A Ukrainian soloist will sing of peace on earth in a special Christmas concert set to take place in a village church near Harrogate.

Soprano Natalka Pasicznyk is one of three soloists to join Knaresborough Choral Society for Carols by Candlelight at All Saints’ Church in Kirkby Overblow.

She will sing Peace on Earth by modern British composer Errollyn Wallen, made particularly poignant by the war in Ukraine which continues to affect members of Natalka’s family.

The choir’s musical director, William Bruce, said:

“Errollyn Warren’s new composition, Peace on Earth, is just so appropriate and Natalka is going to sing that as a solo.

“We always strive to make our programme as diverse and inclusive as possible. Most of the audience won’t have heard some of the pieces we’re performing so although there will be some familiar carols in there, there will be something new too.”

As well as Natalka, the concert will feature tenor Alexander Kyle and bass Isaac Cooper, accompanied David Grealy.

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William joined the 50-strong Knaresborough Choral Society around a year ago and this will be the first time he has put together the programme for one of its concerts.

His full-time job is working with choristers at Leeds Cathedral, so he said the role with Knaresborough Choral Society appealed because it allowed him to select different pieces and explore some of the great composers, including Mozart and Bach.

He added:

“The choir members are very ambitious which is a real virtue because they are dedicated and work so hard through the week.

“My job is to put it all together which is wonderful, because some choirs only turn up for the social side. We do have that, but they also put the time in and we see the results.

“They deserve the best soloists in the country to come and sing with them so I’m really delighted with the line-up and I know we’re going to put on a great night of music.”

The concert takes place on Saturday, December 10 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from the Shoulder of Mutton in Kirkby Overblow, Art in the Mill in Knaresborough, or by emailing Knaresborough Choral Society.

The popular Victorian tradition of telling spooky tales at Christmas is set to be revived in Harrogate next week.

An evening of ghost stories will be held at Harrogate Library on Thursday, December 1.

It is being organised by Paul Forster, best known as the man behind the Harrogate Ghost Walk which takes place twice a month around the town.

He said:

“It’s bringing back that tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas, which was big in the Victorian era.

“Charles Dickens was at the forefront of it all with A Christmas Carol and that paved the way for others.

“It was all about penance and seeing the best in people. It has got strong Christian messages, but with a spooky twist to make you think about lost loved ones.”

Paul has researched traditional ghost stories for the event, adapting them for a modern audience.

Tickets for the event are £15 each, including a mince pie and glass of mulled wine. There will be two sessions, at 6.15pm and 8.15pm.

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Meanwhile, Paul said his first year of running the ghost walk has proved hugely successful, with more than 1,500 people taking part. An increasing number of visitors to the town are attending each month, and Paul said some paranormal enthusiasts have travelled from across the country to try out a new walk in Harrogate.

A series of events around Halloween recreating a seance held by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini in Harrogate also proved hugely popular – but Paul said there were a number of strange happenings during the performances at the Crown Hotel.

“Some of it was in my control, but stuff happened that wasn’t in my control.

“The temperature in the room just dropped noticeably – you could see your breath.

“Then a woman in the front row jumped and screamed and said something had grabbed her leg. Her son, who is a complete sceptic, then said something had brushed past him. It was really odd.”

On the back of the events’ success, Paul is teaming up with close-up magician Neil Bradley Smith to run a residency at the Crown Hotel from December 16.

Under the title Forster and Smith, the pair will deliver their Impossibilities night of magic and mind-reading once a month.

A lack of Harrogate Borough Council business has led to nearly half of meetings being cancelled this past month.

The authority will be abolished in four months time and replaced by North Yorkshire Council.

The cancellation of so many meetings raises questions over how effective the council will be in its final days.

It had been due to hold 13 meetings in November — not including informal meetings — which included senior cabinet member meetings and a planning committee.

However, five of those meetings were cancelled. Last week the council did not hold a single meeting.

Just three public meetings were streamed live onto the council’s YouTube in November.

This included a cabinet meeting, where senior councillors made a key decision over the progress of three strategic housing sites.

