Care home confusion brings more distress

Local health officials still do not know whether people will be allowed to visit relatives in care homes when lockdown begins tomorrow.

North Yorkshire County Council restricted visits during October but advised homes they could relax the rules in November to allow one designated visitor for each resident.

But there is confusion whether this window of opportunity for visits will prove short lived.

Richard Webb, the county council’s director of health and adult services, said at a press briefing today:

“Our advice still applies as of today but we are promised further government guidance on what will happen with care home visits tomorrow.

“I am assuming there will be restrictions on care home visits. As it stands we are just trying to support families and residents and care home providers.”

Judy Bass, a Harrogate resident, used to see her 99-year-old father with dementia in a care home every day before the first coronavirus lockdown.

Today will be the first time since March that she will be able to see him for a ‘door visit’ after a ‘window visit’ three weeks ago.

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She will wear full PPE to stand at the door of her father’s room. Ms Bass feels the stop-start nature of visiting will confuse her dad:

“I do not want to say that it is all bad because I am actually seeing my dad tonight for the first time in months. The communication has just been poor.

“It seemed that all of a sudden we were allowed to visit care homes and there has been a big rush this week to cram the visits in. But now we have no idea what will happen.”

Harrogate district to get local test and trace system

The Harrogate district will be part of a local test and trace system operating in North Yorkshire from next week.

It comes amid reports the current national programme for test and trace is only managing to reach about 60% of those who have come into close contact with a positive case.

Dr Victoria Turner, a public health consultant for North Yorkshire County Council, revealed the news this morning at a briefing by North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, which is a partnership of organisations that responds to emergencies. She said:

“This follows the national trend where most councils now are moving to a local component of contact tracing. These obviously started in the areas of greatest concern, those that were in tier three.

“From Monday we will do contact tracing. Public Health England will start to hand over cases for us to follow-up from tomorrow. It’s been quite a fast turnaround on that.”

If the national test and trace system is unable to reach someone they will hand the case to the local team.

Calls will be carried out by trained staff at North Yorkshire County Council’s headquarters in Northallerton seven days a week.

Dr Turner expects more people will engage with tracing if calls are made from a local number.

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The local call centre will also be able to signpost people to local support groups.

Richard Flinton, chief executive officer at North Yorkshire County Council, called on the community to pull together ahead of tomorrow’s lockdown:

“We have got to positively embrace the national lockdown. I do understand it will have a knock-on effect for businesses and also for people.

“That’s why we need to make sure that we look out for each other and think about those who we live near to. If we work together we can keep this lockdown limited and get to those benefits on the other side.”

Coronavirus in numbers

The briefing revealed there are currently 15 coronavirus patients at Harrogate District Hospital — down one from last week.

The full-time testing site in Harrogate is testing about 150 people a day, which is about half of its full capacity.

The Harrogate district currently has a seven-day average infection rate of 252 cases per 100,000 people — higher than the national average of 225.

Green groups in Harrogate unite to push for radical change

Green groups in Harrogate have joined forces to increase the pressure on Harrogate Borough Council to tackle climate change.

Harrogate District Climate Action Network represents more than 4,000 residents from 13 groups, including Extinction Rebellion Harrogate, Long Lands Common, the Pinewoods Conservation Group and Zero Carbon Harrogate.

The group is separate to the Harrogate District Climate Coalition, which the council set up at the beginning of the year to bring together councillors as well as green groups and local businesses.

The coalition has been criticised by campaigners for being little more than a talking shop.

The new network has said it will campaign for swift and radical change.

In an open letter to HBC council leader Richard Cooper and cabinet member for carbon reduction and sustainability, Phil Ireland, the network calls for a “step-change in the ambitions and speed of activity” at HBC regarding the climate.

The letter says the network appreciates the council setting up the coalition and developing internal change plans but adds:

“However, the network is very concerned about the limited progress made so far.

“We believe there needs to be a step-change in the ambitions and speed of activity, one which reflects the growing and alarming body of scientific evidence and the urgency needed to mitigate and adapt to climate breakdown.”

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Responding to the open letter, Cllr Phil Ireland, cabinet member for carbon reduction and sustainability said the council had made “good progress” on its climate targets, which are set out in the authority’s Carbon Reduction Strategy.

He said:

“Responding to the climate crisis facing us all is not just an issue for the council.

“It’s an issue for every resident and business across the district. That’s why we created a climate coalition, so we have the right organisations around the same table to jointly tackle climate change together.

“When compared to councils of our size, and with the resources available to us, we have made good progress so far against an ambitious action plan.

“We had already agreed to meet the group before it issued its news release although a convenient date has had to be agreed.”

