This week we have a selection of photographs celebrating Christmas day across the Harrogate district.

Photographs by Kate Filippi and Brittany Thompson

Photographs by Helen Sunderland and Jenni Foley

Photo of the Week celebrates the Harrogate district. It could be anything from family life to capturing the district’s beauty. We are interested in amateur and professional photographs, in a landscape format.

Send your photographs to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk for a chance to be featured next week, we reserve the right to adjust and crop images to fit into our format.

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. 

Not all heroes wear capes, and while most of us are tucking into our turkeys there are some admirable people out there who still put a hard day’s graft in on Christmas Day.

Scott Toolin is a chef de partie at Harrogate’s Cedar Court Hotel. He gave the Stray Ferret a glimpse of what it’s like to work on the big day.

Describe your typical working day on Christmas Day

In my last job I worked 11am until 7pm. We did about 80 covers, so I would say it was steady, not too busy. I don’t celebrate Christmas at work.

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How do you feel about having to work on Christmas Day?

I’m not too bothered about working Christmas day, I’m quite used to it.

How does your family feel about you working on Christmas Day?

My family are also not bothered, as they know in my line of work Christmas is going to be very busy.

How do you celebrate Christmas as a result of having to work? 

I will still have Christmas on Christmas day. My family will cook the dinner, but I know I will get a lot of phone calls that day asking me how to cook this that and the other.

Not all heroes wear capes, and while most of us are tucking into our turkey spare a thought for those who are still working on Christmas Day.

Kevin O’Boyle, the owner of Central Taxis in Harrogate, says he has worked every Christmas Day except three in the last 56 years.

Mr O’Boyle may therefore appear more likely to wear a Grinch outfit than a Santa hat on the big day, but he certainly has that special Christmas spirit inside.

He is semi-retired but always steps up to the plate when needed. And he is rarely more needed than on Christmas Day.

Central Taxis has a contract with Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust as well as Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

Read more:

• North Yorkshire is week behind London’s covid surge, health official warns
• ‘Terrifying but rewarding’: Harrogate home carer reflects on another covid year

So when public transport stops on Christmas Day, NHS staff turn to taxis to get them to work. Mr O’Boyle told the Stray Ferret:

“There are quite a number of NHS staff who rely on public transport so when that stops they turn to us for help.

“Not only do we take NHS staff to work but we also do other vital work. Like last Christmas, I was picking up drugs for the hospital from Manchester.”

He may have regrets about missing Christmas with his four children but Mr O’Boyle feels a sense of duty to the NHS so he is willing to make the sacrifice.

So when you are celebrating tomorrow spare a thought for those in the Harrogate district who are working.

We’ve had a fantastic week of festive stories, and here’s a final Christmas message from Harrogate Theatre.

If you’ve enjoyed watching our Panto Stories, please consider making a donation to Harrogate Theatre. Text HTTOGETHER to 70085 to donate £5. Texts cost £5 plus one standard message rate.

Harrogate Theatre Panto Stories are sponsored by Hornbeam Park. 

In November, sisters Fran Robinson and Hannah Blakey, who farm near Ripon, helped to save a young bull and herd of cows from drowning in the River Ure. It has been a difficult 2020 for the rural economy, as Fran reflects on the farming year.

Being born into a farming family with livestock to look after, the animals have always come first.

From being toddlers, Hannah and I have happy memories of cold Christmas Day mornings, watching the cattle and sheep being fed and bedded.

Today, as has been the case for the three years since we started running our own farm, it will be us doing the feeding, mucking out and providing fresh bedding.

Our Texel Mule sheep and lambs, Limousin, Simmental and Belted Galloway cattle and Quincy the bull, will be checked and fed before we open our presents.

A lovely addition for us this year has been five Valais Blacknose lambs – a rare breed that we look forward to showing next summer, if covid restrictions allow. They came from Switzerland and are called Hettie, Hannah, Hyacinth, Honor and Hollie.

There’s no question that this has been a difficult and unpredictable year for farmers across the Harrogate district, with extremes of weather, covid-19 and uncertainty over Brexit.

For us, Brexit could have an effect on exporting lambs and the price of them. It could mean tariffs, which would reduce what we get. However, we remain hopeful.

Farming sisters Fran Robinson and Hannah Blakey with some of their cattle

In the wider farming community across the Harrogate district, arable farmers producing vegetables had a very wet start to the year and flooded fields reduced yields and made life difficult, even before the coronavirus crisis caused additional problems.

Fortunately, Hannah and I were able to keep our animals safe and fed away from the sodden ground and they have thrived

We had a good lambing time from April to May and it was all systems go with Hannah clipping her first 300 sheep.

The very hot weather in spring and summer meant we had to ensure that our sheep were as fly-free as possible and treated accordingly.

Read more:

• Nidd farming sisters save bull from drowning
• Harrogate district farmers fearful of post-Brexit future

Perhaps one positive thing that has emerged from the coronavirus crisis has been the need for communities to pull together and look after each other.

As farmers, we are part of the community, and the message that people should support local producers has never been more important.

It’s not only good for the local economy, but reduced road and air miles are good for the environment – something Hannah and I feel strongly about as we play our part in being countryside custodians.