Bake Off star coming to Harrogate as town gears up for holiday home show

Great British Bake Off star and motorhome fan Karen Wright will join Yorkshire chef Steph Moon on the cookery stage at the Great Holiday Home Show next month.

The show, which is being held in Harrogate for the first time, features the latest holiday homes, caravans and motorhomes and other aspects of life exploring the great outdoors.

Described as the largest outdoor holiday home show in the country, it started in 1976 as The Lawns Show and was previously held in Hull.

A total of 227 holiday homes and 140 caravans and motorhomes will be on display at the Great Yorkshire Showground from September 8 to 10.

Visitors will include Ms Wright, from Wakefield, who was one of 12 contestants on the Great British Bake Off in 2018. She will give top tips for baking in a caravan.

Multi award winning consultant chef and camper van owner Ms Moon will also be there, hosting the cookery theatre throughout the three-day show.

Steph Moon

Besides the cookery theatre, there will be the Great Holiday Home Stage hosted by TV Presenter Christine Talbot.

Special guests include Matt Baker, adventurer Andy Torbet, YouTube motorhome family the Roaming Radfords and Peter Wright from Channel 5’s The Yorkshire Vet.

Hall 1 of the Yorkshire Event Centre will feature an e-bike testing arena. Hall 2 will be become the leisure world shopping village.

The event is organised by HERCMA (The Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire Caravan Manufacturers’ Association), which is a collaboration of four major holiday home manufacturers ABI, Carnaby, Swift and Willerby.

Tickets cost £12.50 and children under 16 go free with an accompanying paying adult.

Read more:

 

Police confirm missing Harrogate teenagers found

Three missing girls from Harrogate have been found safe.

North Yorkshire Police have confirmed that two 13-year-old and a 16-year-old girl were found in Leeds and returned to their families.

The girls were last seen at 5pm on Thursday (August 10).

A police statement said:

“Protecting vulnerable people is of paramount importance to North Yorkshire Police.”

Read more:

 

New street art café opens in Harrogate

A café serving sweet and savoury dishes has opened its doors in Harrogate – with street art covering its walls.

Salt N Sugar, on King’s Road, sells coffees and teas, sweet and savoury waffles, pancakes, and crepes, as well as traditional brunch dishes, such as eggs royale and breakfast sandwiches.

The café’s interior is less than traditional, however, as the walls are covered in graffiti – hand painted by owners Marina Prokoiosifi, 23, and Danjel Mulla, 24.

They moved from their hometown of Athens to Harrogate in search of a brighter future.

The pair explained that “everything is painted and vandalised” in Athens, so they chose to add street art to the walls of the café to bring a “taste of home”.

Ms Prokoiosifi told the Stray Ferret:

“We were surprised how little street art there is in Harrogate when we moved – it’s so normal for places to look like this is Greece.

“I began graffitiing at the age of nine and continued until I was 12. My friends and I would paint on school walls, parts of our town and even our walls at home.”

The dog-friendly cafe also operates as a co-working space for remote workers.

It hopes to begin delivering online takeaway orders in future.

The owners said:

“People got to know us over the last few months while we were preparing the unit and have since come into the café to show their support.

“We really look forward to welcoming the residents of Harrogate to our café.”

Salt N Sugar is open from 9am to 5pm, Tuesday to Sunday.

Read more:

 

‘Proud Yorkshire lass’ wins £2m Harrogate farmhouse in Omaze draw

A ‘proud Yorkshire lass’ has won a £2m farmhouse near Birstwith in the latest Omaze Million Pound House Draw.

Eliza Yahioglu, 56, was celebrating her birthday in Luxembourg when she received the news.

She and husband Gokhan, who will celebrate their 30th anniversary in November, now own the 17th century property between Hampsthwaite and Birstwith.

The house comes mortgage free, with stamp duty and legal fees covered. Eliza is free to either live in the house, rent it out or sell it.

Eliza Yahioglu discovered she’d won this on her birthday.

If Ms Yahioglu decides to let it out, the property could yield almost £50,000 a year in rent.

The couple, who have two children, have lived in London for nearly 40 years.

When told on holiday she’d won, Ms Yahioglu joked her husband was “going to struggle to top this for my birthday next year”.

