A new Harrogate-based provider will take over Henshaws residential services as the charity struggles with its finances.

Homes Together, which has run care homes for the last 16 years, will now run the service which includes seven homes in Harrogate and one in Knaresborough.

The Henshaws Residential Care service provides 24/7 for disabled adults.

It is different to the part time care of Henshaws supported living services, which North Yorkshire County Council is preparing to run.

North Yorkshire County Council is said to be supportive of the Residential Care transfer.

Read more:

• County council proposes taking over Henshaws homes service
• Henshaws Hundreds fundraises for struggling charity
• Family feels ‘let down’ by Henshaws senior management

The chief executive at Henshaws, Nick Marr, said today that the charity was “very distressed” to cease operation of the homes service:

“But we can no longer sustain the costs of our residential services. We will do everything we can to ensure continuity for our residents. It is critical to Henshaws that the service remains intact and continues with a recognised provider.

“Therefore, we are very pleased that a decision has been made to transfer the services to Homes Together.”

Steve Jones, who runs Homes Together, was previously the principal at Henshaws College. Many of his former students now live in the residential service.

Henshaws has invited its service users, parents and carers to take part in face-to-face or virtual meetings to raise any questions they might have.

All staff who currently work in the homes service have the opportunity to transfer on their existing terms to Homes Together.

Mr Marr added that despite “months of effort” Henshaws was unable to make the homes service sustainable.

The charity’s latest financial accounts detailed how in the year up to August 2018 it spent £12.3 million – which is £1 million more than its income.

No further accounts have been published by the organisation. The Stray Ferret has approached North Yorkshire County Council for a comment.

A local care organisation has started an initiative to support staff who have endured months of hard work and pressure during the pandemic.

Harrogate Neighbours’ Care for Carers scheme will provide regular wellbeing workshops and other support to its care staff.

The initiative aims to address any anxieties or mental health issues brought about by the pandemic.

The group works with elderly people in Harrogate, offering fresh meals and social interaction while trying to keep them in their own homes.

As winter sets in, there are concerns that groups like Harrogate Neighbours will have more pressure on services.

JK Change Work, a local therapeutic coaching company, will provide the workshops. It says the sessions will offer support and emotional coaching, improve wellbeing resilience and teach people how to deal with ongoing challenges.

Sue Cawthray, chief executive of Harrogate Neighbours said:

“With restrictions and guidelines changing almost daily, care staff across the country are feeling the pressure and often find it hard to cope day to day. It’s more important than ever that we support and look after their mental and physical wellbeing.

“We also have plans to reach out to the wider care community in Yorkshire to care for all carers who are sacrificing so much in these uncertain times.”

The first session was held last week. Staff were in bubbled in groups of six for a happiness and laughter session.

Read more:

• Harrogate Neighbours is praised for its response to coronavirus with an award.
• Only seven weeks remain to reach the target for a community woodland between Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Just seven weeks remain to raise a further £115,000 to build a community woodland between Harrogate and Knaresborough.

So far, the volunteers behind the Long Lands Common project have raised £186,000 towards their £300,000 goal.

If they manage to pass that figure by November 20 they will consider trying to raise another £75,000 to improve access to the woodland.

Long Lands Common is 30 acres of open farmland surrounded by fields and hedgerows between Bilton Triangle and The Avenue in Starbeck.

A duck pond, wildflower meadow, sensory garden and woodlands craft area are all included in the plans.

Read more:

• Public support vital for Harrogate’s first community woodland
• Take a look at what might be Harrogate’s first community woodland

It is an ambitious target but the organisers behind the project remain confident they will reach it.

Chris Kitson, one of the organisers and a teacher, told the Stray Ferret:

“We are confident but we are not complacent. It is going very well but we need people to buy more shares. There are 700 people who have put down a pledge but not yet bought any shares.”

To increase support, the organisers plan to deliver 48,000 leaflets and have asked volunteers to come forward.

Anyone interested in volunteering can email Long Lands Common by clicking or tapping here.

Shares in Long Lands Common need to be bought by people aged over 16 in £50 lots, with the minimum amount set at £50 up to a maximum of £37,500.

To learn more and buy shares, go to the Long Lands Common website.

The project received help recently in the form of £35,000 match funding from the Community Shares Booster Programme.

The chairman of Harrogate Town has warned the club faces financial difficulties as fans continue to be banned from grounds.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said current Covid restrictions could last for six months.

