A new children’s play area in Ripon opened for families today.

The Dallamires Playground is part of the city’s new £15m Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre on Dallamires Lane. The pool is set to open on Wednesday.

The playground seems to have gone down well on social media, with posts from parents saying it looks like “so much fun” and “wonderful for little kids”.

The play area can be accessed from a public footpath off Knaresborough Road.

Three-year-old Lottie (pictured in our main image), was one of the first children to play on one of the slides.

Her mum Kim said:

“it’s a lovely new play area for families to bring children to from this part of the city.”

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Mental health services for children are struggling to cope with an “exponential growth in demand” since the pandemic, NHS bosses have admitted.

The warning comes amid concerns the volume of children being referred for treatment could be “just the tip of the iceberg”.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s young people’s scrutiny committee was told despite increased mental health provision for children across England’s largest county, NHS waiting lists were soaring with the majority of children waiting for three months to be seen.

The extent of the issue in North Yorkshire has been exposed less than a week after a national Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation study revealed the impact of covid-19 had led to an unprecedented increase in demand for mental health services for children.

It warned a generation of children are at risk of being left behind because of a combination of soaring waiting times for services and the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on their mental health.

Rising waiting times, including for urgent cases, have come despite the Government’s response including £79 million nationally to accelerate previous plans to improve children’s wellbeing and mental healthcare provision in education and healthcare settings, as well as other initiatives.

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Tees Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust bosses told the scrutiny meeting its community-based mental health team was now treating more than 2,500 children across the county, and referrals to its services had risen from about 100 a month at start of pandemic to more than 300 a month during 2021.

NHS and council health bosses emphasised the children’s mental health system was under great strain, exacerbated due to difficulties recruiting and retaining staff and increasing numbers of complex cases.

The meeting heard there had been a particular spike in the number of youngsters needing help for eating disorders.

Councillors were told just one in four of children found to need “urgent” help for eating disorders were being seen within the one-week national standard.

Councillors said they feared children, and in particular pre-school age and teenagers, had not had the normal chances to develop social skills during the pandemic, the impact on their mental health could be in the years to come.

Escrick councillor Richard Musgrave said: 

“I am deeply concerned that we are seeing the tip of the iceberg at the moment in terms of children’s and young people’s mental health.”

Selby councillor Stephanie Duckett added: 

“Rather than being at the peak of the problem we could just be at the start.”

In response, a boss for the NHS trust said it was forecasting an increase in demand for children’s mental health services over the next five years, but declined to reveal the extent of the expected rise.

The covid rate increased significantly in the Harrogate district today in another sign that the Omicron variant is beginning to have an impact.

The seven-day rate leapt from 419 per 100,000 people to 476. It was 383 two days ago. It comes after another 144 daily infections were reported by NHS England.

The rate remains considerably lower than the England average of 783 but slightly above the North Yorkshire average of 444.

Harrogate West and Pannal Ash, which has had 57 confirmed cases in the last seven days, is the district’s current covid hotspot.

A total of 91,569 people in the district have received either booster or third doses of the covid vaccine.

Read more:

• Harrogate hotel suffers £100,000 cancellations due to Omicron
• Harrogate’s home for witches, spells and crystal balls

The Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate will accept walk-in patients and booked patients for booster jabs tomorrow this week.

Children aged 12 to 17 will also be able to turn-up for walk-in boosters at the showground from 1.30pm to 4.30pm tomorrow and from 9am to 12.30pm on Tuesday.

Ripon racecourse, which was not open today. is due to administer more jabs tomorrow.

This article is sponsored by Berwins

It was a first for me this week, as I sat down for an exclusive interview with Father Christmas’s chief elf.

Tinsel is currently delighting children and grown-ups alongside the big man himself at The Crown Hotel, as part of a new interactive Christmas experience organised by the Harrogate Business Improvement District (BID).

And following a festive tour of the Elf School and workshop, which looks truly magical, I grabbed a cuppa with Tinsel – aka Suzanne Kaye-Vaughan, so I could get to know more about the woman behind the elf.

Bringing joy

Suzie Fairy, as she is known to most children and parents in the Harrogate district, has been bringing joy and magic into people’s lives for almost two decades.

