All 285 year 11 pupils at Harrogate Grammar sent home due to covid

All 285 students in year 11 at Harrogate Grammar School have been told to stay at home to self-isolate for two weeks.

The school contacted families yesterday after the number of infections gradually increased between Thursday and Sunday to eight.

Only pupils in close proximity to those who test positive should isolate.

But the school decided to put the whole year group into isolation when the number of cases rose to eight.

It comes at a difficult time for the students, who were preparing to take mock GCSE exams this week.

A school spokeswoman acknowledged the outbreak had occurred at a bad time but added “the safety of pupils and staff must come first”.

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Pupils will now use school computers to complete some of their exams at home – at the same time as they would have done at school.

The students will upload their exam results into a secure folder.

A spokesperson for the school said:

“We know and respect that the students have worked hard to prepare for these exams so we wanted to give them the opportunity to complete them.

“We have made it achievable with the iPads, and so far we have had positive feedback.”

Harrogate company delivers Downing Street Christmas tree

Staff from a Harrogate construction company travelled to London yesterday to deliver this year’s Downing Street Christmas tree.

HACS Group employees took the tree, which was chosen at a competition in Harrogate, from York to the country’s most famous house.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the 20 ft tree was the “first step to bringing us some festive cheer”.

The tree was grown by York Christmas Trees, which won last month’s annual Champion Christmas Tree Grower of the Year competition at the Great Yorkshire Showground.

After the HACS Group erected the tree it was decorated by an Oxfordshire company.

Yorkshire shepherdess Amanda Owen, from Channel 5’s Our Yorkshire Farm, and Peter Wright from The Yorkshire Vet, were among the judges.

Heather Parry, managing agent of event organisers the British Christmas Tree Growers Association, which is based at the Great Yorkshire Showground, said:

“Today is a symbolic moment which shows the start of a Christmas which we have all been so focussed on.

“It was a significant boost that the government supported our members, recognising that Christmas trees are essential at this time of year and that the selling season is short; whilst understanding consumers are particularly keen to get their decorations up this year.”

HACS, which is based in Ripley, is an independent building and construction services contractor.

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Harrogate post box with a direct line to Santa opens

A new post box with a direct line to the North Pole has opened in Harrogate offering children the chance to write to Father Christmas.

Harrogate International Festivals has turned its Cheltenham Parade office a magical makeover.

As well as the post office, the site has snow flurries and Christmas music, and Father Christmas also makes appearances in the window.

The North Pole Post Office, which will be open right up to Christmas eve, aims to bring some festive cheer to children denied the chance to visit Santa due to covid.

Children posting letters should include their name, age, what they would like for Christmas and something they like doing. Those who would like Santa Claus to write back should also include their address.

 

 

 

 

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Lizzie Brewster, Harrogate International Festivals’ head of development and communications, said:

“Because Santa’s grottos will be few and far between, we are inviting the town’s children to write a letter to Father Christmas and then pop it into our post box.

“And naturally we would also ask that social distancing is adhered to at all times. The last thing we want is Father Christmas and his elves coming down with covid!”

Harrogate Business Improvement District has sponsored the North Pole Post Office as part of its Harrogate at Christmas campaign.

Sara Ferguson, acting chair of Harrogate BID, said:

“Harrogate International Festivals are known for their creativity. The North Pole Post is simply genius. We are delighted to partner with them for this end of year treat.

“It is a feature of our Harrogate at Christmas campaign, designed to bring residents into town all through the week, not just at the weekend when it’s at its busiest.”

Civic Society opposes bid to convert Harrogate’s former post office

Harrogate Civic Society is to oppose plans to convert the town’s former post office into offices and 25 flats.

Post Office Ltd wants to add a fourth floor on to the three-storey sandstone terraced building, which closed last year after more than 100 years as a post office.

The society, which is a charity that aims to keep Harrogate beautiful, said in a statement it welcomed the principle of redeveloping the site into a mixed-use facility but added:

“We are, however, concerned about the impact of an additional floor to this building in the conservation area, as the proposal does not address the whole of the building as originally designed.

“The appearance of the new floor results in a design solution which is not fully considered or refined and therefore does not enhance the existing roofscape in its present form.”

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Property development company One Acre Group has submitted plans on behalf of Post Office Ltd to Harrogate Borough Council to convert the building. If approved, work could start in the summer.

The post office controversially relocated to WH Smith last year amid claims by Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones the service was being “downgraded”.

The society said the application would encourage retail and make the area more vibrant. It added:

“We support the principle of re-use of vacant upper floors in the town centre for residential purposes.

“We believe this concept should be encouraged and developed in all areas of the town centre so that buildings and streets as a whole appear to have life at all times.”

But the organisation said it was “concerned about the relationship of the proposed extension to the existing buildings along Cambridge Terrace”, adding:

“The society is of the opinion that the developer’s proposal as it stands should be resisted.”

 

 

Police investigating Killinghall burglary appeal for jogger

Police are appealing for a jogger to come forward to help with an investigation into a burglary.

At about 7.30pm on Friday night, police were called to a house in Killinghall. The burglars had threatened the people living in the home and had then made off with cash and other items.

A  jogger who was out running the following morning found a mobile phone and handed it in to Harrogate Police Station.

However, they did not leave their contact details.

Officers are appealing for them to come forward as a witness as they may have information that could assist the investigation.

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North Yorkshire Police have arrested two men in connection with the incident. They remain in custody at this time.

If you have an information please contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, quoting reference number 12200211798.

Harrogate independents band together to beat coronavirus

A Harrogate street full with independent retailers has banded together to beat coronavirus.

Commercial Street has a new retailers group designed at promoting all of the shops online.

Shops pay £52 a year to join and all of that money goes into a pot to pay for the website and any future campaigns.

More than 70% of the street is already signed up. They all hope that it can help them get a bumper Christmas after a difficult year.

Commercial Street

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Sue Kramer, of Crown Jewellers and head of the Commercial Street Retailers Group, said:

“It’s been a tough time for shops. But we hope that we can come out of coronavirus in a strong position.

“Christmas is such an important time so we are very happy to be in tier two. The new group has come at a great time.’

She hopes that the new group can encourage customers to keep coming back and exploring Commercial Street.

Despite the difficult year Sue believes that independent shops like the ones on Commercial Street will be the heart of town centres in years to come.

More cases and one more coronavirus death in Harrogate

There are 22 new cases in the Harrogate district today as the hospital reports another coronavirus death.

Public Health England figures for the district, which have been dropping steadily since the start of November, are now at 3,536 cases overall.

Harrogate District Hospital is now at 99 coronavirus deaths in total after it reported one more death today.

The death, while reported today, happened on Thursday. November 26.

It also comes as the Harrogate district prepares to move into tier two restrictions on Wednesday as the national lockdown ends.

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Harrogate Mind walks 1932 miles for festive fundraising challenge

The staff and trustees at Harrogate Mind are walking 1932 miles next month to raise money and awareness for the importance of your mental health.

This festive challenge will see the team walk the distance from The Acorn Centre, central Harrogate, to Lapland between December 1 and December 25.

There are 15 staff members and trustees taking part, meaning each of them has to walk, run or cycle almost 130 miles in 24 days.

The charity said it hopes to promote the benefits of exercise for a person’s mental health through this fundraising campaign.

Tina Chamberlain, CEO of Mind in the Harrogate district, said everyone had worked really hard during the pandemic and even they can sometimes forget to work on their own mental health.

She said:

“We are often too busy taking calls from people to take a lunch break and the long days mean that you don’t feel like exercising when you leave work either. I noticed it was all starting to take its toll on staff.
“We came up with the idea that we would walk the 1932 miles from Harrogate to Lapland. Having this goal has really galvanised the team.”

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The team is hoping to match the distance with donations and reach its £1,932 target. To support them, click here.
Mike Gibbs, Chair of Trustees said
“We wanted to do something to support the staff who have worked so hard during the last few months and also to raise the profile of the charity so that more people in need know there is somewhere for them to go to get mental health support in Harrogate district.”
The charity offers counselling and befriending services to those struggling with their mental health or in isolation. During the pandemic, the service has reported an increase in demand. 
Harrogate council increases search delays to seven weeks

Harrogate Borough Council has increased the average time to complete land searches from 30 working days to up to seven weeks.

The council has asked those waiting to be patient and request a land search as early as possible.

An increase in demand, a backlog of searches from the first lockdown and struggles with staff numbers have all put strain on the process.

The Stray Ferret has reported the frustration of homebuyers and agents over the last month, who all disputed the council’s previous 30 working days time scale.

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Some claim to have put in requests at the end of summer to be told that it won’t be cleared until December.

Harrogate Borough Council put an updated on their social media channels to say the the waiting time had increased:

“We are doing everything we can to reduce the processing times for local land charge searches.

“It is currently taking between six and seven weeks on average for us to complete our part of the searches process.”

Now that the current lockdown is coming to an end the council is opening the civic centre to allow personal searches to take place.

James Wort, a director at Strutt and Parker, previously told the Stray Ferret that his clients have experienced delays up to 90 days:

“I can give about 17 examples where the search delays have been three times what the council have said.

“We have emails from the council saying that requests from September will be complate by December. But they say it’s not true. It’s scandalous. “

Unloved Northern pacer train makes its final journey

Northern rail has finally bid farewell to its fleet of outdated pacer trains.  The last pacer to carry Northern customers completed its journey yesterday having travelled from Kirkby to Manchester.

Pacer trains have been running for 35 years and news of their final retirement will be welcomed by many travellers who had to endure overcrowded, uncomfortable journeys on them on the Harrogate line.

They had become a political symbol of under-investment in rail transport in the north and their replacement has been long overdue.

Chris Jackson, Regional Director at Northern, said:

“The pacers have kept millions of northerners on the move and, while they have served us well and provided some communities with rail services they may have otherwise lost, it is time to give them a well-earned rest.

“Northern has overseen significant modernisation in recent months and the retiring pacers have made way for a fleet of 100 brand-new trains which are already servicing people across the north of England.”

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Grant Shapps, Transport Secretary with Cabinet Responsibility for the Northern Powerhouse, said:

“The pacer fleet has connected communities on the Northern network for over 30 years, but today marks the sun finally setting on trains that have become loved by some, but hated by many.

“This marks a new era of transport in the north, with passengers enjoying a brand new fleet of trains, delivering more modern services and creating a more reliable network across the north.”

For many commuters though the pacer stayed on the tracks for too long and investment should have come sooner.