Boroughbridge news from the Boroughbridge district - Page 159 of 178

Harrogate man accused of causing cyclist’s death by dangerous driving

A Harrogate man has appeared in court charged with causing the death of a cyclist by dangerous driving.

James Bryan, 36, of St Mary’s Avenue, was driving a Porsche Carrera when the incident occurred on the A168 northbound between Allerton Park and Boroughbridge on May 10, 2020. The A168 runs alongside the A1.

He is accused of causing the death of Andrew Jackson, 36, a husband and father-of-two from Hunsingore, near Wetherby.

Mr Jackson died at the scene.

Mr Bryan appeared at Harrogate Magistrates Court yesterday, where the case was sent for trial at York Crown Court.

It is due to be heard on April 4.

Key dates revealed for elections to new North Yorkshire Council

Candidates could be able to put themselves forward as soon as next week for May’s elections to the new North Yorkshire Council.

The election will be one of the most crucial in the county’s history because it will spell out the end of North Yorkshire County Council and the seven district and borough councils in Harrogate, Selby, Scarborough, Craven, Hambleton, Ryedale and Richmondshire.

They will be replaced by the new unitary authority from April 2023.

Nominations are likely to open on Friday next week for candidates hoping to become one of the 90 councillors who will lead a new era of local government.

That date is subject to new legislation, which is currently passing through Parliament and once approved will fire the starting gun for voting to take place on 5 May.

Speaking at a public briefing last night, Ben Nattrass, elections manager at Harrogate Borough Council, said parliamentary approval of the legislation was expected next week as he also set out some of the next steps.

He said:

“We are waiting for the Structural Changes Order to pass through Parliament and we expect that to be done next week, which would allow us to open nominations on March 18.

“Each candidate who wishes to stand in the elections must submit a set of nomination forms and these must be submitted no later than 4pm on 5 April.”

Once approved, the Structural Changes Order will be followed by an official notice of election, which is likely to be published on March 17.

Voting on May 5

Candidate nominations will then open the following day before closing on April 5.

After voting takes place on May 5, polling cards will then be counted and the results announced the following day.

The newly elected councillors will represent 89 new divisions on North Yorkshire County Council for one year before serving a four-year term on the new council.

They will play a key role in shaping how public services will work in the future, with all areas from bin collections to road maintenance being transferred across to the new council in what will be a mammoth task.

Richard Flinton, chief executive of North Yorkshire County Council, previously said:

“The councillors elected on 5 May will make decisions on services that affect individuals, families and communities, so we want to make sure that anyone who wants to consider stepping forward as a candidate has all the information they need.

“These elections are important for everyone in the county, so if you are eligible to vote, please make sure that you are registered, then you can be sure that your vote will count.”

The deadline for people to register to vote is April 14.

To find out more on how to become a candidate, tap or click here.

Ukraine crisis: Guide to how you can help locally

As the war in Ukraine wages on, the Harrogate district has stepped up its response to help those fleeing the conflict.

The Stray Ferret will be providing updates on where to give donations and how the district is responding to the ongoing war.

If you have any details on where to donate to those fleeing the conflict or any other information, write to us at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Harrogate

Ukrainian woman opens house for donations

Olga Whiting, from Ukraine, is opening up her home so she can take donations to be sent to her Mum’s village in Ukraine.

Ms Whiting now lives in Harrogate but is in regular contact with her mum who has said the items they’re most in need of are:

personal hygiene eg feminine hygiene, toothpaste and soap
baby food
baby nappies
wet wipes
non-perishable foods

Ms Whiting has a friend who has been transporting donations into Ukraine every three weeks. Her friend will now add her native village of Nova Borava to his list of drop-off points.

People can drop donations off at anytime at 14 Yewdale Road, Harrogate, HG2 8NF. Ms Whiting has said if no one is in call her on 07307876103 and she will describe a safe place for them to be left.

Tiger Fifty 7 taking donations

The children’s store on Cold Bath Road has opened itself up as a drop-off point for donations.

It is asking for:

Unopened toiletries
Baby food
Nappies
Baby blankets
Phone chargers
Phone adaptors and power packs
Dog food
Sleeping bags

For anyone who would rather donate money via JustGiving link, click here.

Boroughbridge

Car dealer accepting donations

Charltons of Boroughbridge is accepting donations for those feeling the conflict in Ukraine.

Items collected will be sent to a large depot at Thirsk and then forward to Eastern Europe.

