Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. Born and raised in Harrogate, Lauren recently moved back to North Yorkshire after a stint in London, where she regularly reviewed theatre – everything from big West End shows to small fringe productions. She is now eager to explore the culture on offer in and around her home town.  You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a family classic that surely needs no introduction, and Tuesday’s performance by the Harrogate Operatic Players (HOPS) overflowed with all the joy, humour and whimsy you’d expect.

Opening night brought with it some inevitable nerves, but after a few initial hiccoughs, all handled toot sweet and with consummate professionalism (including by the youngest members of the cast), the show went on, proving itself a well-oiled machine.

Always set to be challenging – a flying car alone would have any director scratching their head – the HOPS team were undeterred, delivering suitable magic to their set and staging. Costume, too, was a highlight, the outfit changes seemingly infinite, from white petticoats to regal regalia to samba ruffles. Performing a host of lively choreographed numbers, the cast, chorus and band dazzled with energy.

The stage adaptation is not the 1968 film reincarnate: it has all the classics we know and love, and then some, with a few extra surprises and catchy new numbers to boot. The script does not shy away from the more wicked humour of the film. Indeed, refreshingly, it might just be even more risqué, particularly with the help of two hilarious duos: Rohan Green and Rob Hastings as the court spies, and Chris Cowling and Georgie Gladwyn as the tyrannical Baron and Baroness of Vulgaria.

As for the more sinister threads of the tale? Jack Moran’s Child Catcher is a spine-tingling caricature, sniffing out his innocent prey with zeal and revelling in his role. Stealing a glance at some of the young children around me, they appeared somewhere between captivated and terrified; indeed, I overheard one nervously ask his mother, ‘Can he smell me?’.

Kate Griffiths deserves special mention as Truly Scrumptious, capturing the essence of the sweet but fiery heroine. Lucas MacLeod and Eva Lofthouse played siblings Jeremy and Jemima, and I think it would be fair to say, are probably the hardest-working children in Harrogate this week.

A production filled with charm and heart, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is so suited to the joys of local community theatre, with a huge cast and crew dedicated to putting on their very best show. This is what it’s all about: theatre that makes you smile, at whatever age; that has you humming as you leave, with a skip in your step.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is at the Harrogate Theatre from today (June 14) every day until Saturday, June 17. For more information and to book tickets, visit the theatre website here.

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Junior doctors on strike in Harrogate have pledged to continue to stage walk outs until the government comes to the negotiating table.

Members of the British Medical Association are striking for 72 hours as of today after negotiations with ministers over a pay increase broke down.

Doctors based at Harrogate District Hospital set up a picket line on Wetherby Road this morning.

The move comes as the BMA described the latest government pay offer of a 5% increase for junior doctors as “in no way credible”.

It has called for a 35% pay hike in order to meet successive years of below inflation rises.

Junior doctors from the British Medical Association on strike in Harrogate.

Antony Antypas, one of the junior doctors on strike in Harrogate this morning, said some of his colleagues were considering leaving the profession due to pay.

He said:

“We have got to a position where we have lost a lot of our pay.

“There are staff that want to leave their job and go somewhere else. But we do not want to get to that point.”

He added that staff were “constantly fire fighting” against operation waiting lists and emergency department waiting times. He called for a better offer for junior doctors in order to “retain staff”.

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Mr Antypas, who studied at University of Nottingham and is a second year foundation doctor at Harrogate hospital, added that junior doctors would be “prepared to continue to strike” until their demands are met.

The move comes as officials at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has urged patients to attend appointments as normal unless contacted to reschedule.

However, the trust warned that some outpatient appointments may be cancelled at short notice during the three-day strike.

A spokesperson said:

“We understand this may cause our patients and their families to worry about how services will be delivered during this period. The safety of our patients is our primary concern and we have developed plans for the proposed action and its impact on our services, patients and staff. We are working hard to prioritise resources to protect emergency treatment, critical care, neonatal care, maternity, and trauma, and ensure we prioritise patients who have waited the longest for elective care and cancer surgery.

