Bake Off star Helena Garcia brings the witching hour to Bettys

Harrogate’s famous Bettys tearoom had a witch peeking in its windows this week when Great British Bake Off contestant Helena Garcia dropped by.

Helena, who appeared on the Channel 4 cooking programme in 2019, swooped by Bettys to admire its Halloween windows and pick up some ghoulish treats and to promote her new book.

She published a book called The Wicked Baker in 2020 and has now brought out The Witch-Crafting Handbook.

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Eight commercial units approved at Dunlopillo site in Pannal

Harrogate Borough Council has approved plans for eight new commercial units at the former Dunlopillo factory site in Pannal.

York-based Echo Green Developments has lodged the application, which will see the units based to the northern part of the site on Thirkill Drive.

It will also include 28 car parking spaces, 10 cycle spaces and two motorcycle spaces.

The developer said in planning documents that the scheme would “deliver much needed economic development” and that the site was earmarked as employment land by the council.

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The former Dunlopillo site has undergone considerable redevelopment already.

Councillors gave permission to change the site into a mixed-use development back in 2015. Much of the site has already been demolished and replaced by housing as well as the Vida Grange care home.

Approval has also been granted to demolish the former Dunlopillo office block and build 48 apartments.

Leeds company handed £270,000 Sun Pavilion refurb contract

Harrogate Borough Council has awarded a £270,846 contract to Claywood Construction Ltd to refurbish Harrogate’s Sun Pavilion.

The pavilion, which has an art deco glass dome and overlooks Valley Gardens, hosts weddings and can accommodate up to 200 guests. But it has been run down for some time.

The Leeds-based company will be tasked with reconstructing the floor, installing underfloor heating. replacing the heating system, refurbishing the toilets and repairing the leaky roof.

In a report, the council said refurbishment and maintenance of the building would protect “the value and prolonging the life of the asset” and ensure “the health and safety of building users”.

Completed in the 1930s, the venue on Cornwall Road was restored to its original state in 1998 and reopened by the queen.

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Knaresborough’s singing train conductor earns debut art show

A train conductor from Knaresborough has earned a debut art show after picking up his paintbrushes for the first time during lockdown.

Paul Mirfin, who has worked for Northern for 19 years, decided that he needed a new therapeutic hobby just a few months ago.

His colourful pieces, which are often inspired by the scenes he sees on the railway, have been a big hit with his colleagues with some asking for commissions.

Mr Mirfin, who is also a singer, said:

“Painting is really new for me. I had never painted in my life but earlier this year I picked up a brush, bought a load of oils and just started painting.

“I was diagnosed with anxiety a little while ago. My mum had passed away, I moved house, got married and had a lot going on. Painting just focused me in a way nothing else did and really helped.”

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The oil paintings will be on display in Harrogate station’s waiting room on platform one between 9am and 5pm on October 30. He added:

“Obviously, being a railway man, that’s what most of my paintings are of so far. One will be put into the staff room at Leeds, which I’m very proud of.

“I’d recommend giving painting a go to anyone. It’s so relaxing and absorbing – it helps you take time off in your mind of other things that are going on, or it does for me at least.”

The paintings are inspired by the railway.

Tony Baxter, regional director at Northern said:

“It is very exciting to be featuring Paul’s work at Harrogate station for both our customers and colleagues to enjoy.

At Northern, we are dedicated to making the railway environment better for the whole community and to encourage everyone to ‘go do your thing’ – whatever that may be.”

Knaresborough vaccine centre welcomes first 12 to 15-year-olds

Knaresborough’s vaccination site today welcomed the first 12 to 15 year olds through its doors amid concern about high coronavirus cases in the Harrogate district.

The government initially said that all children in that age group would be offered jabs on school premises by half-term.

However, the roll-out in schools locally has been delayed due to staffing issues at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.

So the NHS has asked Homecare Pharmacy Services, which recently moved to the Chain Lane Community Hub in Knaresborough, to help out with the roll-out.

