Police in two counties are still appealing for information on the whereabouts of missing Harrogate teenager Lucy Morris.

North Yorkshire Police issued an appeal on Sunday night, saying Lucy, 17, had not been seen by her family since May 15 and there had been no text messages or social media contact from her since May 22.

The plea led to comments on the force’s Facebook account from people claiming to be friends of Lucy, and even Lucy herself, saying they knew of her whereabouts and that she was fine.

But North Yorkshire Police said this morning:

“The appeal from the weekend is still relevant. There’s nothing further to add at this time.

“As soon as we have an update or a further appeal, it will be released straight away.”

Lucy is described as white, 5ft 3in tall, blue eyes, slim build and she has shoulder-length blonde hair. She has a tattoo on her left hand, which says ‘blessed’.

North Yorkshire Police urged Lucy to “get in touch with the police immediately and let your family know you are safe” and said anyone with information could call 101, select option 1, and speak to the force control room, quoting reference number 12210122535.

Lucy is believed to have gone to Leeds to stay with a friend and North Yorkshire Police said West Yorkshire Police was helping with the missing person investigation.

A West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said:

“We will support North Yorkshire as much as we can to help locate Lucy.”

Read more:

• Urgent police appeal to find missing Harrogate teenager
• North Yorks Police urges dog owners not to carry weapons on walks

Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

In May, lockdown restrictions eased again and life in the district slowly began to return back to normal.

We asked Harrogate & Knaresborough’s Andrew Jones, Skipton and Ripon’s Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty’s Nigel Adams if they would like to highlight anything in particular that they have been doing this month, but we did not receive a response from any of them.

Here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, Conservative Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here is what we found on Mr Jones:

• In the House of Commons, Mr Jones revealed that he was enlisted by the Conservative Party to knock on doors in Hartlepool for the May 6 by-election. The seat was won by the party for the first time in its history.
• He spoke about the sub-postmaster scandal in the House of Commons on May 19, saying: “Trust is central to a thriving Post Office and trust is necessary for people to take on the role of sub-postmaster or sub-postmistress with any certainty or security”.
• Following the latest unemployment figures that revealed 2,530 people in Harrogate & Knaresborough were claiming unemployment-related benefits, the MP wrote on his website encouraging local employers to take part in the government’s Kickstart scheme.
• On May 25 in the House of Commons, he raised the issue of community choirs being unable to rehearse indoors following the latest relaxation of restrictions. It prompted The Times’ sketch writer Quentin Letts to describe the MP in the newspaper as a “timid flower”.
• Writing on his local “news” website, Community News, Mr Jones looked forward to better times ahead: “Our country is turning its sights to a post-COVID future, a more digital and greener future. That is good news for us all”.
• On May 26 he voted down several clauses put forward by opposition parties for the Environment Bill. These included stopping peat burning in upland areas and making it a duty to create a tree strategy in England.
• On May 27 in Parliament, he raised the fact that Knaresborough no longer has a bank.

Julian Smith, Conservative MP for Ripon and Skipton.

In Ripon, here is what we found on Mr Smith:

• In early May, Mr Smith attended a meeting with North Yorkshire County Council about the local Transforming Cities Fund proposals in Harrogate, Skipton and Selby.
• With museums reopening in May, he visited the gardens at the Ripon Workhouse Museum which is part of Ripon Museums.
• On May 19, he gave an online talk to children at Beckwithshaw Primary School. Writing on his website, he said the pupils were interested in local issues and asked him questions on covid and climate change.
• Last week, Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon, described the claims by the Prime Minister’s former chief advisor Dominic Cummings over the government’s handling of the covid pandemic as “for the birds”.
• Five of Mr Smith’s 11 tweets were related to Northern Ireland politics. He tweeted about the Ballymurphy inquest that exonerated those shot dead by British Army forces in 1971: “All thoughts & prayers with the families of those killed at Ballymurphy.”

Nigel Adams, Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty which includes rural Harrogate.