“To prioritise emergency care and to keep all patients safe, we are having to make changes to some of our outpatient and theatre services on the days of industrial action. We are aiming to keep as many outpatient appointments and elective activity across the three days of strike action, but there is a risk that these may be cancelled at short notice.

“Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule.”

Leeds Bradford Airport has announced it will host a fourth daily flight to Amsterdam with airline KLM.

The additional direct flight, which is now on sale, will depart every day at 1.20pm from August 28.

Three daily KLM flights currently depart from Leeds Bradford to Schiphol in Amsterdam at 6.20am, 10.05am and 520pm.

Nicola McMullen, aviation director at Leeds Bradford Airport, which is 12 miles from Harrogate, said:

“This new daily flight significantly improves Yorkshire’s global connectivity.

“The added KLM capacity enables passengers to have even more opportunities to travel to the four corners of the globe via Schiphol, one of Europe’s biggest travel hubs.”

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• £3.5m gym for cancer patients to open in Harrogate

A £3.5 million exercise and wellbeing centre is to open in Harrogate in autumn.

The Yorkshire Cancer Research Centre at Hornbeam Park will offer free, personalised fitness, nutrition and wellbeing support to people with cancer. It aims to help patients prepare for treatment and recover better.

The building will incorporate a café, shop and donation centre and will also become Yorkshire Cancer Research’s new head office. The charity will relocate from its premises at Grove Park Court in Harrogate.

It currently has 70 staff, including those at its seven shops, and expects to have 100 by March next year, partly due to the new centre, which will create 10 new jobs and 40 volunteering opportunities.

Its shop sites include Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough.

People will be able to self-refer to the exercise centre and visit for free, although they will need to sign-up and book.

Most users are expected to come from within 15 miles of Hornbeam Park and up to 1,500 people are expected to use the service in its first three years.

The gym will offer one-to-one support

The charity is recruiting fitness instructors with specialist cancer knowledge. Many sessions will be one-to-one.

Everything people do at the centre will be analysed and used to improve understanding of exercise as a treatment for cancer patients.

Yorkshire Cancer Research plans to open at least four new fitness and wellbeing centres across the region in the next 10 years.

Dr Kathryn Scott, chief executive at Yorkshire Cancer Research, said:

“Yorkshire will be at the forefront of exercise as a treatment” and the centre would “inform future cancer treatment in the UK and elsewhere in the world”.

Evidence shows that exercise can increase the success of cancer treatment, reduce side effects and speed up recovery, as well as improving life expectancy.

The programme builds on the charity’s Active Together service in Sheffield, which was launched in February 2022, in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. So far it has helped more than 370 people with cancer.

Yorkshire Cancer Research will relocate from its current site at Grove Park Court in Harrogate.

Dr Scott said:

“Despite clear evidence that being physically active is safe and has a positive effect for people with cancer, exercise services are not routinely available and most patients are not as active as they could be following a diagnosis.

“Our long-term goal is for these programmes to become a standard part of care embedded in and delivered by the NHS across Yorkshire and beyond.”

Police have appealed for witnesses to a collision involving a cyclist and a Mercedes at a busy roundabout in Harrogate this week.

The cyclist came off their bike at New Park roundabout just after 2pm on Monday.

According to North Yorkshire Police, the cyclist “took action to avoid the black Mercedes SUV, came off his cycle, and sustained minor injuries”.

The victim was travelling east on Skipton Road and the Mercedes entered the roundabout from Ripon Road in the Ripon direction.

A police statement said:

“We are appealing for witnesses to the incident or anyone who recalls seeing the pedal cyclist or Mercedes prior to the collision, to get in touch as soon as possible to assist the investigation.

“If you can help, please contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2, and quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number NYP-12062023-0659.”

