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16
Jun 2023
Business Breakfast: Harrogate woman launches padel sports clothing range
It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. Our next networking event is lunch at Manahatta, on June 29th at 12.30pm.
Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.
Harrogate’s growing reputation as the “padel capital of the North” has been boosted with the launch of a new clothing and apparel company devoted to the sport.
Padel Boyz, which sells T-shirts, hoodies, shorts, skirts, socks and sweatbands for men and women, is the brainchild of former PE teacher Sonja Bancroft.
Ms Bancroft, a former Rossett School pupil who later taught at Boroughbridge High School and Boston Spa Academy, said:
Padel is a sport similar to tennis but played with a solid, stringless racquet, in an enclosed court like squash. It was invented in Mexico in the 1960s, and is now one of the fastest-growing sports in the world.
It is gaining increasing numbers of fans in our area as more opportunities to play are created. Harrogate Sports and Fitness Centre, on Hookstone Wood Road, launched its first outdoor padel court in 2019, and then Surge followed in 2022 with six Adidas-branded indoor padel courts at its centre on Hornbeam Park.
Last summer, Ripon Tennis Centre opened two new outdoor padel courts, and just last month, Harrogate Spa Tennis Club opened two new outdoor courts at its home off Claro Road and has seen players book sessions from across Yorkshire.
Sonja said:
Harrogate company achieves industry recognition
A Harrogate company has been awarded an industry recognised certificate for environmental performance.
Net zero consultancy Flotilla, based on Station Parade, achieved B Corp status, which is certified by not-for-profit organisation B Lab.
It recognises companies which meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
(Left to right) Flotilla team Mark Woodward, Grant Walker, Caroline Linford, Dan Cox, Sara Snow, Sally Wood, Helen Fox, Anthony Bagshaw, Jess Morris, Francesca Woodward, John Rastrick and Joe Hobbs.
In order to achieve the status, Flotilla went through a rigorous assessment process which examined the impact of company decisions on employees, customers, suppliers, the communities the business serves and the environment.
John Rastrick, chief executive of Flotilla, said:
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