Police have launched an investigation after trespassers broke into Harrogate Spring Water‘s headquarters last night.
A source told the Stray Ferret protesters attempted to enter the building on Harlow Moor Road and “antagonised staff”. They added those responsible wore GoPro cameras and flew a drone over the site.
However, nobody appears to have claimed responsibility for the incident and no footage has emerged.
A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said today:
“North Yorkshire Police were contacted yesterday evening to reports of people trespassing on a business premises on Harlow Moor Road in Harrogate.
“The incident had occurred prior to the report being made and an investigation is now underway.
“Anyone with any information that could assist the investigation should contact North Yorkshire Police by calling 101, select option 1 and ask for the Force Control Room. Please quote reference number 12230099981 when passing information.”
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A spokesperson for Harrogate Spring Water said:
“We cannot comment at this time since the incident is currently being looked into by police.
“We can confirm that no-one was injured during the incident and no damage has been made to the site.”
Harrogate Spring Water said in March it was “reviewing plans” to expand its bottling plant at its headquarters off Harlow Moor Road, in the Pinewoods.
The plans, which would involve felling trees in a public woodland planted by schoolchildren, have proved controversial.
It is not known whether yesterday’s incident was related to this.
Photo of the Week: The Ultimate
This week’s photograph was taken by Andy B, capturing The Ultimate at Lightwater Valley in its final days.
Andy B
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.
Police use drone in search for missing Harrogate woman JudithPolice used a drone today in the search for missing Harrogate woman Judith Holliday.
The drone was flown in large open areas around North Rigton and Lindley Wood Reservoir as the search entered its 10th day.
Judith, 73, left her care home on Harcourt Road in Harrogate at 10.32am on Saturday, August 27. She was then captured on CCTV at Harrogate bus station and later in Library Gardens at 10.43am.
It’s believed she then caught a bus out of Harrogate and then flagged down a member of the public and asked for a lift to North Rigton, where the last confirmed sighting took place.
North Yorkshire Police is now asking anyone who was in North Rigton between 1.30pm and 3pm on August 27 to check any dashcam or camera footage to see if it captured Judith.
Police searching for Judith Holliday at Almscliffe Crag.
She was last seen wearing a distinctive blue jacket and is described as being of thin build, approximately 5ft in height, and having medium length grey hair.
North Yorkshire Police critical incident inspector Phoebe Southall said:
“Please continue to support our search by checking dashcam and video footage and remaining vigilant.
“Please also check any outbuildings or sheltered areas.
“Any immediate sightings of Judith should be reported to 999.
“If you have any dashcam or video footage of Judith or information that could assist the investigation then please call us on 101. “
Quote reference number 12220153505 when providing information.
Read more:
- ‘Help us get Judith home’; plea from family of missing Harrogate woman
- Search for missing Harrogate woman focuses on North Rigton
Lucinda Edwards, Judith’s niece, thanked people for their support:
“We’re so grateful for the level of support our community has shown in our mission to locate Judith.
“Judith and anyone living with an illness like hers deserves to have this level of support and awareness to keep them safe.”
Judith has dementia and requires medication, however she often presents fit and well.
Drone shots reveal restoration of Harrogate’s Plumpton Rocks
Drone shots taken of Plumpton Rocks over the weekend reveal the newly restored site is looking better than ever.
The Grade II* listed visitor attraction reopened on Saturday after being closed to visitors for almost three years.
The site fell into disrepair towards the end of the last century before Historic England added it to the “Heritage at Risk Register” in 2012.
Since then Historic England has worked with the current owners and spent more than £400,000.
Plumpton Rocks closed again in October 2019 to do further work on the dam and bring it up to standard for the Reservoirs Act 1975, but covid further delayed the works.
Much of the work has been to restore the lake back to how it looked in the 18th century.
Credit – Darren Leeming
The owner of the site, Robert de Plumpton Hunter, told the Stray Ferret that he used artwork created by one of the most famous ever English painters to inspire the restoration.
Turner painted a watercolour of Plumpton Rocks in 1797 and more sketches of the site are stored at the Tate in London, which were used to inspire the refurbishment.
Mr Hunter said:
“You really got a feel of what the landscape looked like 200 years ago, and we were able to use those sketches to aid the restoration. If Turner turned up now he would absolutely recognise the landscape, that is special.”
Read more:
Drone captures scale of Ripon field fire
The scale of this week’s field fire near Ripon is captured in this drone image sent to the Stray Ferret.
Harrogate district drone photographer Paul Smith took the image on Tuesday, the day after the blaze occurred at Hutton Bank, Sharow.
It was one of two crop fires in the district that day. At one point the flames came close to the main A61 road.
Ripon and Harrogate fire crews were first at the scene and requested a further four appliances due to the 300-metre fire front.
Firefighters worked with the farmer to extinguish the blaze, in which nobody was hurt.
Read more:
- Major crop fires underway near A61 in Ripon
- Seven weeks of gas works set to start on Ripon’s Clotherholme Road