Local Harrogate News & Views around the district - Page 548 of 1147

Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal: ‘My life collapsed like a wicket’

This year’s Stray Ferret Christmas Appeal is for Resurrected Bites in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Today, Vicky meets a local man who is both a community grocery member and a café volunteer. Please give generously to support local people who are struggling this Christmas. They need your help.

The people who rely on Resurrected Bites are no different to anyone else. They have experiences, careers, aspirations and needs just as the rest of us do.

Sometimes, though, circumstances lead even the most conventional person down a road they never expected.

Justin Hardcastle tells his story.

“I worked in IT security recruitment as an account manager and lived in Harrogate most of my life. I’ve also lived in Leeds, London and Majorca, and in Austria for five years.

“In 2005, I found my mum hanging. I cut her down and gave her mouth-to-mouth and saved her life. Unfortunately, the oxygen deprivation left her with brain damage.

“In 2017, I found my brother dead in his flat. I couldn’t revive him.

“In 2019, I lost my grandma, who was a second mum to me. My mum worked two jobs and me and my brother lived with our grandparents.

“It was three bad experiences. If you look at cricket, you’ve got three stumps: the first was my mum, my brother was the second and the third was my grandma. It just all collapsed.”

Justin struggled on for a while, but his mental health declined. He had to stop working and he lost his home.

Friends helped out, including paying for hotel rooms to give him somewhere to stay. Justin said he was enormously grateful, but he needed long-term stability.

He was put in touch with Lifeline, a Christian charity providing secure places to live and support for people in crisis. It gave Justin a flat shared with two other men.

With somewhere safe to stay, Justin was pointed towards Resurrected Bites and became a member of the community grocery.

It took months for his benefit payments to start being made, but he was still able to access food supplies.

Gracious Street grocery manager Carolyn said:

“When the system goes wrong, it can leave you with literally nothing.

“We try to tell people if you’ve got nothing, don’t feel you can’t come. If you go from work onto universal credit, there’s a minimum five weeks’ wait.

“We always say we will do you voucher shops until your money’s back on course.

“That’s why we need more people to know about us. People need to know and not to be ashamed. There’s no judgement.”

Settled in at home and getting to know the team at Resurrected Bites, Justin decided six months ago to become more involved.

He volunteers every Thursday in the community grocery, as well as doing alternate Fridays in the kitchen of the pay-as-you-feel café.

His interest in food stems from his childhood, cooking with his grandmother and his brother, who went on to work in hospitality.

Some of the meals created for the Resurrected Bites cafe, created from ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away

He said:

“I love coming here. It gives me a purpose. Everyone is so friendly and I feel like I’m giving something back.

It’s heart-warming and beneficial for me, just to be part of a team and know I’m appreciated. I’m never late. I’m always early.

“You never know what you’re going to get. There was a week when we had crates of apples or strawberries or a ton of spring onions. You just never know and that’s what’s good. I’m not a chef, I just like cooking.

“From quite easily going to Sainsbury’s or Morrison’s and looking round and buying what you want to coming here, it makes you think more about food. You adapt to the situation and what you are going to get.

“It’s good for my mental health, I think, ‘what can I use, what can I make?’ it’s making me think and want to produce things differently that I wouldn’t have made.

“I feel like I contribute – I give as much as I can. Thinking about where I was, if it wasn’t for Resurrected Bites, Lifeline and my network of friends, I don’t know where I would be now.”

Having felt the benefit of Resurrected Bites in so many ways, Justin is determined to use his experience to help others.

He recognises just how easily things can change for anyone, as they did for him.

“When I worked in Leeds, I would quite happily go and have a coffee and a croissant for breakfast. Lunchtime, I’d go for a meal deal, and on an evening I might cook or have a take-away.

“That’s £15 a day. To go from that to having £3 for your weekly shop…

“I’ve changed my life and, going forward, I’m going to change my life. I want to feel I can support and help other people.

“I would like to share my experiences and possibly do something, whether it’s in volunteering or paid. I’ve got a lot to give and once I’m rehabilitated, I can show people what can happen.