She said:

“It was actually my birthday the day we found out I’d won – so we’d gone abroad to celebrate.

“We were in a bar at the time, which was the perfect place to start celebrating, we got a bottle of fizz in straight away. When we went to bed we still weren’t convinced it was real, we expected to wake up realising it had all been a dream.

“I’ve lived in London for almost 40 years but I’m a proud Yorkshire lass at heart. My parents and sister still live there, so we come up as often as we can.

The house comes with five acres of manicured grounds.

The house comes with a guest cottage and five acres of manicured grounds and gardens.

The property is two and a half miles from Hampsthwaite and one and a half miles from Birstwith.

The draw raised £1,950,000 for the charity Blood Cancer UK.

Read more:

 

Harrogate pub hopes to reopen next week after ‘licensing issue’

The landlord of a Harrogate pub has said he hopes to reopen next week after a short closure.

The Stone Beck at Jennyfields closed on Friday last week.

Phill Kirby, who has been landlord for almost four years, told the Stray Ferret it was due to a “licensing issue”.

He added:

“I have apologised for what’s happened and the pub will be opening again in due course.”

Asked if he had a date, Mr Kirby said he was hoping for Tuesday next week.

The pub, on Grantley Drive, is located in the heart of Jennyfields, close to the Coop.

The pub is in the Jennyfields centre.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Council, the licensing authority, said:

“North Yorkshire Council has no current actions on this premises.”

Read more:

 

Red Arrows due to fly over Harrogate this afternoon

The Red Arrows are due to fly over the Harrogate area this afternoon.

According to the schedule, the jets will pass over Hampsthwaite at 4.14pm.

The RAF aerobatics display team is making a 26-minute flight from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire to Blackpool, where an air show is being held tomorrow.

The Red Arrows was formed in 1964. It consists of nine red jets that are often accompanied with red, white and blue smoke.

If you catch the Red Arrows on camera, send us a photo at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk

Read more:

 

‘Dog waste can now be placed in any bin’, says council

North Yorkshire Council has responded to criticism of its new system for street litter bins.

Some 1,500 smaller litter bins in the Harrogate area are being replaced by a smaller number of new larger bins.

Many of the new bins are situated alongside main roads rather on dog walking routes to make them easier for council workers to get to.

Some dog owners are dumping poo bags in areas where the old bins were rather than walk to main roads and put their dogs on leads.

Dog waste piling up in Jennyfields.

The Stray Ferret has recently reported concerns about this policy in Knox and Jennyfields.

Barrie Mason, assistant director for the environment at the council, said the old bins were removed following a service review and the new approach conformed with good practice guidance from the Waste and Recycling Action Partnership charity.

He said:

“We are currently implementing a new infrastructure for our street litter bins in the Harrogate area.

“The newer bins have a larger capacity and house a wheeled bin. This means they are efficiently emptied by our larger wagons, reducing the risk from manual handling individual bags.

“With the greater capacity, fewer bins are required which helps to reduce street furniture, particularly in locations where two bins may have been placed close together.”

Dog waste ‘no longer classified as hazardous’

Mr Mason added:

“We are implementing new routes which reduce the number of vehicle miles and emissions while freeing up our street cleansing teams to provide a more proactive service, including in our urban areas.

“There are some associated savings from the project, from a reduction in the amount of skips, single use plastic liners and fuel we use.

“Dog waste is no longer classified as hazardous waste and can now be placed in any bin, eliminating the need for specialist bins that further reduce street clutter and manual handling risks. This also means dog waste can be placed in owners’ general waste bins when they return home without adjusting walking routes.”

Read more:

Mr Mason said bins “are emptied less frequently” in off-road areas in places like Jennyfields “but will be emptied as frequently as required”. He added:

“The emptying frequencies and bin locations are something we’ll be continuing to monitor.

“The work in Jennyfields is still ongoing, and officers are communicating with the relevant local councillor over the new locations and any issues that may arise.

“Harrogate leisure centre has a large open space with a basketball court, so we will be installing a bin soon.”

Business Breakfast: Harrogate district company awarded £20,000 to move production to digital

The Stray Ferret Business Club’s next meeting is an after work drinks event on Thursday, August 31 at The West Park Hotel in Harrogate between 5-7pm. 

