The owner of the Stump Cross Caverns tourist attraction has confirmed that one lucky supporter will win a flat in Pateley Bridge on Christmas Day. 

The news came after a £130,000 crowdfunding target, which had to be reached by December 25, was achieved yesterday with just a few days to spare. 

Lisa Bowerman and fiancé Nick Markham launched their Crowdfunder campaign in autumn 2021, offering their one-bedroom flat on Pateley Bridge High Street as a raffle prize and asking supporters to buy tickets for £10 each. 

It took 20 months for the campaign to break through the £100,000 barrier, but just a week to raise the final £30,000. 

In a Facebook post, Lisa said:

“This is going to happen now! We will definitely be giving this apartment away on Christmas Day!”

Read more:

• Stump Cross Caverns owners live underground for 105 hours
• Stump Cross owners in last push to raise £130,000 target by Christmas Day

The couple are raising funds to pay for a much-needed specialist lighting system at Stump Cross, whose limestone caves stretch for miles under Greenhow Hill. The new German-made illuminations can resist the cold and damp conditions underground, and cost around £200,000. 

Lisa said:

“The profits that we have made as a business would normally be used to reinvest in the business, however they are being reabsorbed due to the rising cost of living/bills.  

“It almost seems even more appropriate now than before to give the flat away on Christmas Day and make at least one person’s life easier whilst going through these tough times. £10 could turn into £130,000 for someone.  

“Monies raised will in turn help to protect and preserve a little bit of history for our future.”

Tickets for the draw will still be on sale right up until midday on Christmas Day, unless the next target, of £200,000, is reached first. The draw will be held in the afternoon of December 25.

Lisa Bowerman in Stump Cross Caverns, whose strange formations were created by dissolved limestone in dripping water over thousands of years.

Stump Cross Caverns were formed around 500,000 years ago, but only discovered by lead miners in the mid-1800s. Ancient animal bones have been recovered from the caves, some of them from the last Ice Age, including wolves, reindeer, bison, and wolverines. 

A woman from Pannal has spoken of her flooding ordeal last night when Storm Bella wreaked havoc.

Suzanne Walker, who lives alone in a basement apartment on Leeds Road, had to call North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service when water levels rose to her bedroom window.

It was the second time in three months she has had to call the fire service to pump water away from her rear window and a meter cupboard.

Fortunately there was no major damage but the proximity of the water to an electric switchboard, along with the fact that this has happened before, has left her extremely anxious.

Ms Walker, who is a director of the apartment block management company, Fieldhurst Management Company, dialled 999 shortly after midnight when she noticed the water level rising. She said:

“It’s extremely annoying and frustrating, not to mention stressful, watching dirty water rise to such a level that you know your bed is on the other side of the wall, not to mention electrics too.”

The fire crew arrived to pump the water away. Water had entered the external meter cupboard, which houses the meters of all seven of the apartments in the block.

Similar high water levels were seen on October 3. Photograph: Suzanne Walker.

Since the first flooding incident after heavy rain on October 3, Ms Walker has contacted several organisations to try to find out where the water is coming from. It is thought the water is jetting out of pipes near to the apartment.

She added:

“No one is taking responsibility for the pipes or the land where the jetting company are telling me they think the issue is.

“It makes you anxious and worried every time it rains as we don’t know how high it would reach.

“I’ve lived in Pannal over 30 years and at this property for the last 10 years and I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”

Read more:

• Pateley Bridge residents tell us how they had to come together during the February floods.
• Hunsingore receives a red alert for flooding today. 

Ms Walker said she intends to contact Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, as well as councillors at North Yorkshire County Council and Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council seeking help.

Flood warnings remain in place on the River Nidd and River Ure. The government’s flood information service is giving updates on its website.