As a senior nurse at Marie Curie in North Yorkshire, Susan Ebbage is responsible for supporting both the charity’s staff and patients.

Ms Ebbage allocates nurses to patients after receiving daily updates on their health.

The nurses then visit the patient’s home, introduce themselves to the family and care for their loved one overnight, usually from 10pm to 7am.

Ms Ebbage, who works regularly across the Harrogate district, said:

“This allows the families to have some rest. Patients are reassured by their presence and family members are able to go to sleep. It’s an incredibly emotional time and therefore you can’t put a price on a night’s sleep.

“A lot of the families, particularly in Harrogate, live abroad and that can be horrible for them. It’s about identifying situations like this and trying to give them support where we can.”

Twenty five years

Ms Ebbage has been working in her current role for around eight years and has been with Marie Curie for 25 years.

She lives in the Yorkshire Dales, and while her role is often administrative, she still visits patients in the area when she is needed.

She said:

“I trained at the Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) and was a community midwife. I always loved patient care. I love being able to support them and helping them be able to become independent and regain control. These are all things as human beings we dread being taken away from us.

“If people are dying or ill, I like being able to take good care of them so they don’t feel like a burden.”

Read more:

• ‘Everybody matters’: Marie Curie’s UK medical director on why she has the ‘best job in the world‘
• Charity Corner: the local charity supplying 36,000 wheelchairs worldwide

Ms Ebbage said a highlight of her Job was working with families who clearly love the person they are looking after.

But she added that there were also difficult issues that had to be dealt with.

‘Sorrows, sadness and regrets’

She said:

“I never tire of seeing families care for their own well. I get upset when I see families who aren’t interested. But you have to try and understand what has gone on. You listen to sorrows, sadness and regrets.

“We talk to people who tell us quite dark things at times. We have to ask them what to do with that. That might involve getting a minister to go and see them.

“We also have to keep an eye out for safeguarding. It’s not just about abuse or cruelty. Some are difficult to spot straight away. We have to make a case and follow that through.”

Ms Ebbage said the work of Marie Curie was really important.

She added:

“We have struggled like may other charities over the last two years. The nurses have been outstanding. Up to 300 nurses go out seven nights a week across the country.”

Co-ordinated approach

Ms Ebbage explained that the charity worked in conjunction with Saint Michael’s Hospice in the Harrogate area. They have meetings three times a week and share patients. Marie Curie also works with services and charities including Harrogate end of life co-ordination, NHS Continuing Healthcare and Macmillan Cancer Support.

She said:

“We have a co-ordinated approach to care in the Harrogate district. It’s really important and we have got that down to a fine T. In Harrogate there are a lot of care providers. This ensures people get the most appropriate care they need and we are not wasting resources.

Fundraiser

The Marie Curie Brain Game is returning to Yorkshire for a fourth time on Thursday, January 26 and for the first time in Harrogate in the newly refurbished Majestic Hotel & Spa.

Guests will be treated to a drinks reception before enjoying a gourmet three-course dinner. The celebrity-hosted quiz will run throughout the evening and guests will also have the opportunity to bid for exclusive lots in the live and silent auctions, and win prizes in the grand raffle.

This black-tie event invites companies from across Yorkshire to come and enjoy an evening of brain-teasing entertainment and battle it out in the ultimate corporate quiz to be crowned Yorkshire Brain Game champions.

To book a table, click here.

Just over 1% of 2,658 artworks owned by Harrogate Borough Council are currently on display to the public, figures reveal.

A freedom of information request to the authority by the Local Democracy Reporting Service found that 37 artworks are on display at its galleries or museums.

The council refused to publish the total value of the collection, saying that doing so could attract thieves.

However in 2019 it valued its 2,642 artworks at a combined £6.7m.

Harrogate Borough Council owns the Mercer Art Gallery on Swan Road in Harrogate. It also owns the Royal Pump Room Museum in the town as well as Knaresborough Castle and Museum.

A HBC spokesperson said there was “finite capacity” to exhibit more of its pieces but added it regularly rotates artworks across its locations and also lends pieces to exhibitions across the country. A further 70 artworks will be put on public display later this month, they said.

The collection will become owned by the new unitary authority North Yorkshire Council on April 1.

A HBC spokesperson said:

“Harrogate Borough Council’s collection of artworks includes thousands of different items including reproductions, uneditioned prints and a number of pieces of fine art.

“We are very fortunate to have inherited items from people or organisations who have kindly donated to us, so that residents and visitors have the opportunity to see a vast array of art from different periods and movements.

“Due to the nature of our museum venues in Harrogate, and understandably, there is finite capacity to exhibit these valuable pieces and we also want to ensure that when someone visits an exhibition they are encapsulated by the theme or narrative.

“What we put on display therefore varies from year to year and will depend on what exhibition is on show at that time. This is common practice by all museums and galleries across the world – helping to ensure displays stay fresh and dynamic and encourage repeat visits as well as new visitors.”

The spokesperson added:

“Last year we held an exhibition from some of the biggest names in Modern British Abstract art, including John Hoyland, Patrick Heron, Gillian Ayres and Albert Irvin.

“And in the coming weeks we launch our new exhibition, ‘Now You See Me’. It showcases 100 portraits from the Harrogate Art Collection, ranging from one of the earliest works in the collection – a portrait of Sir Francis Slingsby from the 1590s – to our most recent acquisition, a photowork by Irish artist Dorothy Cross, purchased by the Contemporary Art Society and the Friends of the Mercer Gallery.

“We look forward to welcoming new and returning visitors to enjoy this exciting exhibition, which opens on January 21.″

Read more:

• New council will use Harrogate’s multi-million pound headquarters
• Second consultation to be held on whether to form Harrogate town council

A popular gaming festival will expand again when it returns to Harrogate this spring.

AireCon, one of the UK’s largest analogue gaming festivals, will take place over four days and use more space than ever before at Harrogate Convention Centre.

It will run from Thursday, March 9 to Sunday, March 12, featuring more than 80 exhibitors along with space and time for more than 40 hours of gaming.

A spokesperson for the event said:

“Keeping community at its core, AireCon 2023 will offer more table space than ever before so attendees can meet and game as they please outside of the exhibition space.

“The beloved Bring ‘n’ Buy area is back to help visitors complete their collections alongside a whole host of tournaments, events, RPGs and a carefully curated selection of the finest street food trucks from across Yorkshire on hand to keep everyone fed and watered.”

As well as dedicated gamers, AireCon aims to encourage new players, with Leeds-based board game chain Travelling Man offering free loans of its games for people to play during the event.

There will be a family zone for introductions, demonstrations and gaming sessions run by Imagination Gaming for children of all ages, as well as the AireCon Inter-School Tournament featuring teams competing in a number of different tabletop titles.

Read more:

• New events to attract thousands more visitors to Yorkshire Event Centre in 2023
• New board to review Harrogate Convention Centre operating model

AireCon has been in Harrogate since 2017, having first been held in founder Mark Cooke’s flat and then a smaller venue in Bradford.

It has expanded significantly since then, with more directors coming on board to work with Mark and the latest new features in gaming brought to each year’s event.

The AireCon spokesperson added:

“An essential, inclusive event for any new gaming fan or longtime tabletop enthusiast, AireCon 2023 is an unmissable opportunity for thousands of gamers, creators, families, independent companies and more to get together, share ideas and have fun playing classic games and exploring new ones; whether they’re attending with friends or coming down to the convention solo.”

Tickets range from £7 to £22 for an adult each day and are free for under 18s, with some of the events during the weekend also requiring tickets. For details, click here.

A trial has opened into allegations of sexual offences by an instructor at Harrogate’s Army Foundation College.

