Saint Michaels Hospice has seen a huge number of donations since opening its temporary drop off point in Harrogate this weekend.

This comes as 6 of its charity shops across the district reopened on Saturday, including 4 in Harrogate as well as its Knaresborough and Ripon branches.

In order to ensure that all donations are quarantined for 72 hours, customers are being asked to donate their items to the drop off point on Hookstone Wood Road rather than at the individual shop.

Read more:

• Charity shops reopen across the district 
• Saint Michaels Hospice helping is “hear to help.” 

Since Saturday the charity has seen huge numbers of donations.

Chief Executive of Saint Michaels Hospice, Tony Collins, said:

“We are delighted that we are able to begin opening the doors of our wonderful shops…we are thankful that so many local people have been keeping their donations safe at home for us. In order to manage the required quarantine of goods to the highest possible of standards; we have centralised the receipt of donations for the safety of everyone.”

Since Saturday, the charity has seen an overwhelming amount of donations and expects to see many more in the coming weeks. The Saint Michaels Hospice Donation Drop Off Point is open Monday to Friday 10am-4pm.

No deaths of patients who tested positive for coronavirus have been reported at Harrogate District Hospital for 16 consecutive days, according to the latest NHS figures.

It means the death toll at the hospital remains at 80.

Read More:

• Strong indication the Nightingale Hospital at the HCC will stay in place for winter
• North Yorkshire Police thank licensees after “normal” Saturday night

Nationally, 15 more patients have died in hospitals across the country after testing positive for coronavirus. Of that number, three were reported in the North East and Yorkshire.

NHS England said the patients were aged between 42 and 93 years old and all had known underlying health conditions.

It takes the number of total deaths in England’s hospitals up to 28,904.

LNER has resumed its direct train service from Harrogate to London.

From today, the operator will run six trains in each direction from Monday to Friday as demand rises due to the easing of lockdown restrictions.

Services on the weekend will remain limited.

Passengers must make reservations ahead of travelling and will be allocated a socially distanced seat. LNER also recommend that they wear face coverings in stations and trains.

Read more:

• Strayside Sunday: Build Back Better? I fear not…

• Harrogate and York train services to double with £10 million scheme

Onboard ventilation systems will provide a “continuous supply of fresh air” with the air cycled every six minutes on every train.

The company said extra cleaning is taking place both on stations and onboard trains, with teams using disinfectant and long-lasting virucidal fog.

There was “relief” at Harrogate Theatre as the government announced a £1.5bn rescue package for the arts, but the long-term picture for the venue remains bleak.

Announced late on Sunday evening, prime minister Boris Johnson said the money will help venues “stay afloat and support their staff whilst their doors remain closed and curtains remain down.”

David Bown, chief executive of Harrogate Theatre told the Stray Ferret he welcomed the announcement as it “had been a long time coming” but said they are awaiting further details on how much money might be available to them.

He said:

“It feels as though it’s good news but the devil will be in the detail.”

The government will offer £1.15 billion for cultural organisations which will be made up of £270 million of repayable finance and £880 million in grants, with applications opening later this month.

Mr Bown said the theatre is losing £1 million every three months and an injection of funds could help them become financially stable in the short-term.

In recent days pressure built on social media for the government to rescue the arts sector through the hashtag #SaveTheArts, with several actors making appeals, including Harrogate Theatre patron Reece Dinsdale.

Mr Bown said:

“We’ve all enjoyed Netflix over the last three months but it all starts here. Those actors have to train in theatres. There will be a matrix of consequences for some time to come.”

Read more:

• Harrogate Theatre raises £40,000 in emergency appeal
• Sponsor a seat to save Harrogate theatre from closure

Harrogate Theatre relies on a busy Christmas panto season to help fund it throughout the year which Mr Bown said they may have to cancel due to social distancing guidelines. He said this could have consequences well into 2021.

He added:

“The problem we’ve got is social distancing. We are the antithesis of that. We invite people to come in and share our confined space. That is the opposite of what we’re being instructed to do at the moment.”

Mr Bown also estimated Harrogate Theatre brings in around £25m a year to Harrogate’s local economy which is leaving a “huge hole” the longer it remains closed.

A video was published over the weekend about why Harrogate Theatre is important to the community, which you can watch below.

The West Park Stray has started to turn green again after months of mud. The sight of green shoots will be welcome for many who have missed the space.

Harrogate Borough Council started reseeding work just over a week ago and the results are already starting to show.

The work is set to be complete by September. The council’s leader promised that it will be back “better than ever.”

The grass is starting to show.

West Park Stray remains closed off with orange netting around the site. It allows for the seeds to germinate and also for the footpath repairs.

Read more:

• Why the Stray repairs contract was given under ‘urgent circumstances’
• When local contractors questioned the decision to bring in Glendale
• How much will it cost to repair West Park Stray?

Overall, the council believes that the works will cost £129,971, broken down into:

• £38,105 for repairs to grassed areas of West Park Stray
• £65,385 for pavement, footpaths, Heras fencing, bedding and verge repairs, reinstatement of bins and benches plus any additional council work
• £20,156 to fix longstanding drainage issues
• £6,325 project management and delivery costs

The Stray in late April.

Most of West Park Stray is turning green.

Yorkshire 2019, the organisers of the UCI World Cycling Championships, has agreed to pay £35,500 to help restore the Stray.

The council’s decision to outsource to Glendale Services was met with fierce criticism from local contractors who said they were “disgusted” they weren’t invited to tender.

It awarded the contract to the Lancashire-based contractors under “urgent circumstances” seven months after the UCI.

On Saturday Bruno Marks, a member of Cappuccino Cycling Club in Harrogate, attempted to ‘Everest’, cycling up and down Park Rash in Kettlewell forty times.

