Dance group for over 50s to launch Harrogate classes

A dance group for over 50s that launched in lockdown is opening classes in Harrogate town centre.

Following the success of classes in Darley, Ripley, Ripon and Knaresborough, Happy Dance will begin hosting weekly sessions in Harrogate in May.

The group began during the pandemic, with just five members dancing over zoom. Three years later, Happy Dance boasts over 80 members aged between 53 and 93.

The classes take place in various village halls and consist of 45 minutes of upbeat dancing. They involve stretching, balance, work-out sequences, or just ‘boogie exercise’.

Happy Dance founder Jane Waring is an experienced dancer and qualified RAD ballet teacher. She choreographs dances for all fitness levels to ensure members can work to their own abilities.

Ms Waring focusses heavily on the social element of the classes – particularly for those combatting feelings of loneliness – and encourages members to carry on the socialising after.

Ms Waring told the Stray Ferret:

“I can almost guarantee that at the end of class you will feel happier, taller, lighter and proud you have danced for 45 minutes, had fun, laughed and danced well over 3,000 steps!

“It is so good for your well-being.”

Happy Dance will be held in Harrogate at St Robert’s Centre, on Robert Street. Classes will take place every Tuesday at 11.45 am, beginning on Tuesday, May 16.

Booking details can be found on the Happy Dance website.

Residents to meet council about future of Otley Road sustainable travel

Officers at North Yorkshire Council will meet with Harrogate residents this month to discuss how £565,000 can be spent on sustainable travel around Harrogate’s Otley Road.

The former county council allocated £4.6m to deliver a sustainable transport package in the area but the results so far have disheartened both residents and cyclists.

Most of the money has been spent on the widening of the Harlow Moor Road junction for cars, smart traffic lights and the roundly-criticised cycle path.

Rene Dziabas, chair of Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents Association, told a meeting of the group’s members last week that it will be putting forward ideas on what the remaining  £565,000 could be spent on.

Mr Dziabas said:

“I have convinced the council to hold a workshop on ideas for what we think are sensible things to put on Otley Road. That will be held on second half of May. Local residents have a right to have an input on this.”

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Otley Road has faced years of stop-start roadworks and residents have also been scarred by the experience of the cycle path, which was so unpopular that the council were forced to abandon its second phase earlier this year.

One resident asked Mr Dziabas what improvements can realistically be made with the £565,000 but he said it could be the start of a long-term plan to reduce congestion on Otley Road and get people out of their cars.

He said:

“The £565,000 won’t give you much but what we need is a sustainability plan. It might cost X million and take five years but we need a proper plan in place that convinces people that you will deliver sustainability. This bit could be the start of it.”

Mr Dziabas added that he has been encouraged the approach taken by North Yorkshire Council who he said “appear more willing to listen”.

He said:

“We’re having meetings but it’s a double-edged sword. We’ve complained for a long time that they’re not talking to us, now they are talking to us they can say [afterwards] oh, we have talked to you. But if you don’t talk you can’t influence.”

It’s expected that proposals for Otley Road will be put before councillors on the Harrogate & Knaresborough area consituency committee in July.

Stray Views: Time for councillors to back Harrogate Station Gateway

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

As a former Harrogate town centre shop owner for 30 years, I was hugely disappointed to read Cllr Mike Schofield says he will not vote for Station Gateway because it ‘may’ be bad for business. In my view he couldn’t be more wrong. He and any councillors who are considering voting to dump this £11m investment in the town centre on similar flimsy grounds would be doing the town the very greatest disservice.

Cllr Schofield is quoted as saying Station Gateway ‘may potentially deal businesses another blow’ on top of covid and the cost of living crisis. He gives no evidence to back his claim.

Along with many others in Harrogate I am confident it will in fact benefit business. It’s true that many local businesses are noisily opposing it. It was the same in the 1980s when Cambridge, Oxford and Beulah streets were pedestrianised. A chorus of local business owners said it would be a disaster. It wasn’t. As the owner of a sports shop in Beulah Street I supported the changes. I thought they would be good for my business and they were. Our business increased appreciably because footfall increased. It also created a considerably more pleasant environment for our staff to work in – quieter and cleaner.

If the councillors reject Gateway they won’t lose ‘just’ the £10.9m for this scheme, they jeopardise much, much more in future funding. North Yorkshire has a lengthening and shocking record of failing to deliver on active travel in Harrogate – Otley Road,  Beech Grove, Victoria Avenue, A59 at Knaresborough, Oatlands Drive, the Wetherby Road/Slingsby Walk crossing, declining bus services, no valuable cycle infrastructure since the Showground Greenway in 2014.

