit at the time of publication.

Two more patients who tested positive for coronavirus have died at Harrogate District Hospital.

The latest two deaths from Monday and Tuesday takes the hospital’s coronavirus deaths total up to 36 so far.

103 coronavirus patients were today confirmed to have died in the North East and Yorkshire region.

Hospitals in England reported that a further 665 patients have died, taking the country’s total up 16,272.

Patients were aged between 26 and 102 years old. 26 of the 665 patients, who were aged between 48 and 95 years old had no known underlying health conditions.

Their families have been informed.

Scotland reported 77 deaths, Wales recorded 15 but Northern Ireland has not yet released its numbers.

These figures do not account for deaths outside the hospital of people who were not tested but died of suspected coronavirus.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust will release figures for the number of people who have been treated and discharged on a weekly basis. As of last Thursday, 51 people who had been admitted to the hospital have gone home.

Signs have been put up in the Valley Gardens telling people not to sit on benches in order to protect themselves from coronavirus.

They have been placed on benches in the gardens by Harrogate Borough Council, asking people not to rest while taking their daily exercise.

Richard Meyrick, who spotted the first signs going up yesterday, said he was concerned about the impact on elderly people living nearby.

“I am in my 70s and have certain medical conditions which prevent me walking too far without a short sit down before I can carry on,” he said.

“There are many other people in my situation and we love our exercise in the gardens. The council’s action will have the effect of stopping older people taking exercise if there is nowhere to sit.

“All the benches are in the open air and you can sit at least two metres from anyone on the next bench, so I do not see the problem.”

The new signs have been placed on every bench in the Valley Gardens

The sign says:

“You are much safer resting at home after exercising. To protect yourself and others from the coronavirus please don’t sit down and rest on the benches or in the park. Help keep everyone safe.”

Mr Meyrick said he walks daily in the Valley Gardens and has never seen anyone failing to follow the social distancing guidelines. Most of those using benches are older, while younger couples and dog walkers tend not to stop, he said.

“I’m not sure if it’s somebody being heavy-handed and not thinking it through,” he said. “I spoke to a few older people who also had to sit down. When you get older, you do have to sit more often. I can’t see what the problem is.”

A spokesman for Harrogate Borough Council said:

“We chose to put up signs rather than – as has happened in other places – tape up the benches and physically prevent people from using them. We recognise there may be a legitimate reason why someone might need sit down for a few minutes, but we have a duty to discourage people from gathering or using our parks and open spaces for anything other than exercise as per the government’s clear instructions.”

However, Mr Meyrick said people were likely to feel self-conscious sitting on a bench with a sign on it, even if there was a legitimate reason. He added:

“The notice says don’t sit on this bench or any other place in the park. If you sit on one of those, it’s going to be like if you weren’t socially distancing. People are going to feel guilty.”

Former Ripon Grammar School student Ella Borchard (pictured above) has volunteered to join the NHS front line at Harrogate Hospital in its battle so save the lives of people stricken by coronavirus.

The 21-year-old, who is a nursing student at Sheffield Hallam University, is well-equipped to care for COVID-19 patients as she has received extensive training in the oxygen therapy, mental wellbeing and use of PPE.

Academics at the university have provided online lectures and training sessions about end of life care and COVID-19 policies and procedures, including simulations with mannequins.

Ella, who will be working under supervision from the nursing staff on the Wensleydale Ward at Harrogate Hospital, took up her place at Sheffield Hallam after studying biology, chemistry and Spanish at Ripon Grammar.

Looking forward to using her caring skills in a real-life situation, she said:

“Every day will bring so many issues to overcome, but it will give me lots of experience of nursing in an unusual situation, while having a defined support network. I do feel very excited to be a part of history.”

At university, the nursing students prepared for situations they might find themselves in and discussed how to look after themselves.

