Business Breakfast is sponsored by Harrogate law firm Truth Legal. 

Yorkshire-based non-profit, Better Connect hosted an event in Harrogate to celebrate the success of its Action Towards Inclusion project.

ATI is an employability programme aimed at supporting those who are furthest from the labour market.

It has provided specialist support to help individuals across Yorkshire to overcome significant barriers, begin training, start the job search and secure employment. The project has helped over 3,000 people transform their lives, and secure training and employment.

A total of 180 people from across the Yorkshire region gathered at the Majestic Hotel  to honour the contributions of participants and the programme’s leaders, and celebrate the significant impact ATI has made.

Natasha Babar-Evans, chief executive at Better Connect said:

“This programme has made such a huge impact, and it was both emotional and encouraging to hear some of the incredible stories, the amazing journeys that people have made, the progress they’ve made, what they’ve achieved, and how important this programme has been to them.”

Read More:

• Business Breakfast: Woodland grants for Nidderdale farmers
• Rail strikes to cause six days of Harrogate district disruption

Care award for Vida employee

A specialist care worker at Harrogate based Vida Healthcare, has won the Dementia Care Leader award at the Social Care Leadership Awards 2022. 

Bernadette Mossman, Vida’s healthcare director, won for her outstanding contribution to health and social care, particularly in relation to the care of people living with dementia.

The Social Care Leadership Awards provide an opportunity to showcase excellence in senior leadership in the sector.

Vida operates three care homes which provide care for over 210 people living with dementia, with over 450 staff currently employed across a number of roles.

Commenting on her win, Ms Mossman said:

“Since starting my career in health and social care, I’ve met so many amazing people and have achieved things that I’m extremely proud of. This award win is one such achievement.

“Being recognised by my peers and receiving this award means a lot to me, and I’m touched that my passion and dedication to supporting people living with dementia and our colleagues has been recognised.”

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

My dog was banned from church – this is wrong

My gorgeous bit of fur, a well behaved six-year-old French bulldog, was asked to leave a well known church in Harrogate this afternoon. She could have stayed if she was an assistance/ guide dog on a lead and wearing a jacket. ‘Ordinary’ dogs are not allowed as their allergens may cause suffering to churchgoers. Do the leads and jackets stop allergens… no!

Belle has been visiting the sessions most weeks this year, to no known detriment to the church community. Has there been an anaphylactic reaction to a person during or after our sessions? Probably not.

Belle is adored by the churchgoers. They love giving her treats, petting and interacting with her. Pat-a-dog activities are a welcome therapy with the elderly and dementia sufferers. As a nurse for over 30 years, and having been a matron/ manager of care homes, I have seen the happiness this interaction brings.

Are dogs not God’s creation like us? Is a house of God not a sanctuary and place of peace? Are all of God’s creatures not welcome?

Although Belle is not officially a therapy dog, she helps me overcome anxiety/panic attacks and kept my mental health and wellbeing from spiralling into a black hole during the covid crisis. She continues to support me and bring joy.

Chrissy Richardson, Scotton

Read more:

• ‘Badly let down’ Woodfield school closure confirmed
• Diners to eat blindfolded to raise funds for Harrogate guide dogs

Politics of Woodfield school closure should not be forgotten

As branch secretary of the National Education Union, it is with great sadness that I have watched Woodfield Community Primary School, in the Bilton area of Harrogate, move towards closure.

The community of Bilton deserves a thriving primary school and over the course of the past decade the school has undergone several traumatic events that led to a lack of parental confidence. Rather than working with the community to help the school re-establish its reputation, it seems that far too many agencies involved have sought to sweep things under the carpet and not give the school staff and the local community the support they deserved to keep the school functioning.

I read with interest Cllr Paul Haslam’s comments in which he argues that the school should not be closing, due to the growth in population in Harrogate. I agree with Cllr Haslam about the need to keep Woodfield school open, but I do take issue with the fact that it is the Tory party, a party he represents, whose policy of forcing schools to become academies that has been the final death knell for the school.

The behaviour of the Department for Education is akin to the school bully who get their own way by any means necessary. Every member of the Tory party, from the Prime Minister to the Andrew Jones MP, to ward councillors are culpable in the decimation of our education system and schools such as Woodfield pay the heavy price for their neo-liberal ideology.