Why should the government offer more funding to an authority with such a dismal track record of failure to deliver? The Gateway is the last chance to restore credibility. But it seems some councillors are ready to dump it because they hear some noisy local business people say it ‘might be bad for business’. I’ll repeat – what’s the evidence?

In fact the evidence, time and again, is that making streets people friendly rather than car friendly is good for business. The best known example is probably Waltham Forest. In 2015 there was huge opposition to their mini Holland scheme and the pedestrianisation of the main shopping street, Orford Road. Many businesses and residents said it would be the death of Walthamstow, and carried a coffin along the street in protest. In fact it has been a terrific success and recent polls show that over 98% of local people now support it.

There are many other examples of hostility to proposals to reduce road space and restrict traffic in town centres where the opposition disappeared once the changes had been introduced because people find they actually like them.

Cllr Schofield says there are better alternative designs which should have been considered. The time to put forward those designs was during the consultation. The situation now is the design that’s on the table – which was updated and improved during the consultation process – or nothing.

On Friday, councillors have an extremely rare opportunity to invest £11m to make much of the town centre fit for the 21st century. It’s most unlikely to come again any time soon. Let’s hope they have the good sense and courage to take it.

Malcom Margolis, Harrogate

Crimple Valley homes near ‘extremely dangerous road’

I have lived here for nearly sixty years and the Crimple Valley was once owned by The Earl of Harewood and before him King George 111 and purchased by Harrogate Borough Council  as a buffer between Harrogate and the village of Pannal.

The Crimple Valley has always been a beautiful wildlife area.

Anyone brave or foolhardy enough to try to cross the A61 Leeds Road are taking their life in their hands. It is an extremely dangerous road and houses should definitely not be built there.

Over the years planning permission was refused for the existing building which was built with the intention of turning it into a house. Planning permission was refused. Planning permission for this development has been refused before by Harrogate Borough Council so the developers are now trying their luck with North Yorkshire Council and all objectors hope they do not succeed.

Anne Smith, Pannal

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Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

Bank holiday strike at Harrogate hospital: What you need to know

Nurses will take part in a third round of industrial action at Harrogate District Hospital this bank holiday weekend.

It’s taking place because members of the Royal College of Nursing union rejected the government’s latest pay offer of a below-inflation 5% rise plus a lump sum of at least £1,655.

The union says any pay rise should be above inflation, which is currently at around 10%.

The strike begins at 8pm tonight and ends at 11.59pm tomorrow.

Nurses argue low pay is leading to an exodus of NHS nurses who are either moving to work overseas or leaving the profession altogether and they say the situation is compromising patient safety.

Throughout winter and spring the government has maintained that the union’s wage demands are unaffordable and talks to avert the strikes have failed.

Greater impact on hospital services

Unlike the two previous RCN strikes at the hospital on Lancaster Park Road this year, the strike will involve nurses working in emergency departments, intensive care, cancer and other wards.

Health secretary Steve Barclay said the move would have a “deeply concerning” impact on patients.

However, the union has committed to providing care for the most urgent clinical situations as part of a legal obligation not to endanger life.

The strike will be shorter than previously planned

Mr Barclay called the strikes unlawful and the government successfully managed to shorten the strike in the High Court yesterday.

This was because the union had six months to take industrial action following a ballot of its members last year and the second day of the strike fell outside of the mandate.

The RCN’s general secretary Pat Cullen said after the ruling: 

“The government have won their legal battle today. But what this has led to is they have lost nursing and they’ve lost the public.

“They’ve taken the most trusted profession through the courts, by the least trusted people.”

Mr Barclay said: “I firmly support the right to take industrial action within the law – but the government could not stand by and let plainly unlawful strike action go ahead.

“Both the NHS and my team tried to resolve this without resorting to legal action.”

Emergency services will continue

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (HDFT), which runs the hospital, says it has plans in place to “keep disruption to a minimum” on Sunday and Monday despite having fewer healthcare professionals available during the strike.

A HDFT spokesperson pledged that emergency services will continue to operate as normal.

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However, some appointments will be cancelled and rearranged. April’s four-day junior doctors’ strike by members of the British Medical Association led to almost 500 appointments not taking place.

