After 18 months of online classes and a reduced timetable, Rossett Adult Learning will return to pre-pandemic levels for next month’s new autumn term.

The adult learning centre, which is a division of Harrogate’s Rossett School, has been providing courses since the 1970s.

It has operated online with just 70 classes during the pandemic but it today announced it will be back up to 160 courses next month.

About 75% of courses will now be held in-person at the school and some 25% will remain online.

Courses include art, music, exercise, history and languages and cover a diverse offering, including ukulele for beginners, tai chi, furniture restoration and French culture.

The centre welcomed 4,500 to 5,000 students a year pre-covid.

Melissa Horberry. manager of Rossett Adult Learning, said:

“After a tough past year where the centre, tutors and students have had to adapt to a different way of learning, we are now excited to be offering a range of courses online and back in the classroom.

“We have missed seeing our students in the centre on a weekly basis but have been encouraged by the feedback that we have received from our online students on how they have enjoyed their continued learning in the past year, especially during the lockdown periods.”

Class sizes can vary from 15 for arts and craft courses to up to 25 for the evening pilates classes.

The centre also offers 56 language classes offering eight languages at all levels, beginners to intermediate.

Read more:

• Ripon A-Level student who battled tumour aims to become a doctor
• Ripon Men’s Shed opens door to new friendships

Classes range in price; a 10-week language course costs £95 and a five-week crafts course costs £63.

Profits from the classes go to Rossett School.

Harrogate Borough Council and the organisers of the Harrogate Christmas Market are set to hold crunch talks to try to save the event for this year.

It will be the first time that the two groups have held a meeting since the council refused a licence for the market on Montpellier Hill just over two weeks ago.

The meeting will take place tomorrow morning and will centre on alternative locations for the Harrogate Christmas Market.

Brian Dunsby and his team of directors are set to talk with Alison Wilson, the head of parks and environmental services at the council.

Cllr Pat Marsh, leader of the Lib Dems at Harrogate Borough Council, set up the meeting but has been told by the council not to attend. She said:

“I felt very upset and saddened that this annual event would not be going ahead.

“I contacted the council to see if a meeting could be set up to resolve the issue, either by getting the event licenced or looking for alternative sites.

“Harrogate needs this market, it is a part of Harrogate’s events calendar and we cannot and should not lose it.”

Read more:

• Council drops Harrogate Christmas Market organisers after row
• Knaresborough Christmas Market set to go ahead after land dispute settled

This comes after council leader Richard Cooper formalised talks with a new set of organisers and described Mr Dunsby’s team as the “former Christmas market organisers”.

If the council were to proceed without Mr Dunsby’s team it is unclear what would happen to the 170 traders and 53 coaches which are already booked to attend this year’s event.

Brian Dunsby told the Stray Ferret ahead of his meeting:

“The agenda is alternative locations. I don’t think there are any other locations which are suitable for the Christmas market.

“We have got everything set up and ready to run at Montpellier Hill.

“I am hoping they will explain why the event is not suitable on Montpellier Hill, that is something the council have not yet done.

“We just have to wait and see.”

Staff at The Harrogate Clinic were out litter picking in Harrogate town centre yesterday after seeing an increase in discarded rubbish.

The colleagues said they have seen an increase in litter since lockdown was loosened and finally decided something had to be done.

In just a few hours the team collected bags of rubbish filled with food packaging, wine and beer bottles and drug paraphernalia.

Walking into work each day, Dr Shoreh Ghasmi, says her and her colleagues often comment on the amount of litter and wanted to get a group together to tackle it.

Dr Ghasmi said:

“We wanted to take it upon ourselves to do something. We are so lucky to work in such a beautiful town and its really disappointing to see some people take it for granted.

“We are just wanting to give it a bit of spring clean.”

The litter pickers in Harrogate yesterday.

The team, from The Harrogate Clinic on Prospect Crescent, have said they plan to make this a monthly scheme with other local businesses already saying they want to get involved.

Read more:

• Muddy footpath in Nidd Gorge transformed
• Malcolm Neesam History: Harrogate’s thriving working men’s clubs

There has been a negative reaction amongst some residents to the announcement that vehicles will be stopped from entering Otley Road from Victoria Road from September in an 18-month trial to boost active travel.

North Yorkshire County Council, which is behind the proposal, hopes the intervention will encourage walking and cycling and improve safety for cyclists using the Otley Road cycle route, which could be completed by early 2022.

A barrier will be placed at the junction, and one-way only and no entry signs will be installed.

It follows the furore over the Beech Grove Low Traffic Neighbourhood, which restricted traffic on the road to create a safer link into Harrogate for cyclists.