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The Stray Ferret asked the borough council why so many meetings had been cancelled and why so few meetings had been streamed for the public to watch.

A council spokesperson said:

“Provisional dates for meetings are added to the calendar at the start of the municipal year. 

“Should these not be required, as there are no items to bring to said meeting, then they are cancelled.”

The authority is due to hold 12 meetings in December—- one of which has already been cancelled.

Two girls from Harrogate will cut and donate their hair to charity to raise funds for The Candlelighters Trust charity.

Holly, 7, and Heidi, 5, will have their locks removed next month and donate their hair to the Little Princess Trust, which will turn it into real hair wigs.

The two girls have been growing their hair since last November in support of their friend Sophia Felgate, 7, who has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Sophia was first diagnosed in 2018, just a week after her third birthday. She finished treatment in August 2020, however the cancer returned last November.

The idea came from Holly wanting to give Sophia her own hair to “make her feel better”, after Sophia lost her hair due to chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

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The Candlelighters Trust provides practical, emotional and financial support to families of children with cancer.

They have been helping the Felgate family since Sophia’s diagnosis in 2018. They have provided the Felgates with counselling, family fun days, massages/haircuts/manicures for Sophia and pizza nights.

The fundraiser has already raised almost £1,000. If you would like to donate to the cause you can do so on the JustGiving page.

A Harrogate couple who have run a small independent trophy store for 40 years are to retire.

Martin and Jane Newton have operated Trophies and Engravings out of their small shop on Valley Mount since the early 1980’s.

Before his career in trophy making,  Mr Newton worked for ICI at Hornbeam Park but left to set up a darts shop.

A keen dart player, he was running a number of darts leagues across the district at the time.

When he was asked to run a competition for Theakston’s Brewery and make the trophies, it marked the start of a new business that would soon take over his life for the next four decades.

Now at the age of 72, he said. it’s time to hand the business over to people younger.

“I was busy up to covid and I was worried afterwards that we wouldn’t have enough business but we’ve had queues since then and we’ve not stopped running. Once you hit 70  it is hard work.

Making trophies for the Great Yorkshire Show starts early in the year and goes onto June. We also have school presentations at that time of year and all the winter sports leagues ending, it’s manic. ”

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The trophies the Newtons have made and commissioned come in all shapes, sizes and budgets, ranging from £5 for a school award to hundreds of thousands of pounds for a bespoke trophy plated in silver or gold.

Whilst the couple have worked with local organisations such as the Army Foundation College, Harrogate Swimming Club and Yorkshire Gymnastics, they also have contracts much further afield.  Their bus awards – a gold coloured bus on a plinth- are popular in Australia and America.

Jane Newton has run the business with her husband. Even in a world now obsessed with social media, she said, there’s nothing like winning an actual physical trophy:

“People are really proud when they get their name on a trophy – they’re beaming”

The Newtons have now sold the business to Paul and Linda Shreeve who will soon be creating  moments of joy for award winners everywhere.

With Christmas just one month away, many of us are starting to think about our looks for the party season, as well as special gifts to buy or our loved ones.

Fortunately in the Harrogate district we are blessed with some fabulous independent fashion boutiques.

We asked four business owners what was currently flying off the shelves as we approach the big day.

Infinity & Co boutique, Harrogate

Sam Gallagher, owner of Infinity & Co boutique, which has just launched its newly-refurbished store at the Victoria Shopping Centre, said the key word for Christmas was “sequins – and lots of them!”

She said:

“We have trousers, tops, blouses, dresses and jackets in and they are so popular. They can be worn dressed up but it’s also fun to wear them casually too. We have them in lots of metallic shades of gold, champagne, copper black and rose gold, along with some brights too.

“We have also been selling chunky oversized cardigans to wear with boots and PU (synthetic leather) joggers, ideal for walking around a Christmas market.

“Colours this season are lots of neutrals of camel, winter white and black and for the bright colours we have had a strong reaction to raspberry, teal, emerald and cobalt.”