In rural south Harrogate, here is what we found on Mr Adams:

• On Twitter, he posted his own Eurovision Song Contest scorecard. He gave the UK entry, James Newman, a generous 24 points out of 40. In the actual competition, the song received no points and came last.
• A story published in The Times on May 9 revealed that Mr Adams received financial donations and luxury trips abroad from controversial Indian businessman Sanjeev Gupta. Mr Gupta has links to the biomass industry and, Drax Power Station, which burns the wood pellets to create energy, is in his constituency.
• The Minister for Asia tweeted that the foreign office will spend more money on the BBC World Service to help tackle fake news around the world.
• In ministerial written answers, he wrote about India’s covid outbreak that ripped through the country in May: “We stand side by side with India as a friend and partner in the fight against Covid-19, and send our solidarity and condolences to the Indian people at this difficult time.”
• He tweeted 17 times in May.

A Harrogate primary school has raised £2,420 for Cancer Research UK, which is nearly 10 times the original target.

Woodfield Community Primary School took part in the Race for Life Schools programme on May 14 and has since smashed its £250 goal.

Around 60 pupils, aged three to 11 years old, took part in the event to raise money for life-saving research.

Jo Marwood, who is head of school at Woodfield Primary School, said:

“We set a target of £250 for the school to raise and thought that would be an amazing achievement for our small school.

“So to see the total going up and up with each donation we were over the moon!

“We’d like to thank everyone, our students, our staff, our families and our local community who have cheered us on and donated to such an important cause.”

Read more:

• ‘I was bored at home’ – a Harrogate pupil’s verdict of being back at school
• Woodfield school receives £28,500 to improve street safety

Sarah Pickersgill, head of events marketing for Cancer Research UK, said:

“Organising a Race for Life Schools event is a fantastic way for schools to have fun, whilst raising money for a good cause.

“The money raised by Woodfield School will help our scientists find new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, helping to save more lives.

“So, we thank all the pupils, parents and teachers for their vital support.”

North Yorkshire Police tonight issued an urgent plea for help to find missing Harrogate teenager Lucy Morris.

Lucy, 17, has not been seen  by her family in Harrogate since May 15 when it was believed she was heading to Leeds to stay with a friend.

A police statement said:

“Worryingly, there have been no text messages or social media contact from her since May 22, which is out of character and further raises concerns about her safety.

“Lucy, if you see or hear about this appeal, please get in touch with the police immediately and let your family know you are safe.”

Lucy is described as white, 5ft 3in tall, blue eyes, slim build and she has shoulder-length blonde hair. She has a tattoo on her left hand which says ‘blessed’.

It is not known what clothes she had on when she went missing.

West Yorkshire Police is also assisting the missing person investigation in the Leeds area.

Anyone with information is asked to call North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 1, and speak to the force control room, quoting reference number 12210122535.

Read more:

• Police investigate sudden death of woman in Harrogate
• North Yorks Police urges dog owners not to carry weapons on walks

There has been just one positive coronavirus case reported today in the Harrogate district, according to Public Health England.

It brings the total number of people who have tested positive for coronavirus since the pandemic began to 7,761.

The daily number of cases reported is now based on PCR and lateral flow tests returning positive results.

However, if someone with a positive lateral flow test later has a negative result with a PCR test, the earlier result will be removed.

The daily number of cases has remained low, but the seven day average for the district has creeped up to 21,

NHS England no longer reports coronavirus deaths from hospitals over weekends or on Bank Holidays, just on weekdays.

Read more:

• Final plans for 12 homes in Knaresborough submitted
• Ripon choristers sing their way to scholarship success

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. See below for details on how to contribute.

Beware of dogmatic assertions on pedestrians are cyclists

Marilyn Stowe is right in her article for criticising the dogmatic assertion that “if you build it, they will come” when the council dreams up fantasy numbers of extra pedestrians and cyclists.

It rains in Harrogate. There are hills. Electric bikes are legal up to 25 kilometres per hour (that’s 15 miles per hour) on a bike path shared with pedestrians and with house entrances peppered along the pavement.

E-scooters, Segways, hover bikes are all illegal to use anywhere in the UK except on private land. And if everyone shifts to bikes anyway, where will all the bikes be parked when people are going about their shopping or having a coffee? We will need loads of ‘toast racks’ on pavements for bikes to be secured against theft, and these obstructions on the pavements will make it harder for pedestrians, not easier or more enjoyable.

The destruction of Otley Road environs is inevitable if the council forces in two cycle lanes, two pedestrian walkways and two lanes of traffic. What will go? Trees, hedges, common sense and money.

Just because there is a grant of £8 million, it does not have to be spent.

A small fortune has been spent at the Harlow Moor Road / Otley Road junction; minimal benefit for large disruption and large cost.

It seems that any amount of traffic disruption is justifiable now if some trivial improvement can be made.

Councils used to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ and ratepayers’ money. Now the approach seems to be to grab money from any source and spend it on pet projects — but keep most of the discussion papers secret.

Bob Hankinson, Harrogate

Salon was right to refuse customer with no face mask

I fully support the actions of the salon that refused to admit a customer who wasn’t wearing a face mask.

People who enter a shop without a face mask, whether they are disabled or not, present an unacceptable health risk to everyone else in that shop.

Coronavirus has put restrictions and loss of liberty on all of us. Disabled people cannot be excluded from this.

Those granted exemption from wearing a face covering are not exempt from catching or spreading coronavirus and are a risk to the health of everyone else.

We cannot allow the needs of the few to put at risk the health of the many.

Mike Monkman, Bilton

I fear for the future of Harrogate

“Shocked” and “depressed” at Stray litter

Read more:

• Harrogate Pubwatch relaunches to keep out town’s troublemakers
• Decision to proceed with £7.9 million Station Gateway sparks anger

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.

The owner of the Kimberley Hotel in Harrogate has filed for liquidation amid over £3.5m debts to local companies as well as HM Revenue and Customs.

Insolvency firm Booth & Co was appointed to wind up Denison 2 earlier this week.

In December 2020 the hotel announced it had permanently closed due to the impact of covid.

Its sole director, Stewart Lewis, is still a director of several other hospitality and property companies that are still trading.

There are 80 entries on Denison 2’s list of creditors totalling £3.5m. £2.6m of this is to its sister company Denison which has the same registered address in York.

Other creditors include HM Revenue and Customs for £338,935 and Harrogate Business Improvement District (BID) for £1,380. Almost £27,000 is also owed to staff in holiday pay.

The Stray Ferret emailed Mr Lewis for a response and for information on the future of the hotel but we did not receive a reply.

Read more:

• Hospitality has lost ‘sexiness’ due to covid, says Harrogate hotel boss

• The man hired to revive one of Harrogate’s most historic hotels

The 70-bedroom, four-star hotel, close to Harrogate Convention Centre on King’s Road, had been welcoming guests for over 50 years.

A post on the hotel’s social media channels in December said:

“It comes with a heavy heart that we have to tell all our loyal guests and friends that due to the financial position caused by covid, we unfortunately have to close the hotel.

“We sincerely thank everyone, customers and staff alike, that have supported us over the years and regret deeply that covid placed us in a situation that we cannot recover from.”

The Kimberley Hotel opened in the 1960s when five townhouses dating back to the turn of the 20th century were converted.

It benefitted from the opening of what was then called the Harrogate Conference Centre in 1982, which is a short walk away.

The properties were originally built as homes for some of the wealthier families in Harrogate during its Victorian expansion.

Tours were held throughout the day at Stonefall cemetery in Harrogate yesterday as part of the first war graves week, which was organised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Stonefall, which has more than 1,000 graves, is one of the largest war grave sites in northern England and one of only five directly maintained by the commission. About two-thirds of the dead are Canadian.

The cemetery was created in 1914 but most burials are airmen who died during the Second World War when bomber command bases were established in Yorkshire.

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones, Lieutenant colonel Simon Farebrother, commanding officer of the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, Harrogate mayor Trevor Chapman and Johanna Ropner, the Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire were among those attending the tours.

They heard the stories of some of the dead, including Isikeli Komaisavai, 24, believed to be the only Fijian who flew with the British Royal Air Force and two 17-year-old Canadians who lost their lives.

War graves week gave those unable to travel to burial sites in Flanders and Normandy because of covid the opportunity to discover the war heritage on their doorsteps.