‘Everesting’ is a cycling term that involves choosing a steep hill and cycling up and down it until reaching 29,029ft – the equivalent height of Mount Everest.

Bruno began his challenge at 4:30am on Saturday morning and completed the challenge at 8pm that evening, climbing a total of 30,942ft. He decided to raise money for Cancer Research UK the night before the challenge.

Read more:

• Council plans to encourage more cycling and walking 
• Harrogate student runs 465 miles for MIND 

He told The Stray Ferret:

“The day started great at 4.30 am, with a fantastic sunrise on my first lap to lift the spirits, but by 6am an hour long downpour had started!  It made it pretty tough having to descend very slowly and carefully and getting very cold in the process.  But the legs felt strong and I completed 40 laps with 30,942 ft of ascent at around 8pm.”

Bruno climbed a total of 30,942 ft in very bad weather.

Bruno has raised £3,448 so far for Cancer Research UK. To donate to Bruno’s challenge visit – https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/bruno-park-rash-everesting 

Posh Paws, a pet supply shop on Leeds Road in Harrogate says it’s lost money during lockdown as people turned to online shopping instead.

Despite the increase in people buying puppies during lockdown, the owners said many of their customers have turned to online retailers for supplies as they don’t want to leave the house.

Brother and sister and joint owners, Michaela and Ben Stothard, told The Stray Ferret that people have been too scared to visit the shop due to coronavirus. Michaela said:

“A lot of people have ordered online because they don’t want to leave the house and that has affected us the most. A lot of people have asked us why we aren’t online but we don’t work like that. Me and my brother have been doing this for years now and we focus everything on our customers and their dogs.”

Read more:

• Rise in reports of puppy scams online
• Shops out of Harrogate town centre feel “left out” 

Posh paws have been open throughout lockdown.

Unlike shopping online, Michaela and Ben have been providing a hands-on service throughout lockdown which has involved a home delivery service as well as taking dog leads to customer’s houses to try on their pets.

Michaela said:

“We are always there on hand to answer questions, whether that be on the end of the phone or on messenger. I think the hard things is letting people know that we are here and able to help in anyway.”

Posh Paws has all precautionary measures in place including screens, hand sanitiser and markers in order to keep their staff and customers safe.

Today was the second rally held by Extinction Rebellion in Harrogate since lockdown – organisers say they want to make it a monthly event.

Around 70 cyclists turned up this morning at the town’s Library Gardens and looped the town centre to draw attention to the need for more sustainable travel.

It’s only 3 weeks since the group’s last rally in the centre of Harrogate. Organisers say they’d wanted to do another event quickly as many people had been unable to come on the last one.

The rally set off from the Library Gardens

Read More: 

• Cycling groups “must remain realistic” says council highways chief
• 26 cyclists a year injured in Harrogate

Victoria Wild of Extinction Rebellion Harrogate told the Stray Ferret

“There was so much interest in the last one, people who had missed out wanted to come. Alot of people don’t feel safe on the roads as cyclists – particularly women and kids. We want to keep up the pressure to improve sustainable transport and it’s nice for everyone to get together on a rally”.

Last week, North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for highways Don Mackenzie, told The Stray Ferret that cycling groups should “remain realistic” around improvements to cycling routes in Harrogate.

The council received just half of the £266,000 that was allocated to them by government to spend on temporary cycling and walking measures to help people use sustainable transport post lockdown.

Today marks the 15th consecutive day without a reported death of coronavirus at Harrogate District Hospital.  It’s also the 72nd anniversary of the NHS and the nation will clap at 5pm to mark the occasion.

A further 18 people, who tested positive for the coronavirus have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 28,889.

Patients were aged between 54 and 94 years old.   All patients had known underlying health conditions.

A flower bed in Ripon to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the NHS

Read More:

• Strong indication the Nightingale Hospital at the HCC will stay in place for winter
• North Yorkshire Police thank licensees after “normal” Saturday night

So far, the hospital has reported 80 coronavirus deaths. The last coronavirus death happened on June 18.

The Chief Executive of the NHS Sir Simon Stevens has given a strong indication that Harrogate’s NHS Nightingale at the Harrogate Convention Centre will stay in place for the winter.

The 500 bed Nightingale Yorkshire and Humber has yet to treat a single coronavirus patient. Its CT scans have recently started to be used for regular NHS patients.

Sir Simon Stevens appeared on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show this morning. He was asked about the use of the Nightingale hospitals in the future.  His response was the strongest indication yet that the Harrogate Nightingale will stay beyond its existing contract with Harrogate Borough Council, which owns the HCC,  that runs until the end of July.

“We are going to use them in two ways, first of all as we’re doing in Harrogate and Exeter, we want Nightingale type diagnostic care to ensure people can get tests and check ups and also we need to sustain a significant part of that capacity going into the winter, given the concerns of a resurgence of the virus.”

“We’ve seen in other countries in Australia, Spain and Germany that local lockdowns are required because coronavirus will be with us for months if not years to come.”

Harrogate Nightingale Hospital was lit up blue yesterday evening to celebrate the 72nd birthday of the NHS.

Read More: 

• Harrogate Hospital has reached two weeks with no reported coronavirus deaths.
• Numbers of coronavirus cases doubled overnight after the data from mass testing programmes were added to official figures. 

Sir Simon has said that this virus could be “with us for months if not years”. His comments will have been closely watched by the hospitality industry in Harrogate as events at the HCC bring in millions of pounds of businesses.

The Stray Ferret previously reported that the borough council was preparing to reopen the convention centre in the autumn if the NHS did not renew its contract.