Organisers will accept:

Unopened toiletries
Baby food
Nappies
Baby blankets
Phone chargers
Phone adaptors and power packs
Dog food
Sleeping bags

The dealership has said it is open for donations from 8.30am to 6pm Monday to Friday and Saturday 8.30am to 5pm.

Stray Ferret celebrates second birthday with record readership

The Stray Ferret celebrates its second birthday today.

The website launched on March 4, 2020 — less than three weeks before the first national covid lockdown.

Much has changed since then, and the Stray Ferret has been first with the news that matters to people in the Harrogate district.

In December last year we launched our App which can be downloaded here. The Stray Ferret website and app now attract more than a million page views a month and an average of 210,000 users. We have a very engaged social media following of more than 24,000 who comment on stories, debate the issues we report on and tell us what they think of our journalism.

Readership has grown consistently and we look forward to continuing to serve the people of Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Pateley Bridge and Masham, as well as all points in between.

Thank you for your support. Keep sending us your news to contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.

We thought you might be interested to see which stories got the most attention in the past year.

6.15pm: Hampsthwaite’s donations heading to Ukraine

Villagers in Hampsthwaite have been donating goods over the past few days at the village church.

A post on the Hampsthwaite Village Facebook page thanked the “incredible” effort of everyone involved. The donations have been dropped off at Hales Bar in Harrogate and will be on their way to Ukraine next week.

“The response for donations for Ukraine has been incredible to the extent that over the last three and a half days the baptistry of Hampsthwaite Church was completely crammed. One carload was taken on Monday to the collection centre on Claro Road, which has since become overwhelmed and they could not take any more goods.

“This afternoon, with the help of Debbie Bruce and Nick Beaton we transported all of the remaining donations to Hales Bar in town. We could not have managed this so efficiently had it not been for Acklams Motorcycles and the lovely Joel who volunteered the use of one of their vans to transport all of the donations. Your donations will be on their way early next week to the Polish/Ukraine border where they are much needed.”

Hampsthwaite has thanked Acklam’s Motorcycles for helping transport goods.

5.30pm: Charity dog walk organised

A group of professional dog walkers in Harrogate have organised a charity dog walk for Ukraine. It will start at Hookstone Car Park, HG2 8PN on Sunday March 27.

It costs £5 per dog and starts at 1pm.

For more information visit this Facebook page.

2.50pm: Ripon Cathedral sounds bells for peace

Ripon Cathedral took part in an initiative today to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

Canon Michael talks to @joncowap on @BBCYork at 11.35am as we prepare to ring our bells at midday in solidarity with the people of #Ukraine. The bells ring for 7 minutes, 1 min for each day of the war. As they ring – we pray for peace @nickbaines @JulianSmithUK @churchofengland pic.twitter.com/wXg59taZbr

— Ripon Cathedral (@riponcathedral) March 3, 2022

1.58pm: New drop-off point in Harrogate

American-born Whitney Vauvelle, who now lives in Harrogate, has told us she is working with the Global Empowerment Mission to collect items for the Ukraine relief effort.

Items can be dropped off at 52 Cornwall Road, postcode HG1 2PP. Ms Vauvelle says:

“We have specific requests for warm clothes for women and children of all ages: thermals, jumpers, sweats, trousers, socks, nappies, baby wipes, feminine hygiene products, hand sanitisers, backpacks and small suitcases.”

Ms Vauvelle is personal friends with Michael Capponi, the founder of Global Empowerment Mission. She said:

“Michael and his team have been in Poland on the border for the last week. The situation is becoming very challenging.

“We are also fundraising to cover further trucking and transportation costs for trucks from the UK to Poland.

“These people desperately need our help.

Ms Vauvelle adds that her great grandparents were Ukrainian and supposedly raised horses for Czar Nicholas II.

12.58pm: Business gives day’s takings to those in need

Bob Partridge, who owns VetDentist, which has a practice in Harrogate, has got in touch to say he was so moved by the plight of Ukrainians that his company donated a day’s takings to the British Red Cross Ukraine appeal.

He said many of his team also made personal donations.

British Red Cross donations are now being overseen by the Disasters Emergency Committee, which co-ordinates the aid agency response to crisis. You can give here.

10.30am – Hales Bar opens as donation drop-off point

Hales Bar in Harrogate has opened as a donation drop-off point for goods to be sent to Ukraine.

Owner Amanda Wilkinson said people can donate any time between 10am-10pm. Anyone arriving before 3pm is asked to go round the back and ring the bell as the bar itself isn’t open.

The most needed items:

dry, non-perishable foods
toiletries
sanitary items
nappies
blankets and bedding

Ms Wilkinson has a system in place to store the items in offices at the back of the bar before filling up a truck, which will be taken to a dry store unit.