It is hoped it will become an annual event.

The commission, which is funded by governments in six Commonwealth countries, maintains more than 12,500 war grave sites in virtually every town and city in the UK.

Read more:

• Free tours of Harrogate’s Stonefall cemetery as covid puts focus on British war graves
• Local firm restores Stonefall plaque for free after vandals strike

To coincide with the week, it launched a postcode search function to enable people to search online for more than 4,000 war dead. It is available here.

Claire Horton, director general of the commission, said:

“By simply entering your postcode on our website you can take the first step towards making a new connection.

“We want people to share the stories they find and download a tribute for the men and women from their communities and display it in their window for War Graves Week.”

Ms Ropner said:

“I would encourage everyone to find out more about the men and women commemorated by CWGC here at Stonefall and indeed around the world.”

New data from Northern Powergrid predicts a major uptake in electric vehicles in the Harrogate district over the next 30 years.

There are currently only 861 electric vehicles (EVs) in the district currently, according to their Distribution Futures Energy Scenarios project (DFES). Their projections suggest that this number will rise to 123,000 by 2050.

DEFS data suggests that Harrogate currently has more electric cars than Craven, Richmondshire and Calderdale, but less than Leeds and York.

For context, latest Department for Transport figures show that at the end of 2020 there are were 90,500 cars licensed in the Harrogate district.

Northern Powergrid use the DFES data to identify potential paths towards achieving carbon neutrality. It works by collecting local data on adoption of green technologies, such as EVs, solar power and heat pumps.

A website has been developed to visualise the local uptake of green technologies in the North East. Northern Powergrid worked with Element Energy, the Open Data Institute Leeds and Data Mill North to produce it.

READ MORE:

• Zero Carbon Harrogate launches walk to school day
• Harrogate businesses go electric as number of cars licensed doubles

Jim Cardwell, Northern Powergrid’s Head of Policy Development, has said:

“The value of this data cannot be underestimated. As a regional enabler of decarbonisation we need to know when and where to expect rapid uptake of low carbon technology and renewable energy to plan our network accordingly.

“Millions of homes and businesses over the next decade will be decarbonising and green policies like the petrol and diesel vehicle ban and heat pump rollout will accelerate this process.”

Volunteers from Harrogate library have been turning back the clock on the town’s historic landmarks.

The team have worked with a local photographer to compare what Harrrogate looked like in the early 1900s to today.

Most of the work is currently on display at the library and will be until the end of July but the volunteers have also shared others on social media.

Our featured image shows the boating pool in Valley Gardens, which was taken by a Mark E. Mitchell in 1930.

It shows a few small sail boats in the water, which has clearly captured the imagination of visitors to Valley Gardens.

Today’s image, which was taken by Jonathan Turner, captures a much quieter boating lake in October 2020. The project has also captured life in the coronavirus lockdown.

Read more:

• Bank holiday weekend train travellers face delays and replacement buses
• Knaresborough pub granted licence to serve alcohol outside until 10pm

The below image shows the former J.Chippindale & Co shop taken by Asquith & Son in the early 1900s.

Today’s image shows how the building is now occupied by the Cardamom Black restaurant, with cars replacing the scores of bicycles on display.

The building has stood the test of time.

The Then and Now project was funded by a £5,000 grant from Libraries Connected Yorkshire and Humber.

Using photo editing software freely available on the library PCs, volunteers were able to produce side-by-side and composite images.

Cllr Greg White, the executive member for libraries, said:

“We’re really pleased with how the project has developed at Skipton, Scarborough and Harrogate.

“I understand that feedback from the groups was extremely positive.

“They all enjoyed learning about the history of their town and connecting with its past, and gained new skills using the free photo-editing software.”

Did you know that the Stray Ferret has teamed up with Harrogate Historian Malcolm Neesam to produce audio walking tours of Harrogate? The walks are sponsored by the Harrogate Business Improvement District (BID) and take you back to the Golden Age of the Harrogate Spa and a walk through the Commercial Heart of Harrogate.  

Why not take a walk back in time and learn about Harrogate’s glorious past.. They’re easy to do and a great day out. For more information click here.