Ella pointed out:

“The training gives us some of the skills and information we need to tackle something like this, but I have spent nearly three years preparing for my future career as a nurse and working during the pandemic is only part of what I have trained to do. Further down the line I would like to take my master’s degree in advances nursing so that I can manage patients’ complete clinical care, from diagnosis to care planning and discharge.”

An enthusiastic supporter of Ripon Youth Theatre Ella, like her mother Jo, is a member of Ripon Amateur Operatic Society, taking part in many performances.

Ella in costume for a Ripon Amateur Operatic Society performance

Mrs Borchard, a primary school teacher and herself a former student of Ripon Grammar School, told the Stray Ferret:

“I am so proud of Ella, she is wonderful, caring daughter, with lots of energy, drive, focus and attention to detail.

“Whatever she does, she strives to do it to the best of her ability – whether dancing in an operatic society show, or putting her professional skills into practice at the height of this world pandemic  crisis.”

The 99-year-old war veteran who has raised over £27 million pounds for the NHS, appeared via video link to officially open the new Nightingale hospital in Harrogate today.

Capt Tom Moore, a Yorkshireman himself,  raised the money by completing 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday later this month.

During the opening ceremony, Capt Tom Moore said there was ‘no better place than Yorkshire’, he went on to thank all of the NHS staff  for working with ‘such determination during such a difficult time.’

It has taken just under 3 weeks to convert the Harrogate Convention Centre into the NHS Nightingale hospital Yorkshire and the Humber.

A virtual ceremony was held to open the 500-bed facility at Harrogate Convention Centre.

The Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber was officially opened this afternoon, a facility the health secretary acknowledged “nobody would have ever wanted.”

Matt Hancock delivered a recorded message for the official opening of the 500-bed Harrogate Convention Centre turned field hospital and said he hopes it is never full.

“But the fact you have been able to make this happen in such a short period of time is a testament to your capabilities, determination and your teamwork. And the most important thing about NHS Nightingale in Harrogate is it is a message to everybody across Yorkshire, across the country, that whatever happens we will strain every sinew to make sure the NHS is there for anyone who needs it.”

One of seven of its kind around the country, NHS Nightingale Yorkshire and the Humber has been constructed in less than three weeks in a rapid feat of construction and engineering.

Veteran fundraiser Captain Tom Moore thanked the NHS for doing “such a magnificent job” as he opened the hospital as the guest of honour.

The audience at the Harrogate Convention Centre gave Captain Tom, who will turn 100 later this month, a standing ovation as they wished him a happy birthday.

Sitting with his daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, at his home in Bedfordshire, he said: “I’m absolutely in awe of what has happened.

“If you think all the kindness of the people in this country and throughout the world, who have given so much money to the fund to help our National Health Service, which you have got to agree is one of the best services that there is in the world. All the doctors and nurses in the NHS, they do a brilliant job in very difficult conditions and every day they’re putting themselves in harm’s way night and morning.”

Asked about his native Yorkshire, Captain Tom said: “I believe that there’s no place better than Yorkshire. There never has been and all the people who are missing coming to Yorkshire, they’re missing an awful lot of marvellous things and people, because the Yorkshire people have a sense of humour and kindness that not many people have, to the extent that we have.”

Health secretary Matt Hancock.

The audience were asked to stand and applaud as a banner wishing Captain Tom a happy 100th birthday was held up on the stage and the veteran’s number one version of You’ll Never Walk Alone with Michael Ball was played on the screen.

The extra capacity at the Harrogate hospital adds to other Nightingale hospitals being opened in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow.

Steve Russell Hospital Chief Executive.

Steve Russell, chief executive of the new hospital, called the project an “extraordinary achievement” and a “vital insurance policy which we hope will not be needed”.

He also encouraged people to keep following social distancing rules, and added: “Our doctors, nurses, therapists and other health and social care staff across Yorkshire and the Humber are working incredibly hard to make sure people get the care they need during what is the single greatest challenge in the history of the NHS, but they can’t do it alone.”