Cpl S Bartram is charged with a number of offences including sexual assault, harassment, perverting the course of justice and disgraceful conduct of an indecent kind.

The trial began at Catterick Court Martial Centre on Monday.

The Army Foundation College, on Penny Pot Lane, provides 23-week and 49-week basic training courses to junior soldiers aged 16 to 18.

The trial is scheduled to last for two weeks.

Read more:

• Abuse allegations at Harrogate Army Foundation College raised in House of Lords
• Junior soldiers graduate at Harrogate’s Army Foundation College

A Harrogate school is celebrating being selected for refurbishment after winning a place on a government scheme.

St Peter’s C of E Primary School, in the town centre, is one of 239 schools in the country to be chosen to be part of the School Rebuild or Refurbishment Programme.

St Peter’s is the only school in the Harrogate district to have been chosen under the scheme. Wetherby High School, which is in the City of Leeds district, will also receive funding.

School business manager Amanda Foster said:

“This is a beautiful Victorian building, but it’s never really had enough money to keep it in good condition. There’s water ingress, single-glazed windows, the roof has never been looked at, and the boiler is 51 years old.

“If they can make us watertight, replace our windows and get us a new boiler, we’ll be delighted, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

No figure has yet been put on the amount of funding that will be allocated to the school. The Department for Education will assess later this year what works need to be done and how much money will be awarded.

Headteacher Mr Paul Griffiths said:

‘We are delighted with this news. A huge amount of time and work goes into preparing these applications and we are delighted to have been successful.

“Since joining the school in September 2021, a number of improvements including new outdoor play facilities, a new nurture room and a new classroom have been successfully completed. We are thrilled that we will be able to continue to invest significantly in the building for the benefit of staff, children their families and the wider community.

“We look forward to keeping everyone updated with news of the scope and timing of the works as the year progresses.”

Built in 1883, St Peter’s was Harrogate’s first purpose-built hospital. The hospital was closed in 1932 and then bought a few years later and turned into a school.

Last year, the school, which has 267 pupils and is part of the Yorkshire Causeway Schools Trust, spent £280,000 on a major refurbishment project, which included removing external fire escapes, creating additional classrooms and a new outside play area.

Read more:

• Victorian primary school in Harrogate undergoes major revamp
• Ofsted paves way for new Harrogate school offering additional support
• Eligibility for free school meals in Harrogate district rises by 50% since pandemic

Now is your time to shine with the Stray Ferret Business Awards. We are encouraging businesses of all sizes from right across the Harrogate district to enter for our awards and get recognition from our top panel of judges. Entries close on January 16.

A Harrogate opticians has donated high visibility vests to a local school.

Specsavers on Beulah Street donated the jackets to St Robert’s Catholic Primary School to help children stay safe on school trips during winter.

Fraz Khan, store director, said:

“The winter weather, fog, rain and darkness that closes in early in the afternoons make it more difficult for drivers to see pedestrians, and especially children.

“By providing the high visibility jackets to our neighbouring school, we can help to tackle concerns around road safety and make it easier for children to be seen. As part of the initiative, we are also hoping to raise awareness of regular eye test for children, as untreated sight problems can lead to more serious issues in the long term, if not addressed.”

Miss Collins, headteacher at St Robert’s, added: 

“We’re really grateful to have received this donation, the vests will be so helpful in making sure the children are clearly visible when we take them on trips and visits and means that adventures outside of the classroom don’t have to be put on hold until the spring.”

Housing developer hosts energy saving event at Harrogate scheme

A housing developer is set to host an energy saving event at its Harrogate scheme to help new homeowners.

Redrow will host a series of events at its Granby Meadows development between Saturday (January 14) and Sunday (January 22).

Prospective homebuyers will also be able to use Redrow’s energy performance certificate calculator tool, which is designed to help people compare the energy savings to their current properties and highlight the benefits of a newbuild.

James Holmear, director of Redrow, said:

“Our research shows people are more eco conscious than ever before and are looking at ways to be even more energy efficient, especially in relation to their homes.”

