Harrogate woman Dr Ruth Smith has been appointed as the new High Sheriff of North Yorkshire.
Dr Smith is a board leadership coach and is a director of Harrogate business PM Management Consultants Ltd. She has also published a book on authentic leadership.
As chair of Teesside Mind and a former trustee of the charity Refuge, she is passionate about promoting mental wellbeing and supporting survivors of domestic abuse.
She has spent most of her life in North Yorkshire, attending school in Harrogate and returning in 1992 to lead her father’s consultancy business.
High sheriffs are appointed by the King and hold an independent non-political role for a single year. There are currently 55 serving the counties of England and Wales.
Dr Smith succeeded another Harrogate woman, Birstwith artist Clare Granger, at a swearing-in ceremony this week at York Crown Court. The ceremony was presided over by the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris.
At the swearing-in ceremony Dr Smith took her oath of office and the outgoing High Sheriff, Ms Granger handed over her medal of office after completing her year of service.
Clare Granger (left) and Dr Ruth Smith
Outlining her priorities at the ceremony, Dr Smith pledged to highlight the role of organisations that support domestic abuse victims, particularly children as well as mental health organisations.
In her declaration speech, she said:
“The impact of domestic abuse on women and children is both devastating and tragic with at least 1 in 4 women experiencing it, 2 women a week killed by a partner or former partner and at least 1 in 5 children impacted by domestic abuse.
“It is only since 2021 that children are recognised as victims of domestic abuse and yet the consequences of domestic abuse on them can also be devastating as well as long term and life changing.
“My theme is to raise awareness of the impact of domestic abuse on children as well as identifying the support available in the moment and from our excellent charities in the county ”
The origins of the high sheriff role date back to Saxon times, when the ‘Shire Reeve’ was responsible to the king for the maintenance of law and order within the shire, or county, and for the collection and return of taxes due to the Crown.
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Yorkshire Soap Company wins Harrogate Christmas shop window contest
The Yorkshire Soap Company has won this year’s Harrogate Christmas Shop Window Competition.
The shop on James Street’s woodland-themed window took the medium shop category prize and then claimed the overall title at an awards ceremony at the Crown Hotel last night.
Sophie Likes on Beulah Street won the small shop category and Bettys on Parliament Street claimed the large shop title.
Jane Fletcher, manager of the Yorkshire Soap Company, said it was “an absolute thrill” to win the contest for a first time, especially as it was up against retail giants like Bettys.
She added:
“When people bring children to see the window and you see they are pointing and laughing at it then it is something magical.”
The annual awards, again organised by the Rotary Club of Harrogate and sponsored by Harrogate Business Improvement District, attracted about 30 entrants.
Clare Granger, the High Sheriff of North Yorkshire, presented the awards along with Mervyn Darby, president of the Rotary Club of Harrogate and Dan Siddle, chair of Harrogate BID.
Graham Saunders, who organised the judging on behalf of The Rotary Club, said:
“The judges could see the incredible effort those who entered the competition put into their displays, and I’m sure the public also appreciate the work done by business owners to help Harrogate looks its very best for the festive season.
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Matthew Chapman, the manager of Harrogate BID, said:
“Since it featured on the Channel 5 documentary ‘Harrogate: A Yorkshire Christmas’ the shop window competition has continued to thrive, and it’s the businesses who take part that we have to thank for its ongoing success.
“The town centre shops, cafes and hotels have been beautifully presented this year, with the competition giving an incentive for business to go all-out.
Harrogate Christmas Shop Window Competition Results
Overall Winner:
The Yorkshire Soap Company, James Street
Large Shop Winner:
Bettys Café Tea Rooms, Parliament Street
Highly Commended: Weetons Food Hall, West Park
Medium Shop
Winner:The Yorkshire Soap Company, James Street
Highly Commended: Helen James Flowers, Station Parade and Baroque Hair, Kings Road
Small Shop
Winner: Sophie Likes, Beulah Street
Highly Commended: Imagined Things Bookshop, Montpellier Parade andBacchus Wine Bar, Station Parade
Representatives from Sophie Likes collect award for winning the small shop category.
Representatives from Bettys with Clare Granger, Mervyn Darby and (right) Dan Siddle.
Helen James Flowers was highly commended.
36 community groups in Harrogate district awarded £92,000
Thirty-six voluntary organisations have celebrated being awarded a total of £92,828 by The Local Fund for the Harrogate district.
The fund awards grants of between £200 and £3,000 each year to small organisations with charitable aims in the Harrogate district where a small amount of money can make a significant difference.
