Harrogate Archives - Page 432 of 783

Thieves steal cash and stamps from Birstwith post office

North Yorkshire Police is investigating a burglary at a rural post office in Nidderdale.

Thieves entered the Dales Stores Post Office in Birstwith at nine minutes past midnight on Friday (August 5).

The suspects smashed two panes of glass on the front door and stole cash and a large amount of stamps with a high value.

A North Yorkshire Police statement added:

“Officers are asking members of the public to get in touch if they have any information, saw anything suspicious or can identify the person recorded on CCTV.

“In particular, offices are asking local residents if they have any CCTV or dash cam footage of vehicles in the area at the time of the burglary.

“Anyone with any information is asked to email leah.fitzsimons@northyorkshire.police.uk or call North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2 and ask for PC 950 Fitzsimons.

“If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Please quote reference number 12220137553 when passing on information.”

Appeal for missing Leeds man who may be in Harrogate

Police are appealing for information on a missing Leeds man who may have travelled to the Harrogate area.

Jesus Moreno, 41, is described as of Spanish origin with long curly brown hair, a long brown beard and wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans.

He is 5ft 7in tall and has an orange octopus tattoo on his upper left arm.

West Yorkshire Police believe he may have travelled to the Harrogate and Knaresborough area.

Officers have urged the public to call 101 referencing log number 1061 02-08.

Harrogate mental health crisis team remains in Ripon

Harrogate’s mental health crisis team is still operating out of Ripon, two years after health bosses closed the town’s Briary unit.

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, which runs mental health services for the district, moved the team to The Orchards at Ripon following the closure of the Briary unit at Harrogate District Hospital in May 2020.

The crisis team provides specialist inpatient care for adults and children with mental health problems who may otherwise need to go to hospital.

The 29 staff were relocated after managers were unable to find alternative accommodation in Harrogate.

At the time, health bosses said the move was a short term solution until a new base in Harrogate was found.

The Stay Ferret asked the mental health trust whether a new base had been identified for the crisis team and if it had returned to face-to-face consultations.

A spokesperson for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust said:

“Following the transformation work associated with adult and older adult mental health services, there was a requirement for services other than hospital liaison to move out of Harrogate District Foundation Trust.

“In the planning of this, the adult and children’s crisis teams were accommodated at the Ripon community base at The Orchards from May 2020, as the crisis team coverage included Harrogate, Ripon and the rural district areas. The crisis team continues to operate from their own office spaces in Ripon.”

They added:

“Because of the nature of the crisis and home-based treatment team, the way we met the needs of patient and carers did not change, in that, we retained face-to-face contact throughout covid balanced with telephone or video contacts, depending on patient choice and level of need as we had done before.”

In March 2021, health bosses told the Stray Ferret that the team needed to return at the “earliest opportunity”.

When the Briary Wing closed in April 2020, inpatient mental health services transferred to York.

North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group, which buys medical services for the county, said the transfer of inpatient beds “released £500,000”, which could be invested in community mental health services.

Have you been affected by this change in mental health services? Get in touch at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk

Woman who lost 12 stone launches crowdfunder to remove loose skin

A Harrogate slimmer who lost almost 12 stone has launched a crowdfunding appeal to pay for surgery to remove her loose skin.

NHS worker Debs Smith embarked on her epic weight loss after her dad died in December 2019.

Ms Smith, from Jennyfields, started off weighing more than 21 stone and had 68-inch hips at less than five feet tall. She said:

“I was literally wider than I was tall.”

Over the next two years she shed eleven-and-a-half stone, now weighing just below 10 stone, and says she’s never felt happier.

Debs Smith, right, before her weight loss

But she has already spent £35,000 dealing with the impact of her dramatic weight loss by paying for two operations to get rid of what she describes as “the loosest skin I’ve ever seen”. She says:

“I looked and felt like a tiny skeleton stuck inside a giant hot sleeping bag made of skin.

“Not how anyone wants to live, this affected my mobility, daily hygiene and dignity.”

The two operations, which took 16 hours in total, lifted and reconstructed everything on her upper body. Removing the loose skin from her stomach alone got rid of one-and-a-half stone.

She flew to Cairo for the operations because the cost is far less in Egypt than the UK, but her funds are now depleted.

She said:

“To make those earlier operations happen I took out a bank loan and an extra mortgage.

“The two procedures would originally have included my thigh areas but I have bleeding issues, which slowed down what could be achieved each time.

“A final procedure is needed for the huge amount of sagging skin on my thighs.”