And when you meet her, it’s impossible not to be inspired by her passion for helping people of all ages “to shine bright”.

The actress got her first professional contract at one of Deborah Meaden’s holiday camps in Cornwall, long before BBC’s Dragon’s Den aired, where she performed her own cabaret act.

She was then offered a place at drama school at Bretton Hall, near Wakefield, which saw her move to Yorkshire after growing up in Wales.

She said:

“That’s where I did three years theatre acting and I really shaped my passion for educational theatre, and using my skills as a performer to make change, particularly helping children shine bright.

“I love creating immersive adventures for children that they would learn from, not realising they are learning, and making learning fun. I thought this was just magical.

“And so I started doing fairy parties as a side-line to my acting when I first graduated in 2004, and then that grew into doing loads of other different themed events, which then grew into working with lots of attractions, helping them enhance customer experience through immersive theatre.”

Suzanne’s company was previously known as Make a Wish Entertainment and her educational theatre company was known as Fantasy Kids Clubs.

After lockdown, she merged her companies under one banner and created Enchantica’s.

Well-known

The actress is particularly well-known in the Harrogate area for running fairy and hero camps since 2005, with some of the children who attended now working for her as performers, which she describes as “really special”.

Suzanne has played a number of characters over the years

Suzanne said:

“Now people come to me with their objectives saying, ‘We need to entertain this age group. We have got this celebration to do. This is our learning objective’. And then my skill is that I bring that and make it a wow factor experience for people.

“So that’s anything from opening parties, to children’s attractions and private events. A lot of my work is private events, which I don’t often share as they are confidential.

“I’ve been an elf for the Royal Family before down in Ascot and have also performed in a castle for French royalty.”

Under her various alter egos, including the fairy Enchantica, Tinsel the elf and the Queen of Hearts, Suzanne has worked at a number of attractions and events across the district.

Family events 

Recently they have included the UCI World Championships, where she ran free family classes in the Fan Zone, an enchanted forest Easter walk at Newby Hall and the Discovery Zone at the Great Yorkshire Show. She has also run events at Harewood House and Stockeld Park.

Easter fun at Newby Hall

This year she also brought ‘The Garden Detectives’ to RHS Garden Harlow Carr, where the objective was to engage children in horticulture.

Tinsel the elf

She has also regularly appeared as Tinsel the elf at the annual Father Christmas event at the gardens, which has long been one of the hottest tickets in town, but isn’t taking place this year due to Covid safety restrictions.

She said:

“Father Christmas at Harlow is such a tradition for so many people, and those traditions are something that we’ve had to find new ways around. I think that Covid has made us look at what else can we do.

“So this year we put the feelers out and teamed up with a magical team of other elves from Harrogate BID, Harrogate International Festivals and The Crown Hotel and formed a bit of a ‘Christmas Council’ to create an experience that we all thought was missing from the town centre.

“What has been lovely about being involved this Christmas, is it has been really great to work with a big team of people who are passionate about making Harrogate great for families.”

Suzanne said she hoped to return to The Crown Hotel with Father Christmas in future years and had been delighted with the demand.

Read More:

• Christmas markets 2021: The best festive events around the district
• Christmas Events: Diary of festivities in the Harrogate district 

Little helper

Suzanne’s passion has been further fuelled by her four-year-old little boy, Dante.

She described how when he was a baby, she would perform with him on her hip. He now loves to perform and help her with her events and classes, even assisting with decorating and transforming spaces.

She said:

“Kids like being involved. During lockdown he delivered shows with me online and it gave us a really nice structure to our week connecting with families, and he will now perform with me.”

And as a mum who understands how precious time with little ones can be, Suzanne runs a number of wellbeing classes at her studio, Enchantica’s Workshop, on Beech Avenue, which she created just before the first lockdown.

An online class with Suzanne and her puppet Beatie

They involve music, song, yoga, speech and language development, using her drama and children’s performing arts coaching skills and she even took them online during the pandemic.

Future plans

Buzzing with ideas, I could see Suzanne’s eyes light up as she told me about what she would like to do next.

She said:

“What was amazing about the UCI event is we created a hub in the middle of Harrogate and had this lovely festival vibe where families could come and play, be entertained and connect. I think it would be lovely to have something like that again.

“So I’m looking to work on some sort of family wellbeing festival.

“Harrogate BID and Harrogate International Festivals are so on board with that kind of vision, it’s just a really exciting time for the town.

“I feel like this Christmas is just the start of a lot more magic. It’s been such a great success and families are enjoying it so much, why would we not want to make more?”

And on this festive note, Suzanne revealed that the elves would be helping at the Harrogate Christmas Fayre in the town centre, which launched on Friday.

She said:

“The elves will be there to help guide people if anyone has any questions and to just have a bit of a chat with the kids.

“If someone doesn’t know where something is, they can ask the elves, who are all theatrically trained or are specialists in children’s theatre.”

Make a wish

When Suzanne isn’t heading up a team of elves, she is diving into her warehouse full of a vast array of costumes and props – and lots of glitter – ready to make someone’s wish come true.

Requests have included everything from a lavish Halloween house party, which Suzanne brought to life at a family’s home upon their return from holiday, to a child’s Worst Witch-themed party in a village hall.

When it comes to adventures, it’s safe to say, Suzanne never knows what she is going to do next.

She said:

“People ask what I do and I say I’m a fairy, which is met with a laugh.

“But I do think I make magic as we do bring ideas to life, whatever they may be.

“What I love to do is help people shine bright. That’s what my purpose is.”

Two Harrogate brothers who have carried on the work of their grandfather and father have won a top award for their lifetime of work in the toy industry.

Many people in the Harrogate district will have fond memories of Collinsons toy shops in Ripon and Harrogate. Although those shops are long gone, two brothers are still self-confessed ‘toy boys’.

Mark and Paul Collinson got involved in the industry early on at seven-year-olds when their father Ian Collinson showed them the ropes.

After working in the retail side of the business for several years, the brothers moved into the sales side, where they have worked for decades with national and international brands.

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Now with around 43 years in the toy industry under their belts, Mark and Paul have won the British Toy & Hobby Association’s coveted Golden Teddy Award.

Inaugurated in 2001, the Golden Teddy awards are for people who have served the industry for more than 15 years and go over and above expectations.

The pair, who have launched major brands like Funko and VTech, were presented with the award at Orchid Restaurant in Harrogate last week. Mark told the Stray Ferret:

“We were both humbled to receive the award. It’s not like us to shout about our work but we are at the end of our careers now and are proud to look back.

“There are lots of people in Harrogate and Ripon over a certain age who still have fond memories of our father’s and grandfather’s shop.

“Back then going to the toy shop was a rare treat for children. The industry has changed massively over the years but young children still have that love for play.”

Toys galore!

Collinsons in the Harrogate district

Fred Collinson opened the first shop in Ripon selling sportswear, toys and leather goods in 1952.

His son, and Mark and Paul’s father, Ian Collinson furthered the family name when he opened a toy shop called Collinsons on James Street, Harrogate in 1972.

An advert, which can be seen in Harrogate Library, said “two whole floors of toys, boxed games and books make Collinsons a veritable children’s (and parents) paradise.”

Ian Collinson died of cancer at 66-years-old in 2001. His sons Mark and Paul eventually went into the sales side of the toy industry and now, after 43 years, they have won a Golden Teddy Award.

Both Mark and Paul are nearing the end of their careers but Paul’s son William Collinson is keeping the tradition alive. He is now the general manager in the UK for the Zuru Toy Company.

A primary school in Ripon has been given a new buddy bench to mark anti-bullying week.

Moorside Primary School received the bench from the company Annington, which has been refurbishing former Ministry of Defence homes nearby.

Children who feel sad or anxious can sit on the bench as a signal to others that they need a friend to speak to.

Made with sustainable wood, the buddy bench is engraved with the following poem:

“We sit, we chat and ask each other questions. We leave as friends, with all good intentions.”

Claire Rowett, the headteacher at Moorside Primary School, said:

“It’s so important to create a safe and caring environment for children so that they are able to talk about their feelings, especially during such uncertain times.

