Elderly residents in Harrogate have shared their memories of VE Day as the country prepares to mark its 75th anniversary tomorrow.

Continued Care’s staff have spoken to their elderly residents, who were young men and women when on May 8, 1945.

One woman who was 15-years-old at the time recalled how there was a huge street party on Albert Road, with every house flying Union Jack flags.

She described seeing tables laid out from one end of the street to the other, with enough room was dancing in the road and footpaths.

A loud speaker played records by Vera Lynn and other famous singers, and the tables “bulged with food” such as jellies, trifles, sandwiches and pies.

She said: “I don’t know where all the food came from; it was like magic. We hadn’t seen so much food for months! There were bananas, and one or two children didn’t know what to do with them. They didn’t know whether to eat the whole lot or to peel it!”

Aged 16 on VE Day, one man described a street party on Mayfield Terrace, where residents of each house brought food and joined in.

He added: “This lockdown now feels like it’s bringing the wartime back again. Everything was rationed then and you couldn’t get much to eat.”

Photo: VE Day 75

Another Harrogate resident, who was brought up in London and spent much of the war in bomb shelters, described how she would pick up shrapnel as she walked to school.

However, she added: “I always felt perfectly safe. It was very strange, really.”

Aged 17 on VE Day, she said she would be marking the 75th anniversary with her neighbour while observing social distancing rules.

She said: “My neighbour has said we are going out in the front to do a bit of celebrating. I said I would be quite happy to do that. I can sit on the porch – and I’m sure there will be a glass of wine somewhere!”

Continued Care’s director Samantha Harrison said: “For those of us who did not live through the Second World War and for whom VE Day is a moment in history, it’s easy to forget that it is still very real for the older generation. It’s a privilege to hear them recall their memories in such vivid detail, and we are proud to be caring for them today.”

Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any coronavirus deaths in the last two days, but there has been one confirmed for May 4, in the latest statistics released by NHS England.

Meanwhile, the hospital has announced it has now discharged 82 patients after treatment for coronavirus.

#thankyouNHS pic.twitter.com/JisKnaEobX

— Harrogate NHS FT (@HarrogateNHSFT) May 7, 2020

Hospitals across the North East and Yorkshire reported another 40 deaths in today’s figures, with 383 deaths across England.

Patients were aged between 28 and 100 years old. 41 of the 383 patients, who were aged between 28 and 96 years old, had no known underlying health conditions.

However, while the number of deaths at the hospital appears to be slowing down the number of deaths in care homes is rising according to weekly data from the Office for National Statistics.

Last week, the ONS data which included deaths up to April 17 revealed that there had been 22 deaths outside of hospitals.

This week, the data goes up to April 24 and now shows that there have been 39 deaths outside of hospitals.

In Harrogate, two people have died from coronavirus in their homes and two have died in “other communal establishments,” so the majority of deaths outside of hospitals were in care homes.

A group of Harrogate photographers has raised over £2,000 for the hospital with family portraits documenting life under coronavirus lockdown.

Stacey Evans set up The Doorstep Portrait Project just three weeks ago with five other photographers and she says it is really starting to take off.

They can cover families in Starbeck, Hookstone, Bilton, Jennyfields, Shaw Mills, Harlow Hill, Leeds Road, Goldsborough, and Knaresborough all in their daily exercise with social distancing at the forefront of their minds.

The Cooney Family.

It has been so popular that they have even had requests from as far away as Brighton, something they had to turn down.

“We are over the moon,” Stacey, who started photography as a hobby, told the Stray Ferret. “None of us could imagine it would take off so well.

“This started off with the idea of raising £500 but we have gone well above that now and hope to raise as much as we can for the hospital in Harrogate.

The Hunt family.

“I moved to Harrogate fairly recently so it has been a great way of getting to know my neighbours. It’s been so nice to talk to people and see their smiles.”

She says she got the idea from a photographer in America who got some negative publicity after breaking social distancing rules and trying to make a profit.

The Needle family.

Stacey wanted to turn it into something positive so she always keeps her distance and does not charge for the photos. Instead, they ask people to donate money to Harrogate Hospital & Community Charity to help those on the frontline.

At the time of writing The Doorstep Portrait Project has raised £2,280 for the hospital.

The Foster family.