William Kean, 12, from Harrogate, was among the first of his cohort to get vaccinated today. He told the Stray Ferret:

“I was a little bit nervous but it was fine, it didn’t hurt very much. I thought it was going to be worse. Hopefully it means I don’t miss as much school now.”

The Homecare team at the launch of the new clinic today.

Local public health officials have linked the high rate of infection in the Harrogate district to children returning to school in September.

The director of public health for North Yorkshire, Louise Wallace, revealed last week that she had urged schools to bring back face masks and reduce after-school activities as a result.

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Jason Baskind, managing director of Homecare Pharmacy Services, told the Stray Ferret:

“Obviously the school teams have been struggling to get the children all done. The initial offer has got to be through schools.

“But the NHS has asked us and other vaccination centres to put on these clinics for children because it’s half-term and because of the situation in Harrogate.”

Sue Vasey, interim director at the Chain Lane Community Hub, added:

“It was really important for us to be able to offer this facility for such an important programme, particularly now when infection levels are so high in our area.

“We are always in need of volunteers but it’s a great atmosphere and a really good team. Everyone has really pulled together to make this work.”

Call to remove damaged Valley Garden statues

The chair of Harrogate International Partnerships has called for damaged statues in the town’s Valley Gardens to be removed.

Vandals ripped out chunks of wood from the Kiwi bird and the carved Maori bench in the New Zealand garden section of Valley Gardens last year.

Dennis Richards, chair of the HIP, a charity that supports twinning groups, told the Stray Ferret the sculptures needed to be removed in order for the charity to come up with proposals to replace them.

The section of Valley Gardens commemorates Harrogate’s twinning with Wellington and the country’s airmen being stationed in the town during World War Two.

However, Mr Richards said the council needed to remove the statues. It follows concern about the condition of them ahead of a visit to Wellington by the HIP.

He said:

“All we are asking for is the wooden statues to be removed forthwith. That is what is causing this disconnect.”

Mr Richard added that once the structures are removed, the HIP will put forward proposals with what could replace them.

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Last week, Kate Spencer, the HIP’s representative who has travelled to New Zealand as part of the twinning arrangement, raised concern that the conditions “dishonoured” the airmen commemorated in the gardens.

Valley Gardens development plan

Harrogate Borough Council said in a statement previously that the sculptures had “already started to rot independent of any vandalism that has taken place”.

It added:

“We would welcome any support or fundraising ideas from Harrogate International Partnership for the replacement of these with something more sustainable and robust for the location.

“Equally if there is anyone who would like to help with maintenance of the space we would be happy to arrange volunteering sessions in conjunctions with our own team or the Friends of Valley Gardens who provide fantastic support in maintaining this space.

“More widely we are in the process of agreeing a Valley Gardens development plan to continue to improve these spaces over the coming years.”

The garden dates back to 1954 and chainsaw sculptor Mick Burns carved the Marlin, Kiwi, and bench in 2010.

Starbeck residents raise anti-social behaviour concerns

Starbeck residents have raised concerns about the level of anti-social behaviour, particularly around the level crossing.

Local councillors and community leaders have received reports of various activities, ranging from late night gatherings to illegal parking.

They are keen for North Yorkshire Police to send more officers to patrol the area to combat the issue.

However, Cllr Tim Myatt, the Conservative representative for High Harrogate, urged anyone with concerns to report them to the police so officers are aware of the scale of the problem. He said:

“Cllr Nigel Middlemass and I are aware of residents’ concerns and we would encourage residents to contact the local police team to log incidents.

“We would like to see an increased police presence in the area to deter unwelcome activity.

“So we encourage residents to report any concerns to the police on the 101 number or via the police website.”

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Charlotte Barker, vice-chair of the Starbeck Residents’ Association, said:

“The Starbeck Residents’ Association recognises that local people are rightly concerned about anti-social behaviour in our area.

“That’s why we have shared residents’ concerns with relevant local organisations and are regularly in touch with the police about these issues on behalf of local people.”

Andrew Hart, who owns the Red Box Post Office on Starbeck High Street, added:

“Policing is a major issue as the local team clock-off at 7pm and are rarely seen during the day. Starbeck continues to be used as a dumping ground.

“Left alone, the homeless hostel residents would be fine but they are not left alone. Improved policing in other parts of the region now means that Starbeck is seen as a soft touch.

“We need some action.”

Harrogate primary school starts air pollution fight on Cold Bath Road

A Harrogate primary school that sits in the middle of Cold Bath Road is trying to find a solution to its air pollution problem.

Tim Broad, the headteacher at Western Primary School, was monitoring the children as they left school during the first lockdown when he noticed the scale of the issue.

He was concerned about the sheer volume of traffic but most shocked when, as larger vehicles passed by, he tasted diesel in his mouth.

So the school installed an Airly air pollution monitor and was the first in the Harrogate district to do so.

Western School hopes that it can use the results to encourage North Yorkshire County Council to take action.

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While Mr Broad hopes that people will change their behaviour in the near future, whether that is by walking their children to school or by switching to electric vehicles.

However, he has also considered lobbying for more drastic action to try and move traffic away from Cold Bath Road. Mr Broad told the Stray Ferret:

“I have already expressed my concerns about the volume of traffic from a road safety view but that obviously goes hand in hand with pollution.

“We could try to make Cold Bath Road one way, we could pedestrianise it, we could close it to traffic at certain times of day.

“The problem is, it’s such a thoroughfare. If we block it off then would we just move all of that traffic to another place? There isn’t an easy solution.”

Stray Views: Station Gateway project a ‘haphazard whim’

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.

£11 million Station Gateway a ‘haphazard whim’

Despite all the consultations undertaken by North Yorkshire County Council and others, it seems as though Councillor Don Mackenzie’s scheme is to be implemented whether we like it, or not.

Buoyed by the cycling fraternity that requires cycle lanes everywhere, we are to spend £11million on what is essentially resurfacing of two streets. Oh and a hundred yards of cycle lane that links up to nothing and finishes nowhere.

NYCC spent big in Ripon city centre 20 years ago, it was an utter disaster from the start and still looks dreadful. The poor people of Ripon will, I’m sure testify as to what an ungodly mess NYCC has perpetrated upon them so the chances of getting an impressive out turn in Harrogate isn’t that promising.

But wait, if we are serious about cycling provision the thinking and implementation needs to be joined up, not just a haphazard whim of our local councillor and a couple of cycling pressure groups.

The Stray Act is outdated and needs reform to meet the modern world, the act needs amending to allow cycling on the Stray. We need to stop replacing every square inch of grass with a similar area near the Woodlands pub

Then install a cycleway from Knaresborough Road at the back of the hospital over Wetherby Road, Oatlands Drive, Stray Rein, the railway, and Leeds Road terminating at the Otley Road cycleway that is about to start.

Provide raised plateaus at each road crossing to give cyclists priority.

This arrangement will provide mega cycle route infrastructure through town from east to west and north to south, much safer than on road schemes, cause very little disruption during construction and will give a lasting legacy.

But do we have the bottle to even consider it?

David Howarth, Harrogate

Traffic evidence based on ‘flawed modelling’

Having watched and listened to the Station Gateway presentation on Thursday evening, the reason for the loss of the major A61 route through Harrogate is now clear.

It seems that all the modelling for this project was made using flow numbers taken during lockdown. No wonder pedestrian and vehicle numbers were so low and unrealistic, and the road had been made so narrow!

Before all this costly and wide-ranging change is passed and thrust upon us, please can we have a re-run using typical A61 working day traffic?

Living on this north/south A61 national highway, we are fully aware of the normal use of this main road, which became unusually quiet during pandemic restrictions and road renovations.

There is often heavy traffic in both directions and a real need for the central crossing bollards erected at needful places between the wide traffic lanes.

Half of this traffic will pass down Parliament Street, but the equivalent southbound traffic has to join the shoppers and bus/train users in Station Parade. The video seemed not to show any of this.