“A shy or anxious child may struggle to ask someone else for support, which is why the buddy bench is such a vital tool in teaching the children what to do when they feel lonely.

“We are very grateful to Annington for donating the bench to us.”

The new buddy bench.

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Annington is one of the largest private owners of residential property in the UK, with over 40,000 homes across England and Wales.

Louise Saunders, sales and marketing manager at Annington, said the company strived to support local communities, adding:

“We are proud to gift the buddy bench to Moorside Primary School, and we hope that the children will be able to use it to create new friendships and feel more confident for many years to come.”

Anti-Bullying Week is organised by the Anti-Bullying Alliance and takes place from November 15 to 19. This year’s theme is “one kind word.”

This article is sponsored by Berwins

With Halloween falling during October half-term, there is a seriously spooky theme to this year’s family activities across the district.

And with last year’s Halloween celebrations being pretty much cancelled due to the pandemic this year’s spooky season is bigger and better than ever.

So whether you fancy a trip to some dark, scary caves, some pumpkin picking on a farm or some ghostly fun in Harrogate town centre, we’ve put together a list of five places to take your little witches and wizards for some Halloween fun.

Birchfield Farm Pumpkin Festival

Pick your own pumpkins at Birchfield Farm.

When Birchfield Farm launched its Pumpkin Festival on October 2, I think most of Harrogate visited. My social media feeds were jam-packed with pumpkins in wheelbarrows and smiling faces.

Fortunately there are plenty of pumpkins to go around and you can visit everyday until Halloween.

A firm favourite with families across the district, including my own, there are also lots of activities to do on the farm so you can make a morning or afternoon of it.

After you have picked your pumpkin from the patch – and there really is a huge selection of all shapes and sizes – you then have the option of visiting the farm for £5 per person. Then take your kids for a homemade ice cream at the farm’s café, which is currently serving takeout food and drinks.

Activities include:

• A huge carving barn where you can create your pumpkin masterpieces
• Bouncy castles
• Play equipment
• A 6-acre maize maze
• Woodland and den building
• Animals
• A giant bale mountain

Enter Harrogate town centre if you dare this half-term…

• A supernatural-themed interactive trail on the loyalfreeapp
• A mysterious pop-up photobooth in the Victoria Shopping Centre
• Ghostly street entertainment
• A sinister, live radio show with Your Harrogate
• Petrifying prizes to be won throughout

Mother Shipton’s is hosting The Witching Hour over half-term.

Go on a Halloween trail at Stump Cross Caverns.

Stockeld Park has a new skeleton trail this half-term.

Stockeld Park is another firm family favourite and the Halloween festivities are always great fun.

One of Europe’s biggest indoor children’s play centres, with the capacity to host 2,000 visitors a day, is set to open at Stockeld Park next year.

Called the Playhive, it will cost £3.5 million to build and is expected to create about 50 jobs.

The Playhive, which will be set in the grounds of the 2,000-acre Stockeld Park estate, near Wetherby, will comprise of themed adventure zones set in a doughnut-shaped building with a 33-foot tower in the centre.

The outer ring of the Playhive will be the equivalent of travelling the length of a football pitch.

Children will be able to enjoy the wooden play pieces themed around four zones: space, aeronautical, subaquatic and jungle.

Peter and Susie Grant, who own and run Stockeld Park, took out a loan to build and design the Playhive.

Mr Grant said:

“The Playhive is a passion project. We didn’t want the usual soft play scene, but one that truly inspires imaginations.

“There will be some really spectacular features and we’ll be announcing these on the run up to the opening of the Play Hive.

“It has capacity for 2,000 visitors per day and is expected to bring significant additional revenues to the area, as well as supporting local suppliers.

Read more:

• Stockeld Park opens Christmas tree site in heart of Harrogate
• Ripon’s Quarry Moor play area to be upgraded for summer

‘We need to come back fighting’

Mr Grant said covid had hugely reduced Stockeld’s capacity and the natural reaction would have been to reduce spending but lockdown reconfirmed their commitment to the project. He said:

“Now more than ever, our tourism sector needs to come back fighting, and after the isolation and anxieties of the last year, families desperately need to get away and have some fun. We need this good news story.”

The Grants started the tourism business at Stockeld Park in 2006 to attract visitors at Christmas.

The initiative grew into the Christmas Adventure and since then the Easter Adventure, Spring Adventure, Summer Adventure, Halloween Adventure and February Fun have been added to its offering.

In 2019, over 200,000 guests visited Stockeld Park.

This legal column is written by family lawyer, Laura Mounsey. Laura is a partner at Harrogate Family Law. She specialises in dealing with divorced couples and people who have been in abusive relationships. Her role involves protecting her clients’ assets and income if they want to live with someone or get married and resolving disagreements about children. In this column, she discusses the red flags to look out for that indicate you may be married to a narcissist and how to get out.

I have experienced the trauma of divorcing a narcissist first-hand. I am now a lawyer who specialises in helping people who are terrified of standing up to them.

Typically, I find that many of my clients have been conditioned to think that they have no self-worth. They have been controlled and bullied for years. They believe that any wrongdoing is their fault and that they do not deserve any better. The idea of saying “enough is enough” paralyses them with fear; so worn down, they feel trapped with no way out.

Over time, I have heard many people who sit in front of me say that their ex is:

• Controlling

They tell them what to do and what not to do. They are scolded for “stepping out of line”. However, the rules always change, and they never win. Instead, they live their lives walking on eggshells.

• Arrogant

They think they are superior and expect that others cater to, and admire, them. Even though they have inflated self-esteem, beneath it, hides crippling insecurities which cause them to lash out.

• Vain

They are obsessed with what other people think about them. They will put others down to make themselves seem better than they are. They are obsessed with attention and will often play the victim if needed.

• Manipulative

They will often lie and pin people against each other. They will isolate people and are prepared to do anything to get what they want. Often, they undermine others around them so much that they start to question their own judgement, not their ex.

Does this ring any alarm bells?

Leaving a narcissist is daunting. A client once told me that her ex would do everything in his power to destroy her so that she ended up in a shoe box on the Stray with nothing but her children.

But she held her nerve and took the plunge, broke free and now has a very comfortable life that is all hers.

If, like her, you know deep down that you need to leave but you do not know what to do, the best thing that you can do is get specialist advice from a divorce lawyer who knows what you are dealing with.

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Some children’s services in schools are set to be scrapped as part of cuts by North Yorkshire County Council.

Hearing and vision screening for four and five-year-olds and sexual health drop-ins are among the services facing the axe.

The council executive will next week discuss the plans, which aim to save £750,000 over three years on the local authority’s healthy child programme.

The council hopes these cuts will help it meet its overall plan to save £4 million.

If the plans are approved, they will go to consultation on October 26.

The programme, which supports 130,000 young people aged 0-19 in North Yorkshire and their families, is worth £70m over 10 years.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, North Yorkshire’s director of public health, said:

“We must take account of the national changes in public health funding, which will see a reduction across the board of around 15%.

“We will continue to deliver mandatory health checks for children under five years old and will continue to support new parents with a focus on those children and families most in need.”

‘Not the same level of service’

A report prepared for the executive meeting says:

“The proposed programme will not be able to provide the level of service that it currently provides to school aged children. Some services provided in school settings will stop, including hearing and vision screening for children aged 4-5 years and sexual health services drop-ins in schools.”

Currently children receive five in-person check-ups to the age of five, but under the new proposals three of these could be done virtually.

The report says the proposals would prioritise children aged under five.

Under the proposals, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, which delivers the programme in partnership with the council, would be awarded a 10-year contract.

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Suzanne Lamb, head of safeguarding at the trust, said:

“While the trust recognises that the future model will need to look very different to what is being offered now, we appreciate the opportunity to continue to work closely with North Yorkshire County Council in a longer term arrangement.

“This will ensure more targeted support in relation to need and new ways of working including support via digital channels.”

Harrogate councillor Geoff Webber, who is the Liberal Democrats leader on the council, criticised government cuts for forcing the council to reduce its services. He said:

“It is disgraceful the government have chosen this time to reduce public health spending in North Yorkshire by £4 million over the next few years.

“I am sure that members of all parties will support the effort to maintain the healthy child service and we look forward to seeing the result of the public consultation.”