The president of Harrogate Brigantes Rotary Club has reached the summit of Everest – without leaving Yorkshire.

David Hayes and 20 members of the group have been covering the equivalent distance of Everest since late August.

They covered 3,900 miles and climbed 106,000 feet – which they calculated to be the Yorkshire equivalent trekking 1,525 miles and 1,056m feet to Everest’s summit.

Among those taking part was Graham Chilvers, who completed his distance and height quota by walking up and down the steps at Knaresborough Castle each day with his dog, Jet. Four Rotarians climbed Yorkshire’s highest peak, Whernside, on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year, while Tony Doveston went up and down the stairs of the high-rise building where he lives.

Tony Doveston contributed to the Everest challenge by climbing the stairs in his high-rise apartment building

Guy Wilson trekked up and down the hill behind his house, David Russell and John Benedict cycled, while others rowed, used a step machine, and walked around the Stray in Harrogate. One hardy participant even contributed to the total distance as he recovered from knee replacement surgery.

On reaching the ‘summit’, Mr Hayes said:

“I am only standing here because of the enormous efforts of club members over the last few weeks.

“Daily they have walked, climbed, cycled and rowed to build up the real distance and height that were needed to get me here. They’re all in their 70s but they’ve put their bodies through a gruelling regime to get us to our goal.”

The fundraising total so far stands at £3,500, with donations still coming in. The money will be split between the Brigantes’ Covid Relief Fund, mental health charity Wellspring, and Carers’ Resource.

A blog of updates on the expedition can be found on the Brigantes’ website.

Read more:

• Harrogate charity sees 44% increase in counselling referrals
• Harrogate charity hopes to break second hand school clothes stigma

A 10-year-old from Harrogate will start a 100-mile cycling challenge today to raise funds for Henshaws.

Ewan Clarkson is a keen cyclist and wants to use his hobby to help others.

He will split the distance over three consecutive days, cycling at home on an electronic bike. During training, Ewan said he has watched TV “to keep me going”.

He said:

“I’ve been on the indoor bike building it up – over the past few days I’ve been doing 50km.

“Cycling is my passion. When I was little I went round the garden and the arts and craft centre which I loved. I wanted to raise money for them because how they help disabled people is amazing.”

Ewan’s initial fundraising target was £100 but by Friday he had already raised more than £240. To support him, click here.

Ewan often cycles with his dad, Ian Clarkson, and his parents were always supportive of his pledge. Ian said:

“We’ve always told him it’s not a race – it’s about getting the distance done. When he saw the challenge he wanted to do it straight away.

“He knows he can do the distance as long as his legs don’t give up. He’s taken his training seriously and he was determined. I think he’s ready.”

The charity said lockdown has left it struggling financially, initiatives like this are helping.

The Henshaws Hundreds challenge is a new fundraising initiative launched by the charity to raise vital money. It has experienced shortfalls this year which it attributes to coronavirus and the lack of charity events taking place.

Gemma Young, Henshaws’ fundraising manager for Yorkshire, said:

“Launching at the start of National Eye Health Week on September 21, for 10 whole days we are challenging supporters to do ‘your hundred, your way!’

“Inclusivity really is at the heart of this challenge. It’s possible to cover your chosen distance in a wheelchair, using a walking frame, walking on your hands, or by running, walking swimming or cycling.”

Read more:

• Henshaws launches its Henshaws Hundreds challenge to raise funds. 
• Children’s author uses his first book to raise money for a cancer charity. 

Harrogate’s town centre is at a critical crossroads.

The town has an enviable reputation as a destination for beautiful scenery, good bars and restaurants and independent shops.

But many businesses in the town are struggling. Many were under pressure before coronavirus – the Stray Ferret has reported on several well-loved local businesses ceasing to trade.

So what do you think should be done to improve the town’s fortunes? We want as many people as possible to fill in what will be the most comprehensive survey of its kind on how you use Harrogate town centre and what you think can help revive its economy.

We would like to hear views not only from Harrogate residents but also people in nearby places such as Ripon, Knaresborough, Pateley Bridge and Masham who use Harrogate for work and leisure.

Read more:

• Is the future of Harrogate town centre more homes, less shopping?
• Harrogate family pet shop to close after more than 50 years

The survey takes about 10 minutes and everyone who takes part will be entered into a prize draw with free gifts – a Stray Ferret umbrella or a 12 pack of special Stray Ferret beer brewed by Harrogate-based Roosters. You have to be over 18 to fill in the survey.

The survey results, which will be published on our website, will help shape the debate.

Click here to have your say on your town.

Nine more people in the Harrogate district have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the latest daily figure by Public Health England.

The figure takes the total number of cases in the district to 919.

Despite the increase, Harrogate was not among the places in North Yorkshire has not been named as an ‘area of concern’ by Public Health England.

Read more:

• District MPs decline to comment on “broken” covid testing system
• Strayside Sunday: Why covid testing should be devolved to local authorities

Everywhere, Selby District Council and Scarborough Borough Council were identified as areas of concern due to a rise in coronavirus cases.

The North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, which is a group of organisations that coordinates the county’s response to coronavirus, said during the week it was concerned about rising infection rates in Harrogate.

But the town has so far been spared any extra measures amid rising concerns nationally about the increase in infections.

A new barbers is opening in Harrogate town centre next week.

The Scissors Project will open on John Street on Tuesday. The salon was an idea that came out of lockdown for experienced barber, John Scott.

Following months at home, John was eager for a new challenge and found the “perfect spot” in the town centre. Since receiving the keys two weeks ago he has renovated the space to function as a barber shop, ensuring appropriate distancing between the chairs.

John said:

“I’ve always wanted my own place but it’s never been the right time. During lockdown I started looking and I saw this place so it’s gone from me not looking for a place to me being here now.

“Even in this time it is still an essential service, people are never going to stop getting haircuts. I think for me personally and the industry as a whole covid is something we’ll have to get used to. Now that the rules have changed slightly it’s helped a lot. I don’t think it’s going to change anytime soon.”

Its owner hopes its central location will encourage business.

Read more:

• After covid cancelled her travel plans, one Harrogate hairdresser fulfilled a different dream and opened up her own salon.
• When hair salons opened in July safety measures had to be put in place.

The Scissors Project has already been building interest before it opens, and John hopes to employ more staff if business gets busy.

“We’ve been generating a bit of interest on social media to get people used to a new place opening. If it gets busy I’ll look into bringing another barber in and an apprentice.”

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

Life, it has been said, is just the correct apportionment of blame.

It certainly seems that way in politics and the media coverage of it. I’m as guilty as the rest, often writing negative opinion in this column and raging against the machine in conversation. Time for some perspective I feel.

Last Sunday I wrote about the dilemma faced by former Northern Ireland Secretary and Ripon MP Julian Smith in whether or not to support a new trade bill that would break international law and ignore the Northern Ireland protocol he signed when in office. When the moment of truth came Mr. Smith found enough moral fibre and courage to abstain, thereby preserving his principle, avoiding conflict with his own party leadership, safe in the knowledge that his vote would not put too much of a dent in the government’s whopping majority in parliament. He made a mature political decision to do the right thing both by the people of Northern Ireland and by the party he represents. For this he is to be applauded.

Contrast this with the position of Harrogate’s Andrew Jones MP. A remainer, Mr. Jones waved through the bill, voting with my old boss Iain Duncan Smith, Jacob Reese-Mogg, Steve Baker and the rest of the European Reform Group ultras, for a law that breaks previous agreements with the European Union and breaks international law.

There may well be good reasons for this (although preserving his odour with the Conservative Chief Whip is not one them), but, as ever, Harrogate’s MP is reticent, some might say invisible, when it comes to explaining the reasons behind his actions to the people he purports to represent. Try as they might, I understand the journalistic staff of The Stray Ferret can’t extract comment or explanation from Mr. Jones, nor his office. At worst this pattern of behaviour is undemocratic, at best it is disrespectful, regardless it is cowardly.

But governing is always difficult; it is the consideration of competing claims and countervailing arguments. Done well and, in normal times, government should arrive at negotiated settlements, grounded in their own cogent and transparent philosophy, or “political bottom” as I call it, with enough marrow to satisfy the appetites of all interested parties, voters prime amongst them.

But as we teeter on the brink of another national lockdown; likely a 2-week “circuit break,” it does begin to feel as though the government’s response to Covid is out of control, lurching from one entirely reactive policy to the next. ‘Whack-a-mole;’ knocking local outbreaks on the head, was tried and failed, bubbling was given a go and hasn’t worked, and the ‘Rule of Six’ has lasted less than two weeks. The Government is at sea, but, let’s remember, by definition there is no playbook for handling this pandemic, unprecedented in its scale and effect. This is as true in Harrogate and North Yorkshire as it is nationally.

Our “world class” Test and Trace programme is a disaster. The national testing system is the latest in a long line of national ‘top-down’ IT programmes that are not fit for purpose. Stories of people finding it difficult to book a test online are myriad, delays are common and tests have been offered that require 200-mile or more round trips. Quietly, significant rates of false positives and false negatives confuse the picture. Consequently, as Covid rates rise again, local authority leaders are holding back testing capacity to ensure tests are available for their own key workers. Cases go unchecked, frustration mounts and decisions are made in fear.

I would imagine that this fear (of a rise in Covid infection rates) is at least in part behind Harrogate council’s decision to give a week’s notice that it will not extend permission for outdoor drinking and dining to continue on Stray land outside the The Blues Bar. Hot on the heels of the mess made of the Stray by the World Cycling Championships the council worries publicly that, as Autumn sets in, slippery conditions underfoot will endanger the local public and leave it with a turf repair bill. Sod it, I say. The more than 3000 people who have signed a petition against the council’s plan seem to agree.

I understand that government has to find a way to act in our best interest while reassuring us that all will be well. But fobbing us off with jobsworth “elf and safety” justifications for actions taken to protect us from the coming second wave will not wash.

Local authority leaders are also exasperated with Westminster’s efforts to recruit a national workforce of Trace Agents. Beyond the fact that few of these people possess the established local, third sector and civil society networks which enable effective communication with local people, they also lack detailed knowledge of the key societal variables driving both Covid behavioural compliance and outbreaks; such as the nature of local housing stock, family living patterns, travel habits, culture and language. This is, in fact, what local authorities are in business to do. We need to let them get on with it.

Tracing efforts were initially outsourced to national private providers such as Serco (offering a one size fits all approach) when, instead, local authorities would much rather use their own staff, equipped both with specialist epidemiological training (asking the right questions in the right order) and a detailed understanding of their own patch. This is how it works round here and all that. Our MP’s, Messrs Adams, Jones and Smith, ought to be advocating loudly and publicly for this approach, rather than following blindly the party line that all is well in Test and Trace land. They must know that this is beyond politics; it’s a matter of life and death.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

Read More:

• Harrogate’s Blues Bar denied permission to keep tables and chairs on the Stray
• Test and Trace system is “broken” says Harrogate mum

Ten more people in the Harrogate district have contracted coronavirus, according to the latest daily figure by Public Health England.

The figure takes the total number of cases in the district to 910.

Despite the increase, Harrogate was not among the places in North Yorkshire to be named as ‘areas of concern’ by Public Health England yesterday.

Read more:

• District MPs decline to comment on broken’ covid testing system
• North Yorkshire declares covid emergency

Everywhere covered by Selby District Council and Scarborough Borough Council were identified as areas of concern due to a rise in coronavirus cases.

North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, which is a group of organisations that coordinates the county’s response to coronavirus, said this week it was concerned about rising infection rates in Harrogate.

But the town has so far been spared any extra measures amid rising concerns nationally about the increase in infections.

North Yorkshire Police are appealing for witnesses after a spate of house burglaries in the Harrogate area in recent days.

The incidents occurred on Beckwith Road, Grove Street, Hutton Gate, Chatsworth Place and St John’s Road from Tuesday to Friday.

Burglars entered the homes through insecure doors and took car keys, house keys, a wallet and a handbag, which were within easy reach,

A North Yorkshire Police statement said:

“We are requesting the public’s assistance to help establish the full circumstances surrounding the incidents, including details about youths who have reportedly been going door-to-door trying for any insecure premises.

“If you have seen any suspicious vehicles or persons please contact the police.”

Police have urged people to keep their houses secure at night.

Read more:

• Harrogate police treatment centre reopens
• Police arrest man after incident in Harrogate Town centre

Anyone with information can contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2, and ask for Elizabeth Estensen . You can also email elizabethestensen@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk.

If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12200162246.

Mushroom burgers, non-dairy cheesecakes, carrot and ginger smoothies. A vegan cafe hidden away on the outskirts of the town centre is serving up much more than twigs and leaves.

Option Ve, 108 Mayfield Grove in Harrogate, has a fully vegan menu and, while it may not be for everyone, it is certainly drawing in customers from across the town and even the country.

It has not been the easiest start for owners Claire Beecroft and David Mitchell. They took over what used to be Bica Cafe and Bistro over a year ago and have changed a lot in that time.

Like many businesses, coronavirus has been a big challenge for Option Ve. It was difficult timing for the cafe, which had been closed for a couple of months to switch from vegetarian to vegan, and reopened just days before lockdown.

Read more:

• Colourful donut shop is a Harrogate ‘hidden gem’
• Knaresborough competition to inspire young chefs
• New bakery to open in Harrogate

Option Ve adapted to offer home deliveries and reopened the doors for a second time this year on July 10.

She wants people to know that vegan food can be more than twigs and leaves.

Claire Beecroft, who is the chef and co-owner of Option Ve, told the Stray Ferret:

“It is going well, really well. We are just getting the word out there that we have gone fully vegan. Coming from a chef’s point of view I have opened my world up in creative ways. It is incredible how you can make pasta, pizza and chocolate brownies in a vegan way that is good for you.”

Food is not the only thing on the menu. When social distancing measures relax, they hope to ramp up their cookery demonstrations, supper clubs and workshops on health and wellbeing.

This is part of the Stray Ferret’s ‘hidden gem’ series. We are trying to highlight small independent businesses. They need to be tucked away but growing in popularity with an eye-catching and unique product or approach. Send us an email with your nominations.

The Stray Ferret is delighted to announce that legendary Michelin-starred chef, Frances Atkins, will become… the Stray Foodie!

Frances owned the renowned Yorke Arms near Pateley Bridge for 20 years, where she held a Michelin star for 16 of them.

Now Frances is now turning her talent and experience to food reviewing.

From fine-dining restaurants to pop ups, Frances will be visiting all types of catering establishments and writing a review for the Stray Ferret.

Her first review will be published on The Stray Ferret next week on Saturday, September 26.

Frances told The Stray Ferret:

“I would see it as my job to encourage people to stay safe, take care, but at the same time enjoy what is on offer at the moment.

“I’m hoping that [my reviews] will encourage people to visit our industry more and not to be so worried about these times because most people in the hospitality industry are over-cautious now and they care about their customers.

“A friend of mine said to me the other day that he loves reading food reviews because they paint a picture for him, and he feels as if he is there and enjoying it. It also stimulates him to try new dishes at home himself and broadens his horizons, so he absolutely loves them.

“As for business owners, every business wants to be busy; it’s a form of advertising that people will read and see, rather than the establishment just saying they’re the greatest – there’s nothing like word of mouth.

“Also, if somebody builds up a following, a trust, that’s something I have to achieve. I think it’s important that the owners have a confidence in us to want to advertise with us.”

Frances Atkins pictured outside her airstream bus business Paradise Foods.

Frances discusses the possible challenges she may face when writing her reviews.

She said:

“It’s particularly important to give a clear picture of the feeling of the place in the first instance and first impressions. I think it’s important to take a positive view rather than a negative view because everybody’s opinions are always different, and I think during these times it’s very important to produce positive and honest feedback.

“It could be a challenge for me to make sure I don’t let my professionalism interfere with a review on a place that may be structured slightly differently to the way I would run it. Also, not to enjoy myself too much because I’m very good at forgetting when I’m enjoying it – on the other hand, if I am enjoying myself to that degree then that must be a good thing.”

“For me this is an exciting new world, away from the stove – and that’s how I see it. The benefit I see is having a great experience seeing other people’s style and the way people do things.”

“I wouldn’t be criticising; I will be writing about an experience. It’s something that I find exciting because I want to put my experience onto paper.”

After leaving the Yorke Arms, Frances converted an airstream bus into a mobile kitchen business, Paradise Foods, and stationed it at Daleside Nurseries in Killinghall. She was joined by her previous colleagues, John Tulett and Roger Olive.

Are you a restaurant in the Harrogate district – from pop-up to fine dining? Would you like Frances to review your establishment? If so, send her an email to: foodie@thestrayferret.co.uk.