It is funded by The Local Lotto, with support from North Yorkshire Council, Harrogate and District Community Action and the Harry Bolland Trust Fund. Two Ridings Community Foundation, which coordinates local giving in North and East Yorkshire, administers the fund.
Two Ridings organised Monday night’s celebration at West Park Hotel in Harrogate, which recognised volunteers from the organisations awarded grants.
They provide services ranging from providing lunches for the homeless, tackling domestic abuse and enabling people in Nidderdale to run safely to improve their wellbeing.
North Yorkshire high sheriff Clare Granger, who joined local councillors at the event, said the successful applicants provided ‘literally a lifeline’ for many people in North Yorkshire.
Celia McKeon, chief executive at Two Ridings, said the fund supported groups with basic running costs, to ensure they can keep their doors open.
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Here is a list of the successful applicants, how much each one received and for what purpose.
| Community Group | Amount Awarded | Project Description |
| Artizan | 2688 | Funding towards staff, craft supplies and refreshments for craft and socialising opportunities for children and teens with Special Educational Needs, alongside support for their parents. |
| Badapple Theatre Company | 1580 | Funding towards staff, hall hire, DBS checks and training to run youth session in the rural area of the Ure Valley, and to enable them to earn a recognised award. |
| Bilton dragon bowling club | 1000 | Funding towards sprinkler system to make water use more efficient and to support club members with maintenance. |
| Boroughbridge and District Community Care | 3000 | Funding towards staff and room hire to train befriending volunteers for people experiencing bereavement, or living with dementia or disabilities, for recently recruited, existing and to-be recruited volunteers. |
| Claro Enterprises | 3000 | Funding towards staff, insurance and utilities to run community workshop to support people with mental health difficulties to improve their health and wellbeing. |
| Dales and Bowland CIC | 3000 | Funding towards running rural bus service on Sundays and Bank Holidays. |
| Dancing for Well Being | 1200 | Funding towards operational costs, including a Dance Movement Therapist, for a trial series of sessions to support those who care for family members with dementia, to support carer’s own needs. |
| Darley Playing Field Association (DPFA) | 3000 | Funding towards outdoor play equipment for children in rurally isolated village. |
| Harlow Hill Community Centre Association | 2000 | Funding towards new doors to improve the carbon footprint and look of community building. |
| Harrogate & District Community Action | 3000 | Funding towards staff and room hire to support befriending and signposting services for older members of the community, particularly the weekly club and where some clients have more complex needs. |
| Harrogate Hospital Radio | 1170 | Funding for radios to lend to lonely in-patients in the Harrogate area hospitals. |
| Inspire Youth Yorkshire | 3000 | Funding for staff and overheads towards free weekly youth activities. |
| Jenny Ruth Workshops Limited | 3000 | Funding for staff and travel costs to offer workers with learning disabilities outreach opportunities, including sales at local shows, visits to stockists and delivering talks to other local groups. |
| Jenny Ruth Workshops Limited | 1500 | Funding towards Jennryruth branded t-shirts and fleeces to provide new workers with learning disabilities pride in their work, and being able to represent the organisation at events. |
| Kairos Network Church | 1000 | Funding for a second-hand trailer and new security locks, for taking unusual bicycles to events to encourage confidence in cycling, ensuring the organisation no longer has to borrow a trailer. |
| Knaresborough Museum Association | 1500 | Funding towards travel, overheads, and display stands to take displays to sheltered accommodation and residential homes to engage those who would not otherwise be able to visit the museum. |
| Knot Another Choir CIO | 3000 | Funding towards staging for local inclusive community choir, which will also raise income for the group by being hired out to other community groups. |
| Lifeline Harrogate | 2400 | Funding for fruit and veg boxes (subsidised by the provider) to provide a healthy equivalent to crisis loans for food, to people who have recently experienced homelessness and are now accommodated in supported housing. |
| Lifeline Harrogate | 2600 | Funding for food and room hire for fortnightly lunch club, to support current and former residents of supported accommodation. |
| Living Potential Care Farming | 1740 | Funding for tools, raised beds, compost and seeds to start therapeutic sessions in the walled garden for people living with mental health difficulties. |
| Low Harrogate Crown Green Bowling Club | 2250 | Funding to buy bowls and equipment which will make the club more inclusive and to review the irrigation system. |
| Masham Community Office | 3000 | Funding towards purchasing the organisation’s premises to secure it as a community asset. |
| New Beginnings Peer Support | 2690 | Funding for staff, volunteers, materials etc for workshops looking at self, worth, boundaries and resilience, to increase the health and wellbeing of families, especially children. |
| Nidderdale Fell & Trail | 3000 | Funding for training for volunteers to become qualified in leadership and coaching in running, to allow the organisation to expand and offer more running sessions. |
| Nidderdale Plus Partnership | 3000 | Funding for three months of Digital Champion Coordinator time to continue to run project to support older people to be safe and confident online, and to stay connected. |
| Open Country | 3000 | Funding for staff, volunteer costs, and operational costs towards running an allotment and tree nursery to offer skills development, mental health benefits and social activities for people with disabilities. |
| Open Country | 2450 | Funding for staff, volunteers, accessible minibus, and allotment rent to ensure members can access mixed gardening and outdoor activities for those with disabilities or with poor mental health. |
| Pateley Bridge & BewerleyMemorial Hall | 1000 | Funding towards extending a local social event by opening for longer, and to offer hot food for the first time as part of the group becoming a warm space, for older people in a rurally isolated area. |
| Pinewoods Conservation Group | 2410 | Funding towards tools and PPE to create a new volunteer group to care for the woodland and to support volunteer’s health and wellbeing. |
| Reflect | 2800 | Funding for staff, volunteer costs and overheads to publicise support and to increase face to face sessions for people experiencing pregnancy and baby loss, and for those seeking post-termination support. |
| Ripon City Festival Trust 1986 | 1800 | Funding to support teenagers to engage more with their local community and to address self-care and mental health, by experiencing live theatre themed around wellbeing, taking part in drama workshops and volunteering to encourage other young people to take part in the Festival. |
| Ripon Disability Forum | 2940 | Funding to set up a website, particularly to create an interactive route mapping tool, that people with disabilities can design their own travel routes into and around Ripon and the surrounding area. |
| Samaritans of Harrogate and District | 3000 | Funding towards volunteer expenses, operational costs and overheads for organisation seeking to reduce the number of people dying by suicide. |
| Supporting Older People CIO | 2940 | Funding for staff, DBS checks are publicity to recruit and train befriender volunteers to support older people, and to start a new social group for older residents. |
| Taking Baby Steps CIC | 2530 | Funding for staff, travel expenses and sundries to be able to run community drop in groups as a pilot in rural areas, for parents facing pregnancy loss, baby loss, or peri- and post- natal mental health problems in more rural areas of the Harrogate district. |
| The Trauma Centre Community Interest Company | 3000 | Funding towards staff to support the running of heavily subsidised self-help evening classes for people with mental health difficulties, which would help reduce the need for more intensive therapy. |
| The Wellness Gateway CIC | 3000 | Funding towards staffing, to set up trial Wellness Hub to offer mental health support and signposting in Ripon and surrounding areas. |
| Village Voices Killinghall | 640 | Funding for keyboard and accessories to be able to keep rurally isolated village choir running for years to come. |
| Wellspring Therapy & Training | 3000 | Funding towards volunteer travel expenses, to be able to offer more counselling sessions and reduce waiting times for people to support people with poor mental health, experiencing family problems and more. |
Community groups in Harrogate district given chance to win £3,000
Community groups in the Harrogate district could win up to £3,000 in a new photography competition.
The competition, which has opened for entries, celebrates the work of voluntary organisations in North Yorkshire.
It is being run by Two Ridings Community Foundation, which coordinates charitable giving in North and East Yorkshire, in conjunction with Clare Granger, the Birstwith-based High Sheriff of North Yorkshire and professional artist.
The contest, which is open until September 5, seeks the best amateur photographs that capture the essence of community. There are two categories: our people and our place.
Bec Horner, communications manager at Two Ridings, said:
“We really want groups to show off the people of our region and what community means to them.
“They say a photo says a thousand words, and we want to see that! We know that community organisations in the region do such vital work for local people. We want them to capture the energy, the vibrancy and the magic that is happening all over.”
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A panel of six judges will shortlist the three most impactful photos in each category.
The shortlisted groups will be invited to a photography exhibition in October where final decisions will be made.
The first prize in each category is £3,000, second prize is £2,000 and third prize £1,000. These are unrestricted funds groups can use to fund anything they choose.
The photography exhibition will take place on October 25 at Allerton Castle, near Knaresborough, where the winning and highly commended photographs will be enlarged and displayed.
More information is available here.
The Harrogate high sheriff with a dash of colourIn April, King Charles III appointed Harrogate artist Clare Granger as High Sheriff of North Yorkshire.
The high sheriff — a role which dates back over 1,000 years — represents the monarch in matters relating to law and order.
It may seem incongruous that an artist with a studio in High Birstwith is rubbing shoulders with barristers and judges on behalf of the king.
But Ms Granger is well qualified for the role: she studied law at Cambridge University and briefly worked as a lawyer before swapping legal briefs for paint brushes and forging a successful career as an artist, with annual shows in London.
Her son and daughter-in-law are barristers so “the law has never really left me”, as she puts it.
Art and law may appear unlikely bedfellows but Ms Granger brings a stamp of colour and style to the role.
Among her aims is to use the 12-month appointment to promote art as therapy for offenders. The role also involves representing the voluntary sector and emergency services, and she has revamped a Dragon’s Den-style contest run by Two Ridings Community Foundation by getting charities bidding for funding to submit photographs illustrating what they do. She says:
“Art is a therapeutic tool. It’s such a joyful thing to do. It makes people feel really happy.”
Ms Granger says she’s “more or less” retired from portraits and is focusing more on the use of colour in her art, which she works on from 9am to 5pm at her home studio. She says:
“I love colour. I’m enjoying the freedom of painting whatever I like and if someone likes it they buy it.”
But ironically, being high sheriff has left little time for painting. The role comes with few essential engagements but Ms Granger has thrown herself so enthusiastically into the role, clocking up hundreds of miles each week to attend engagements in North Yorkshire, she has barely any time left.
The day before our interview, she visited the coroner’s office in Northallerton. After our early morning interview she was due to drive to Scarborough for a lunch and then participate in a 10 kilometre evening walk in York.
Tomorrow featured a community event in Birstwith, followed the day after by a visit to Yorkshire Air Ambulance in Nostell and the day after that she was due to attend a rewilding event in Sharow and another community event.
That took her to the weekend, where her engagements included the Harrogate Army Foundation College parade through Harrogate town centre, a golden wedding and a trip to an Open Studios art event.
With Mark Dowie, chief executive of RNLI
The size of North Yorkshire doesn’t make life easy.
Moreover, the role isn’t paid: she self-funds her trips and even hosted a big coronation garden party at her own expense in a marquee that had already been erected for her son’s wedding.
She doubts whether anyone could combine being high sheriff with a full-time job.
“You don’t have to take a year off to do it but it does compromise you.”
The high sheriff has no formal powers but the invitations have piled up. Why does she think this is?
“The value of saying ‘thank-you’ is huge. People appreciate someone coming and listening to their concerns. I don’t have any powers but I have conversations and can bring people together.”
Ms Granger is a big supporter of the police and is putting particular emphasis on supporting them as part of her role. She says:
“All of us expect the police to be there when push comes to shove yet we are constantly knocking them and if we are not careful nobody will want to do the job.”
With Lady Justice King in York when she accepted the role.
For all the robes of office and archaic traditions, Ms Granger brings a warmth that is often lacking to the legal world. Her name will join a long list of high sheriffs at York Crown Court.
But although she has a lot of respect for the legal profession, she doesn’t take long to respond when asked if she regrets giving it up to become an artist:
“Not one single jot! I love the fact that law is still in my life but I’m relieved not to have to do it myself. Perhaps I wasn’t a solicitor long enough to enjoy it but I think I’d find it boring.”
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Harrogate district charities urged to get creative to win Dragons’ Den event
Harrogate district voluntary organisations that come up with a striking photograph encapsulating what they do could receive a funding boost this year.
Two Ridings Community Foundation holds an annual High Sheriff’s Dragons’ Den event in which community groups pitch for funding in front of a panel and audience.
It usually awards individual grants of between £3,000 and £7,000 from a total funding pot of £30,000.
Birstwith artist Clare Granger has been nominated High Sheriff of North Yorkshire this year and she plans to take a creative approach to the event.
This week’s event at Allerton Castle
Speaking at an event at Allerton Castle this week to thank groups that took part in last year’s Dragons’ Den, Ms Granger said the idea of a more visual approach and an exhibition of entries appealed to her.
She said organisations would be assessed on the strength of their images and an explanation of how each one represented their work, rather than by making a standard spoken pitch.
Two Ridings Community Foundation has yet to reveal final details of this year’s event.
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As high sheriff Ms Granger, who has a studio at home, will represent law and order in the county on behalf of the king, assuming her nomination is ratified at York Crown Court in April.
About 100 representatives from voluntary organisations took part in this week’s event at Allerton Castle, which will host this year’s Dragons’ Den event and exhibit the photos.
It was organised by Jonathan Wright, a trustee of the charity that maintains Allerton Castle. Harrogate district Mayor Victoria Oldham and deputy mayor Robert Windass were among those attending.
(from left) Robert Windass, Jonathan Wright and Victoria Oldham