Over the past months the NEU has run a campaign to save Woodfield School. A campaign to which Tory councillors were happy to say they supported in words but then failed to back it up in gestures. When children are having to travel increased distances and crossing over catchment area borders to get the education they deserve I hope those local councillors, and the local MP, hang their heads in shame.

Mostly, I feel for the future generations of children in Bilton who will not be able to attend what was, not so long ago, a thriving, caring and wonderful educational setting.

Gary McVeigh-Kaye

The Stray Ferret has launched our new Photo of the Week feature to highlight the beauty of the Harrogate district captured by talented local photographers.

Send your photos to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk for a chance to feature here. We are interested in amateur and professional pictures.

This week we feature an eerie image taken by David Burns who has perfectly captured Crown Place in Harrogate at its spookiest ahead of Halloween.

A vital community service in Harrogate could be under threat this winter if more volunteers are not recruited.

Starbeck Library is run by more than 30 volunteers, but their numbers have fallen by around 25% compared to before the pandemic.

While they are still able to cover the 17 hours it is open each week, the reduced pool of people is putting extra pressure on them all and opening hours could be reduced if more help is not found.

Volunteer coordinator Ann Lewsley told the Stray Ferret:

“We’ve got 18 shifts a week to fill with 30-something people. We’re putting increasing begging emails out and people are ending up having to do more than they want to do, and then we’re in danger of scaring them off.

“Volunteering really doesn’t have to be a big commitment. If people can give us three hours once or twice a month, that would be great.

“Lots of people do every other week and some are just once a month. We don’t normally put any pressure on people to do more than they want to do, and the more volunteers we have, the easier it is for everyone.”

The community library is supported by North Yorkshire County Council, with access to its books, computer software and a shared professional librarian.

Each shift is staffed by at least two volunteers, and ideally three, and Ann described it as a small but friendly team in a welcoming environment. Most of the team members come from Starbeck, but many travel from further afield around Harrogate and even beyond.

The volunteers have recently been given a 10-year lease by the council to offer long-term security for the community library.

As well as book lending, it offers audio and ebooks, access to computers, and regular events for people of all ages including children’s story time.

Volunteers are supported by equipment and systems from NYCC

Earlier this year, the library was used by NYCC as an access point for people applying for help from the household support fund who did not have the internet at home.

Ann said one of the challenges of the volunteer rota was ensuring there was the right combination of people with complementary skills to meet visitors’ needs.

This winter, the library could also become a lifeline to people struggling to heat their homes, or looking for some company during the day.

Its team is happy to welcome people who want somewhere to read a book or newspaper, to knit, or to meet friends.

Ann added:

“With the winter coming, we’re saying, like lots of public spaces, come and use our electricity, come and be warm, read a book in the library for a couple of hours.

“We have a cafe on a Saturday where we sell drinks, but during the week, the volunteers will quite happily make a coffee or tea for someone.

“That’s all part of what we want to be able to offer to our community.”

A volunteers’ coffee morning for people interested in finding out more about volunteering is being held next Saturday, November 5, from 11am until noon. Anyone interested who can’t visit at that time can email volunteers.starbeckcl@gmail.com or call in to the library any day during opening hours.

Read more:

• Building society opens new branch in Knaresborough Library
• Starbeck and Bilton community libraries set for 10-year council deal

Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

In October, Liz Truss resigned as Prime Minister after just 44 days. As a result, another Conservative leadership contest was held with Rishi Sunak beating Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson to enter 10 Downing Street.

The government also U-turned on most of its planned tax cuts amid mounting pressure from MPs and financial markets.

We asked our three Conservative MPs, Harrogate & Knaresborough’s Andrew Jones, Skipton and Ripon’s Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty’s Nigel Adams if they would like to highlight anything in particular that they have been doing this month, but, as usual, we did not receive a response from any of them.