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Harrogate Spring Water has said it is still “exploring options” over the planned expansion of its bottling plant — almost a year on from a public consultation.

The French-owned company plans to fell trees in Rotary Wood, including some planted by schoolchildren in the 2000s, to expand its site on Harlow Moor Road.

Amid environmental concerns over the use of plastics and the loss of trees, the company held a consultation event at the Crown Hotel in Harrogate on July 13 last year.

It said afterwards it was “working on defining the plans” and would “publicly share our final plans ahead of submitting our application to Harrogate Borough Council”.

But 11 months on, it has yet to reveal its plans. Harrogate Borough Council was abolished on March 31 and replaced by North Yorkshire Council.

Asked for an update, a spokesperson for Harrogate Spring Water said:

“We are working hard exploring options to address the points raised during the course of our consultation process last year on plans to expand our production site.

“It is because we are determined to create a solution which tackles those points and delivers for the people of Harrogate, for the town and for Harrogate Spring Water that we are taking time to get it right.

“As soon as we are able to, we will share the updated scheme with the public – we plan to host a public drop-in exhibition, as well as engage with key local groups.

“We are keen to do this in as timely a manner as we can and while we are still not in a position to put a precise date on when this will take place, as soon as this situation changes, we will let everyone know.”

The firm, which is part of Danone, has had outline planning permission to expand its factory next to the Pinewoods since 2017. This means the principle of development has been established but the details have not.

Plans to extend the site by 40% were refused by Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee in January 2021.

Harrogate Spring Water subsequently revealed it planned to submit further plans on how it intended to develop the site, which led to last year’s consultation. But nothing has yet transpired.

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It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. Our next networking event is lunch at Manahatta, on June 29th at 12.30pm.

Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.

Farmison & Co has appointed a new chief executive.

The online butcher, which was recently bought out by a consortium led by former Asda CEO Andy Clark, has recruited Andy Adcock to take up the position.

Mr Adcock is a former managing director at M&S and has spent 20 years in the food trade.

Mr Clark, executive chairman at Farmison, said:

“I’d like to welcome Andy to the Farmison team – I’ve every confidence he’ll bring even more momentum as we build a sustainable future for our business.” 

The appointment comes as the meat retailer has also announced a partnership with delivery service Gopuff.

It means products including bacon, sausages chicken and steaks, will be available for 15 minute delivery in Gopuff’s London delivery area.

New partner at Harrogate’s solicitors

Harrogate solicitors Raworths has announced it has appointed a new partner.

Rachel Mainwaring-Taylor will join the firm’s trusts, wills and estates team as part of a strategic growth plan at the company.

Rachel Mainwaring-Taylor. Picture: Raworths

Rachel joins the firm from London-based Farrer & Co, where she advised individuals, families and trustees on issues including succession, wealth structuring and governance.

Rachel Tunnicliffe, senior partner and head of private client services at Raworths, said; 

“We are absolutely delighted to have attracted someone of Rachel’s calibre, contributing further to the strategic growth of our specialist teams across the firm.

“As families become more international, Rachel’s cross-border experience will be a particularly valuable addition to the support which we already offer to our clients.”

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Two drug dealers arrested outside Harrogate’s Valley Gardens have been jailed.

Plain clothed county lines drugs officers from North Yorkshire Police were on patrol in Valley Gardens in October 2020, when they came across Ishmaal Mahmood and Ifaaq Mahmood in a Volkswagen Jetta parked on Valley Drive.

According to police, Ishmaal Mahmood, 25, of Stonegate Chase, Harehills, Leeds, appeared to try and delete messages from the phone he was using as officers tried to speak with him.

He and Ifaaq Mahmood, 28, of Leeds at the time, were detained for a search under the Misuse of Drugs Act after what police described as “implausible and inconsistent reasons for being in Harrogate”.

Drugs recovered from the car 

Both pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply and possessing MDMA with intent to supply.