A full list of HD-CAN members is below:

Extinction Rebellion Harrogate

Harrogate District Friends of the Earth

Harrogate Cycle Action Group

Harrogate & District Green Party

Knaresborough SPARKS

Long Lands Common

Love Sustainable Knaresborough

Nidd Gorge Community Action

Nidderdale Climate and Environment Group

Pinewoods Conservation Group

Sustainably Harrogate

United Nations Association Harrogate

Zero Carbon Harrogate

Harrogate district charity shops count the cost of lockdown

Many charities will be left counting the cost of another lockdown when their shops are forced to close tomorrow.

It took many stores a long time to re-open after the first lockdown and now their attempts to raise funds for charitable causes are to be hindered again.

Charity shops are a big part of the retail scene in Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Pateley Bridge and Masham.

Ripon’s 10th charity shop was all set to open, but Martin House will now have to wait at least a month before serving its first customers.

When the first lockdown of non-essential retailers ended in June, the charity, which provides family-led care for young people with life-limiting conditions, took over large premises on Fishergate.

Martin House’s £2.2m loss

At the time, the charity projected a £2.2 million loss of planned income stretching into summer 2021.

Stephanie Rimmington, the head of retail, said:

“The income we get from our shops is vital to helping Martin House raise the money we need to care for families in this area.”

Further down Fishergate, The Oxfam shop remains closed, having never reopened since the first covid lockdown in March.

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Saint Michael’s, which has shops in Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough, spends £6 million per year on hospice care from its base in Crimple Valley.

Photograph of Saint Michael's shop

Saint Michael’s has charity shops across the Harrogate district.

With one in three people in the Harrogate district requiring hospice care or support at some point in their lives, the demand for its services is unrelenting.

A Saint Michael’s spokesperson pointed out:

“We can only care for as many people as we have the funds to help.”

The money required is £15,000 a day and there is reliance on the income from retail shops, alongside bequests, personal donations and fundraising events, which pay for 80 percent of the charity’s work.

British Heart Foundation shop closure

Today marks the last day of trading for the British Heart Foundation books and music shop in Beulah Street, Harrogate.

Like the clothing and bric-a-brac shop it once had further down the street, it will not be reopening.

While shops close, either temporarily or for good, all of the organisations involved – both local and national – continue their work despite the difficult times that they face.

In an appeal for financial donations, the British Heart Foundation, said:

“Covid has put people with heart and circulatory conditions at greater risk than ever. But the effects of the virus have also cut our lifesaving research in half. Slowing down now would put even more lives at stake.

“At a time when hearts need help now more than ever, we urgently need your support.”

Though the shops are closed, there are other ways of supporting the work of all charities and details can be found on their respective websites.

Yorkshire Agricultural Society faces £2m loss

Yorkshire Agricultural Society, which organises the Great Yorkshire Show, faces a £2m loss this year.

The farming charity, which was founded in 1837, may have to shed staff to cope with the ongoing impact of covid, which has decimated the number of events it can stage.

The society’s income for the financial year ending 31 December 2019 was £11.9m. It has risen every year since 2015, when it was £9m.

But chief executive Nigel Pulling told the Stray Ferret he expected income to be £2m down this year. He said:

“We are looking at reducing our costs and waiting for everything to improve.

“We have about £5m in the bank but we are losing money at a rapid rate.”

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Mr Pulling’s comments further illustrate how strongly the effects of covid on the events and conference sector were being felt in Harrogate.

Last month Harrogate events company Joe Manby Ltd folded after 46 years.

Plans to stage Great Yorkshire Show

The showground usually hosts 700 events a year, with the three-day Great Yorkshire Show by far the biggest.

But Mr Pulling, who has led the society since 2002, said it was operating at “well below 10 per cent” of capacity at the moment.

A rare bright note came yesterday when it was revealed the spring flower show is due to go ahead, albeit with a vastly reduced capacity.

Mr Pulling said the society had been “comparatively well financed” since it sold land to Sainsbury’s for about £15m in the early 1990s.

But an £11m refurbishment of the Yorkshire Event Centre, completed in 2016, put a dent in its finances even though the project had been well received.

Mr Pulling said the first quarter of 2021 “doesn’t look good” but the second quarter was the crucial period for the events sector. Next year, he said, was “up for grabs”.

He said the society still planned to stage the Great Yorkshire Show next summer, adding:

“But it’s too early to be specific about what it will look like.”

The society employed about 100 staff pre-covid. Mr Pulling said this figure had reduced by fewer than 20 due to natural wastage but it had to look at reducing costs further. He said:

“It has been devastating to see the effects covid has had for everyone – and the events industry has been among the hardest hit.”

 

Harrogate district businesses urged to give leftover food to needy

Shops and restaurants in the Harrogate district that will close this week due to lockdown are being urged to donate their leftover food to needy people.

Resurrected Bites, a not-for-profit group that aims to fill bellies not bins, provided weekly food parcels for 1,350 people in October.