Porters, Harrogate

Andy Shuttleworth, manager of Porters, on James Street, said shirts and dresses were selling fast ahead of the party season.

He said:

“We have got a great selection of occasion shirts and party dresses. They are always very popular this time of year.

“Accessories, which can be bought for gifts and stocking fillers, like socks and underwear, are popular too.

“Brands people particularly like at the moment are Traffic People, which does wonderful party dresses, and shirts from Guide London and Claudio Lugli.

“The trend is currently ‘glitz’ and the shirts are bright and bold – ready for the party season.”

Fennec & Darwin, Harrogate

Aideen Fox, owner of Fennec & Darwin, on Montpellier Mews, said accessories to help you keep warm were currently proving the most popular.

She said:

“I’m finding gift items, such as my slippers and scarves which retail for £19.99, have been my top-sellers on the run-up to Christmas.

“Especially with energy prices going up so much, it’s important to keep warm.”

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Wild Thing boutique, Knaresborough

Dianne Houghton, owner of Wild Thing boutique on Knaresborough’s High Street, said it was currently all about the sparkle.

She said:

“Sparkling dresses are popular at the moment, but they are not just for Christmas. You can make outfits sparkle by accessorising jewellery and layering-up, but still being comfortable.”

A Harrogate woman has co-authored a guide to trees in the town’s Valley Gardens.

The book, by Jane Blayney and Simon Hill, documents 30 species of trees in the gardens and looks at how they make the area special.

The authors describe the shape, bark, leaves, flowers and fruit of each species and reveal how they were introduced to the British Isles. They also highlight some of the pests and diseases that threaten survival.

Among the trees included in the book are Horse Chestnut, Weeping Willow and Atlas Cedar.

Ms Blayney, who co-authored the book with president of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, Mr Hill, said the book was a labour of love during the pandemic.

She said:

“I have lived many decades in the Valley Gardens area.

“However, until I became chair of the Friends of Valley Gardens I did not realise the wealth and variety of the trees within the gardens.”

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Ms Blayney added she hoped the book will help more people to “realise the enormous importance of trees” and allow them to explore Valley Gardens with greater insight.

She said she was also grateful to Cllr Jim Clark, former chairman of North Yorkshire County Council, who helped to fund the book.

The 72-page guide also includes a foreword from Martin Fish, president of the Friends of Valley Gardens.

The book is currently available for £7.50 at the Valley Gardens website. You can find out more information on how to order a copy here.

Besides Father Christmas, nobody has brought more festive joy to Harrogate this century than Tim Stedman.

This week’s opening of Aladdin marked the start of Tim’s 22nd pantomime season at Harrogate Theatre.

The success of the production is down to the quality of acting and scripts that combine slapstick, double-entendres and audience participation — but it just wouldn’t be the same without Tim.

A youthful 52, he says he is happy to keep playing the fool as long “as long as i can still throw my body on the floor”.

Born in Chester, to a mother from Leeds, he appeared in panto in Hornchurch before getting his chance in Harrogate.

He lives in Newbury and for 10 months of the year is, in his own words, a “jobbing actor” until he heads north in November.

Tim as Wishee Washee. Pic: Karl Andre 

Showbiz isn’t all it’s cracked up to be though. He rents a room in a family house in Harrogate and, with two performances most days, gets little spare time. He says:

“The pantomime is probably the hardest job in acting. We are acting, singing and dancing — and we are not all graced with great amounts of talent in all three — and we are working against a wall of noise. Besides that we are trying to get through a plot and a script and a story.”

But he loves the Harrogate panto as much as the town loves him. What’s the secret to the show’s success?

“I wouldn’t come back unless it was special. The pantomime here has style. First and foremost there is always a good story. If the story didn’t work we wouldn’t be able to keep the kids interested.

“The theatre also employs real actors. I’ve been to so many pantomimes where there might be a celebrity and it isn’t the same.”

Some of the ingredients — an audience singalong, a skit that involves running around the venue and Tim’s gentle humiliation of a man in the front row — are standard ingredients. How does he find his victims?