A HDFT spokesperson said:

“During strike action, urgent and emergency treatment will be our priority. We will be working with our nursing staff to deliver safe services, while facilitating and respecting the right of those staff who wish to take legal industrial action.

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

“Nobody should put off seeking urgent or emergency care during the strikes, and key services will continue to operate.”

More strikes are likely

The government’s decision to take the RCN to court in order to shorten the strike has not gone down well with the union.

Nurses will vote in a fresh ballot in May — if successful it could potentially lead to six more months of industrial action by nurses unless a pay deal is agreed.

The RCN’s Pat Cullen said yesterday:

“Nursing staff will be angered but not crushed by today’s interim order. It may even make them more determined to vote in next month’s ballot for a further six months of action. Nobody wants strikes until Christmas – we should be in the negotiating room, not the courtroom.”

Masterchef semi-finalist to write for the Stray Ferret celebrating district’s food

The Stray Ferret is delighted to introduce Yemi Adelekan who many will recognise from her success on BBC TV’s Masterchef last year. Every Saturday Yemi will be writing about her love of the district’s food  – please get in touch with her if you want her to review a restaurant, visit your farm, taste the produce you sell or even share a recipe.  

My name is Yemi Adelekan, welcome to my food stories.

From food and restaurant reviews, highlights from county food events, recipe creation to dining experiences, farm to table and nose to tail cooking, allotment to combatting food waste, foraging, visits to market stalls and independent shops to showcasing diversity of flavours and ingredients, nothing is off the menu.

We live in a beautiful district with amazing food scenes; I want to showcase, celebrate and champion our community, people, food and what we have to offer through my food stories.

So here’s a little about me.

I am married and a proud mother of two wonderful young men. I grew up in Nigeria, moved to Nevis Island, West Indies for a few years before relocating to the UK where I forged a career in Banking and now Telecommunications.

I moved from West to South Cumbria, made a pit stop in Manchester, spent ten years in Lancashire and finally settled in Harrogate for the past decade.

All of these places and holiday destinations have influenced my food from Cumberland ring sausages, Lancashire hotpot to Yorkshire pudding. I came to Harrogate with the red rose of Lancashire and was gifted the white rose of Yorkshire; both plants have their pride of places on my front yard.

I have had a long-standing love affair with food, a passion for cooking and baking that led me to the Masterchef UK kitchen in 2022. From not daring to dream about being on the show, I ended up as a semi-finalist making it to the top 6 showcasing a fusion of my Nigerian flavours with other global food influences.

I was gutted to narrowly miss out on finals week but really grateful for the opportunity.  I didn’t know I could wee every five minutes until I went on the show and found nerves that were previously undiscovered.

My first food memories include me using tin cans and sticks for my ‘pretend’ kitchen, tasting my mum’s food as she put a little taster on my palm to being trusted to go buy an ingredient. I was never far from the kitchen and learnt by watching others like a hawk.

My mum didn’t allow me to be hands-on in her kitchen because she took pride in doing her own cooking but thankfully my dad believed that mistakes help to make us better people. He lived away to avoid a long commute and allowed me to cook whenever I visited him giving me feedback and what I definitely now know to be undeserved compliments.

Here’s what you can expect from me; personal, witty, open and honest food writing without any pretentiousness.

My goal is to make it just what you need to kickstart your weekend with a smile, bring your community to you, get you out with a little luck and encourage you to attempt new recipes.

I am a local who doesn’t get around enough so I need you to tell me what and where you want me to check out, what’s going on in your part of the county, also comment and share recipes you want me to try out.

If you have a wow experience that you would like to shout about from the roof top, then drop me a line so I can go sample and write about the experience.

Welcome to my food stories. I will see you next Saturday.

To read more about Yemi visit her website here.

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Ex-Harrogate Lib Dem candidate jailed for abusing girl

Former Harrogate Liberal Democrat candidate Anthony Medri has been jailed for over two years for sexually abusing a teenage girl and paying her to send him intimate photos of herself.

Medri, 64, from Knaresborough, sexually assaulted the girl on several occasions and sent her a picture of an intimate part of his body, York Crown Court heard.

The Harrogate Borough Council candidate in 2015 also urged her to send him indecent pictures of herself, said prosecutor Shaun Dodds.

He said that Medri, who is married, had sexually assaulted the youngster by touching her on intimate parts of her body and kissing her on the lips.

Medri asked the girl on social media if she had “ever seen a grown man’s (private parts)”. He then sent her an intimate picture of himself and told her to delete the messages.