Here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here is what we found out on Mr Jones:

• Mr Jones backed Rishi Sunak to be leader of the Conservative party. He said the former Chancellor “has the experience, ability and energy to tackle the problems facing our country”.
• On October 19, Mr Jones voted with the government on an opposition motion to introduce a bill to ban fracking in the UK. The vote proved controversial amid allegations of Conservative whips being aggressive with MPs in the voting lobby.
• Mr Jones announced he was launching a “non-political” fact checking service. He said his videos on Instagram will be ‘an occasional series where we just present facts — no politics’. His first video was on investment zones.
• In the second of his Instagram videos on October 21, Mr Jones denied he had voted in favour of fracking following the controversial vote in the House of Commons.
• On October 17, Mr Jones spoke in the House of Commons on investment zones where he said it was “far from the case” that the measure would harm the environment.
• On October 13, Mr Jones called for a debate on designated bathing areas in rivers. It came amid a campaign by Nidd Catchment Anglers Group to create designated areas on the River Nidd.
• On October 24, Mr Jones asked transport minister Kevin Foster MP to consider the role of the private sector in rail reform and to make York the headquarters of Great British Railways.
• On October 27, Mr Jones supported a Dogs Trust campaign to end puppy smuggling.

Read More:

• Consultation launched over £540m North Yorkshire devolution deal
• Levelling up council tax charges over two years is ‘best compromise’

Julian Smith, MP for Ripon and Skipton.

In Skipton and Ripon, here is what we found on Mr Smith:

• Mr Smith also threw his support behind Richmond MP, Rishi Sunak, to become the next Prime Minister.
• On October 11, Mr Smith asked ministers to confirm that they would not “balance the forthcoming tax cuts on the backs of the poorest”.
• Mr Smith was a critic of the government’s plan to cut taxes earlier this month. On October 2, he tweeted that MPs “cannot clap for carers one month and cut tax for millionaires months later”.
• He later welcomed the government’s decision to backtrack on most of its tax cut pledges.
• He voted along with the government on the controversial fracking vote on October 19.
• On October 25, an article on Bloomberg said ‘dark arts specialist’ Mr Smith could be in line for a role in Mr Sunak’s government. As yet, nothing has transpired.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty which includes rural Harrogate.

In rural south Harrogate, here is what we found on Mr Adams:

• Mr Adams, who is a close ally of Boris Johnson, backed the former Prime Minister in the Conservative leadership contest.
• Mr Adams has kept a low profile since Mr Johnson stepped down as Prime Minister. He made no spoken contributions in the House of Commons in October and only voted on two occasions.
• On October 18, Mr Adams tweeted his support for the Foreign Secretary’s decision to summon the Chinese Chargé d’Affaires to demand an explanation for scenes outside the Chinese Consulate-General in Manchester.

The daughter and son of Alf Wight, author of the James Herriot books, will provide an insight into their father’s famous stories, at Harrogate Library this week.

The book signing event on Wednesday with Rosie Page and Jim Wight marks the publication of The Wonderful World of James Herriot.

It is being organised by Harrogate bookshop Imagined Things and will include a question and answer session.

The new book, a classic collection of the late author’s stories, contains insights from his children.

It looks sure to appeal to fans of the best-selling All Creatures Great and Small books and the current smash-hit Channel 5 TV series, set in the rural communities of the Yorkshire Dales.

Ian Ashton, managing director, the World of James Herriot tourist attraction in Thirsk, said:

“Rosie and Jim’s insights add authenticity to the many tales of the animals and people which are at the heart of Herriot’s stories.

“There’s never a dull moment in Herriot’s company, whether he’s becoming pen pals with Tricki Woo the spoilt Pekingese, dodging a raging bull on a risky artificial insemination assignment, or the inevitable trials and tribulations of lambing season, Rosie and Jim have seen it all”.

The book signing starts at 7.15. Tickets cost £5 (redeemable to those who purchase a copy of the book) and are available at the shop, or by calling 01423 391301.

Read more:

• Harrogate’s Christmas ice rink is open for bookings
• Seven places to see Santa across the Harrogate district this Christmas

Rishi Sunak’s appointment as Prime Minister this week has thrust a Harrogate councillor to the forefront of national politics.

Sam Gibbs is the Conservative Party agent in Richmond — Mr Sunak’s constituency.

As such, he works closely with Mr Sunak, who was elected to the safe Tory seat in 2015 with 51% of the vote. He increased this share to 64% at the last election in 2019.

Agents typically advise their MPs as well as oversee the smooth running of the local party.

Mr Sunak’s elevation to the highest office in the land is likely to increase the workload on the party in Richmond and on Mr Gibbs.

Besides helping Mr Sunak, Mr Gibbs, who lives on Forest Avenue in Harrogate, has served as the Conservative councillor for Harrogate Valley Gardens on Harrogate Borough Council since 2018.

Last year he campaigned for new ‘no cycling’ signs to be painted on footpaths on the Stray after local residents complained about speeding cyclists using the parkland.

Councillor Gibbs in a photo about the new tree lighting on the Stray.

This year he was appointed the cabinet member for environment, waste reduction and recycling when council leader Richard Cooper reshuffled his team in March. He is also a member of the cabinet.

Election success this year

Harrogate Borough Council will be abolished in April but Mr Gibbs’ interest in local politics won’t end then.

This year he won the Valley Gardens and Central Harrogate division on North Yorkshire County Council in May’s local elections. He received 871 votes, ahead of Liberal Democrat David Johnson, who polled 545 votes and independent Lucy Gardiner, who received 331 votes.

It means he will represent the division for a further four-and-a-half years, first on the county council and, from April, on the new North Yorkshire Council.

The Stray Ferret contacted Cllr Gibbs, who is also a trustee of Harrogate and District Community Action, to ask about his role with Mr Sunak, and whether Mr Sunak’s appointment as Prime Minister would affect his councillor positions. However, he did not reply.

Read more:

• Ripon MP backs Sunak in race to be Prime Minister
• New tree lights illuminate Harrogate’s Stray

A heart transplant received by a young girl from Harrogate in 1994 opened the door to almost three decades of wonderful experiences for her whole family.

Now, as they mourn Lynda’s death 28 years after the operation, parents Kerry and Brian Morrison are urging everyone to donate organs and share their wishes with their loved ones, in order to give the gift of life to others.

Lynda Morrison was just seven when she fell ill in 1994, shortly after she had moved from Kent to Harrogate with her parents and three sisters.

She was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy caused by a virus and told she would need a heart transplant.

Lynda’s health deteriorated rapidly and she was soon put on the European urgent list for a suitable donor organ.

Two false starts saw the family set out for the transplant unit at Newcastle, only to be told the operation could not go ahead.

Brian said:

“The first time, we turned round at Durham services. The second time we got all the way to the hospital. They radioed ahead and closed the Tyne Tunnel so we could get through.”

Then, in late 1994, Kerry and Brian received a call to say a heart was coming from France and they made the journey by ambulance to the Freeman Hospital.

This time, the operation went ahead successfully. Kerry said:

“We don’t know who gave the heart – just that it came from France. We wrote a letter to the donor’s family and our friend translated it into very good French. We sent it off, but we never got a reply.”

Read more:

• Double transplant Ripon woman urges people to donate organs
• Harrogate transplant patient completes 850-mile charity walk

Once the initial period of checks and treatments was complete, Lynda settled into a routine of three-monthly visits to the Freeman Hospital. Slowly, she returned to a more normal life – with a few unusual features thrown in.

Shortly after she moved from Oatlands Junior School to St Aidan’s High School, an opportunity came up. Kerry said:

“In her first term at St Aidan’s, they wanted a flower girl to meet the Queen when she was opening the Sun Pavilion. [Head of year 7 and family friend] John Wood put her forward.”

Lynda was selected and presented the Queen with a bouquet during the visit. Kerry said she took the whole thing in her stride.

“Lynda was pretty unfazed about anything like that.”

A keen swimmer, Lynda joined the disability swimming squad at the Hydro and, for 12 years, took part in the British Transplant Games.

Lynda Morrison, standing third from the right, was part of the Freeman Children’s Transplant Team

In 2004, she was given the opportunity to meet the Australian swimming squad, including Ian Thorpe. Her parents said she was more excited about that meeting than when she met the Queen.

In 2006, as a result of the medication she was taking, Lynda’s kidneys began to fail. Fortunately, her mum proved to be a match and was able to become a donor for her daughter.

The operation improved Lynda’s health and, removing the need for frequent dialysis, gave her back her freedom.

Still keen on sport, Lynda volunteered at the London Paralympics in 2012, staying with friends nearby and catching the train to the Olympic park each day.

A trip to Rome in 2014 was made extra special after Kerry booked tickets to see Pope Francis speak. When a member of staff heard it was the 20th anniversary of Lynda’s heart transplant, he arranged for them both to receive a blessing from the Pope.

Lynda, as always, was pleased but unfazed by the honour.

Lynda Morrison at the European Heart and Lung Transplant Games in the Netherlands

She was a keen traveller, going to France, Sweden, Lithuania and Poland for the European Heart and Lung Games – often happily leaving her parents at home to go with her fellow transplant team members.