“I can’t thank the organisations I’ve found and I’m part of enough. I’ve got a purpose. It’s a new start.”

Nobody in the Harrogate district should go hungry this Christmas.

It costs £300 to run the community grocery for one day. Please help to keep it open for everyone who relies on it.

Click here to contribute now. Thank you.

Harrogate hospice to hold remembrance service

Saint Michael’s Hospice is set to hold its annual remembrance service in Harrogate tomorrow.

The hospice, which is based at Hornbeam Park, will hold the event on Saturday (December 11) at Crimple House.

Held every year, the service will feature music, comforting readings and quiet time for reflection alongside the heart-warming moment where the community’s dedicated lights are illuminated together.

Portia Crewe, Knaresborough, has attended the hospice’s Light Up a Life service annually since her father Bill’s passing in 2015.

Bill was cared for by the hospice in the last three weeks of his life.

Bill Crewe and his daughter Portia

Ms Crewe said:

“Since attending the first time, several friends and family now attend, and it has become a staple within our family’s calendar. It was so poignant that we haven’t missed a service since.”

The Light Up Life event at St Michael’s Hospice is now an established Christmas tradition for the Crewe family.

The service will start at the hospice on Saturday from 4pm.

After making a dedication, people will receive a personalised dedication card in the post with a star to place on the tree and help memories of loved ones shine on through the festive season.

For more information, visit the Saint Michael’s Hospice website here.

Meet Harrogate’s unlikely TikTok star

If you were asked to guess which Harrogate business was leading the way on TikTok, a traditional gentleman’s outfitters owned by a man approaching 60 might not be the first place that came to mind.

But Rhodes Wood, a cornerstone of town centre shopping for three generations, has become a TikTok sensation since venturing on to the social media platform about five months ago. One video of owner Jeremy Beaumont showing how to tie a tie has had 10.8 million views.

The stats aren’t just impressive — they have translated into an uplift in sales from around the world, prompted two TV appearances and encouraged some Harrogate shoppers who might have felt a little intimidated by entering such a high end shop to give it a go.

Mr Beaumont’s son Charles, who was 19 at the time, persuaded him to give it a go and since then their short videos combining practical advice with fun have proved a worldwide hit.

The video on how to tie a Windsor knot attracted one million views within a day and has now been watched 10.8 million times.

Mr Beaumont shows his shop’s TikTok account.

One video shows Mr Beaumont, a former martial arts practitioner with remarkable flexibility for a man of 59, perform a spinning back kick.

He baulks at the suggestion he is some kind of TikTok expert or social media influencer. He admits he hasn’t a clue about the intricacies of TikTok and seems slightly baffled by his success:

“My son said ‘try it for a month and see how it goes. Our first sale was a meaningful sale and it’s just taken off.”

Rhodes Wood, on Parliament Street, sells classic menswear and vintage luggage and Mr Beaumont’s specialism in these niche fields gives him an edge over many retailers.

Nevertheless, he feels other businesses ought to consider TikTok instead of writing it off it as a fad among young people without money. Like other social media, it is evolving beyond that. He said:

“I think it’s about finding a balance and not being too salesy. If you can show a human face and a courteous manner that helps too,.

“It’s encouraging people who have walked past the shop for 10 or 15 years but never been in to cross the threshold because they realise we don’t bite.

“One man who walked past for years came in because his daughter showed him a video of me on TikTok. Two guys from Teesside came in because they’d seen me on it.”

Mr Beaumont admits engaging with people who comment on his posts is time consuming. He often wakes in the night and chats with people in America or Australia.

But the effort is worth it. He plans to set up online sales on his shop’s website — something he has not found cost effective in the past — and direct TikTok followers to it.

But social media fame sits uncomfortably:

“In truth I’m a shy person. It’s different in here because it’s my own domain.”

More crossings needed in Oatlands area, says Harrogate councillor

More crossings should be installed on Oatlands Drive to make cycling and walking safe, says a Harrogate councillor.

Cllr Pat Mash, who represents Stray, Woodlands and Hookston on North Yorkshire County Council, said she welcomed new plans for a toucan crossing on Wetherby Road.

The authority revealed the proposal for the junction at Slingsby Walk this week.

But, Cllr Marsh said more crossings were needed on Oatlands Drive and Stray Rein following the announcement of the Wetherby Road installation.

She said:

“I have been pushing for this for sometime. However it does not go far enough crossings should be created across Oatlands Drive and Stray Rein to ensure pedestrian and cyclists have safe access and hopefully it would encourage more people to use this as a cycle route.

“I am not too sure traffic signals are right on such a busy road as Wetherby Road. Maybe a well signposted pedestrian crossing, but then it is about the safety of all.

“This would have more benefit to the cycling community than the cycle way proposed on Oatlands Drive which is in such isolation from the rest of the community. At least Slingsby Walk would achieve more connectivity.”

North Yorkshire County Council has proposed the Wetherby Road crossing, which would cost £75,000, which it says could “double the number of people using a popular cycling and walking route”.

However, council officers have conceded that it will likely cause further delays for motorists in the area.

If approved, implementation of the crossing will be subject to a detailed design and safety audit before it could be introduced in 2023/24.

Funding of £75,000 for the crossing has been secured from Harrogate Borough Council’s sustainable transport budget.

Conservative Cllr Keane Duncan, executive councillor for highways, said:

“We are committed to creating opportunities for people who want to walk or cycle for work, education, shopping or other reasons. This is clear in the Harrogate area through our Transforming Cities Fund gateway project and Active Travel Fund schemes to develop a safe, accessible network for cyclists and pedestrians.

“The Slingsby Walk crossing could offer a significant addition to the town’s infrastructure, providing a safe, formal crossing point for pedestrians and cyclists who might be hesitant about using the link at the moment.

“We recognise concerns around existing traffic congestion on this section of Wetherby Road. While an additional crossing would place extra pressure on the network, this needs to be weighed against the benefit to pedestrians and cyclists that already use this location and those that would if there was a formal crossing.”

Harrogate nightclub Viper Rooms closes suddenly

Harrogate’s only nightclub the Viper Rooms has announced its sudden closure tonight.

The Viper Room’s owner, Paul Kinsey, said the landlord had taken possession of the venue after they failed to negotiate a new lease.

Around 30 staff work at the venue and have lost their jobs, while all Christmas parties booked will be unable to go ahead.

The following announcement was posted on social media this evening:

“It is with great sadness that I have to announce the immediate closure of the Viper Rooms after 15 years.

“Having tried for nearly 3 years to negotiate a new lease with our landlord in good faith and after spending £350,000 refurbishing the club in 2019 they have taken possession of the site.

“We would like to thank all of our loyal team members and entertainers who have entertained the town since 2007.”

The post went onto say that Mr Kinsey would release a “new venue announcement soon”.

This is a breaking news story.

Christmas tree festivals 2022: guide to events taking place in the Harrogate district

Christmas is edging closer and there are plenty of festivities taking place over the next couple of weeks.

Among them are a growing number of churches hosting Christmas tree festivals around the Harrogate district.

If you fancy seeing some inspiring, creative decorations, check out our list below of some of the festivals taking place across the district.

Know of another that’s not on our list? Email the details to us now.

St James’s Church Boroughbridge

Boroughbridge launched the district’s festivals last weekend with some spectacular efforts.

Visitors cast their votes and overwhelmingly selected Kirby Hill WI’s jam jar tree as their favourite (pictures below). The Post Office was in second place and Spar came third.

In the children’s competition, Boroughbridge Scouts came out on top, followed by Roecliffe Primary School and Boroughbridge Junior School Early Years.

The festival concluded with a carol service on Sunday.

St John’s Church, Knaresborough

The St John’s Christmas Tree Festival returns for another year.

The Knaresborough Christmas tree festival takes place every year: 70 Christmas trees are decorated by local groups and are displayed in the St John’s Church in the heart of Knaresborough.

It started last weekend and is running up until the December 23.

As well as the Christmas tree competition there is live music and festive mulled wine refreshments.

There will be live music every Saturday of the festival:

Saturday, December 10
Saturday, December 17

Admission to the festival is free, but donations to the church and their chosen charity are welcomed.

The event takes place at Vicarage Lane, Knaresborough HG5 9AE.

St John’s Church, Bilton

The Christmas tree festival in Bilton got up and running last weekend and continues throughout the month.

It features 20 trees created by community groups, many themed by the teams behind them.

The church is open from 9am to 1pm, Monday to Thursday each week, for visitors to see the trees. They are also on show at services until the end of December.

Entry is free and everyone is welcome at the Bilton Lane church.

St Andrew’s Church, Blubberhouses

Another Christmas tree festival with an amazing variety of trees, a creative and festive event for everyone.

The festival is open this weekend, Saturday, December 10 and Sunday, December 11, from 11am to 4pm.

On Sunday, The 4 – a musical quartet will be singing Christmas music and carols.

There will also be wreaths and Christmas crafts for sale.

Enjoy a festive atmosphere with mulled wine and refreshments.

Admission to this event is free and it is taking place at Shepherd Hill Road, Blubberhouses, Otley, LS21 2NU.

Boroughbridge Christmas Tree Festival

St Peter’s Church, Harrogate

St Peter’s Church Christmas Tree Festival returns for its 18th year.

The festival is running from December 10 to 17 and organisers hope to make this year “bigger and brighter than ever”.

The opening times are 8am to 5.15pm.

Charities, local schools, shops, and businesses have been invited to decorate a Christmas tree or wreath, decorations can either be Christmas themed or reflect their organisation.

This gives the decorators an opportunity to tell the community about their activities and achievements and brings the whole community together for some festive fun at the end of the year.

Attendees will vote for their favourite Christmas tree, and the winner will be announced at their 9.30am service on December 18.

The trees each have their own frame with details of who the tree is sponsored by and the name or theme of the tree.

It takes place at St Peter’s Church, Cambridge Road, Harrogate HG1 1PB.

Laptop and cash stolen from Harrogate community group while it helped others

A thief has stolen a laptop and cash from food waste community group Resurrected Bites.

The culprit took the items from the organisation’s give as you can cafe at West Park United Reformed Church in Harrogate on Wednesday while volunteers were helping people in need.

Resurrected Bites works with local businesses and suppliers to divert food from landfill and converts it into meals in its cafes in Harrogate and Knaresborough. It also operates a community groceries scheme.

Michelle Hayes, founder and director of Resurrected Bites, said:

“We are gutted and hope the person will do the right thing and return what they took.”

Ms Hayes said no personal data had been compromised but added the incident had been a “wake-up call”:

“It was an opportunistic thief at lunchtime. We will have to be a lot more vigilant on security going forward.

“We are a naturally trusting group of people and it’s very sad that someone would steal from us.”

The Stray Ferret is running a Christmas appeal to raise money for Resurrected Bites, after it issued a plea for funding to keep its services alive.

The target was originally £5,000, which was achieved in days, and has since been raised to £20,000. The current total is £12,800. You can donate here.

A Harrogate woman has taken command of a Royal New Zealand Navy ship.

Yvonne Gray is a former student of Bilton Grange Primary School and Harrogate Granby High School.

She moved to the pacific with her wife Sharon 2012 after falling in love with the country following a camper van holiday.

She initially trained as a teacher, but joined the Royal Navy and then moved onto the Royal New Zealand Navy.

As the Commanding Officer of the RNZN’s Mine Counter Measures Team she participated in activities all over the world, and her role in maritime evaluation has seen her help ‘work up’ ships and crews to peak efficiency.

She said her eyes lit up at the thought of taking command of HMNZS Manawanui, which entered service with the Royal New Zealand Navy three years ago.

Commander Gray said:

“Sure, for a lot of warfare officers, that’s the pinnacle of their career to get to ‘drive’ a ship. I prefer to think of my career as a ridgeline, sometimes the view is good and sometimes it is better.

“When I’ve really enjoyed a job it’s because I’ve made a difference, where things are a little bit better than they were before. With Manawanui, it’s not just about the command. This is an opportunity to take a ship still in its infancy and further the capability of that ship, and influence and help those who carry our Navy into the future.”