Stacey J Evans Photography, Lianne Price Photography, Nicole Wilcox Photography, Sarah Warne Photography, Charlotte Hedgecock Photography & Rachael Fawcett Photography are all involved and bring their own styles to each photoshoot.

Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any coronavirus deaths for the second day in a row.

The last time the hospital reported a coronavirus death was on Monday, with the patient losing their life the day before.

As of last Thursday, Harrogate District Hospital has also released 70 patients after recovering from coronavirus.

Hospitals across the North East and Yorkshire reported another 51 deaths in today’s figures, with 331 deaths across England.

Patients were aged between 32 and 102 years old. 17 of the 331 patients, who were aged between 46 and 88 years old, had no known underlying health conditions.

However, while the number of deaths at the hospital appears to be slowing down the number of deaths in care homes is rising according to weekly data from the Office for National Statistics.

Last week, the ONS data which included deaths up to April 17 revealed that there had been 22 deaths outside of hospitals.

This week, the data goes up to April 24 and now shows that there have been 39 deaths outside of hospitals.

In Harrogate, two people have died from coronavirus in their homes and two have died in “other communal establishments,” so the majority of deaths outside of hospitals were in care homes.

Dentists and technicians from the Raglan Suite Dentistry Laboratory in Ripon have developed a protective visor from 3D printers normally used for dental work.

So far they have provided almost 2,500 visors free of charge to local care homes, hospitals and other key workers that need them.

Steven Campbell, Dental Technician at the Raglan Suite and MD of Nexus Dental Laboratory, told The Stray Ferret:

“Dentistry is on pause, so we wanted to make use of our 3D printing machines that usually make night guards, liners and dentures. I was shocked at the lack of PPE available so we have managed to come up with the perfect design to create these essential visors. It is brilliant to be able to provide  PPE equipment to our local area.”

The technicians have also been making 900 ear savers each day to make the visors more comfortable for people to wear for long periods of time.

There has been industry funding for the production of these and there is also a go fund me page where people are able to donate towards the making of them.

A mobile coronavirus testing site has been set up in the car park at the Hydro in Harrogate.

The Jenny Field Drive drive-through site will offer testing to key workers by appointment only and is one of four being run by the military in North Yorkshire.

A mobile coronavirus testing centre has opened at the Hydro, Harrogate

Permanent sites have been set up at Poppleton park and ride near York and at Temple Green in Leeds. North Yorkshire County Council said the mobile testing unit was for “key worker and priority testing”.

Signs ask visitors to keep their windows closed

On arrival, people are being asked to keep their car windows closed except when prompted to do otherwise. Following guided lanes, they pull up to be passed a swab test which they then drop into a box to be sent away for testing.

Military personnel are running the mobile testing site

The new site at the Hydro is the latest option made available to key workers after the government promised to ramp up testing drastically. As well as ordering home testing kits, people can go online to book an appointment at one of the permanent sites or mobile testing units.

Vehicles are guided through the mobile testing site

Used swabs are deposited in a box to be sent off for testing

Last week, care homes told The Stray Ferret that there was a mixed picture with testing availability. Some had been able to access home tests and appointments, while one was quoted a three-week wait for an appointment in Leeds.

Harrogate District Hospital has reported that one more of its patients who tested positive for coronavirus has died, bringing the hospital’s total so far up to 49.

The person died yesterday and was announced with 204 others in England’s hospitals today. Scotland today recorded another five, Wales another 15 and Northern Ireland another six.

England’s patients were aged between 26 and 101 years old. Three of the 204 patients, who were aged between 41 and 58 years old, had no known underlying health conditions.

The number of deaths hit a peak in April.

The Stray Ferret has mapped out the rise and subsequent fall in coronavirus deaths at Harrogate District Hospital.

The data shows that the hospital hit a peak in the number of deaths in April and particularly April 6 with four deaths on one day.

Today’s death figures are the lowest daily increase in hospitals for around five weeks, when 214 were announced dead from coronavirus on March 29.

Last week the ONS released data on the number of COVID-19 deaths outside of hospitals. In the Harrogate district, 22 people are reported to have died with symptoms of the virus up to April 17th.

Firefighters across the Harrogate district held a minute silence today at 12pm as part of an international effort to remember their fallen colleagues.