For more information, visit the Redrow website here.

NHS managers have objected to plans for 49 homes at Kingsley Farm in Harrogate and warned that the town’s health infrastructure has “very limited capacity”.

The homes, which have been proposed by Quarterly Kingsley Ltd, are earmarked for the north and north east of the site off Kingsley Road.

The developer said in a planning statement submitted to Harrogate Borough Council the scheme would help to offer a “sense of place”.

However, Nick Brown, of the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, has objected to the plan.

In a letter to the council, he warned GPs were “extremely concerned” about further development within Harrogate.

He said:

“As primary care providers, the GPs and primary care networks are extremely concerned regarding any proposals for further residential development within Harrogate.

“The existing health infrastructure in Harrogate already operates above optimum capacity and has very limited capacity to absorb additional pressures.

“Primary care and community services within the area are already running at, or far beyond their existing capacity.”

Read more:

• Developer reduces planned Kinglsey Drive scheme to 162 homes
• Starbeck residents pledge to fight 181-home Kingsley Drive plans ‘tooth and nail’

The Kingsley area has seen multiple planning applications lodged to build houses on Kingsley Farm, including a revised proposal for 162 homes by Persimmon Homes.

Residents in the area have long held concerns about the amount of housebuilding in the area and its affect on traffic, noise and loss of green space.

Harrogate Borough Council will make a decision on the Kingsley Farm proposal at a later date.

The Stray Ferret Business Awards 2023 are for businesses across all sectors in the Harrogate district.

In this final week before entries close, we are revealing the last of what our judging panel is looking for when it comes to each of the 10 categories.

Next up is the Best Employee Development Award, which is sponsored by Jones Myers, Family Law Solicitors.

This award is designed to highlight businesses that develop their employees, giving them the best start for a new career.

Those looking to enter this award need to give details of the business values and culture that lead to the creation of the training programme and highlight employee successes that came as a result.

Do you know a person that deserves to win the Best Employee Development Award at the Stray Ferret Business Awards? Entries close on January 16. It’s simple and quick, so enter today!

Click here or the banner below to enter for the Stray Ferret Business Awards, sponsored by Prosperis.

Read more:

• Harrogate businessman spared jail for sexually assaulting woman in street
• Race to be Lib Dem candidate in Harrogate and Knaresborough down to final two

Striking ambulance workers are operating a picket line in Harrogate today.

Members of the GMB union began their 24-hour action at Harrogate Ambulance Station, which is on Lancaster Park Road close to the hospital, at midnight.

They were joined by members of Unison at noon.

It is the second time staff at Yorkshire Ambulance Service have gone on strike in the last month, although they continue to respond to the most serious category one calls.

GMB rep and paramedic Neil Summers told the Stray Ferret the state of the NHS was the main reason for the industrial action. He said:

“We are literally sitting outside hospitals with patients in our ambulances for hours and hours because they have nowhere to go.

“The hospitals are full and it means we are not able to do our jobs. We hear calls for cardiac arrests and can’t do anything.”

Todays picket line

Mr Summers said York Hospital was particularly bad but paramedics could still be waiting at Harrogate District Hospital for “up to three or four hours”.

He said there needed to be greater investment in the NHS as well as social care to ease problems caused by bed-blocking.

He said pay was also a concern, as many staff had not had an increase in wages for years.

“My pay isn’t terrible but some people’s is appalling.”

Picket line Jan 2023

The pickets have been joined today by local campaigner Lindis Percy, a former nurse, midwife and health visitor. She said:

“What’s going on in the the health service is shocking and this government has caused it.”

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said this morning the NHS is under “very severe pressure”.

He added the government has announced further investment for emergency departments, as well as looking into ways of targeting how to get patients who are fit to leave into social care.

Read more:

• Ambulance workers in Harrogate district begin strike
• Picket line at Harrogate station as latest RMT strikes near end