Grenadier Guards band coming to Harrogate

Hundreds of North Yorkshire school children will perform alongside one of the world’s oldest and most famous military bands in Harrogate this week.

About 350 children from schools will share a stage with the Band of the Grenadier Guards.

The band, known for its scarlet tunics and bearskin hats, has a history dating back 300 years and 15 monarchs.

The concert to celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee will be held at Harrogate Convention Centre on Friday at 7pm.

The North Yorkshire County Schools’ Big Band, the Junior and Primary Schools Choirs and Wind Band, Richmond Chamber Choir and the County Youth Choir will also be performing.

They will play music from each decade of the Queen’s reign, including Waterloo by Abba, I Want You Back by The Jackson 5 and Hey Jude by The Beatles.

The Band of the Grenadier Guards will perform numbers including Crown Imperial, music from West Side Story, Symphony by Clean Bandit before rounding off the evening with the National Anthem.

Read more:

Ian Bangay, head of North Yorkshire county music service, said:

“North Yorkshire Music Service and school bands, orchestras and music ensembles have a long history of producing talented musicians. We are very proud that one of those former music service musicians, George Hirst, will be returning with the Grenadier Guards, which he joined last year.

“It’s a great honour and a fantastic experience for our young people to be performing with one of the world’s most prestigious and recognisable military bands to mark the platinum jubilee. It should be an evening for everyone to remember for many years to come.”

Tickets are available here.

Harrogate’s Ernest Jones jewellery store closes

The Ernest Jones shop on James Street in Harrogate has closed.

Removal vans were spotted outside the jewellery store yesterday morning.

The store has been a fixture on James Street for 20 years, having opened in 2002.

Attempts to clear the unit began yesterday morning.

There have been a number of shops opening and closing in Harrogate recently, particularly on James Street.

Last week Oliver Bonas announced its new Harrogate store would open on James Street in September.

Ernest Jones set up in 1949 in London’s Oxford Street and now has more than 100 stores across the UK.

The company did not respond to the Stray Ferret’s enquiries by the time of publication.

Read more:

 

Could it be magic? Harrogate women to sing with Barry Manilow

A pop choir from Harrogate has been chosen to perform alongside Barry Manilow on his UK tour next week.

Love Pop Choir will sing It’s A Miracle and Let Freedom Ring with the American superstar at the First Direct Arena on June 25.

Lauren Elliott, who owns the choir, said the all-female group was giddy at the prospect of sharing a stage with Barry. She said:

“I can’t believe how many Barry fans we have in the choir. It’s been full-on hysteria since we got the news!”

Douglas Hallenbeck, the Manilow tour choir coordinator, approached Ms Elliott by email.

At first she thought it was a wind-up and almost deleted the message before she discovered it was genuine.

Love Pop Choir

Lauren Elliott (centre) with her two choir directors.

Thirty-four members of the choir, which has had to bring in some male voices at Barry’s request, will be on stage in front of more than 10,000 fans. Ms Elliott said:

“We are beyond excited at this amazing opportunity.

“My only wish is that choir numbers were not limited, as I would love to have included every single lady from all our groups in Harrogate, Cookridge, Roundhay, Otley, Ilkley and Saltaire. They are all fabulous!”.

Read more:

Love Pop Choir, which meets on Thursday evenings at Harrogate Rossett School, sings pop songs from the 1960s onwards, but especially 1980s numbers. No experience is required.

Asked why so many choirs have sprung up lately, Ms Elliott said:

“It doesn’t matter how good your day is, when you go to choir you always come away feeling really good.”

Love Pop Choir will also be singing at The British Transplant Games gala at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on July 31.

The choir is fundraising for The Leeds Children’s Transplant Team’s Charity by completing 100 hours of singing by the date of the gala event. Donations can be made here.

Love Pop Choir

Love Pop Choir performing at Harlow Carr.

 

 

Review into Harrogate’s 2019 UCI cycling championships finally set to come out

A review into Harrogate’s controversial hosting of the 2019 UCI Road World Championships is finally set to be published – almost three years after the major cycling event was held.

Members of Harrogate Borough Council’s overview and scrutiny commission are behind the review, which will be published ahead of a meeting on July 4.

The nine-day cycling event was hailed by organisers as a “once in a lifetime moment” for Harrogate, but was also criticised by businesses and residents in the town who had complaints about disruptions during road closures.

It is also infamously remembered for leaving Harrogate’s West Park Stray severely damaged after the parkland was used as a spectator area during heavy rainfall, with repair works and upgrades later costing £130,000.

Conservative councillor Nick Brown, who has chaired the cross-party review, previously said the commission hoped to publish a final report last year, however, there have been several delays.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he said:

“I can confirm that after long deliberations, covid and the recent local elections, it is planned for me to present the review on 4 July.

“The purpose of the review is to fully understand the impacts of this large-scale event for people who live and work in the area, and to also make any recommendations based on the evidence presented during the investigation.

“It should make interesting reading and perhaps will be useful for the new North Yorkshire unitary authority which will be involved in holding future events.”

Cllr Brown also said the views of residents and businesses had been “extremely useful” in shaping the review which involved a survey last year.

The review is separate to an economic impact study carried out by accountancy firm Ernst and Young at a cost of £19,000 to the council.

Read more:

This study concluded the championships resulted in an economic boost to the local economy of £17.8 million and was watched by a global television audience of 329 million.

It also said 84% of people who came to watch the event were satisfied or very satisfied with it.

However, it did not take into account a reported drop in earnings for some businesses, whose complaints rumbled on long after the event was held.

Retailers unhappy

Retail campaign group Independent Harrogate previously conducted its own survey looking into the event’s economic impact. After speaking to 22 of its members, the group claimed losses amounted to nearly £1m.

Based in Harrogate as the host town, the championships were held in the UK for the first time in nearly 40 years after a joint-bid by British Cycling, UK Sport, Welcome to Yorkshire and the government’s sport and culture department.

The event organisers were Yorkshire 2019 – a now-dissolved company which was set up by the government and later contributed £35,500 towards the West Park Stray repair costs.

A further £95,000 was spent on park upgrades by Harrogate Borough Council which spent a total of £606,000 on hosting the event.

The biggest single cost was £200,000 for the fan zone on West Park Stray.

Mobile speed van is not ours, says North Yorkshire Police

North Yorkshire Police has denied changing its mobile speed vans in response to an image that has been circulating on social media.

The photograph (above) of the dark blue and yellow vehicle has caused a stir on local Facebook groups, with people complaining that the new vans are harder to recognise.

The image, which has been shared thousands of times, has also sparked a big debate about speeding and mobile cameras in the Harrogate district in general.

Many comments support them and say drivers should not to go too fast in the first place. However there are also a number of people opposing the vehicles, claiming they are just “money spinners”.

Read more:

The van is alleged to have been spotted in North Yorkshire, however the force has denied it being one of its fleet.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said:

“This isn’t our van, our vans don’t look like that.”

He added that it appeared to have no links to North Yorkshire Police and therefore was unable to comment further.

Man, 67, pleads not guilty to sexual act in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens

A 67-year-old man pleaded not guilty in court today to performing a sexual act in Valley Gardens.

Kevin Payne, from Ling Park Avenue, Bingley, was charged with outraging public decency and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

A member of the public reported seeing a man carrying out a sexual act on Sunday afternoon at the popular family venue.

North Yorkshire Police subsequently arrested Mr Payne and charged him with the two offences.

Appearing at York Magistrates Court this morning, he pleaded not guilty to both charges and was sent for trial at York Crown Court on July 11.

He will remain in custody until the hearing.

Read more:

 

Harrogate’s Nelson Inn sold to pub restaurant chain

The Nelson Inn on the A59 is set to reopen in the autumn following a takeover by a pub restaurant chain.

Brunning and Price said today it was “thrilled” to have received the keys for the 18th century inn, which has changed hands several times in recent years.

The new owners have a portfolio of 80 pub restaurants, including the Highwayman in Kirkby Lonsdale and the Bull at Broughton.

They plan to spend the next few months refurbishing the Nelson Inn, which is on Skipton Road in Killinghall, before a planned reopening in early October.

Nelson Inn

Former popular Harrogate French restaurant Chez la Vie owned the pub in 2019, before new owners took it on in 2020, which also saw a sweet shop and ice cream parlour launched at the site on Skipton Road.

Mary Willcock, managing director at Brunning and Price, said:

‘’You’ll find us traditional in style, with wooden floors, bookcases, open fires, trusty old furniture and lots of rugs and plants. We love to restore old buildings, learning about the character they have within them.

“Being foodies, our menu, which will be published on our website each morning, will be something of an eclectic mix, striking a balance of hearty pub classics, complemented by more exotic influences from around the world.

“We think simple things done well are often the best and we want to create a friendly atmosphere in attractive surroundings where locals, regulars and new customers can meet, eat, drink and relax. That for us, is what being a good pub in the heart of its community is all about.’’

Read more:

The Nelson Inn was built around 1776 and remained a private house until early in the 19th century.

For much of its early years the pub used to be more or less a farm with a sack over the door where locals came in for a drink.

It received its name around 1805 when Nelson was victorious at the Battle of Trafalgar  and it has remained all that time, except for its short spell as Chez La Vie in 2019.

Brunning and Price is set to launch a recruitment drive for the pub, with job opportunities including management, chefs, front of house, cleaners and gardeners.

 

Police search for missing man last seen in Harrogate

North Yorkshire Police today issued an appeal for information to find a man last seen in Harrogate.

A police statement today said Mark Griffiths has been missing since last week, and friends are concerned about his welfare. It added:

“Mark is described as white, 54 years old with no hair.

“He was last seen in Harrogate town centre wearing all black clothing on Wednesday 8 June.”

If you see him, or know where he is, you can contact the police by calling 101 and quoting reference number 12220100118.

Read more:

 

Harrogate district unemployment figures remain low

Just 2.2% of all adults in the Harrogate district are claiming out-of-work benefits, latest figures show.

Monthly figures published today by the Office for National Statistics show 1,755 people were claiming the benefits on May 12, which was similar to April’s figure of 1,779.

The figures appear to have stabilised after falling by around 150 people a month since the start of the year.

However, they are still above pre-pandemic levels. In January 2020, 1,410 people claimed the benefits that includes Universal Credit.

Universal Credit can also be claimed by people who are in work but on low incomes.

Many of the district’s key sectors including hospitality and social care have reported difficulties hiring staff since the end of covid restrictions.

Read more:

 

Shortlist revealed for Harrogate’s crime writing festival

The shortlist for the UK’s most prestigious crime writing award, hosted in Harrogate, has been announced today.

The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2022 is hosted by Harrogate International Festivals. As well as the famous award there is a four-day festival welcoming household names to Harrogate.

The award, now in its 18th year, celebrates crime fictions at its best. This year’s shortlisted authors take readers from the streets of newly independent India to a remote Fenlands cottage, from a missing persons investigation in Manchester to a body discovery in Norfolk and from a murder in Georgian London to the murky world of espionage.

The public have until July 8 to vote for their winner with the final result announced on the festival’s opening night on July 21.

The six nominees are:

This is Ms Griffiths’ fourth time on the shortlist. The Night Hawks is the 13th instalment in her Ruth Galloway series. This novel sees forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway embroiled in a mystery involving Bronze age treasure, a series of murders and a local legend of a ghost dog.

This novel is a Sunday Times bestseller and the first standalone novel from Mr Knox. Blending fact and fiction, the book transports the reader to Manchester and encases them in a web of mystery surrounding a 19-year-old student who leaves a party to never be seen again.

The historical crime writer is back with her second novel, Daughters of Night, two years after her debut Blood & Sugar which was longlisted in 2020. This novel centres on the murder of a prostitute and brings to life the darkest corners of Georgian high society.

In the tenth instalment oh his series, Mr Herron returns with the Slough House which marks the fifth time in five years he has been on the shortlist. The series has recently been adapted by Apple TV as a spy drama called Slow Horses starting Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas.

The first in a series narrating the investigations of India’s first female police detective finds her tasked with solving the murder of an English diplomat as the country prepares to become the world’s biggest republic.

Will Dean is known for his Tuva Moodyson series but in his newest novel he has changed the setting to the derelict British fenlands. The claustrophobic tale depicts a woman’s determination to escape captivity by an unknown man in a remote cottage. This is Mr Dean’s first appearance on the shortlist.

Read more:

The crime writing festival is set to take over Harrogate and include multiple events between July 21 to July 24.

Simon Theakston, executive director of Theakston, said:

“What a fantastic shortlist, six thrilling tales which deliver shocking twists and unforgettable characters! We look forward to revealing the winner in July as we kick off the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.”

Sharon Canavar, chief executive of Harrogate International Festivals, said:

“We are delighted to announce this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year shortlist, featuring six novels by some of the most exciting crime writers working today. Whisking readers around the world and through time, this shortlist is a fantastic demonstration of the variety to be found in crime fiction.”

The winner will receive a £3,000 prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston Ltd.