Ms Smith, who was helped in her weight loss by Slimming World in Jennyfields, has launched a £5,000 crowdfunding campaign. So far it has raised almost £500. She said:

“Before I lost weight I could walk only a few yards before becoming breathless; I now often walk with my dog for two to three hours and its still a wonderful experience.

“However, my thigh skin hangs like big loose curtains flopping around inside trousers, so I can’t wear patterned trousers without looking very odd.

“Either leg can easily get stuck to or under the other leg in bed.”

You can donate to Ms Smith’s campaign here.

Have the district’s glamping sites benefitted from foreign travel chaos?

In the past few years high end camping or “glamping” as it is more commonly known, has become increasing popular, with a number of new sites springing up in the district.

Now as families weigh up whether to risk airport and port chaos to go abroad or remain in the UK, how is this relatively new holiday industry faring?

Some providers in the Harrogate district have reported an increase in trade, others have seen a downturn.

This has been put down to an increase in the cost of living, as well as last year’s demand being “unprecedented” due covid travel restrictions.

The local glamping industry

Tom Sterne, owner of Yurtshire, between Ripon and Pateley Bridge, said advance bookings for the luxury glamping and wellness retreat have been growing by the day.

He said:

“Since the news about flight cancellations and chaotic scenes at airports hit the media, the number of enquiries we have received has increased markedly.

“When we opened last July, we benefited from the sudden switch to staycations, from people across the Harrogate district and further afield, who would normally fly off to the sun and we are witnessing a repeat this year.”

A break in Nidderdale

Lindsay and Chris Morrell, whose annual summer holidays in Tuscany have been on hold since the covid lockdowns began in March 2020, have booked Italy next year.

But the couple, who used to live in Harrogate and have since moved to Northumberland, decided to take a break in Nidderdale for their 2022 getaway.

Ms Morrell said:

“With the problems people are encountering at airports, we didn’t want to risk booking for Tuscany this year and hope that issues affecting overseas travel will be sorted out by the time we are ready to venture abroad.”

Chris and Lindsay Morrell

For friends Carroll Shaw and Annie Brown, who live in Ripon, overseas holidays are no longer on the agenda.

Ms Shaw said:

“Why would anybody who lives so close to the gorgeous Nidderdale countryside, want the hassle of flying thousands of miles to lie on a crowded beach?”

A slow start

Louise Pullan co-owns the Breaks Fold Farm camping and glamping site in the Washburn Valley, next to Thruscross Reservoir, in the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

She told the Stray Ferret that the beginning of the year had been very quiet, but it had started to pick up.

Breaks Fold Farm.

Ms Pullan, who runs the site with her husband Richard, said:

“It has been a very slow start.

“We were 60 per cent down in May and June based on our 2019 bookings.

“However we have seen a rapid uptake in bookings into July and August in all our accommodation.

“People are watching their finances and holidays maybe aren’t top of their priority lists.

“We have noticed we are getting a lot of local guests from Harrogate and Skipton, so maybe the fuel prices are also having an impact on people’s choices.”

Ms Pullan said the campsite’s main customer base is short stays of two to three nights.

A difficult financial time

She said the price had been kept the same for the last three years, with discounts on longer stays to try and help people out during what is a difficult financial time.

She said:

“This is difficult as we as a business are now seeing increasing costs. For example our waste emptying costs have gone up 30 per cent, a bottle of gas has gone from £55 to £85 and our business insurance is double last year’s.

“We can’t afford to employ somebody this year due to soaring inflation, which is putting a huge pressure on us as a two-man band.

“Energy prices are just completely unbelievable and some of our fellow owners are up on 57p per kw, seeing their energy bills over double on previous years.

“We are only going to be able to absorb this for so long, unless hospitality businesses are offered some form of relief such as a VAT cut, like they were through 2021.

“Some sites have tried massively to capitalise on the staycation boom from 2020 and have made their prices unreachable for some.”

Cutting back

Claire Jones, owner of Strawberry Safari shepherds huts, in Wormald Green, between Harrogate and Ripon, said she had also seen a quieter year compared to last year.

Strawberry Safari.

She said:

“We believe this is due to a combination of people going abroad and also cutting back on short breaks in between their main holidays, due to cost of living increases.

“That said, last year’s demand was unprecedented and so it’s hard to compare the two.

“We have still seen some lovely guests this year, many of whom are here to enjoy the many events happening in and around Harrogate.”

Simon Weaver’s tribute to Harry Gration: ‘He was a premier league host’

The manager of Harrogate Town has paid tribute to Harry Gration, the Yorkshire TV legend who died suddenly last month, saying the club was privileged to have worked with him.