The vessel HMNZS Manawanui is based at Devonport Naval Base in Auckland. Manawanui is Māori for ‘steadfast’ or ‘big heart’.

The ship is the first Commander Gray has taken charge of in her career.

Commander Gray took charge the ship this week.

The Royal New Zealand Navy’s dive, hydrographic and salvage vessel HMNZS Manawanui at sea.

She joined the Royal Navy in 1993 as a warfare officer and signed an eight-year commission.

“The idea was at the end of eight years you got £23,000. I was really into cooking at the time and I thought do eight years, get £23,000, open my own restaurant.”

But several years in, she knew the Navy life was for her.

“I was really enjoying myself. I could see it was an organisation where I fitted well.”

Reduction in Harrogate fire engines to begin next year

The reduction in the number of fire engines crewed overnight in Harrogate looks set to be implemented next year.

Zoë Metcalfe, the Conservative North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, today published her blueprint on how fire resources will be deployed over the next three years.

Her Risk and Resource Model includes greater investment on fire prevention and rural on-call stations. But full-time urban fire stations in Harrogate and Scarborough will see the number of appliances staffed between 10pm and 9am reduced from two to one.

They will, however, get two emergency rescue fire engines at other times, when most fires occur, rather than the current one emergency vehicle and one less well equipped tactical response vehicle.

The nighttime reduction has been criticised by unions and councillors for putting lives at risk.

But today’s report, which was published after a 12-week summer consultation, provides some consolation. It says:

“We will adjust the night staffing proposals at Harrogate and Scarborough to provide added resilience by adding an additional firefighter.”

‘Low number of incidents’

The report reveals the county’s fire and rescue service received £38.2 million funding 2022/23, of which £23.4 millions came from council taxpayers.

Two-thirds of fire stations are on-call stations where firefighters respond to a pager from home or from their work. Ripon, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Masham, Lofthouse and Summerbridge have on-call stations in the Harrogate district, although Ripon has a full-time crew during the day.

Fire station locations in North Yorkshire. Pic: North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner

The report says:

“Because many people do not live and work in the same community anymore, many of our on-call stations struggle to have enough firefighters available to respond, especially during the day when demand is highest.”

It also says “many of our fire engines attend a relatively low number of incidents”. In the year to March, 31 2022, firefighters attended 7,594 incidents, of which 1,742 were fires, 2,485 incidents classed as ‘special services’ and 3,367 false alarms.

‘Reduce the need for an emergency response’

The report says the “increased focus on prevention aims to address and reduce risk and the need for an emergency response”.

The joint foreword by Ms Metcalfe and chief fire officer Jonathan Dyson says:

“We are a predominantly rural service where most of our stations are crewed by on-call firefighters. It is increasingly challenging to recruit and retain staff to keep our rural fire engines available to respond to emergencies. We intend to modernise and invest in our on-call service model to ensure it is sustainable and fit for the future and ultimately improve fire engine availability.

The report says the consultation revealed more support in favour of the proposals than against, but adds:

“The extent of disagreement was greater for proposed changes to the provision of response resource (Huntington, Harrogate and Scarborough).”

Harrogate army instructor faces court martial over sex charges

An instructor at Harrogate’s Army Foundation College is to appear before a court martial next month accused of sexual offences.

The college, on Penny Pot Lane, provides 23-week and 49-week basic training courses to junior soldiers aged 16 to 18.

It was rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted last year but has been dogged by allegations of misconduct.

A British Army spokesman said:

“We are aware of a number of alleged incidents, some of which are historical, at Army Foundation College Harrogate. These are being investigated.

“Those who are guilty of wrongdoing will be held accountable for their actions. It would be inappropriate to comment further.”

The Telegraph reported this week the instructor is charged with more than 20 offences, including at least five counts of alleged sexual assaults of 16-year-old girls.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the newspaper the government was drawing up plans to ensure army instructors who have sex with their students faced criminal prosecutions.

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St James’s Church Boroughbridge

St John’s Church, Knaresborough

St John’s Church, Bilton

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‘Low number of incidents’

‘Reduce the need for an emergency response’

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