For football clubs like Harrogate Town, this means having to face up to the prospect of empty stadiums for the foreseeable future.

This presents a big financial challenge for Town chairman Irving Weaver.

Mr Weaver said the uncertainty meant Town and other clubs faced a “cliff edge scenario”.

He said:

“When crowds mean 30% of revenue that’s a black hole. The furlough scheme was a big help but in the next six months we are looking at a problem that all clubs need help with.

“The subsidy grant we received was really helpful and the income from our games on TV wasn’t budgeted for so these two things have got us on our way. Our streaming figures are growing too, which we also didn’t budget for. All of this has helped make up for a loss of crowds.”

The club has has raised its concerns about the impact of playing without fans for a further six months.

The club’s recent promotion to the English Football League was its second in three seasons. But fans have only been able to celebrate the club’s recent successes at home or socially distanced in pubs, and missed out on a trip to Wembley.

With no idea when fans will next be able to attend, Mr Weaver is concerned some may not return.

He added:

“We need to grow our fans, especially if we want to attract players who want a big crowd.

“We are probably worrying more than most, but missing all this excitement is a big loss for fans. I think the solid fans will stay but we also want new people, which becomes difficult when they can’t experience the roar of a crowd at a match.”

Read more:

• The Chairman describes this time as “cliff edge” as clubs prepare for another six months without fans.
• The club is heading to Wembley .. again

Mr Weaver assured fans that these tough times will be overcome. He said:

“I want to say that ‘we are still kicking and we really want you to come back!’

“We will keep going and keep the atmosphere. We want to maintain our desire to succeed”

Harrogate is not expected to be added to the government’s Covid watchlist this week, according to North Yorkshire’s public health bosses.

However, they said the situation could change if the number of infections is not brought under control.

Scarborough and Selby districts are currently on the watchlist as “areas of concern” and neighbouring Leeds was put into local lockdown last week.

Further restrictions were announced elsewhere in the north today, including Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Warrington and Liverpool.

Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health at North Yorkshire County Council, said the county had asked for a cautious approach to putting districts on the watchlist after Scarborough and Selby were added to it even though other districts that are not on the list have higher infections rates.

Read more:

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He added:

“As the national system is revised in terms of where the whole country is, we will probably get some more detailed guidance about how the watchlist system will work in the future. That may or may not come out this week.

“But we have no expectations that Harrogate will be added this week. That does not mean that situation may not change for next week.”

Meanwhile, Richard Flinton, chief executive of the county council, said yesterday in a council newsletter that the transmission of infections was mainly between households.

Latest Public Health England data shows 519 new cases in the county in the past two weeks at a weekly rate of 36 per day.

Harrogate saw 16 new coronavirus cases yesterday and hit a three-week daily high of 19 on Tuesday.

Mr Flinton said the county’s infection increase was in line with the national picture.

He said:

“We are studying the data carefully and can clearly see that the majority of cases can be linked back to household and social transmission. 

“This is important, because what it also tells us is that our schools are safe places to be. That, in turn, is testament to all the hard work schools, colleges and childcare setting have put in to plan for a safe return for pupils.”

Harrogate TSB will close next month, with the bank attributing the move to a shift in customers to online banking.

The branch on Oxford Street, which was part of the first wave of 82 TSB closures announced last year, will close on November 27 .

TSB has since announced a further 164 branch closures as part of plans to save £100 million by 2022.

When the Harrogate branch closes, the nearest TSB bank will be in Leeds.

Read more:

• Central Harrogate bank to close by December
• Knaresborough’s only bank to remain open for time being
• Plan for a home at former Knaresborough high street bank

A TSB review into the use of the Harrogate branch found 73 customers visited it regularly each month.

It also revealed weekly transactions had gone up in 2019 compared to the same time in 2016.

A notice in the bank’s window.

Debbie Crosbie, chief executive of TSB, said:

“We are reshaping our business to transform the customer experience and set us up for the future. This means having the right balance between branches on the high street and our digital platforms, enabling us to offer the very best experience for our personal and business customers across the UK.”

Another central Harrogate bank, The Co-operative Bank, is due to close by December 1. The Co-op also blamed a drop in footfall for it closure.

North Yorkshire Police has said it is not treating the death of a man on Harcourt Drive in Harrogate last month as suspicious.

Multiple police cars and ambulances attended the incident at around 7.15pm on Sunday, August 23.

One man was certified dead at the scene and another taken to hospital.