In the past year Harry had taken on the role of match day host for Town. He welcomed corporate sponsors and chaired Q and A sessions with invited guests and members of the team.

Simon Weaver told the Stray Ferret that Harry’s interest in working with Harrogate Town had come as something of a surprise to his father, Irving, who owns the club.

“My dad was nicely surprised to get a letter from Harry saying how much he loved the atmosphere at the stadium and was offering to lend a helping hand.

“Dad got on the phone and Harry become a host. He was very happy to pick up the mike for Q and As. He might ask the odd difficult question but he always did it with humour”

Simon played golf with Harry two days before his death as part of a fundraiser for Harrogate Homeless Project.

He said they were all devastated to learn of his death.

“We were all shell-shocked when we heard the news 48 hours later. Mum and Dad were so upset –he’d quickly became part of the club and part of our home games.

“He gave a feeling of familiarity straight away and made you feel like you could be yourself — as though you were chatting with a friend.

“Harry gave the club something new. It was like having a Premier League host at the club”.

The Weaver family and members of the management team at Harrogate Town attended Harry’s funeral at York Minster on Monday.

Like so many organisations that Harry worked with, they will miss him tremendously.

The funeral of Harry Gration held at York Minster on Monday

Harrogate gym launches strength training for menopausal women

A Harrogate gym has launched strength training sessions for women over 40 in an bid to “change the narrative” around menopause.

The sessions will be held at Eleven Eleven Sports Performance, which launched a studio on Otley Road in May.

The programme will focus on heavy lifting and increasing strength training to stimulate and build muscles to make up for the decline in the hormones estrogen and progesterone. It will also include sprint interval training, plyometrics and stabilising exercises.

Information will also be given on how to lead a healthier lifestyle to help lower cortisol levels, which is known as the stress hormone.

The sessions will be led by coaches Mark Nel and Kelly Loe, who moved to Harrogate from South Africa a year ago.

The couple co-own Eleven Eleven with Liz and Dean Kemp.

Empowering women

Ms Kemp said:

“Lifting weights is going to be good for anyone over the age of 40, but for women specifically because of the imbalances in hormones and the massive impact it has. Estrogen is a muscle-building hormone, so if that’s dropping you need to replace it.

“It’s trying to empower women to say you can do something about it. You can lift heavy and you will get the same effect and you will be able to build that lean muscle mass. This is even more important when you get older.

“It’s turning something negative into something positive. It’s about getting the narrative out there that you can pick up a barbell at any age if you are coached in the right way.”

The semi-private classes are limited to four participants to allow them develop their technique and lift safely.

They are being held on Monday, Wednesday and Friday lunchtimes from 12-1pm and 1pm-2pm.

New skills

It is hoped that under the guidance of Mr Nel and Ms Loe, who are both skilled weightlifters, the sessions will encourage women to try something new and gain new skills.

Ms Kemp said:

“I turned 50 this year and I’m a control freak. I didn’t like the changes going on in my life without knowing how I could help and take back control. I think that was where it started from.

“You can’t control what your hormone levels are doing, but there are so many ways you can improve your health and body composition.

“I was training with Mark and Kelly and I realised what they were doing is what the over 40s need in their life to create a healthier and fitter lifestyle going forward.

“It’s about changing the conversation and mindset around it and focussing on the positive.

“It’s being in the right environment to be able to train safely and do what we need to do to replace what our hormones used to with nutrition, healthy living, sprint training and jumping and not being scared of doing it.”

Age is just a number

Mr Nel, who has 24 years experience in the fitness industry, said no matter what age you are, you should still be able to achieve the same ability as someone who is younger if you are taught correctly.

He said:

“You might not lift the same weight or speed, but you are not restricted to ‘you can’t do that because you are this age’. To me it doesn’t matter if you take the right approach. There are athletes doing it at 70.”

Mr Nel, who has a string of accolades under his belt in both CrossFit and weightlifting, added that programmes can be modified for individuals depending on their ability.

He said:

“If your ability is just a barbell, you have that option to go through. If you are someone who is a fit 67-year-old and you want a little bit more intensity that option is there as well.”

Foundations

There will be a focus on mastering three basic foundations of bench, squats and deadlifts before advancing further.

Ms Kemp said:

“The other thing that makes it unique is you are benchmarked. So you have your set standard and until you reach the next level you don’t progress. It allows you to understand what your weaknesses are and what you need to work on.”

Ms Loe, who has been coaching since 2015 and specialises in CrossFit, added:

“I think we have created an environment where we respect more of the technique side of it than lifting heavy. We cheer on the person who is coming last and trying the hardest, as opposed to the person coming first. We do not tolerate massive egos.”