She has requested people to only stick to items in the list to make the process as easy as possible.

10am – WATCH as Harrogate group prepare boxes of donations to send to Ukrainian refugees

A group of Harrogate residents began collecting donations last weekend in their front rooms, the incredible response from locals meant they had to take up a unit at Claro Business Centre to store teh “tonnes and tonnes of wonderful donations”.

This drop-off point has now stopped taking donations but will be shipping them to those in need tonight.

Joanna Papros, Kinga Goldsmith and Adam Goldsmith have made contact with a haulage company in Halifax which is owned by a Ukrainian man. He is sending over a shipment of clothes, toiletries and other essentials this tonight.

Street party fees waived in North Yorkshire for Queen’s jubilee

People in the Harrogate district can apply for road closures free of charge for celebrations marking the Queen’s platinum jubilee.

The nation will mark the Jubilee with a four-day bank holiday weekend from Thursday June 2 to Sunday June 5.

North Yorkshire County Council announced today it would waive standard £300 street closure fees for the long weekend. The will apply to residential streets.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for highways and the Conservative representative for Harrogate Saltergate, said:

“To show our support we are waiving the normal administration fee and allowing residents to close their streets to through-traffic.

“This will create a safe open space for communities to come together for the anniversary to mark the Queen’s extraordinary 70-year reign. Please come forward and organise a street party in your community.”

The council website says:

“In order to close the road to traffic for a street party, the council must go through a legal process required by the Town Police Clauses Act 1847. This will incur costs in the region of £300.”

County council leader Carl Les said:

“We recognise the significance of 2022 as the platinum jubilee year for Her Majesty the Queen and know how passionate our communities are to celebrate this special event.

“There will be a host of events taking place in North Yorkshire, which we will announce in due course and we have already pledged our support for the Queen’s green canopy tree-planting initiative.”

Anybody wishing to host a street party must apply before April 29, 2022. For more information click here.

LIVE: 24-hour vigil continues as Harrogate district responds to Ukraine crisis

The Harrogate district is continuing its response to the war in Ukraine with a 24 hour vigil being held this morning.

If you know of an initiative to provide help or support run by a person, charity, church, community group or business, let us know by calling the newsroom on 01423276197 or by emailing us at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.

5.30pm – Donation collectors say “no more” after filling unit

Joanna Papros, Kinga Goldsmith and Adam Goldsmith are behind the donation collection park at Claro Court Business Centre. The group have said they have been overwhelmed with donations in the past few days.

The unit is now full, with items ready to be packed up tomorrow to send to Ukraine on Thursday.

Local people have donated clothes, bedding, sanitary products and long-life food to try and help those forced to flee their homes in Ukraine.

In a Facebook post they said:

“We cannot physically take any more donations. Our storage unit is full. We are really sorry to anyone planning to still come down but unfortunately (in a good way) we will have to turn you away.

“The donations we have received so far is nothing short of amazing. we cannot thank you all enough.”

12pm – Harrogate charity shop accepts monetary donations for aid in Ukraine

The British Red Cross charity shop on Beulah Street in Harrogate has set up a fund for customers to donate to which is sent directly to its aid workers on the ground in Ukraine.

Charity shop manager, Caroline Knowles, told the Stray Ferret the fund was only set up last week and has already had several hundreds of pounds donated to it.

Ms Knowles said:

“There are workers from the Red Cross on the ground in Ukraine now helping people who need it. Each country has it’s own society which then relays what it needs to other Red Cross societies.

“We’ve had lots of people come in and simply donate and others add more to their bill after buying in the shop, it’s amazing to see how many people want to help.”

She added people can simply come into the shop to donate to the fund with no obligation to buy items.

11.30am – Vigil starts at Harrogate War Memorial

A 24 hour vigil for people in Ukraine has started outside Harrogate’s war memorial.

Around 10 people were outside the memorial, which is expected to last until 10am tomorrow morning.

Lindis Percy, organiser of the vigil, told the Stray Ferret:

“We just felt helpless and I just thought we need to do something. It’s horrific what is happening but we can stand here in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.” – thoughts of making the vigils weekly.”

Meanwhile, Kirsty Hallett, one of those who attended the vigil, said:

“I just feel what is happening against people in Ukraine is completely devastating, people are dying and their human rights are being stripped away.

“There’s so many heartbreaking stories coming out from the country and I wanted to show solidarity with these people. There’s nothing practical we can do other than support charities so I thought it was better to come out and stand here for a bit rather thank sitting at home thinking about what is happening.”