Guy Tweedy regularly visits his mum at Wentworth Court on Beech Grove and called the move to make Victoria Road one way “ridiculous”.

Mr Tweedy criticised the consultation process and said many residents first heard of the closure through the Stray Ferret. He said the new system has been brought in “by stealth” and will push traffic onto Cold Bath Road.

He added:

“They are trying to create more bottlenecks and congestion.

“The council are creating a problem.”

Read more:

• More road changes around Beech Grove and Otley Road
• Transport leader expects Harrogate’s Beech Grove road closure to be made permanent

Kay Weatherell lives on Beech Grove and her house backs onto Victoria Road. She called the move “absolutely crazy”.

She added:

“It’s all about the cyclists. I understand getting people out of cars but the majority of people who live around here are elderly people.”

Another resident who lives just off Victoria Road and asked not to be named, said the council had “put the cart before the horse” by not consulting residents first about the trial, which he expects to be made permanent.

He said:

“They’ve already made up their minds. It’s not democracy. They have not taken in the views of local people.”

“People coming up here will be using our car park as a turning bay. It won’t solve the problem.”

Conservative county councillor Don Mackenzie and NYCC’s executive member for access said:

“This addition to the existing active travel schemes in Harrogate demonstrates our commitment encouraging sustainable transport to ease congestion and to improve air quality.

“Like the trial on Beech Grove, we look forward to receiving the views of residents during the course of this experimental order. Those views will be taken into account as part of an ongoing review of the scheme.”

An Albanian drug gang who ran a half-a-million-pound skunk-cannabis factory in quiet residential streets in Harrogate have been jailed for a combined 22 years.

Their “facilitator” was 73-year-old former guest-house owner Yoko Banks, who rented out her properties for “industrial” cannabis production “in the expectation of significant” profit”, Leeds Crown Court heard.

The disgraced businesswoman, who owns a string of “highly marketable” properties in some of Harrogate’s most desirable areas, is now starting a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence.

She and the six Albanian gangsters appeared for sentence on Friday after they each admitted playing a part in the audacious drugs plot worth at least half a million pounds.

Prosecutor Martin Bosomworth said the “professional”, London-based gang had invested tens of thousands into the three cannabis factories at Banks’s properties on Alexandra Road, Woodlands Road and Somerset Road near Harrogate town centre.

The brazen criminals had even dug a trench outside the three-storey Edwardian villa on Alexandra Road through which they fed electricity cables to the house to power the “highly sophisticated” cultivation system and bypass the electricity grid.

On one occasion, neighbours in the affluent street spotted the gang digging the ditch underneath a pavement and up the driveway. When they asked them what they were doing, they were told they were laying cables “for a fast-fibre broadband connection”.

The gang’s audacious plot finally unravelled when police were called to the five-bedroom villa at about 8.30pm on September 26 last year after reports of a “disturbance” in the street involving what appeared to be two rival gangs vying for the mega-money cannabis farm.

Crossbow found in house

Officers found 283 plants in the four growing rooms inside the mock-Tudor house, which was fitted with CCTV cameras. Chillingly, police also found “large” crossbow and arrows next to the front door. The plants had a potential yield of up to 21 kilos.

Mr Bosomworth said the “organised” gang had operated the lighting, electrical and “security” systems remotely through broadband technology and were even able to watch a “live feed” of the drugs bust over the internet.

There were other large grows at two of Banks’s other properties which had the “capability of producing industrial amounts” of the highly potent skunk.

She had rented the properties to the Albanians through an “unidentified individual who goes by the name of Francesco”, who sub-let the houses to the gang’s ringleader Visar Sellaj, 33, in the spring or summer of 2020.

Read more:

• Seventy three year old woman admits role in Harrogate cannabis farms
• Man died in Harrogate swallowing suspected drugs he was hiding from police

Sellaj, Kujtim Brahaj, 50, Indrit Brahaj, 27, Bledar Elezaj, 36, Andi Kokaj, 23, and 31-year-old Erblin Elezaj, an illegal immigrant, admitted various charges relating to the production and supply of cannabis but only at the Alexandra Road property.

Banks, of Scargill Road, admitted three counts of being concerned in the supply of cannabis.

Cannabis worth £300,000 found in van

Mr Bosomworth said that just before the “disturbance” on September 26, two unidentified men turned up at the property in a Citroen van and forced the door open. They left the property “carrying bundles of vegetation to the van”. He added:

“An Audi was (then) seen to arrive in the street from which five males exited – these being the Albanian defendants.

“They chased the Citroen through the street, but the van made off.”