The question raised about access to the A61 from the conference centre car-park was scarcely addressed, except to infer that there was no need to cater for it.

It will certainly be a dangerous place for cyclists on either side of the road, let alone pedestrians.

So serious re-run, please, with realism. There is so much new building going on in and around our town that all numbers will surely soon outgrow this dream.

Beryl Dunsby, Harrogate

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Packed school buses explain Harrogate’s soaring covid rate

I’m not surprised the covid rate is rising. I accompanied my grandson on the school bus Harrogate to Knaresborough a few days ago and it was rammed. Children about 11-15/16 stood and sat shoulder to shoulder. Not one more person could have got on.

No windows were open and not one person except me had a mask on, not even the driver.

My friend in Brighton is suffering a bad dose of covid following an informal singing session. Out of the 70 there at least 30 have tested positive. They had ventilation and and all are double vaccinated.

I’ve read of a new variant, highly contagious, which is suspected in a few cases including a friend’s wife who is currently very ill in hospital down south. It’s been reported in Japan, six cases last I read a few days ago, and Australia, one case, similarly a few days ago, maybe a week.

I’ve heard nothing apart from that. I don’t follow news closely, it’s too depressing.

Teresa Liddell Shepherd, Harrogate

Double standards by cyclists

The Stray Ferret reported Harrogate District Cycle Action group commenting on Tesco’s arguments concerning sustainability:  “That is greenwash, and based on nothing more than a far-fetched hope” and that there should be “segregated, protected cycle tracks on either side of Skipton Road”.

This is the organisation who is actively supporting the Otley Road cycle way also based on nothing more than a far-fetched hope. They have never provided any evidence that it will see motorists on Otley Road forsaking their cars. Or that those motorists are happy to have a narrow pavement, become a shared non-segregated cycle path for Otley Road residents and pedestrians to negotiate.

Double standards?

Chris Dicken, Harrogate

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.

 

Harrogate interiors masterclass has boosted my confidence with design

This article is sponsored by Lapicida

As a nation, we have always taken great pride in our homes.

And in the age of Pinterest and Instagram, online shopping and interiors influencers, it has become easier than ever to have a go at being an interior designer.

You only have to look at the continuing success of glossy magazines like Ideal Home, as well as popular TV shows like Changing Rooms and Grand Designs, to recognise we have a huge fascination with transforming our homes.

And in 2021 – after 18 months of being very much at home – we are more obsessed than ever.

Guilty pleasure

Interior design is well and truly having a moment and I am here for it. My guilty pleasure on an evening when the kids have gone to bed is trawling through Instagram and screenshotting all the gorgeous images of people’s homes. I’m also a Rightmove addict and I read every interiors magazine I can get my hands on.

A rear view of Joanie’s renovated home on Wetherby Road.

So when Harrogate interior designer Joanie Mac invited me to join one of her masterclass dayschools at her own incredible home in Harrogate, it was a no-brainer.

While I have tried to absorb every tip and piece of knowledge passed on by designers, I will admit I’m still pretty clueless. I know when something works in my home, but I don’t necessarily know why.

So when I rocked up to Joanie’s house on Wetherby Road on Sunday morning at 9.30am, I couldn’t wait to get stuck in.

Fabulous

Joanie’s home is everything you expect from an interior designer. Completely fabulous. Obviously I couldn’t stop myself having a nosy at all her quirky furniture, artwork, accessories and bold colour schemes. I was like a kid in a sweet shop.

Joanie’s fabulous open-plan sitting area and dining room.

I was joined by four other students from a variety of backgrounds. There was a mum who attended with her art student daughter, an upholsterer and a primary school teacher, who was planning on changing her career.

After a welcome cup of coffee, we all took a seat at Joanie’s white marble kitchen island and began our first lesson of the day on colour theory.

“Colour is such a powerful thing,” explained Joanie, as she showed us various colour schemes and images and explained why they worked or didn’t.

“Colour changes everything.”