9.50am – Former Ripon student flees Ukraine

Lewis Edwards (pictured left) who has fled Ukraine following the Russian invasion.

As the Russian bombardment of Ukraine continues, former Ripon Grammar School student Lewis Edwards and his partner Tanya Bogdanovska are safe in Slovakia, but constantly thinking about family and friends facing the horror of war.

Lewis, whose family live in Ripon, has been providing regular updates, spoke the Stray Ferret this morning about his experience.

8.40am – Profits from flower delivery to be sent to Ukraine

A Knaresborough florist is to send profits from its flower delivery to help those in Ukraine.

4 Seasons Florists on Boroughbridge Road will donate its profits to Choose Love Ukraine, which is raising money to support projects for those fleeing the war.

8.30am – 24 hour vigil to be held in Harrogate

A 24-hour vigil will begin at the war memorial in Harrogate this morning to show support with Ukraine in its war with Russia.

The vigil, which has been organised by Christopher and Lindis Percy, will start at 10am and finish at 10am the following day.

Anyone is welcome to stay for as long as they want. Warm clothing is advised.

Ms Percy, who has been a well-known peace campaigner in the district for many years, said:

“The news is very dire and we thought we must do something. It is a very dangerous situation in Ukraine. We hope people will join us.”

Former pub near Boroughbridge to be converted into flats

Harrogate Borough Council has approved plans to convert a former pub near Boroughbridge into flats, despite objections from local residents over the loss of a community asset.

Stonefield Developments applied to the council to convert the building in Lower Dunsforth, It was most recently a restaurant called The Hideaway Kitchen. Before that it was a pub called The Dunsforth.

The village is four miles from Boroughbridge.

The restaurant closed last year. Planning documents cite a “lack of customer trade and consequent viability issues” as the reason.

Now, proposals will see the ground floor of the former restaurant converted into two two-bedroom flats, along with car parking.

The upper floor of the building already has three existing flats, so if approved the building would have six in total.

37 letters of objection

The decision comes despite objections from the local parish of Dunsforth, which said the conversion would “strip a community of a vital asset”.

Chris France, who submitted the objection to the council on behalf of the parish, added in his letter:

“The pub is the only secular amenity in the village so its removal would severely impact village life leaving nowhere for the above to take place.”

In addition, 37 letters of objection were submitted to the council pointing out that the former pub has been a community asset in the village for more than 100 years.

The move comes as other applications have been lodged to convert former working men’s and private members clubs into flats.

In January, a proposal was lodged to Harrogate Borough Council to convert the former Ripon City Club into a house.

Activities announced for Battle of Boroughbridge anniversary day

Re-enactments and guided tours will take place in a fortnight to mark the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Boroughbridge.

The battle in 1322 was fought between a rebellious group of barons and supporters of Edward II. The rebels, led by Thomas, Ear of Lancaster, were defeated at Boroughbridge by the king’s army.

The battle itself took place over a timber bridge, thought to have been close to the site of the current bridge over the River Ure in Boroughbridge, and a ford thought to be in the Milby area.

An event to commemorate the battle will be held in the town on March 12 between 10 and 4pm. Members of the public can attend the living history event on the field next to Back Lane carpark throughout the day.

The display will include a combat and weapon demonstration by 3 Swords medieval history group at 10.30am and 2pm on the field as well as numerous other activities throughout the day.

Guided tours around the town will take place at 11.30am and 3pm. Louise Whittaker, from the Battlefields Trust, will lead the hour-long tours, which will take in the sites connected to the battle, including the bridge.

There will also be an art display curated by students at Boroughbridge Primary School held in the library.

The event is being put together by Boroughbridge Historical Society and the Battlefields Trust.

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6.15pm: Hampsthwaite’s donations heading to Ukraine

5.30pm: Charity dog walk organised

2.50pm: Ripon Cathedral sounds bells for peace

1.58pm: New drop-off point in Harrogate

12.58pm: Business gives day’s takings to those in need

10.30am – Hales Bar opens as donation drop-off point

10am – WATCH as Harrogate group prepare boxes of donations to send to Ukrainian refugees

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5.30pm – Donation collectors say “no more” after filling unit

12pm – Harrogate charity shop accepts monetary donations for aid in Ukraine

11.30am – Vigil starts at Harrogate War Memorial

9.50am – Former Ripon student flees Ukraine

8.40am – Profits from flower delivery to be sent to Ukraine

8.30am – 24 hour vigil to be held in Harrogate

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37 letters of objection

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