“If they look normal, that’s why I pick them.”

Favourite character to play

His first Harrogate pantomime was Sleeping Beauty. His favourite character to play is Buttons; this year he is Wishee Washee in Aladdin, which runs until January 15.

Away from the theatre, he likes to visit Fountains Abbey near Ripon and takes his in-laws to Bettys in Harrogate when they visit.

He looks different out of costume and generally moves around town unnoticed but sometimes gets recognised, usually by children.

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One of his favourite pantos was when his wife worked backstage and they both stayed in Harrogate. They now have three children and she stays home.

A shadow hung over last year’s show when Phil Lowe, who had directed and co-written the panto since 2007, died suddenly at the age of 44.  A fundraising page has been set up in his memory.

Tim outside the theatre’s Circle Bar.

There are no pantos on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day so Tim will drive home to Newbury on Christmas Eve before heading back to Harrogate on Christmas Day night, and do similar at New Year.

It’s a gruelling schedule at the time of year when most people relax. A keen football fan and Liverpool supporter, he went on stage last night just as England were kicking off in the World Cup. Thankfully, he doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon.

“I do get a little bit typecast. You go to drama school and want to do all these big roles but I guess I’m known for being the silly man, the fool. But that’s OK.”

Tickets for Aladdin are available here.

Two people were taken to hospital following a three-vehicle collision on Skipton Road in Harrogate last night.

Harrogate firefighters were alerted at 7.02pm to the incident, which was also attended by police.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s incident log says:

“Crews liaised with police on scene and administered initial first aid to occupants whilst awaiting the arrival of ambulance crews.

“Crews stabilised one vehicle to enable the occupant to be assisted out. Occupants of two vehicles transported to hospital via road ambulance. Crews left the incident in the hands of the police to await recovery of the vehicles.”

North Yorkshire Police has not given any details about the incident, which was the second one attended by Harrogate firefighters in little over an hour.

At 5.49pm they were called to Menwith Hill Road to reports of a vehicle fire. The incident log says:

`’Crews extinguished the fire and dampened the vehicle down before isolating the battery and making the vehicle safe. Crews cordoned off the area and left the incident with the police to await recovery.”

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Harrogate Borough Council has apologised after leaking the personal details of people who commented on a consultation on its website.

The consultation over the proposed new settlement at Cattal, known as Maltkiln, has been open since October 3 and closes tonight.

However, one participant discovered this week that details which were redacted, including home addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, could still be accessed by members of the public.

Roger Owen, chairman of community group Better Wetherby, said the group became aware on Wednesday that his personal details were accessible on the site and immediately contacted Harrogate Borough Council.

He said:

“This is a very serious breach. GDPR [General Data Protection Regulations] is there to safeguard individuals’ identities among other things. I know Harrogate council has only a few months left before a unitary authority is created in North Yorkshire, but that’s no reason to become sloppy.

“Social media engenders sometimes extreme views and it makes it easy for people to get on the backs of those they don’t agree with. People can have extreme views on contentious matters such as Maltkiln and GDPR is there to prevent people whose views are violently opposed to those of Better Wetherby coming to my house and smashing the car up.

“This is a massive planning application which is going to have a major effect on Wetherby, amongst other things.”

Residents are required to give their contact details in consultations in order to ensure all responses submitted are genuine.

Roger Owen’s letter was redacted, but his personal details were still accessible.

However, the council has a duty to protect their personal details and not to publish them.

The council blamed a “processing error” for the situation, which meant although black marks were placed over personal details on PDFs submitted by respondents, people viewing them could still copy the text underneath and paste it, completely visible, into another document.

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Arnold Warneken, a Green Party councillor representing Ouseburn on North Yorkshire County Council, said those who had taken the time to provide their views to the consultation had been badly let down.

He said:

“This type of breach clearly puts people who live in the same communities off from making comments on matters that are very emotive and confrontational. My concern is that people will have pulled back from submitting comments.

“Like everything in this process, it is either being rushed or they haven’t got enough people to do it properly.”