Four seasons

Joanie explained how colours can be broken down into the four seasons. Spring features bright vibrant colours, summer is more muted, soft and “flowery”, autumn is dark and cocooning, while winter, again with its darker tones, has a more “masculine edge”.

Apparently these colours play to our personalities and most of us usually fall into two seasons.

Joanie said:

“The big thing about colour is it can pull everything together – the things you wouldn’t think match. But you have to use it to create cohesiveness not choppiness.”

After another cup of coffee – it was a Sunday after all – Joanie took us on a tour of her house, which she has renovated and decorated to showcase her ideas and methods.

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With her walls painted predominantly in Little Owl, a soft warm grey by Fired Earth, Joanie explained that she had used furniture, accessories and lighting to inject colour and bring her home to life. Her rule is to stick to three colours and use variants of these in each room.

Exhibition

Joanie’s home is like one big beautiful exhibition and it certainly gave me some inspiration – from her mixture of vintage and modern design to the way she had hung a stunning floral dress on the wall as a piece of art.

A pretty floral dress can be used as a piece of wall art.

Importantly she had made everything flow by using the “red thread” concept. The idea is that you use this when decorating your own home to link the spaces and bind them together as a whole house, rather than just a series of rooms linked by passages.

For example you could use a splash of blue in all of your rooms. The idea is you must never decorate a room in isolation but consider the property as a whole.

Patterns and textures

After we had explored her house, including her amazing garden, Joanie spoke about patterns and textures.

She said:

“It’s about the friction between the textures. You don’t want to overload the room, but you want to create friction.”

Joanie takes us on a tour of her amazing home.

She suggested sticking to three textures in the room, using accessories like rugs, cushions, wallpaper and vases, and to also make sure you add plenty of green with plants.

It was then time to get stuck into some practical work. We were asked to cut up pictures from interior magazines of images we were drawn to, as well as fabrics and wallpapers, and stick them down to create a mood board.

Art project

This was actually lots of fun, as I’m so used to doing this sort of thing digitally on Pinterest. It felt so much more satisfying to actually create a board with something tangible. It was like doing a school art project and I found it really therapeutic.

Part of my moodboard.

We were then told to write down the first five words that came into our heads to describe ourselves. And it turns out our moodboards, and the colours and textures we used to create them, actually said a lot about us as people.

Brave

Initially I was quite reserved and almost needed permission from Joanie to go nuts with colour and texture. It turns out this summed up the anxious side of my personality perfectly. Once I relaxed into it, I started adding floral patterns, velvet, metallics and bright pink, and somehow it actually worked. I already felt braver when it came to putting this into practice at home.

After lunch on a naturally beautifully-laid table, featuring wooden serving platters, vintage cutlery and decorated with sprigs of rosemary, we looked at seven iconic design styles and learned about the style elements for each one. These were:

Lunch is served on a beautifully-laid table.

We also learned briefly about lighting and how this can transform your space, before moving on to creating vignettes.

A vignette, in terms of interior design, is a tiny, curated style statement, made up of a group of objects that are displayed on a shelf, a table, or elsewhere in the home.

Vignette

We had been asked to bring five objects from our own houses. Mine included an old framed photo of my great grandmother, an antique cigarette box and a vintage coffee tin.

Joanie then made a vignette using each of these items, as well as some of her own accessories, and her creations were really impressive.

We learned to look at them through a picture frame as an individual piece of art and to also contain some of the items, for example on a tray or under a glass cloche, which was extremely effective. Again it was interesting what we all chose to bring, interior design really is about you and projecting your personality.

One of the vignettes created by Joanie using items from my home.

I finished the day feeling really relaxed, but also motivated and excited about putting all the new skills I had learned into practice in my own home.

I am definitely going to be more adventurous with both colour and texture. If think something is going to work in a space, whether that be a really dark paint, a crazy patterned rug, or a random fabric, I’m going to be more confident to give it a go.

After all, my home is a reflection of me and I now feel brave enough to embrace it.

My favourite styling tips from the day:

 

Learning about colour with Joanie.