Following the run-in with what appeared to be a rival gang, and realising they’d been rumbled, the six Albanians went into the property and “made a hasty clearance of such mature cannabis plants as they could find”.

They loaded the plants into a rented Transit van which was then driven, along with the Audi, back down south.
Police found the remaining 283 plants in the growing rooms and a “large, loaded crossbow” next to the front door.

The Transit van and the Audi were “trapped” on the M1 by police in Hertfordshire and were finally stopped on the M25 just after midnight.

Police found 30kg of “saleable”, harvested cannabis plants inside the van worth about £300,000.

Inside the £26,000 Audi SQ5, which belonged to Sellaj, police found £3,675 cash and an 18-carat-gold Rolex watch worth £28,000.

‘Industrial’ operation

The court heard that on September 22, four days before the drugs bust, Sellaj — who had a “large amount of money” in his bank account — booked a four-star B&B at the historic Arden House on the quiet, tree-lined Franklin Road.

As well as the 283 plants at the Alexandra Road factory, there were also 143 “root balls” from previous harvests and 6kg of cannabis flower buds. The “industrial” operation would have yielded between 11kg and 33 kilos worth up to £330,000.

A total of 59 cannabis plants, worth up to £83,000, were found at Banks’ Somerset Road property and 86 plants, with a “bulk value” of up to £62,000, were discovered at the house on Woodlands Road.

The total potential yield of the 395 plants was 45 kilos, with a combined value of up to £456,000. This was in addition to the 30 kilos found in the vans and did not include previous harvests.

Although Banks was not involved in the cultivation, she had played a “facilitating” or advisory role in the plot. She was in “regular communication” with ‘Francesco’ and Sellaj through Whatsapp messages and constantly “pressing to be paid by them”.

Banks, who had previous convictions for health-and-safety offences through her work, was due to be paid at least £12,000 a month in rent for the three properties and was also receiving “high” deposits.

‘Supplementing her pension’

Benjamin Whittingham, for Banks, said she had let out the properties to “supplement” her weekly pension due to financial pressures.

Indrit Brahaj, of Whitings Road, Barnet; Kokaj, of no fixed address; Sellaj, of Newnham Road, London; and Erblin Elezaj, of no fixed abode, all admitted being concerned in the production of cannabis and possessing a Class B drug with intent to supply.

Kujtim Brahaj, of Wellington Road, Enfield, and Bledar Elezaj, of no fixed address, each admitted being concerned in the production of cannabis.

Defence counsel for the Albanian men said they had each been working in construction or “odd jobs” in the south.

Importing crime to Harrogate

Judge Tom Bayliss QC said the “organised crime group” had “cynically chosen to import a criminal enterprise to Harrogate.”

Sellaj, who had been “directing operations”, was for six years and nine months.

Erblin Elizaj was jailed for five years and two months and Indrit Brahaj was jailed for four years and four months. Kujtim Brahaj and Bledar Elezaj were each jailed for three years for their lesser roles.

Jailing Banks for three-and-a-half years, Mr Bayliss told her:

“You have in your time been a successful businesswoman.

“You were, at the time, in some financial difficulties (which) may explain why you were – a woman in your seventies, a widow with a number of health problems – prepared to get involved with a gang from London.

“You knew that by doing that you were bringing drugs and criminality to Harrogate, a town where you have lived and worked for many years.”

Andi Kokaj, the last remaining defendant to be sentenced, will learn his fate on Monday, August 16.

A muddy footpath in Nidd Gorge has been transformed thanks to Bilton Conservation Group.

12 volunteers from the group spent 77 hours this week laying the 45-metre footpath, which is close to Tennyson Avenue, using 13 tonnes of limestone ballast. 

It was funded through a £1,000 grant from Bilton Conservative county councillor Paul Haslam’s Locality Budget. 

The main ‘Millennium Path’ was laid by the group in 2015 and was extended towards Tennyson Avenue in 2016.

The group had attempted a lightweight boardwalk solution three times, only to find it damaged by vandals.

Read more:

• Harrogate man’s mission to grow record-breaking jumbo pumpkins
• Bilton man cleans Nazi graffiti off mural bridge

Keith Wilkinson MBE from Bilton Conservation Group praised Warren Considine for masterminding the project.

He said:

 “The 45-metre extension created on Monday made good a very muddy natural surface which had become dangerous to walk in.”

Cllr Paul Haslam added:

“I use my Locality Budget to focus on things that improve the environment for as many people as possible.”

Harrogate Town have rearranged their first game after a coronavirus outbreak in the squad.

The club will now play Leyton Orient away on Tuesday, August 24 with kick-off at 7.45pm.