Ms Kemp said there was so much information out there about menopause that it could be overwhelming.

She added:

“That’s what we want to strip back to the bare functions of what you can do to take control and turn the difficult transition into something positive.”

Missing Boroughbridge teen found

A Boroughbridge woman who failed to return home on Friday night has been found.

North Yorkshire Police issued an appeal for help finding the woman after she went missing.

It issued photos and a description and asked people to get in touch with details of possible sightings.

Police said yesterday the girl had been found.

Consequently this article has been updated to conceal the women’s identity.

Harrogate Convention Centre to face competition from Leeds events venue

Harrogate Convention Centre is set to face competition from a proposed events venue in Leeds, which has been backed by the city’s planners.

The plans for the former Yorkshire Bank HQ have been recommended for approval by Leeds City Council, which said it had a “long-term aspiration” to bring a conference centre to the city.

A council report said the venue would be a quarter of the size of Harrogate Convention Centre and “focus on significantly smaller events”.

Yet it also said the venue could divert up to 6% of trade away from the convention centre, with further impacts on Harrogate town centre businesses that rely on events.

The proposals come at a crucial time for the 40-year-old Harrogate Convention Centre, which has planned a £47 million redevelopment after warning it is in “critical need” of an upgrade in order to keep its national appeal.

The venue would not comment on whether it supports or opposes the Leeds plans.

But centre director Paula Lorimer did say:

“We would need to give careful consideration to any proposed development within the region to understand its likely impact on Harrogate Convention Centre and ultimately the town.

“Our convention centre attracts more than 150,000 visitors a year, has an economic impact of more than £35 million and supports thousands of jobs and local businesses.

“In the meantime, we will continue to press ahead with our own exciting redevelopment proposals and an update report will be presented to the cabinet on 17 August for consideration.”

Questions over how the £47 million redevelopment could be funded are lingering after cash for the convention centre was not included in a devolution deal for York and North Yorkshire.

The landmark deal was agreed last week, but Harrogate Borough Council leader Richard Cooper refused to sign a letter of support as he said it “falls short of what many of us expected in that it does not deliver guaranteed funding for the convention centre”.

Harrogate Convention Centre.

Separately, the borough council has also bid for convention centre cash from the government’s Levelling Up Fund.

But the maximum amount available per project is £20 million and Harrogate is ranked as a low priority area.

A decision on the bid is expected in autumn.

Meanwhile, the Leeds plans would see the former Yorkshire Bank HQ demolished and the conference venue, as well as two blocks of student accommodation, built in its place if the proposals are approved at a meeting next Thursday.

A report said Harrogate Convention Centre’s performance has been “poor” in recent years and that the proposed venue would “look to capitalise on the high demand Leeds events market” as opposed to diverting trade from Harrogate.

It also said the proposed venue would complement the First Direct Arena, which stands next door to the Leeds site on Clay Pit Lane.

The report said:

“Leeds currently has no standalone dedicated exhibition space both for business-to business and business-to-client conferences and exhibitions.

“The provision of a multi-purpose events building, able to accommodate conferencing facilities, has been a long-term aspiration of the council.”

New cycling plans for Harrogate to be drawn up next month

A “detailed and co-ordinated plan” to encourage cycling and walking in Harrogate will be drawn up next month.

North Yorkshire County Council said today the plan will connect active travel initiatives such as the Otley Road cycle route and the Station Gateway.

It comes a day after the council revealed the Beech Grove road closure, which was introduced to encourage cycling, will end on August 14.

Beech Grove was seen as a key part of an integrated cycle route from Cardale Park to Harrogate train station.

So the decision to re-open it to through traffic was greeted with dismay by some cyclists and environmentalists.

But that doesn’t appear to be the end of the matter.

A council spokeswoman said today the Beech Grove measures, which cost £10,000, were introduced on a trial-only basis in February 2021, for a maximum of 18 months.

Bollards being installed on Beech Grove last year.

Because the trial is due to end on August 14, the “measures must legally be removed on this date”, the spokeswoman said, adding:

“Throughout the trial period we have reviewed consultation responses, collected traffic survey data and carried out site observations.

“This information and feedback will allow us the opportunity to bring forward a detailed and coordinated plan, connecting active travel initiatives such as Otley Road and Station Gateway together as planned.

“We will involve residents and interested parties as we draw up plans for a wider package of permanent measures, which we plan to consult in September.”

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The local glamping industry

A break in Nidderdale

A slow start

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A difficult financial time

Cutting back

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Empowering women

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New skills

Age is just a number

Foundations

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