Ishmaal was jailed for three years and four months and Ifaaq was jailed for one year and eight months. In 2020, Ishmaal was previously sentenced to seven months in jail for possessing a knife linked to the same incident.

‘I’ve got a knife on me’

Ishmaal Mahmood said to one of the officers outside Valley Gardens “I’ve got a knife on me” and was found to be in possession of a curved hunting knife.

On searching the vehicle, a blue latex glove containing multiple snap bags containing white and brown powder, believed to be cocaine and MDMA, were recovered. Both were arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A drugs. Ishmaal was also arrested for possession of the knife.

Addresses linked to both were searched and at the address of Ishmaal officers found a small amount of cannabis, further weapons and a large amount of deal bags.

Drug analysis on the suspected class A drugs seized from the vehicle confirmed the drugs as 32 individual wraps including 28 cocaine and 4 MDMA. This has a street value of approximately £1,500.

Forensic analysis of the drugs and phone analysis ultimately linked both men to the supply of cocaine and MDMA in the Harrogate area. It also showed Ishmaal was occasionally acting as a recruiter and trying to set up his own drug line.

The seized hunting knife

The pair were sentenced for the drug offences at York Crown Court yesterday,

Investigating officer, PC Michael Haydock from the county lines Operation Expedite team in Harrogate, said:

“Ishmaal and Ifaaq Mahmood were working together for a county line with the sole objective of selling highly dangerous and addictive drugs on the streets of Harrogate.

“They have done this freely and for their own gain, without the slightest bit of thought or consideration for the wider implications of their actions.

“Furthermore, they were on our streets in possession of a knife which had the potential to cause devastating injuries or worse. There is no place for this and both have received all that they deserve. Hopefully the pair have now seen the error of their ways and similarly, anyone who believes they can commit drug crime in North Yorkshire can expect to face the consequences.”

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An annual community event is returning this weekend to raise money for the Starbeck Christmas Lights Appeal.

Starbeck Community Day will include a range of stalls and rides, as well as a drinks bar and live entertainment throughout the day.

Visitors can also enjoy donkey rides, an obstacle course and live performances from Starbeck Dancing for Wellbeing and the Summerbell Dance Academy.

Competitions will be held throughout the day to boost the fundraising efforts, including a meat pie-eating contest for adults and a jelly-eating competition for children.

The 2023/24 Starbeck community king and queen will also be crowned on the day.

Christine Holmes, group leader of the Starbeck Christmas Lights Appeal, told the Stray Ferret:

“We’re raising funds for the Starbeck Christmas lights, it’s to pay for the maintenance or any replacements we need.

“We took it over about nine years ago to keep the tradition going, with prices rising all the time we’re constantly raising funds. We were quite a lot down on donations last year.

“We really need to boost the funds quite a bit. It is a community day and it’s there for everybody to enjoy.”

Last year, the community day raised around £700 as part of the £8,000 required to fund the Christmas lights. The 2023 event hopes to beat that figure.

The event will take place from noon to 4pm at Harrogate Railway AFC on Station View. Entry is free.

A Disney-themed parade from Starbeck Methodist Church to Harrogate Railway AFC will begin the event

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Two men have appeared in court charged with wounding a man in Harrogate.

Adam Fogarty-Walker, 18, of Ash Grove, Bradford, and Joshua Dane Rider, 18, of Fairfield Terrace, Leeds, appeared at York Magistrates Court yesterday.

Both were charged with maliciously wounding a man in Dragon Road car park on Thursday, June 8.

A third man was initially charged by police in connection with the incident, but charges were later dropped.

Fogarty-Walker and Rider were also charged with carrying a kitchen knife in a public place without good reason or lawful authority.

Meanwhile, Rider also faced two charges of having in his possession two wraps of diamorphine and 28 wraps of cocaine with intent to supply.

The cases were referred to York Crown Court where the three men were ordered to appear on July 10, 2023.

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