She also enjoyed family holidays around the world, most recently to Venice in the spring with older sister Deborah and their mum.

In May this year, Lynda became ill with an infection and was admitted to York Hospital. She never recovered enough to come home – though that didn’t stop the family getting permission to bring Leo, her beloved cat, to visit her.

Lynda died on September 15, aged 35.

Her heart, transplanted 28 years before, was still going strong until the end.

Her funeral was held earlier this month at St Mark’s Church where she had been a regular member of the congregation. It saw many friends gather to celebrate all she had been able to achieve and to support her family as they grieved.

Lynda’s spare time was devoted to the Cancer Research UK shop where she worked for 14 years and her colleagues, many of whom attended the funeral, have been given her prized collection of Harry Potter memorabilia.

Donations from the funeral were split between Cancer Research UK and Heart Research UK.

Members of the Harrogate Network for Organ Donation Support including Lynda, centre in the white jacket, and mum Kerry, second from left

Lynda and Kerry set up the Harrogate Network for Organ Donation Support a few years ago and a tree was planted in the Valley Gardens in 2020 to mark the 25th anniversary of Lynda’s operation.

The network itself is relatively small, as so few people have had organ donations, but Kerry said its impact is wider than they realised:

“The main idea was for people facing the need for a transplant to talk to people and get support.

“Last week, we went to the bank to close her account and the lady looked at the death certificate and said she knew about the tree. When her mother died in the 1980s, her organs had been donated. This lady said she had seen about the tree and been to visit it.

“These things you find out by chance. I said ‘people don’t talk about it much’. She said ‘I think maybe younger people do’.”

Following Lynda’s death, her parents and sisters are keen to continue to spread the word about the value of organ donation and its impact on individuals and families, long beyond the operation.

They said they were forever indebted to the donor and their family, and to the Freeman Hospital for both the transplant and the many years of care afterwards. Brian added:

“It has given us a family life. We were sat down in York Hospital on the Friday before she died and they said there wasn’t much hope for her. The doctor was very sympathetic but it was all a bit rushed.

“I said, ‘we had this talk 28 years ago in Killingbeck Hospital. She’s packed in an awful lot in those 28 years’.

“That is what organ donation really means to people and to families.”

A cycling group has warned that one of the new options being considered to promote active travel in Harrogate could create a ‘murder strip’ for cyclists.

Cyclists describe unprotected cycle lanes on busy roads as murder strips — and there are fears one could be created on Beech Grove.

North Yorkshire County Council has put forward three options as part of its latest consultation on increasing cycling and walking in Harrogate on Otley Road and the nearby area.

Harrogate District Cycle Action has said the second option is so dangerous it shouldn’t even be offered.

It would involve making traffic one-way on Beech Grove heading out of town and creating an unprotected cycle lane on the opposite side.

Image by Harrogate District Cycle Action

Harrogate District Cycle Action’s submission to the consultation says there isn’t enough width for parking, a traffic lane, and a contraflow cycle lane.

It says the contraflow cycle lane “would be a narrow ‘murder-strip’ in the gutter, very likely 1m 30 wide at the most – i.e. less than the absolute minimum width”. It adds:

“Oncoming traffic would be less likely to slow down to pass, as drivers would think ‘I’m in my lane, the cyclist is in theirs, so I’ll keep going at full speed.’

“That would lead to unpleasant experiences with oncoming vehicles that would feel – and be – dangerous.”

The group is critical of the decision to even consult on the idea.

“Option 2 is nonsense, and should not be presented as an option at all in this consultation. It provides zero benefit to active travel – indeed, it may make matters worse.”

Asked to comment on the cycling group’s concerns, a council spokeswoman said:

“This is a live consultation so we can’t comment. All feedback will be considered when it closes. “

Beech Grove has reopened to through traffic after an 18-month closure.

The three options

Option 1 – The existing proposal on Otley Road 

The first option is what was originally proposed for this phase of the Otley Road cycle path which runs between the junctions of Cold Bath Road and Beech Grove.

These plans include junction upgrades and shared cycle paths and footways, similar to what has already been built on Otley Road. But the county council said some sections could be too narrow, which is why it is considering re-routing.

Harrogate District Cycle Action supports this option.