Police subsequently cautioned a 42-year-old man for distributing “distressing images” of the incident on social media.

Read more:

• Police reassurance over ‘tragic and isolated’ Harcourt Drive incident
• Residents ‘gobsmacked’ after Harcourt Drive incident

Now officers have confirmed they are not treating the death as suspicious and a file is being prepared for the coroner’s office.

Detective inspector Steve Menzies, senior investigating officer at North Yorkshire Police, said:

“The overarching circumstances will be for HM Coroner to rule upon but this is a very sad incident where the deceased has inflicted injuries on himself and caused injury to his relative who tried to help him.

“Despite valiant attempts by neighbours, police and ambulance staff to administer first aid in a traumatic situation, his injury proved to be fatal.

“This was an isolated and tragic incident and North Yorkshire Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with it. Thankfully the injured man is making a good recovery. The full circumstances will be heard at the inquest.

“Subsequently a Harrogate man was issued with a police caution for attending the area and posting live images of the incident on social media as first aiders were desperately trying to save the man’s life. Such actions show no compassion or thought for those involved, are distressing for extended friends and family and will not be tolerated.”

Harrogate High School has become the latest school in the district to report a positive case of coronavirus.

It is the eighth local school the Stray Ferret has reported as having a positive result since pupils went back this month.

In a letter to parents yesterday, Harrogate High School said a “small number” of students were identified as being within close contact of the infected pupil,

They have been sent home to self-isolate for 14 days.

In the letter, the headteacher Ms Charlotte Clarke said:

“We have been advised by Public Health England that there has been a confirmed case of Covid within the school.

“The small number of children who have been in close contact with the individual have been informed that their child must stay at home for 14 days.”

Read more:

• Yesterday, Rossett School confirmed a case of coronavirus.
• Harrogate Hospital has said it is preparing for winter by setting aside 100 beds for covid patients. 

The school declined to provide any further information.

Yesterday, a further 19 cases of Covid were reported in the district, which was the highest daily increase in three weeks.

The letter contains advice from Public Health England saying if a child develops symptoms of Covid, they should remain at home for at least 10 days.

Two Harrogate district MPs voted in favour of the government’s Internal Market Bill yesterday, helping to take it to the next legislative stage.

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, and Nigel Adams, Selby and Ainsty MP, voted in line with the government but Julian Smith, Skipton and Ripon MP, abstained.

The legislation paves the way for the UK to override parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. MPs voted it through at the third reading last night by 340 to 256.

The Bill sparked controversy after Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, said it would break international law in a “specific and limited way”.

Read more:

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• ‘No worse time’ for devolution, say council leaders
• District MPs decline to comment on ‘broken’ covid testing system

The Stray Ferret contacted Mr Jones, Mr Adams and Mr Smith asking why they voted the way they did. None had replied by the time of publication.

The Bill will now undergo further scrutiny in the House of Lords.

What is the Internal Market Bill?

After the UK left the EU on January 31 it signed the Withdrawal Agreement.

The agreement included a Northern Ireland Protocol, which was designed to prevent a hard border returning to the island of Ireland.

The Internal Market Bill attempts to override parts of the agreement. It would allow the UK to modify or reinterpret state aid rules if the two sides do not strike a future trade deal.

Police have charged a 72-year-old Harrogate woman with producing cannabis after a raid in the town at the weekend.

North Yorkshire Police attended reports of a disturbance on Saturday evening and found “cannabis littering the entire street” on Alexandra Road.

The officers investigated a house on the road and discovered a “large quantity” of cannabis plants inside.

Not long after the police also discovered two other cannabis grows on Somerset Road and on Woodlands Road.

1/3 *Last Night*
Attended a street in #Harrogate following the report of some vehicle disorder. At scene we have found a large quantity of cannabis littering the entire street. A nearby property was identified as insecure and evidence of a substantial Cannabis grow found.. pic.twitter.com/AVmpFtgw83

— Just Dave! (@PC_769) September 27, 2020

Six other suspects travelling in two vehicles left the scene of the original incident on Alexandra Road but Hertfordshire Police intercepted and arrested them.

The six people were charged with possession of class B drugs with intent to supply. They were sent to court, which remanded them in custody.

A man in his 20s was also arrested on Monday and has since been released on bail, taking the total number of arrests up to eight.

The 72-year-old woman was charged with three counts of cannabis production and awaits a trial at crown court on bail.