Mr Dodds said that in 2017, Medri started transferring money into the girl’s bank account and asking her what she was wearing.

This was followed by a request for a picture of her in her underwear and a promise to pay her £50 if she sent it. Mr Dodds said:

“She sent an image of herself wearing a bra.

“He had previously bought her some underwear…and asked her for photos wearing that underwear.”

The prosecutor said that between 2017 and 2019, £580 of payments were made into the victim’s account for intimate photos of her. Mr Dodds added:

“Sometimes she would also get payments in cash as well.”

Grooming process

Medri – who stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Lib Dems in the 2015 local elections when he contested the Stray ward – initially gave the girl money so she could treat herself, which the prosecution said was part of the grooming process.

He would tell the girl “to get yourself something nice”, said Mr Dodds.

The victim “wasn’t in a good place” at the time and she felt that Medri used this to take advantage of her difficult circumstances.

He bought her treats such as perfume, clothes, tobacco and vodka – along with a sex toy and told her to “try it out”. The victim put the item in a bin.

Mr Dodds said that on the occasions Medri tried to kiss the girl, she would pull away, but he would kiss her again. He once drove her to a remote location where he sexually assaulted her.

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Medri was ultimately brought in for questioning and accepted having asked for pictures of the girl in her underwear and that he had given her money, but initially denied sexually assaulting her.

A trial was due to be held but Medri ultimately admitted one count of intentionally causing a child to look at an image of a person engaging in a sexual act, three counts of sexual assault and three counts of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child to become a prostitute or be involved in pornography, namely asking the girl for photos of herself in her underwear.

Mr Medri, of Forest Moor Road, appeared for sentence today when the court heard a harrowing statement from the young victim.

She said she had been left with the “overwhelming” feeling that she was somehow at fault for the abuse.

This and the fact that Medri had protested his innocence for so long had caused her “extreme anxiety”. She added:

“I don’t think I will ever get over what has happened. I think about it every single day.”

Carer for disabled wife

Defence barrister Jeremy Barton said there had been a “plethora” of character references provided by friends and family of Medri.

He conceded, however, that Medri’s offences, which occurred over a period of about a year, were “disturbing and worrying”.

He said that Medri, who had worked all his life and was now a carer for his disabled wife, had shown a “degree of remorse”.

Judge Sean Morris told Medri he should have owned up to his offences “a long time ago” and described his protestations of innocence until his belated guilty pleas as “gutless”.

He told Medri:

“For heaven’s sake man, why did you put this girl through all those months of anguish waiting for (what was expected to be) a trial. It’s gutless.”

He said that only an immediate prison sentence was appropriate for inciting a young girl “in a vulnerable position to sell pictures of (herself) for Medri’s “sexual pleasure”.

The judge said that Medri had taken advantage of the girl when she was in a “desperate state” because of her life circumstances.

Medri was jailed for two years and two months, but he will only serve half of that behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Medri was also given a five-year sexual-harm prevention order to protect children and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years.

 

Tim Milburn appointed headteacher of Harrogate’s Rossett School

Harrogate Grammar School deputy headteacher Tim Milburn has been appointed headteacher of Rossett School.

Mr Milburn has been at HGS for nine years, initially as assistant headteacher. He previously spent four years as director of personal development at Ilkley Grammar School.

History teacher Mr Milburn is also the designated safeguarding lead for Red Kite Learning Trust, a multi-academy trust with 13 schools. Rossett is expected to be the 14th school to join the trust when final approval processes are completed this year.

The move completes a circle for Mr Milburn, who studied at Rossett and left in the 1990s. More recently he has also been helping to cover acting headteacher Pete Saunders’ paternity leave.

Mr Milburn, who takes up the post immediately, said:

“I am delighted to have been appointed Rossett School’s fifth headteacher and I would like to thank the governing body for entrusting me with this privileged position.

“I have been fortunate to have already spent a lot of time in school, getting to know staff and students, and have been made to feel so welcome. This time in school has allowed me to see, first hand, the dedication, commitment and care of our staff. I have also met many students who embody the best of Rossett. They are responsible, resilient and ambitious to be the best version of themselves.

“This is a truly exciting time for the school. Rossett’s golden jubilee will allow us to celebrate a past where so many families, including my own, have been well served by the school.

“As the new headteacher I look forward to leading the next chapter of Rossett’s history, working in partnership with our families, in our pursuit of ‘success for everyone’.”