Option 2 – An alternative route using Victoria Road

Under these plans the route would be diverted onto Victoria Road with a one-way traffic system and the removal of some parking spaces to allow for a 1.5 metre wide cycle path.

The one-way traffic system would run up until Lancaster Road, before connecting with Beech Grove.

Option 3 – An alternative route using Queens Road

This final option would see a 3m wide shared cycle path and footway built on Queens Road before connecting with Lancaster Road and Beech Grove.

Parallel and toucan crossings are also proposed.

A 15-year-old girl has been sentenced to a 12-month referral order for her role in an attack on two police officers in broad daylight in Harrogate.

The incident took place in McDonald’s on Cambridge Road at around 5pm on April 1 this year.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to five charges. They included two counts of assaulting police community support officers, causing both actual bodily harm and one of affray, using or threatening violence which led people to fear for their safety, all in the fast food restaurant.

She also admitted a further charge of assaulting a police officer by beating her in Valley Gardens, and one of failing to comply with an exclusion order to leave McDonald’s.

North Yorkshire Youth Court, sitting at Harrogate Justice Centre, heard today that the teenager had been in McDonald’s with friends at about 5pm when there was confusion over whether or not they were banned from the premises. Police officers were called and the girls were found in the upstairs toilets.

In trying to remove them from the building, the officers came under attack.

‘Tussle’

Prosecuting, Melanie Ibbotson said:

“The PCSO goes to grab [another teenage girl] to stop her going back into the toilets and as she does so, there’s a tussle between them both.

“She was trying to grab hold of her, they were pushing and pulling each other, moving towards the top of the stairs, and at this point [the officer] activates her alarm.”

Ms Ibbotson said the 15-year-old then went to help her friend, but in trying to prevent herself being pushed down the stairs, the PCSO grabbed her hair.

The court was shown video evidence of the attack in which the PCSO was punched on the nose, causing heavy bleeding, and her colleague was hit around the face, injuring her jaw and cheek.

The teenagers then left the building and were found in Valley Gardens by other police officers. The 15-year-old spat at a police constable as she was arrested.

The PCSOs were taken to hospital. Neither suffered broken bones, but the PCSO with the injured nose required several months of treatment and could still face an operation to repair the damage inflicted on her in the attack.

The other PCSO had since left the police, the court heard, in part because of the incident in McDonald’s.

Read more:

• Teenagers charged after PCSOs allegedly assaulted in Harrogate McDonald’s
• Two PCSOs seriously injured after attack in Harrogate McDonald’s

Defending, Andrew Tinning of Grahame Stowe Bateson, told the court the teenager had never been in trouble with the police before and the incident had “come out of the blue”.

He said she had been working voluntarily with the youth offending team in the months since, in order to improve her behaviour. He said:

“When she was interviewed, she admitted what she had done, she apologised for her actions, she said she did have an anger issue and she had set out to protect her friend, as she saw it.

“It was a complete over-reaction to the situation she was faced with, but that’s what she did.”

Mother ‘shellshocked’

Her mother told the court she was “shellshocked” when she heard what her daughter had done, adding:

“She made the wrong friends and wrong choices and it just escalated from there.”

Mr Tinning said the girl had since been permanently excluded from school but was about to start at a new school where she could take her GCSEs. She was “academically gifted”, he said, and already had plans for the next steps in her career, supported by her mother.

She now had a part-time job and was at home every evening, the court heard, and had stopped associating with some of her previous friends.

The girls appeared at North Yorkshire Youth Court today

After magistrates retired to consider their sentence, bench chairman Alison Henny told the teenager they had seriously considered a term in a young offenders’ institute because of the severity of the attacks.

However, because of her age and her willingness to improve her behaviour, they had decided to give her a 12-month youth referral order during which she would be given support to make better choices and control her anger.

Mrs Henny said:

“The aim of the youth court is rehabilitation. We believe there’s a real prospect of you being rehabilitated.”

The magistrates ordered her mother to pay compensation of £100 for each of the injured PCSOs.

Meanwhile, a 14-year-old girl, also from Harrogate, has pleaded not guilty to assaulting an emergency worker by beating her, affray, and failing to comply with an exclusion order, at McDonald’s on the same date.

She is due to appear for trial at North Yorkshire Youth Court on November 25.

Another 14-year-old girl has already been dealt with by an out-of-court disposal through the youth outcomes panel in relation to the same incident.