It now hopes to generate enough donations to help vulnerable people during the second lockdown, which starts on Thursday.

Knaresborough businesses Mother Shipton’s Cave and Scarlett’s Vintage Tea Rooms have already donated food.

Michelle Hayes, director of Resurrected Bites, told the Stray Ferret:

“The vulnerable people we have helped already have called us a life-saver. Businesses will be sad that they have to close but they are happy to help.

“At the moment we have around 180 people on our system that we help. Many were worried about the end of furlough so are happy that it will continue for a month.”

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When the March lockdown started, Resurrected Bites closed its cafes at St Mark’s Church in Harrogate and Gracious Street Methodist Church in Knaresborough and instead delivered food to those in need.

While it is still delivering food to those in need, its cafes will remain closed. The charity expects its cafes will remain closed until Easter next year.

Businesses wanting to help can email Ms Hayes by clicking or tapping here.

Harrogate spring flower show set to go ahead in 2021

The organisers of the Harrogate Flower Shows have said the spring event will go ahead in April but with visitor numbers reduced by two thirds.

The spring show usually attracts 60,000 visitors over four days and provides a major boost to the district’s hotels, bars and restaurants.

However, numbers will be limited to 5,000 people a day over the four days, which means the event will only attract about a third of its usual footfall.

The North of England Horticultural Society usually stages spring and autumn flower shows at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate but this year’s autumn event was cancelled.

But it has introduced measures that it says will adapt the spring show to covid-safe guidelines.

This means visitor numbers have been limited and all tickets have to be bought online in advance.

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A spokesperson for the North of England Horticultural Society, said the many acres of space at the showground meant the event could be adapted to meet covid requirements. The spokesperson added:

“If the situation improves in the New Year, as many top advisers have indicated they expect, then we can adapt again to take advantage of any improvements.”

Visitors will be allowed to attend in two timed sessions each day.

The event is due to take place from April 22 to April 25.

The society said it was aware government policies may change, forcing the event to be cancelled, and that it would work with partners to adapt to any changes.

The pring event — called Spring Essentials — will showcase gardens and nurseries and include live theatre.

Trial awaits woman, 72, accused of cannabis production in Harrogate

A 72-year-old former guest-house owner is to face trial after she denied cannabis production.

Yoko Banks, of Scargill Road, Harrogate, appeared at York Crown Court yesterday to face three charges.

The alleged offences took place at properties in Harrogate, where cannabis grows were discovered by police in September.

Banks pleaded not guilty to being concerned in the production of a Class B drug. Judge Sean Morris adjourned the case for a trial starting on March 2 next year.

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Lockdown ‘at worst possible time for retail’ says Harrogate bookshop

Lockdown will come at the “worst possible time for retail”, according to the owner of an independent bookshop in Harrogate.

Georgia Eckert, of Imagined Things Bookshop in Westminster Arcade, said she usually took a third of her annual takings in the eight-week run-up to Christmas.

Ms Eckert said she understood the government’s need to act but questioned how little time businesses had to prepare for the change.

“It’s come at the the worst time for retail. I know there is a lot of uncertainty but we didn’t have any time to plan for it.

“The government had said for ages there wouldn’t be another national lockdown.”

Ms Eckert is due to give birth in March and had recently extended her staff team from one to three. She said:

“I’m relieved the furlough scheme will continue. I just hope we can reopen in December but even if we can there is a limit to how many people we can have in the shop due to social distancing.”

Ms Eckert said her business would “do everything it can” to survive, by providing click and collect, home deliveries and developing its website.

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Being a former NHS employee, Ms Eckert said she understood action had to be taken to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed. She added:

“Let’s hope business will bounce back strongly but we have to get through this first.”

Harrogate district golf clubs fight month-long closure

Harrogate district golf clubs will fight the government’s enforced one-month closure.

Clubs in Harrogate and Ripon believe golfers have been able to play safely in recent months and should be allowed to continue to do so.

They have the backing of England Golf, the governing body for amateur golf, which is in talks with the government.

Catherine Grant, who is responsible for marketing and events at Oakdale Golf Club in Harrogate, told the Stray Ferret:

“We could keep the clubhouse closed and just have two golfers playing together to make it even more safe. This has been a difficult year and another month of closure would be tough for us financially.”

Paul Spence, who works in administration at Ripon City Golf Club, said:

“I can see the arguments either way but I think that golf courses are quite safe. A lot of our golfers are in the older age group and this is one of the few places where they can see their friends in a safe way.”

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Jeremy Tomlinson, chief executive of England Golf, has written an open letter to the government saying it will “respectfully challenge the government’s rationale”. It says:

“It is our sincere belief that it is counter-productive to shut down a healthy pursuit. Golf naturally lends itself to social distancing in the open air.”

Golf returned on May 13 after the first coronavirus lockdown but this new lockdown will stop play again on Thursday.