Tim Milburn has returned to the school where he studied

Richard Sheriff, chief executive of Red Kite Learning Trust, said:

“We are very proud of Mr Milburn and congratulate him for being appointed to this very exciting and important role. We are excited to be working with him as Rossett integrates into our trust and we know he will do a tremendous job in leading the talented team at Rossett.

“Mr Milburn and his team are ambitious for the school and are determined to ensure it delivers excellence for every child.”

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Harrogate school cleaner chops lockdown locks for charity

A long-serving Harrogate school cleaner has cut her locks for the first time in three years to raise money for children who have lost their hair through cancer.

Carla Del Sarto, who has worked at Ashville College for more than two decades, had not had her hair cut since the first covid lockdown.

But this week she had 33 centimetres clipped off in aid of the Little Princess Trust, a charity that provides real hair wigs to young people who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment and other conditions.

Carla kept her fundraiser and new look a surprise from her family and friends, until after she had her secret snip at Mandies Hair & Beauty on King’s Road.

She said:

“Childhood cancer is an illness close to my heart, having supported one of my best friends in our home country of Argentina when she sadly lost her teenage daughter, Macarena, to this terrible disease.

“Macarena decided to have her hair cut before she started her cancer treatment and also donated it to create wigs for those who had lost their hair.”

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Mandie Rushton, founder of Mandies Hair & Beauty, said:

“We are doubly proud to be able to support our friend Carla and such a worthy cause.

“We’ve been styling hair for women and men in Harrogate for more than 30 years – and this has been one of our favourite appointments!”

The big haircut, performed by stylist Sev Ivanov, is the latest in a series of ventures Carla has undertaken to support good causes since lockdown.

She joined Harrogate Scrubbers, a group that started making scrubs and other personal protection equipment for staff at Harrogate District Hospital.

Anyone wishing to support Carla’s fundraising can do so here.

Vodafone Pro Broadband x The Stray Ferret

This story is sponsored by Vodafone Pro Broadband.

What could be better than the fastest possible internet speed? Perhaps a free voucher as well as the fastest possible internet speed…

The Stray Ferret has teamed up with Vodafone to spread the word about its brand-new Pro Broadband connection. With a deal exclusive to the Stray Ferret, Vodafone are offering customers that sign up via our affiliate programme a free voucher in return.

Whether it’s Netflix buffering, your Zoom meeting glitching, or the PlayStation freezing mid-game, we’ve all been frustrated over poor broadband connection. Fear not, Vodafone Pro Broadband is here to answer the Harrogate district’s internet wishes.

Rather than using copper cables that slow down upload and download speeds, Vodafone use full fibre-optic cables every step of the way for connection, with download speeds of up to 900Mbps.

Loosely translated: your internet will be very fast.

What does it really mean?

Internet speed is integral to the day-to-day running of our society, but it can be a tricky thing to understand.

Broadband speed is measured in Mbps (megabits per second). The higher the Mbps, the faster your internet speed. The faster your internet speed, the more devices can be used at once under one roof.

How would this benefit me?

Maybe you’re a family with a smart TV, a gaming console and congested internet use. Maybe you’re working from home and looking for super speedy download connections; or perhaps you’re just wanting to rid your home of slow WIFI. No matter which one you are, Vodafone Pro Broadband could certainly help you.

Vodafone Pro Broadband uses full-fibre optic cables all the way to your house, with download speeds around 15 times faster than a copper cable connection — reaching a top speed of 910Mbps.

The stress of a slow internet speed will soon be a distant memory.

Availability

Vodafone Pro Broadband is already available to households across Harrogate and Knaresborough.

The full-fibre service will also be on offer to Ripon residents very soon.

Voucher Scheme

Stray Ferret readers can sign up using this link and will redeem a voucher up to £75 with either Amazon, M&S, Morrisons or The White Company. 

Find out more:

Visit vodafone.co.uk/broadband/pro-ii to find out more about Vodafone’s Pro Broadband.

Harrogate man jailed for ‘flagrant disregard for people and their property’

Harrogate man Cieran Bamford has been jailed for 16 weeks.

Bamford, 31, of Knaresborough Road, pleaded guilty to making threats to a named woman who feared violence would be used against her when he appeared in court on Tuesday.

Court documents state the offence was “so serious because the defendant has a flagrant disregard for people and their property”.

Bamford was given a restraining order prohibiting contact with the victim until April 2028.

Magistrates in York also ordered him to pay £154 to victim services.

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