Hookstone Archives - The Stray Ferret

Greggs makes bold statement at Hookstone openingCouncil urged to create 20mph zones in Hookstone areaHarrogate primary school appoints new headteacher

A Harrogate primary school has announced a new headteacher and deputy-head teacher.

Hookstone Chase Primary School has appointed James Hughes as the new headteacher and Hannah Norton as the new deputy headteacher.

Mr Hughes has been acting head since October 2023. He has worked in primary schools for 18 years.

Before starting at Hookstone Chase, he held the position of deputy headteacher at nearby Willow Tree Primary School for 13 years.

Mr Hughes said:

“I am thrilled to become the new Headteacher at Hookstone Chase Primary School and am committed to unlocking the potential of every one of our young learners.

“Alongside Hannah and our talented staff team we will nurture academic excellence and strengthen connections with our local community to cultivate a vibrant and diverse learning environment.”

Ms Norton joins the school from New Park Primary School, also in Harrogate, where she was assistant headteacher and special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO).

Hookstone Chase Primary School

Hookstone Chase Primary School is part of Northern Star Academies Trust, a partnership of 15 primary and secondary schools across North and West Yorkshire, five of which are in Harrogate.

Harrogate High School, New Park Primary Academy School , Starbeck Primary Academy and Willow Tree Community Primary School are also in the trust.

The trust’s CEO, Jenn Plews, said:

“We’re delighted to welcome both James and Hannah to their new roles at Hookstone Chase Primary School and to support them as they lead the school into this new chapter.

“As a growing Yorkshire Trust we put people at the heart of everything we do and know that excellent education starts with excellent teachers. We take great pride in being able to provide career advancement prospects within our Trust partnership and are so pleased that both James and Hannah are taking the next step in their career at Northern Star.”

Hookstone Chase Primary School is also looking for a volunteer governor. If you would like to find out more about the role contact governance@nsat.org.uk.

Photo of the Week: Hookstone Wood

This week’s photograph was taken by John Lorimer, capturing the light breaking through the trees in Hookstone Woods.

John Lorimer

Photo of the Week celebrates the Harrogate district. It could be anything from family life to capturing the district’s beauty. We are interested in amateur and professional photographs, in a landscape format.

Send your photographs to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk for a chance to be featured next week, we reserve the right to adjust and crop images to fit into our format.

Harrogate residents demand action after tree crashes into garages — again

Residents on a Harrogate street are demanding action after a mighty oak tree crashed down into neighbouring gardens twice in the space of a year.

The multi-trunk oak forms part of a row of mature trees overhanging gardens at Sherwood Drive in Hookstone.

One of its three trunks splintered in July last year, destroying the fence and badly damaging the garage roof belonging to Keith Crawford.

The incident prompted Mr Crawford and several neighbours to urge North Yorkshire Council, which owns the land the trees are on, to undertake pruning to prevent a repeat.

But nothing was done and a second trunk from the oak fell into the garage roofs of two properties alongside Mr Crawford’s at 4am on Sunday morning.

Trees overhanging back gardens on Sherwood Drive.

He said the state of the trees posed a risk to people and property that the council had failed to act upon.

“It took until December to sort out my garage and fence and now it’s happened again to my neighbours.

“The trees are just not being managed properly. People are scared.”

Mr Crawford said he couldn’t recall any maintenance taking place during the 17 years he’d lived on Sherwood Drive and the trees were now far too big for residents to attempt to prune.

Christine Amour, who lives next door to Mr Crawford, was woken on her birthday last weekend by the sound of the tree crashing down. She said:

“I was so upset, I was shaking. I just stood on the steps of my back door saying ‘oh no, it’s happened again’.”

The Stray Ferret met other neighbours at Sherwood Drive last night who were equally concerned about the situation. They said their concerns to the council had also gone unanswered.

Keith and Christine Amour besides the fallen trunk, with their homes in the background.

The trees are situated on a cycleway and footpath that leads to Panhandle Park so they also pose a risk to passers-by.

We asked the council how many residents had complained about the trees on Sherwood Drive, why it had not taken action and whether it would now.

Michael Leah, assistant director for environment at the council, said:

“We visited Sherwood Drive on Monday in order to assess the situation following the adverse weather over the weekend.

“We were initially denied access to neighbouring properties and so returned on Tuesday and held further discussions with residents.

“As a result, we were able to get onto the property directly affected and remove tree debris. We completed this work on Tuesday afternoon. There was no visible damage to the property itself.”

Mr Leah added:

“Over the next three months, we will be carrying out work in the area to thin some trees that are in a poor condition and reduce more overhanging branches.

“Residents can take action to prune trees themselves in order to prevent them reaching the stage where we need to step in. This should be done carefully and with due regard to health and safety. If in any doubt, please call in professional tree surgeons to carry out such work.”

Photo of the Week: Hookstone Woods

This week’s photograph was taken by Brian Morrison, capturing the light breaking through the trees at Hookstone Woods.

Brian Morrison

Send your photographs to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk for a chance to be featured next week, we reserve the right to adjust and crop images to fit into our format.

Mum of boy seriously injured on school run in Harrogate issues plea for 20mph limit

The mother of a 15-year-old boy seriously injured in a collision on the way to school in Harrogate has issued an emotional plea for road safety improvements.

Stephanie Talbot’s son Reuben was one of two Rossett School students hit by a pick-up truck on Yew Tree Lane on February 2.

Four months on from the collision, she has given her backing to a campaign to impose a 20mph limit on streets across a swathe of south and west Harrogate.

In a statement read by road safety campaigner and fellow parent Jenny Marks at today’s meeting of North Yorkshire Council‘s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee, she said:

“They were on the pavement [when they were hit]. My daughter was also involved in the collision as her car was hit by the same truck. My youngest son was right behind his brother on the pavement and so witnessed the whole incident.

“My husband and I were right there within a few minutes of the accident happening. Reuben’s body had landed in positions it should never be in.

“Pieces of wall had to be removed from his body and he had eight broken bones: arms, leg and back… I was later told that when the paramedics arrived his stats showed that he could easily have died while on the ground there.

“I will never get over what I saw and heard that day.”

Some members of the committee were moved to tears as Dr Marks continued to read Ms Talbot’s statement.

It said her daughter had never felt safe walking to school in the area and had even been hit by a car near Rossett Sports Centre last September – which also happened while she was on the path.

Ms Talbot said she felt a 20mph network around schools in Harrogate would make children and parents feel safer to walk and cycle around the area, adding:

“Putting action in place should not be done as a consequence to a child’s injury or even death, but this accident should be a wake-up call to all parents, grandparents and the community to know that we need to make a change in our beautiful but busy town to enable our children to feel safe.

“Seventeen weeks on and many aspects of our lives are still on hold because of these injuries. I cannot even explain the pain and trauma that we have all gone through and will live with for the rest of our lives.

“Please be the people that make a difference.”

Petition

Campaigners Hazel Peacock and Vicki Evans presented a petition at the meeting with 924 signatures from people in support of reducing the speed limit to 20mph across the Oatlands, Hookstone, Pannal Ash and St George’s areas, where around 9,000 children attend local schools.

Ms Peacock told the meeting that evidence from other projects around the UK showed the reduction could have a significant impact on the severity of collisions.

She added:

“You have just heard of the devastating effects of the collision on Yew Tree Lane in February, and you are also aware of the collision outside Oatlands Junior School, also on the pavement, in January.

“These awful events coupled with overwhelming evidence of the benefits of 20mph limits demonstrate why change is urgently needed.”

Hazel Peacock handed the petition to North Yorkshire Council last month, with support from councillors and campaigners

While councillors on all sides of the chamber gave their support to the calls for a reduced speed limit, the Conservatives highlighted the fact that a pilot project had already been requested.

North Yorkshire Council is developing a policy on 20mph limits around schools and other urban areas, and Cllr John Mann (Conservative, Oatlands and Pannal) said he was keen to see the results of that work guide how a lower speed limit could be used in the area.

Conservative Cllr Sam Gibbs of the Valley Gardens and Central Harrogate division said:

“I do have one very slight reservation: 99% of the roads that are in this scheme I don’t have an issue with. However, the main roads of Leeds Road and Otley Road would be a slight concern to me if they were brought in to 20mph.”

Cllr Paul Haslam, the Conservative councillor for Bilton and Nidd Gorge, said there needed to be a shift in attitudes and behaviours to make the school run safer, adding:

“We can put in a 20mph speed limit, but at the end of the day it’s all about behavioural and attitude changes to this. When we did the stats on Harrogate in 2018, I think more than 60% of the journeys in this town are less than 1.8km – not even miles, 1.8km.

“Surely we should be able to walk those distances, and a lot of that is to do with school commuting.”

The Liberal Democrats put forward a motion in support of the petition, calling on North Yorkshire Council to deliver a 20mph limit on streets across the area.

The proposal was voted through and will be passed to NYC’s executive.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Matt Walker, representing the Knaresborough West division, added:

“This is an opportunity that we should not miss and we need to show the executive our views on this.

“This tragedy should not have happened and it’s within our gift to send that message on our views to the executive so that this does not happen to anybody else.”

Harrogate school road safety petition handed in to council

A petition calling for a 20 mph limit to be imposed on streets across the south of Harrogate has been delivered to North Yorkshire Council today.

Asking the council to consider the blanket limit across Rossett, Pannal Ash, Oatlands, Woodlands and Hookstone, the petition attracted more than 900 signatures.

It was set up by parents concerned about children’s safety when travelling to schools in the area, and gained the backing of groups including Harrogate District Cycle Action and Zero Carbon Harrogate.

Hazel Peacock, who delivered the petition this morning on behalf of the campaigning parents, said:

“We’re just delighted we’ve got this number of signatures. It shows the support for the proposal of this change, which could bring such positive benefits from a road safety perspective.

“Once you have that, it will change people’s attitudes in regard to comfort around walking, cycling and mobility users.”

She handed the petition to Elizabeth Jackson, democratic services manager for North Yorkshire Council.

After surpassing the required 500 signatures, it will now be debated by the council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee.

Councillors John Mann, Pat Marsh and Michael Schofield, whose divisions cover the area of the proposed speed restriction and supported the restriction, all sit on the committee and handed over the petition with Hazel this morning.

Cllr Mann, whose Oatlands and Pannal division includes three primary schools, Ashville College and several nurseries and pre-schools, said:

“There is an urgent need in particular for a 20 mph limit for Yew Tree Lane, Green Lane, Hookstone Road, and Beechwood Grove, all of which are used by large numbers of children going to and from local schools, and I have emphasised this to the highways team at the council.

“In relation to the A61 Leeds Road, I have also written to the head of highways, Cllr Keane Duncan, to request that the 50 mph speed limit on Almsford Bank be reduced to 40 mph to reduce competitive speeding, and to improve road safety for schoolchildren using the pavements along the A61 near to the neighbourhoods of Stone Rings, the Fulwiths, and the Firs.

“The current risks to pedestrians using the A61 in this area were highlighted in January when a driver managed to overturn his car and demolish a 30mph sign at the top of Almsford Bank in the morning rush hour. In the same month, another vehicle overturned due to speeding in the early morning rush hour on Hookstone Road close to the junction with Hornbeam Park Avenue.”

The demolished 30 mph sign on Leeds Road

Cllr Mann said he would prefer the A61 Leeds Road to maintain its 30 mph limit through Oatlands in order to ease traffic flow, but that a reduction in the limit elsewhere was “urgently needed”.

He referenced a collision on Yew Tree Lane in which two 15-year-old boys from Rossett School were seriously injured, and another collision on Beechwood Grove which left an Oatlands Junior School pupil requiring hospital treatment – both of which happened while the children were on the pavement.

He added:

“These shocking events, combined with evidence showing that more than 10 children are killed or seriously injured in road crashes every week travelling to school, demonstrate the case for immediate action.

“With thousands of pupils travelling to and from the schools and colleges of south and west Harrogate during the week, implementing a maximum speed of 20mph in these areas has the potential to increase safety significantly.

“I really hope that this petition is looked upon favourably by the North Yorkshire Council highways team.”

Malcolm Margolis, a member of Harrogate District Cycle Action, said reducing the speed limit would also make cycling a safer option for many families travelling to and from schools.

He said:

“It’s a terrific initiative by Hazel and the others. It’s absolutely needed in this area of Harrogate and we hoe it will be the start of it becoming normalised.

“In other countries, it’s just normal. You see parents and grandparents picking up children on their bikes. There’s no reason why we should be different.

“In a calmer 20mph environment, it’s so much more pleasant for anyone who isn’t in a car. In an urban area, it actually makes very little difference to journey times.”

Cllr Marsh, who represents Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone for the Liberal Democrats, said she also backed the plan, and hoped it would be supported by North Yorkshire Police.

She added:

“I’ve been supporting this idea for a very long time. My late husband and I got a 20mph limit put outside Hookstone Chase Primary School and some of the residential streets close by well over 15 years ago.

“My only issue is I wish the police would monitor it, because if they don’t, motorists know it and will ignore it. We can’t put our children at risk.”

Police case on missing Harrogate woman ‘remains open’

North Yorkshire Police issued a statement today saying its investigation into missing Harrogate woman Marsha Wray remains open, 25 years to the day since her disappearance.

Marsha, 38, went missing after dropping off her two children at Hookstone Chase primary school on Friday, January 24 1997.

A few days after her disappearance, her red Metro Quest car was seen parked at Nidd Gorge. It was later recovered in Headingley, although who moved it there remains a mystery.

There have been no sightings since and no body has ever been found.

Adam Harland, of North Yorkshire Police’s cold case review team, said:

“The case surrounding the death of Marsha Wray has been reviewed on previous occasions.

“Despite extensive investigations and appeals, the case remains open.

“We are open to any new information leading to evidence in relation to the case.”

Marsha worked as a nurse at Harrogate District Hospital. Her husband of 17 years, Colin, said she had told him she was going away for a few days.

Investigation into ‘sea of bubbles’ in Harrogate’s Hookstone Beck

Yorkshire Water says it is investigating an unusual incident where bubbles filled a section of Hookstone Beck today.

Two Stray Ferret readers contacted us with photos of the beck this morning when what appeared to be a sea of washing-up liquid bubbles appeared on the surface.

Andrew Mann said he was out for a walk near the Yorkshire Event Centre when he noticed “something clearly had gone wrong”.

He said bubbles had risen 10-feet-high and raised concerns about any fish that might be swimming in the beck, which feeds into Crimple Beck.

A spokesman for Yorkshire Water said the incident was not related to sewage pollution. He suspected somebody had poured detergent down a drain that is intended for rainwater and runs off into the beck.

An investigation is underway to find the source of the problem and whether the substance is harmful to wildlife. Yorkshire Water will then share its findings with the Environment Agency.

Read more:

Read more:

Petition

Read more:

Read more:

Read more:

Read more: