A personal trainer from Harrogate has decided to end his classes after more than 30 years due to coronavirus restrictions.

Ray Thomson started Pulse Beats circuit training in 1989. He has taught thousands over the years and has done most of his classes in recent years at Harrogate Grammar School.

But with tough requirements on indoor exercise Mr Thomson does not believe that his classes are viable anymore. He will still continue with his sports and posture massages.

When Ray Thomson made the announcement he was inundated with messages of support and memories from his former students.

A fancy dress picture from the archives in the 1990s.

Mr Thomson said:

“I wanted to leave a legacy where people fondly remember the classes as a place where they had fun.

“Exercise should never be a chore, it should be something you enjoy.

“One of my favourite memories was when we had a noise complaint from one of our neighbours. We were whooping and hollering when he was watching Coronation Street.”

When the Stray Ferret asked Mr Thomson if he would ever start the classes again, he said “never say never” but added that now was not the time.

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Mr Thomson also raised fears about Harrogate’s exercise industry after the news that one of his former colleagues was forced to put Gambaru fitness into liquidation.

He added that the exercise industry has been hit by coronavirus and there will be more closures to come but he believes that a resurgance will follow.

The Stray Defence Association (SDA) has written to the council to call West Park Stray “frankly dangerous” – after it opened to the public for the first time in 11 months.

Harrogate Borough Council took the orange fencing down today to allow people back onto the grass. It has spent £130,000 on its restoration.

The council said that the West Park Stray would be “returned to its former glory” following the UCI World Championships when the work started earlier this year.

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• UCI Championship organisers to pay £35,500 towards Stray repair costs
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However, the SDA has said that the opening yesterday was premature and called for the council to carry out an immediate inspection of the grounds.

Judy D’Arcy Thompson, chair of the SDA, has written a strongly worded letter to the leader of Harrogate Borough Council:

“Whilst, from a distance the area looks beautifully green and as though it could be back to its former glory, it is far from it. Whilst the Stray Defence Association is most anxious to have the Stray reopened to the public as soon as possible it must only be at a time when it is safe to allow full access for any habitual activity.”

Mrs Thompson fears that people playing sports on West Park Stray could “severely injure themselves” by falling on one of a “large number of stones” and that “the stones themselves were never present on the surface prior to the reparations”.

She also raised concerns about “tyre tracks” and “dips in the grounds” as well as “old divots or sods of the previous grass which was not cleared before reseeding”.

When restrictions were lifted for the UCI Championships to be held, the council was given a legal duty to return the Stray to how it was before the event.

The Stray Ferret has contacted Harrogate Borough Council for a response to the SDA’s letter.

A Harrogate bed and breakfast has altered the way they work to maintain high booking numbers through coronavirus.

As of today, Acorn Lodge owners Ali and Phil Standen will be starting a new initiative. Future guests will now be able to book out the whole property for a family stay rather than just bed and breakfast. The couple are calling it “Acorn Lodge – Your Way”.

Ali, deputy chair of the Harrogate District Hotel & Guest House Association, said:

“All members are struggling. This week we should have been at 90% capacity and welcoming guests with the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival, but we’re only at 40% and we’ve lost £1000 from September cancellations. We’ve never seen anything like this.”

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The change in their business has already brought bookings in for the 16-year-old guesthouse. But Ali is worried tourists know very little about what the Harrogate district has to offer.

Ali said:

“If you look at places like Keswick, it’s bustling. We’re on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, we should still be welcoming heaps of tourists. Harrogate needs to get on the map!”

Ali said:

“We thought bed and breakfasts would be okay because we’re smaller, so people would feel safer, but some hotels in Harrogate are continuing to do so well and the smaller guesthouses are struggling.”

Harrogate district care homes have reported one more coronavirus death in the latest weekly figures – meaning they have reported three deaths in four weeks.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures today, which cover up until July 31, show that care homes across the district have reported 107 deaths where coronavirus is the cause of death.

The figures also reveal that there have been five deaths at home, one death at a hospice, and two more deaths at “other communal establishments”, since the start of the outbreak.

Read more:

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Meanwhile, Harrogate District NHS Foundation Trust remains at 82 coronavirus deaths. The coronavirus positive death happened there on July 15.

The hospital reported a couple of weeks ago that it did not have any coronavirus patients. For that reason, the Stray Ferret paused its daily reporting of the coronavirus statistics.

However, this week’s ONS data revealed that there have been seven extra deaths at the hospital where covid is mentioned on the death certificate. However, they are not part of the official statistics, which only include cases where the virus is the cause of death.

Theatres across the district are looking at ways they can support a campaign to highlight the struggling live entertainment industry.

The #WeMakeEvents “Red Alert” follows months of closure for venues and a lack of work for freelance workers. Across the Harrogate district local theatres support the message but none have the facilities to light up red this evening.

Harrogate Theatre is looking into projecting red lights at a later date.

David Bown, chief executive of Harrogate Theatre, said:

“Of course we want to support the campaign it’s keeping the plight of theatres in people’s consciousness -our technicians are looking into it. The movement is to remind people of what is happening and the impact on the industry.

It’s the health and safety that we have to be careful with, leaving lights on when no-one is in the building. I can’t say for definite they are going to go ahead but it is something we are looking into.”

Ensuring social distancing in auditoriums is making reopening too difficult for theatres in the district.

Read more:

• Knaresborough theatre says social distancing measures make reopening too difficult. 
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John Pearce, vice-chairman Frazer Theatre, said:

“It’s something we are very much aware of, but unfortunately the Frazer doesn’t actually have any way to light the exterior up red, so we’re not able to join in. We completely support the campaign though, and do think it’s a really effective way to highlight just how many wonderful spaces could be lost without support.

We absolutely hope it makes people think about what could be gone forever if funding isn’t received urgently.”

Both theatres have suspended their reopening until 2021 following doubts over making their return financially viable.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has received £527,000 in funding to help increase capacity at Harrogate hospital’s accident and emergency department.

The money comes as part of a £300 million funding pot announced by the government for hospital trusts across the country.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said 117 trusts will be granted the extra money to prepare for winter and further outbreaks of coronavirus.

A total of £53 million has been handed to 21 trusts across the North East and Yorkshire, with Harrogate receiving £527,000.

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As part of the funding, hospital bosses in Harrogate said the money will go towards modernising the A&E department and improve other facilities such as x-rays.

Jonathan Coulter, director of finance and deputy chief executive at the hospital trust, said:

“We’re really pleased to have received this investment. It will go towards modernising our emergency department at Harrogate District Hospital, giving us enhanced capacity ahead of winter.

“It means we will be able to adapt our space to better facilitate social distancing. The money will also go towards improving our diagnostic facilities, including x-ray provision.

“Hospital staff are currently working very hard to provide safe care for patients in environments which we’ve carefully had to adapt and reorganise as a result of the pandemic. They’re doing a brilliant job. 

“This money allows us to properly invest and will put us in a better place before winter.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, said the money will help to put the hospital in a good position ahead of winter.

He said:

“Winter may seem a long way off but planning ahead is essential if we want our NHS to cope with the additional pressures that cold weather brings. In addition to those seasonal pressures we can expect the covid-19 pandemic to still be with us although hopefully in a much reduced and more contained way.

“Our local NHS services are highly-rated by users; our staff are talented and dedicated professionals praised by the Care Quality Commission as outstanding for their caring approach. We need to ensure that facilities like A&E match the public expectation and the professionalism of our staff.  This investment will enable that expectation to be met during a time of peak pressure.

“So while we hope for the best this winter, it’s right that we plan for the worst. This funding to upgrade A&E across the trust will ensure that we are in the best possible position for the challenges that the winter months may bring.”

Hundreds of meteors will fall over Harrogate skies tonight.

Around 60 to 100 meteors will fall from the sky every hour, but stargazers may struggle with finding somewhere clear to view them because of predicted thunderstorms.

The event is called the Perseid meteor shower and happens every year.

It is expected to be most visible in the early hours of tomorrow morning between midnight and 5am.

Tristan Campbell, an astrophotographer from Harrogate said:

“The weather doesn’t currently look as though it’s going to be clear until at least 1am and unfortunately the moon rises around then which makes the meteors harder to see.”

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Meteors, more commonly known as shooting stars, are formed as debris falls from the tail of a comet. Since July 14, earth has been ploughing through particles left behind from the Swift-Tuttle comet, which turn into bright falling specks.

As Perseid meteors are so bright, Tristan said if the skies remain clear they will be visible from most gardens, although a better location would be somewhere dark with little light pollution. Tristan’s personal favourite spot to shoot is in Crimple Valley.

He said:

“If I’m feeling more adventurous I’ll head out to Nidderdale for much darker skies.”

The shower can be seen across the whole of the UK and is expected to continue until August 24. More information can be found on the Royal Museums Greenwich website.

There has been a slight rise in the number of people claiming out-of-work benefits in the Harrogate district.

In July, there were 3,885 people claiming out-of-work benefits, up slightly from 3,740 in June. Of those, 2,235 were men and 1,650 were women.

The figures were published today by the Office for National Statistics and are accurate up to July 9. They reveal that 4.1% of the district’s population were claiming out-of-work benefits, a decrease from 3.9% in June.

Harrogate is below the UK figure of 6.4% for people claiming the benefits, which includes Job Seekers’ Allowance and Universal Credit.

Read more:

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• Out-of-work benefit claims fall slightly in Harrogate district

The figures have remained stable over the past couple of months but with the government’s furlough scheme winding down ahead of it closing completely in October, the long-term outlook for jobs in the Harrogate district remains uncertain.

According to Harrogate & Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones, 15,200 people have had their jobs protected in the district through the furlough scheme since it began.

Last week, a study undertaken by the County Councils Network suggested that more than 50% of all jobs in Harrogate are “at risk” due to the economic impact of coronavirus.

The Stray Ferret has been out speaking to A-level students ahead of their big day on Thursday.

With A-level exams cancelled, students’ futures are in the hands of predicted grades and a process of standardisation. This uncertainty has led to heightened nerves across the district.

On Thursday, August, 13 students will find out their grades and, for some, whether they have got into the university of their choice.

But even the process of finding out their results will be a different experience to usual.

India Shenton, a student at St Aidan’s sixth form, told the Stray Ferret:

“We are being emailed our results on the day… I would have preferred to have sat the exams and then gone in to find out the results with all my friends as it’s all part of it, isn’t it?… But there’s nothing we can do about it.

“I am quite nervous, I feel like If I had been able to sit the exams then at least then I would have an idea of how they had gone.”

Georgina Bygrave, a student at King James sixth form, said:

“We are getting an email in the morning with our grades. It’s sad but I get that it’s the safest way. I personally don’t think it’s very accurate as if we had been told ages ago that we weren’t going to sit the exams we would have tried harder in school…

“Everyone knows exams are important so you put all your effort in, whereas with homework you might just do it the night before and then you might get a rubbish grade for it, not thinking it’s going to impact your actual A level result.”

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Zac Hall, a student at Harrogate Grammar School, said:

“We will be getting an email at 8am to our school email with the results. I’m not feeling great about it as I didn’t do very well in my mocks, but I was just planning on revising harder closer to the time. I guess it wasn’t the best mindset to have, but it is what it is.

“I am having a year out anyway, so I could always resit the year and try a bit harder. It was the same with my GCSEs – I didn’t do well in the mocks but then when the actual GCSEs came I did pretty well… Hopefully it might be a reflection of that, but who knows?… I’ll find out on Thursday.”

Schools and colleges were asked to predict the grades pupils would have achieved in each subject if they had sat the exams. These predictions were sent to the exam boards along with the order of who they think will do best.

The exam boards put together the information, taking into account data for previous years, to make adjustments to the predictions. The aim was to make sure the results were fair and consistent and in line with results from previous years.

There have been concerns about the results already issued in Scotland, with many pupils receiving lower grades than they had expected. The Scottish government has apologised for the problems.

A coronavirus mobile testing centre is running today at the Harrogate Old Education Offices on Ainsty Road.

The Department for Health and Social Care will be helping people with tests at the site, which must be booked before arrival.

North Yorkshire County Council is urging all essential workers to get a test, as well as anyone with coronavirus symptoms as listed on the NHS website.

The drive-through will be in Harrogate at the same location on Friday, August 14. More than 200 slots are available in Harrogate this week.

Tests can be booked from 8pm the night before on the Gov.UK website.

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