Away tickets will be available to purchase from the ticket office at the Breyer Group Stadium

It comes a week after Harrogate Town said “a number of individuals” were unable to play or train due to a positive test or contact with someone who has had one.

At this time it is currently unclear when Town will play the postponed Crawley Town game.

However, the club were forced to bow out of the Carabao Cup because they were unable to rearrange the Rochdale game before the second round.

A spokesperson for the club said previously:

“It means a number of individuals are unable to play or train due to either a positive test or the requirement to self-isolate in line with government and English Football League guidance.

“The club will continue to work with covid protocols as set out by the EFL to ensure the safety of our players and staff.”

Read more:

• Harrogate Town postpones three matches due to covid outbreak
• Harrogate Town out of cup after players catch coronavirus

Double Olympic champion Adam Peaty and soon-to-be Strictly Come Dancing contestant Adam Peaty is set to inspire the next generation of swimmers in Harrogate.

Adam Peaty, who is the most successful British swimmer in more than a century, is bringing a Race Clinic to Ashville College on Monday, August 23.

The sell-out £219 per ticket event, which is being staged in the college’s Sports Centre, is one of ten taking place across the UK, and the only one in Yorkshire.

Swimmers between 8 and 17-years-old can take part. It comes just weeks after one of the biggest names in world ballet Wayne Sleep also visited the school for the Yorkshire Ballet Seminar.

The swim clinic features three different stations. The first will focus on the breaststroke and will be led by Adam Peaty and Edward Baxter, a British swimming champion and record holder.

Adam Peaty’s gym coach Robert Norman will lead the second session which will dive into injury prevention.

Station three, led by Tim Shuttleworth, will give an insight into how to gain the mental edge necessary to compete successfully.

After the practical training sessions of each swim clinic, Adam will share lessons, wins, losses, and biggest learning experiences with the course participants.

Read more:

• Wayne Sleep gives ballet masterclass in Harrogate
• Birdwatcher chuffed to spot ‘very rare’ white bird in Harrogate

Duncan Archer, Head of Swimming, Athletics and Sports Development at Ashville, said:

“Adam is a national hero, one of our greatest ever Olympians, and an inspiration for young swimmers keen to emulate his success in the pool.

“A few short weeks ago, he was in the Olympic pool, in Tokyo, and soon he’ll be in our pool!”

Anna Rakusen-Guy, Ashville’s Events and Lettings Manager, said:

“We are absolutely delighted that Adam and his team have chosen Ashville for one of their ten race clinics, and the only one in Yorkshire.

“Our sports facility, which includes a heated 30m swimming pool, are used by a variety of different sports clubs and individuals throughout the year.

“Over the years, they have been home to a number of different sport camps, including the Andrew Flintoff Cricket Academy, the Louis Smith Gymnastics Academy, plus others coaching rugby, netball and hockey.”

An amateur birdwatcher has spotted what he believes is a rare white bird on the Stray in Harrogate.

David Johnson was walking with his dog and children when the bird caught his eye yesterday afternoon near Kwik Fit.

At first he thought it was a scrap of paper or a pigeon but was very happy to find something a little less common.

He thought that it could be white jackdaw but after asking a few questions he now believes that it could be a leucistic crow.

When Mr Johnson posted picture on a local Facebook group, one person replied to say there was a leucistic crow on the Stray around a decade ago nicknamed ‘Snowy’.

Birds with leucism are similar to those with albinism but they will have normally coloured eyes, legs, feet and bills.

Read more:

• Union concerns over staffing shortages at Harrogate district leisure centres
• Covid ‘pings’ forces Bilton Cricket Club to cancel charity fundraiser

Mr Johnson told the Stray Ferret that he was chuffed:

“I posted something on a Facebook group. A few people came back to me with some information. They said it could be a leucistic crow.

“It it nice to see, it is really unusual. I walk around the Oval and Stray most days and I have not seen it before.

“The kids seem interested but maybe they weren’t as keen as me. I am really chuffed, we were lucky to spot it and Harrogate is lucky to have it.

“I have been telling lots of people, I am sure I have already bored my neighbours with it! It’s certainly the rarest bird I have ever seen.”

Bilton Cricket Club’s charity fundraiser on Sunday has been cancelled after members of staff were forced to self-isolate after being ‘pinged’ by the NHS track and trace app.

The club had planned a family fun day with hot food, an ice cream van, children’s games, a bouncy castle and local businesses with stalls to raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Organiser Matt Thomas said the news was “devastating” but he will attempt to arrange a new date either later this year or in 2022.

Read More:

• Bilton man cleans Nazi graffiti off mural bridge
• Harrogate man’s mission to grow record-breaking jumbo pumpkins

He said: