An organisation that combats fuel poverty in North Yorkshire has warned it expects a “huge rise” in referrals this winter, especially in the Harrogate district.

Warm and Well, which is a partnership project between public, private and voluntary sector organisations to reduce the the number of cold deaths, said referrals increased by 196% between July and the end of September compared to last year.

The Harrogate district was responsible for 28% of these referrals in what are usually the quietest months for Warm and Well, which believes the surge in referrals reflects the financial impact of the pandemic.

The organisation said in a statement it “expects a huge rise in referrals this winter as the financial effects of the coronavirus take hold across the region”.

Julia Priestnall, project coordinator for Warm and Well in North Yorkshire, said:

“Our specialist advisers are working very hard to reach out to vulnerable people who are really struggling across the region. As the furlough comes to an end and the inevitable rise in redundancies there is a perfect storm of fuel poverty gathering.

“We have managed to help families in rural areas with properties that are ‘off the grid’ heat their homes when they have had no one else to turn to.”

Project coordinator Julia Priestnall

Read more:

• Those struggling during the pandemic saw a decrease in their council tax bill. 
• Rural crime costs millions for North Yorkshire each year. 

Warm and Well, which is managed by Citizens Advice Mid-North Yorkshire and funded by North Yorkshire County Council, helps people deal with energy debt, switching suppliers or applying for emergency energy support.

Its #GearUpForWinter campaign focuses on fuel poverty within rural areas.

The organisation has visited parts of the Yorkshire Dales to help people keep their home warm during the colder season.

To refer yourself of someone you know to Warm and Well in North Yorkshire, click here.

A couple from Harrogate with an online jewellery business are to open their first physical store in the town’s Victoria Shopping Centre this weekend.

Sam McDermid and Neil Thompson set up Infinity & Co in 2014 selling jewellery gifts.

On Sunday they will open a shop under the same name in the former vaping store Tobacco Not Included in the shopping centre.

Ms McDermid said:

“We are absolutely delighted to be opening our first store in my hometown of Harrogate.

“I started my career in retail and it has always been a dream of mine to open my own shop.”

Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce has helped Victoria Shopping Centre to promote retail space for local organisations needing a boost during the pandemic.

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James White, Victoria Shopping Centre manager, said he was “thrilled” to welcome Infinity & Co, adding:

“We are very keen to play our part in the recovery of the retail and hospitality sector in Harrogate.

“We would love to hear from anyone who feels we might be able to help them, especially if they are interested in taking on a pop-up store or window display.”

Infinity & Co is giving away a pair of earrings worth £45 with every purchase during its first week.

Harrogate was named as the best place to work from home in a survey published yesterday.

Fast broadband, green space and low crime rates were among the factors that earned the town top spot — but who knows better than the people who live here? So we headed to the Stray to ask Harrogate residents if they agreed with the finding.

Covid has forced many people to work from home and a fifth of people said they wanted to do it more often when the pandemic is over.

Harrogate district organisations are urging people to commemorate Remembrance Day at home this year after covid restrictions forced traditional annual services and parades to be cancelled.

The Poppy Appeal, organised by the Royal British Legion, will continue to go ahead but collections and activities have been disrupted by social distancing requirements.

Remembrance Sunday activities on November 8 have also been affected, forcing local branches of the Royal British Legion and other groups involved to adapt.

The Knaresborough branch of the Royal British Legion is asking residents to hold their own two-minute silences at home as the church service and parade through the town will not go ahead.

David Houlgate, vice-chair of the branch, said:

“Arrangements are being made to lay wreaths safely but townsfolk are discouraged this year from attending at the war memorial.

“We are having to limit the number of collection boxes we can distribute this year to 20% of our usual number of boxes.”

Despite the limitations, the branch is asking people to continue to support the Poppy Appeal, as funds help servicemen and women, veterans and their families.

Read more:

• Image Gallery of prominent locations in Harrogate and Ripon turning red as they’re covered in knitted poppies ahead of Remembrance Day. 
• Ripon’s branch of the Royal British Legion receives a donation from the city council during a difficult year for fundraising. 

The service at Harrogate war memorial has also been cancelled. The Harrogate Mayor, councillor Stuart Martin, said:

“I urge people across the district to observe the national two minutes silence with your family and show your support for the armed forces community by displaying a poppy in your window.”

The annual remembrance service at Stonefall Cemetery has been cancelled. Credit: Guy Wilson

The annual service at Harrogate’s Stonefall Cemetery, organised by Harrogate Brigantes Rotary Club, has also been cancelled.

A private wreath laying and blessing ceremony has been organised instead.

At least 13 wreaths will be laid on behalf of British and Commonwealth forces. Event co-ordinator Guy Wilson said:

“While this year we cannot meet together to remember those who gave their lives for us and the freedoms we now enjoy, we nevertheless recognise that the act of remembrance is important and will see that it is done with proper respect. Over 1,000 lives given for us lie in Stonefall. We will be there to honour them all on November 8.”

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which maintains Stonefall, has launched a tool that allows people to find out about the lives of local servicemen and woman who died in battle.

Barry Murphy, CWGC’s director general, said:

“This year has been like no other, and sadly this will have an impact on the usual traditions around Remembrance Sunday.”

Concerns have been raised about late night noise at the Coach and Horses in Harrogate ahead of a key decision on the pub’s future.

Samantha Nelson, daughter of previous landlord John Nelson, has applied for a licence to sell alcohol from 10am to midnight seven days a week.

Ms Nelson has also applied to serve late night refreshments from 11pm to 12.30am every day of the week.

Harrogate Borough Council’s licensing sub-committee will consider her requests on Thursday next week.

The council revoked her father’s licence in July after council officers claimed Mr Nelson showed a “blatant disregard” for coronavirus social distancing rules. This decision is due to be appealed at York magistrates court.

A report for the licensing sub-committee says the council has received two letters in support and two opposed to Ms Nelson’s application.

One in favour describes the Coach & Horses as “Harrogate’s best pub”.

Read more:

• Coach and Horses alcohol licence revoked
• Daughter of Coach and Horses landlord applies for licence

Another says: “The last thing the town needs is another permanent pub closure with an unsightly empty building on a major thoroughfare or, even worse, a convenience store opened in its place.”

The same person describes Ms Nelson as “a very capable person” and says “responsibility for past indiscretions should not be visited upon the applicant”.

Those opposed mainly express concerns about “excessive noise” for local residents. One suggests restricting the opening hours until 11pm.

Lawyer Paddy Whur, acting on behalf of Ms Nelson, told the council the hours applied for replicated those of the previous licence and that late night refreshments allowed for the sale of hot drinks: Mr Whur added:

“Mr Nelson is now to retire from the business and have no business interest or management control at the premises. Samantha Nelson will run the premises after a significant re-investment in them.”

A group of independent Harrogate shops have joined forces to raise money for the town’s Trussell Trust food bank by organising a “Giraffle” .

Watermark Gallery, on Royal Parade, came up with the idea and worked with children’s illustrator Jane Ray to get it up and running.

Jane created a five-feet tall paper mache giraffe based on the main character of a book called “Zeraffa Girraffa” in 2014.

Just as the character of that book travelled far to her new home in Paris, Zeraffa is travelling around the Harrogate district in October and November.

• Fears Harrogate food bank will see spike in demand
• Art event will raise money for Harrogate hospital charity

So far she has been seen in the windows of Catherine Smith Vintage, Bespoke Eyewear and Westmorland Sheepskins.

The next stop will be the Little Ripon Bookshop. When her tour comes to an end, Zeraffa will be raffled off to one lucky winner. The tickets will be drawn on December 18.

Tickets to enter the raffle are £5 and are available from Watermark Gallery. A total of 100 tickets have been sold so far and another 100 are on sale.

Liz Hawkes, owner of the Watermark Gallery, hopes that the “Giraffle” will raise £1,000 for charity. She said:

“Zeraffa was a real talking point in the window of our gallery, and we had countless enquiries about buying her. I think people saw her as a ray of sunshine during a somewhat challenging time.

“This gave us the idea of creating an ongoing artwork initiative to unite local independent retailers as well as raising money for a great local cause.”

A drug driver who skidded into a skid risk road sign has been handed a year-long driving ban.

Harry Franklin Waudby, 20, of Wetherby, lost control of his car and crashed in front of a police vehicle in Tockwith in June.

The officers just happened to be passing when they saw the crash and stopped to help.

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• Police consider ‘covid cars’ as part of enforcement
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Nobody was seriously hurt in the incident but Waudby tested positive for cannabis.

At a hearing at Harrogate Magistrates’ Court, he pleaded guilty to drug driving .

As well as the 12 month driving disqualification, the magistrates fined Waudby £233 and told him to pay £85 in court costs.

Speaking after the sentencing, traffic constable Michael Rowan said:

“As traffic officers we frequently deal with drug drivers and it’s an incredibly selfish and dangerous offence. Anyone who does it is a hazard to themselves as well as innocent road users, and we endeavour to catch as many as possible.”

Harrogate has been named as the UK’s best place to work from home in a survey published today.

The Uswitch Remote Working Index 2020 ranked 106 of the UK’s biggest towns and cities by seven factors. 

Harrogate’s superfast broadband, green space, and low crime rates earned it top spot ahead of Bath.

Large cities fared poorly. York was eighth, London 88th and Manchester 100th.

The seven factors ranked were: average property prices, green spaces, crime rates, broadband speed, air quality, number of GPs and average Ofsted ratings. 

Covid has forced many people to work from home and a fifth of people said they wanted to do it more often when the pandemic is over.

Adelana Carty, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, said: 

“The pandemic has turned our working routines upside down and given many of us a taste for what our lives could be like if we worked from home on a more permanent basis.

“Unsurprisingly, this has resulted in millions of people dreaming of ditching the rat race and moving away from the big city.”

Read more: 

• Harrogate Nightingale ‘could open with five days notice’
• Harrogate face mask litter a ‘sign of the times’

Pollsters Opinium surveyed 2,003 UK adults for the survey.

It found the increase in home working has shifted attitudes away from living in large cities.

One in four people currently live in a city with a population in excess of 500,000 people but only one in nine wish to do so in future. 

Harrogate’s first permanent coronavirus testing site is due to open today just over a week after builders moved in.

The Department of Health and Social Care centre is in the Dragon Road car park, which has been home to the mobile testing centre over the past few months. It will test up to 320 people a day.

It has been replaced with a series of modular buildings with floodlights all linked up to a generator to keep it accessible as the nights turn darker.

Read more:

• Harrogate district covid cases have more than doubled since September
• Harrogate face mask litter a ‘sign of the times’

After an initial pilot period, it will be open between 8am and 8pm, seven days a week.

That is far more than the previous mobile testing centre. That had generally been open for four hours a day, two days a week.

People will also be able to turn up on foot, unlike at the mobile testing centres. However, tests must still be booked in advance.

Staff making the finishing touches to the testing centre.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, the director of public health in North Yorkshire, said:

“We have worked hard to retain and increase the level of testing across the county, so we are pleased that our efforts have resulted in the creation of these two sites, which will be up and running shortly.

“We will continue to lobby for further expansion of testing facilities across the county.”

The Stray Ferret asked the DHSC the cost of building the permanent testing centre in Harrogate but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Harrogate’s Muslim community has identified a new site for the district’s first mosque after its initial location encountered difficulties.

The Harrogate Islamic Association had hoped to convert the former Nidderdale Children’s Resource Centre in Starbeck, as previously reported.

However, complications relating to change of use and parking has led the association to set its sights instead on a former church hall in Harrogate.

This former children’s centre in Starbeck was the first choice for the mosque.

The hall is attached to the Trinity Methodist Church on Park Drive close to the Stray and town centre.

FSS Property is advertising the former church hall as “well maintained” and “fully functional for its current intended use”.

Read more:

• Harrogate’s Muslim community raises £85,000 for first Mosque
• Extension plans for Ripon Cathedral on display

The 2,000 square foot building is on the market for £575,000, whereas the former children’s centre in Starbeck was expected to cost about £425,000.

Zahed Amanullah, from the HIA, told the Stray Ferret he was hopeful it would have enough funds:

“We have been fortunate in that, even after we finished fundraising for our first mosque, people have been getting in touch to offer money.

“The biggest thing for us was to see that support from the community. We are confident that this new place will not be contentious.”

He added that although the former church hall does not have a garden or kitchen like the site in Starbeck, it has a bigger prayer space.

The Harrogate Islamic Association is growing in popularity.

The HIA, which started in 2011 and now has 100 members, began publicly fundraising for £85,000 in September to achieve the shortfall in funds,

Its appeal currently has almost £102,000.

If all goes to plan Mr Amanullah hopes the group will be able to open the mosque around March to April next year in time for Ramadan.