Members of the Blue Watch in Ripon and the Green Watch in Harrogate stood outside their bases today to pay their respects.

This column has been written for The Stray Ferret by the Managing Director of Rudding Park Hotel and Spa in Harrogate, Peter Banks:   

I am an hotelier. Sadly, it defines my existence. For 35 years I have worked in, or managed, organisations that provide hospitality and welcome guests 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I am part of the industry that never sleeps. Until now. The “clang” when I closed the gates was both literal and metaphorical.

Suddenly we have no guests, no staff, no reason to get out of bed. To say I feel rootless is an understatement. Strange times indeed.

The view of the pandemic from the Hospitality industry has been in five very distinct periods:

The first was the week when Boris told everyone not to go to the pub and restaurants, but gave us no support. In that week it is estimated that 250,000 hospitality jobs were lost. This was the worst five days in my career. We’ve built Rudding over 24 years, and in 24 hours it all came crashing down.

The second period was one of euphoria, when that wonderful Mr Rishi Sunak (I love him and want his babies!) announced the furlough scheme that saved so many hospitality jobs while the scheme lasts.

The third was one of acceptance and hard work, only 12 of us were not furloughed. We tried to understand how furlough worked, we closed the hotel, turned off all appliances, moved all the furniture, emptied freezers (how much vanilla ice cream does one operation need across five kitchens?) and dealt with a barrage of phone calls from guests who were trying to process the impact on their plans. One guest wanted to know what had happened to his bottle of gin that he had won as a prize in November and left at the Hotel. (yes – really!)

The fourth was settling in to the new normal; zoom meetings, moving bookings, remote working, and starting to understand the financial damage this has done to our industry. We sell serviced space, if we can’t sell that space it is exactly the same as a manufacturer having a warehouse fire and all of his stock going up in flames. Make no mistake, there will be many hospitality businesses (primarily stand alone restaurants), that will not reopen. The high street will be changed for good.

The fifth, and current, is where are trying to reimagine the Hotel of the future, with social distance built in, How welcome will guests feel going to a Perspex screen reception, ordering on an App rather than to a person, less service staff in the restaurant, how do you socially distance in a Kitchen,  booking slots in the steam room, additional and visible cleaning, temperature checks on staff and guests when walking through the door, your barman wearing a mask, 72 hours between hotel room occupancy, a cashless society, no flags on the golf course, no loo blocks open on the holiday park, what will our revenues be like….. The list is never ending and some will come true and some won’t – but the hospitality world that I have known will be turned on its’ head.

For an industry that only exists to facilitate social interaction, discouraging social interaction is against the very core of our being. We thrive on providing “hands on” personal service, and this will not be possible.

When this is all over, and we emerge from our caves, shaking our heads and wondering if it was all a bad dream, please go to your local restaurant, pub, hotel, golf course, holiday park or spa and give them your support. As Hoteliers and service professionals we need to look after people and make people feel happy. It’s why we do our job and it’s what we’re missing dreadfully.

As we say in Hospitality before a particularly difficult service –“I’ll see you on the other side”!

The night Peter closed the gates of Rudding Park

Eurovision 2020 may not appear on our televisions as we know it this year, however, thanks to Tom Taylor, former Ashville College pupil and now local comedian, there will be a star-studded “Isolation Song Contest.”

This will be the first of its kind and will include many famous faces from the world of entertainment, including Mel Giedroyc, Divina de Campo, Nick Helm, Tim Vine, Måns Zelmerlöw, Josie Long and Neil Hannon.

Each act was randomly assigned a country and has been given one week to compose an original Eurovision-style entry and music video for that nation before the Isolation Song Contest.

The finale is to be shown online at 8pm on tonight, and all money raised will go to three national charities – The Trussell Trust, Crisis and Refuge.

Tom Taylor told the Stray Ferret:

“I am working every hour to get the show ready. On the night I’ll be launching the contest and then handing over to ‘special guests’ who will introduce each act ahead of their isolation performance.

All the songs are original compositions, and I must say on the whole they are very good. As well as it being a fun show that people can enjoy from the comfort of their own homes it is great to be able to raise money for such worthy charities.”

To donate, visit www.isolationsongcontest.com where you will also find a link to watch the show.