The Business Club provides monthly opportunities to network, make new connections and hear local success stories. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.

A Harrogate district business has been awarded £20,000 to help move its production technology to digital.

Period Mouldings Limited, which is based at Melmerby near Ripon, was handed the funding through the Made Smarter programme, which is managed by York and North Yorkshire Growth Hub.

The scheme is a national initiative dedicated to driving growth in UK manufacturing through the adoption of digital technologies, innovation and skill development.

Mark Cant, chairman of PML, said:

“The funding from Made Smarter will be instrumental in our journey towards enhanced efficiency and productivity. 

“By digitising our production throughput, we unlock the potential for increased capital investment, skill development, and research and development, ultimately driving growth and competitiveness in the market.”

Mike Pennington, the business relationship manager for Made Smarter in the York and North Yorkshire region, said: 

“PML’s strategic approach towards digitisation and innovation perfectly aligns with Made Smarter’s objective of fostering growth in the manufacturing sector through digital advancements.”

Law firm CEO to take on Mount Kilimanjaro

A Harrogate law firm chief executive is set to take on the challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

James Haddleton, who is chief executive of Haddletons legal services based at Windsor House, is set to take on the climb with his family in aid of charity.

Mr Haddleton will be climbing the mountain for eight days this month.

He will be raising money for Mind, the mental health charity, and at the time of writing had so far received £1,019 in donations.

For more information on the fundraising campaign and to donate, visit the JustGiving page here.

Read more:

 

Harrogate has the most used library in North Yorkshire

Harrogate Library topped a list of the most used libraries in North Yorkshire last year.

According to figures published by North Yorkshire Council, there were 237,100 books and e-books taken out at the library on Victoria Avenue during the 2022/23 financial year as well as 177,629 visits by residents.

The figures show a big jump from the previous two years, which were disrupted by covid lockdowns and restrictions.

In 2020/21, the library had 47,809 visits and in 2021/22 there were 122,409.

Last year, Harrogate Library had more than 50% the number of visitors than the county’s second most popular library, which was Scarborough with 114,829 visits.

Visitor numbers at other libraries in the former Harrogate district area include Knaresborough with 110,191, Ripon with 73,428 and Starbeck with 18,676.

Knaresborough Library is the second most popular in the district.

Embsay-with-Eastby Community Library was the least used library in North Yorkshire last year with 2,841 visits, however the volunteer-run library near Skipton is only open nine hours a week.

In 2015, the running of 31 libraries in the county was handed to volunteers in the face of mounting financial pressures brought on by austerity.

In this model, the council’s library service continues to provide the infrastructure including books and public IT, as well as some paid staff support to ensure consistency across the county.

The community libraries account for just under 40% of active library users and deliver on average 50% of the total business for book lending and computer access.

Read more:

 

Harrogate hospital braced for four-day strike by junior doctors

Harrogate District Hospital is set for a further round of strikes tomorrow as junior doctors stage a four day walkout.

Members of the British Medical Association will take industrial action from 7am on Friday (August 11) until 7am on Tuesday (August 15).

The strike comes amid an ongoing dispute with government over pay.

Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-chairs of the junior doctors committee at the BMA, said:

“It should never have got to the point where we needed to announce a fifth round of strike action. 

“Our message today remains the same: act like a responsible government, come to the table to negotiate with us in good faith, and with a credible offer these strikes need not go ahead at all.”

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has warned that appointments and elective surgery may be cancelled as a result of the walkout.

In a statement, the trust said:

“We are working hard to prioritise resources to protect emergency treatment, critical care, neonatal care, maternity, and trauma, and ensure we prioritise patients who have waited the longest for elective care and cancer surgery.

“Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule. We will only reschedule appointments and procedures where necessary and any postponed appointments will be re-arranged as a priority. We appreciate this situation is frustrating for patients affected and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

“Regardless of any strike action taking place, it is important to know that people with life-threatening or severe illnesses or injuries should continue to dial 999 and come forward as normal.”

Meanwhile, consultants are also set to stage a 48-hour walkout later this month.

Members of the British Medical Association will strike from Thursday, August 24, until Saturday, August 26.

Officials at Harrogate hospital have warned the consultants walkout is also “likely to impact the trust”.

Read more: