It’s in the nature of news that a lot of the stories we read are, well, not very uplifting – robberies, redundancies and road accidents are not exactly mood-enhancers. 

But there is another, lighter side to the news, so as we turn our backs on the last 12 months, we thought we’d take one last look at some of the funnier stories that raised a smile in 2023. 

The horse that wasn’t a horse 

Back in January, firefighters were called to rescue a horse from floodwaters near Ripon, only to discover it was a metal sculpture. 

Group manager Bob Hoskins, who works for North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, tweeted: 

“An officer trotted off to check out the situation and discovered a statue of a horse in the middle of the field. 

“There was ‘neigh’ further assistance required on this occasion.” 

The silhouette sculpture of a war-weary soldier and his horse was placed in the field in 2018 as part of a programme of events and commemorations to mark the centenary of the Great War.

The bossy steps 

In April, a set of steps at Harrogate railway station came to national attention when All Creatures Great and Small star Samuel West tweeted that he felt “slightly harassed” by it. 

The steps feature various injunctions, such as “Watch your step”, “Keep the left”, and “Don’t use mobile phones on stairs”, leading one X (formerly Twitter) user to call them a “seriously bossy set of steps”. 

Several said they would be too worried about tripping to read all the messages. 

A spokesperson for rail operator Northern said: 

“We carry out regular inspections of the stations across our network and we’ll certainly take this into consideration.” 

The £2,000 cowpat 

In May, a fresh cowpat helped Masham woman Kathryn Driver hit paydirt. 

Kathryn scooped £2,000 when she won Masham Community Office’s Cow Pat Competition, which was the surprise hit of the town’s coronation bank holiday celebrations. 

The competition saw four cows (see main image), named for the occasion Storm Pooper, Harry Plopper, Poo Patrol and Daisy Dung, let out to roam around a fenced-off piece of land. 

The land had been divided into squares, and tickets sold in advance at £1 per square. The winner would be whoever held the ticket corresponding to the square the first cowpat landed on. 

Hundreds of people turned out to watch, and after nearly an hour’s wait it was Storm Pooper who produced the goods on Kathryn’s square. She said:  

“I can’t believe it! It’s amazing. My mum got the ticket for me, so I’m going to use the money to pay for a holiday and take my mum away.” 

The event raised £5,000, which went towards the purchase of Masham Community Office’s building, The Old Police Station, retaining it as a community hub. 

Hayley Jackson, community office manager, said:  

“Who would have thought cowpats would bring the community together like this?” 

Have we got nudes for you 

More than 80 people shed their clothes in July to take part in the first ever naked walk around the Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park, near Masham. 

The two-kilometre hike for over-18s was one of a series of fundraising Naked Heart Walks organised over the summer by British Naturism, which promotes naturism. 

The walks at stately homes and gardens were advertised as opportunities to let people “feel the breeze on your skin as you raise money for the British Heart Foundation”. 

Sasha Jackson-Brown, estate and operations manager at the Himalayan garden, said the venue’s remote location made it suitable and the event attracted a good turnout, even though “the weather could have been a bit warmer for them”. 

The cow in the park 

In August, people enjoying the sunny weather in the Valley Gardens in Harrogate were shocked to see a loose cow casually ambling towards the Magnesia Well Tea Room. 

Dog-walker Lucy Emma Renshaw-Martin told the Stray Ferret she had no idea how the cow, which appeared to be a Holstein or Friesian, ended up in the park, which is nowhere near any fields. 

That mystery was not solved by a statement issued later by North Yorkshire Police, which simply said that “the cow was reunited with its owner”. 

However, Harrogate Writers’ Circle member Carole Keegan came up with a wordier response, penning a poem to mark the event.

The sleepless celebrity 

TV personality Gyles Brandreth took to Twitter (now X) after enduring a sleepless night on a tilting bed in Harrogate. 

The author and raconteur was appearing in September at the Royal Hall for his one-man show Gyles Brandreth Can’t Stop Talking. 

At 7am the next morning, he tweeted: 

“The view from right here right now… very little sleep on a bed that tilted to the left so that I had to cling on all night. The hotel is in King’s Road but has no number so in the dark we couldn’t find it. Taxi couldn’t find it either. Eventually we did. Rather wish we hadn’t.” 

The bed was so bad, he even tried to book into a different hotel in the dead of night, only to find it was full. 

Mr Brandreth declined to name and shame the establishment to his 208,000 followers. 

After his show, he hailed the “warm and wonderful audience” and said it was “a privilege to be on the stage that both Ken Dodd & Marlene Dietrich once appeared on. Not together. (Though wouldn’t that have been glorious?)”. 

Gyles Brandreth at The Ivy in Harrogate – before his sleepless night.

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Firefighters were called to help a woman last night who got trapped up a tree near Ripon after escaping cows.

The woman climbed the tree “to escape a herd of cows that had surrounded her while walking through a field”, according to North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s incident report.

The female, who has not been named, was with her dog at the time.

The incident report said Ripon firefighters were summoned to Ure Bank Terrace at Sharow at 6.38pm.

It added:

“Crews moved the cows away from the tree allowing the walker and her dog to leave the field uninjured.”

But that wasn’t the end of the firefighters’ mission. The incident report added:

“On returning to the fire engine crews discovered a vehicle that had gone into a ditch whilst turning round.

“Crews assisted in removing the vehicle from the ditch using crew power and vehicle wedges.”

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A Harrogate district rambler has urged walkers to follow safety advice amid ongoing problems with cows on public rights of way.

The district is popular with walkers and also has a lot of cattle. Many walkers are nervous about passing the animals, particularly if dogs and calves are also involved.

A blog called Killer Cows, which includes accounts of livestock attacks, recently featured a post from hikers in Little Ribston, between Knaresborough and Wetherby.

It describes how a man and a woman walking a dog were “surrounded” by 50 cows on a public footpath. It says the cows tried to trample the dog and head-butted the man in the shoulder. The post concludes:

“We were both terrified. We are lucky to still be alive.”

It is not an isolated incident and sometimes the issue has tragic consequences,

An inquest in Harrogate in July found that Dave Clark, a deputy headteacher at Richmond School, died after suffering a blow to the chest from a cow which ran at him on a public right of way in a field in Richmond last year.

‘It is a problem’

Andrew Willoughby, who is part of the Harrogate Group of the Ramblers, said clashes on public rights of way between hikers and cattle continued to be an issue.

Farmers are entitled to graze cattle on public rights of way.

However, the number of incidents has prompted both the National Farmers Union and the Ramblers Association to issue advice to walkers and farmers.

Mr Willoughby urged walkers to follow the guidance when cattle start grazing again after winter.

He said:

“Yes, it is a problem.

“The main thing is when you go into a field, you just do not know if there may be some aggressive cattle.”

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What walkers should do

The NFU and Ramblers Association both urge walkers to be “mindful” that the countryside is a “working environment” where cattle graze.

The NFU says walkers should be “vigilant” and “try to stay away from animals and to be aware of their movement”.

Dogs should be kept under close control, but owners are advised not to hang on to them if threatened by cattle. Instead, they should let go of the lead and let the dog run to safety.

The advice says:

“This offers the best chance of a safe outcome to both you and your dog. If you feel threatened by animals protecting their territory or young, do not run. Move to the edge of the field and, if possible, find another way round.”

Further guidance urges walkers not to get close to cattle. Walkers should also avoid getting between cows and their calves, the advice says.

It adds that, if cattle do begin to follow, then hikers should walk on quietly.

Mr Willoughby added that people should avoid bright coloured clothing when walking in fields with cattle in them.