A community building is set to reopen in Killinghall next weekend after a £248,000 refurbishment.

Killinghall Methodist Church has made the investment to help it meet the needs of the village’s growing community.

As well as providing a more modern space, it has reduced the building’s carbon footprint, as part of the Methodist aim to achieve net zero status.

Rev Ron Hicks from the church said:

“It’s becoming an eco-friendly church building. There’s air source heat pumps, and solar panels on the roof.

“Internally we have reconfigured the worship area, taken bits of the partitioning out and opened it up to be one big place for the community to use.”

The first chapel on the Ripon Road site was built in 1793, and its foundation stone still remains in the present building, which was built as a school in 1937. In 1973 the original chapel was demolished and the school room was refurbished, with an extension built around the same time.

The latest work has seen a new kitchen installed along with new windows, carpets, heating, insulation and a cycle rack. The building has also been redecorated.

Before and after photos inside Killinghall Methodist Church

It has been funded by Methodist Church sources, along with a grant of almost £100,000 from the FCC Communities Foundation, a not-for-profit business that awards grants through the Landfill Communities Fund.

Additional money was provided by the Benefact Trust and the Congregational and General Charitable Trust.

Rev Hicks said:

“Now, we’re into the next phase of the building’s life.

“It’s a really good congregation of all ages, from youngsters through to people in their 30s and 40s, right through to much older.

“Upgrading the facilities now is important because there are people coming in who are new to the village. We want a modern building that suits their needs.”

Read more:

• Killinghall Cricket Club applies to build new two-storey pavilion
• Honour for Killinghall resident after five decades of volunteering

The church is also set to become home to a new community cafe run by Resurrected Bites.

The food waste organisation will open its third pay-as-you-feel cafe this spring, using food that would otherwise go to landfill to deliver a menu of breakfasts, lunches, cakes and drinks.

Founder Michelle Hayes said:

“We hope it will be the perfect opportunity for people to congregate and get to know other people from Killinghall.

“We are hoping to find someone to run a great toddler group on Thursday mornings as we are particularly concerned about loneliness for stay-at-home parents or carers. The café will also be a nice venue for people working from home to have their lunch and a chat with people.”

Resurrected Bites is seeking a cafe manager for the new venue. The paid role of eight hours a week involves an hour of prep on a Wednesday and seven hours leading the team on Thursdays.

Volunteers are also being recruited to help prepare, serve and clear away in the cafe each week.

For more information, email Heather Memmott at Resurrected Bites.

An official reopening of the church will be held on Saturday, February 4, from 1pm to 3pm, when the community will have the chance to look at the new facilities.

Four-way traffic lights near Killinghall which have caused lengthy delays for motorists are set to last for another four weeks.

The roadworks at the roundabout near the Curious Cow at Oaker Bank are due to continue until February 17.

It comes as Express Utilities is carrying out work to install utility infrastructure for a nearby housing development.

The company has placed temporary traffic lights on the junction with Skipton Road while the work is carried out.

The works have caused delays for motorists, particularly during morning rush hour traffic.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Express Utilities said it was “supplying extra resources” to the works from January 23 in an effort to complete the work before February 17.

The company said:

“We appreciate that this type of work can cause inconvenience to members of the public and we will do all we can to minimise any disruption as far as practicable.

“As suggested, we will complete the works as soon as possible whilst keeping the traffic flowing as much as possible, maintaining the safety of our operatives and the public as our number one priority.”

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Killinghall Cricket Club has submitted plans to demolish its pavilion and construct a two-storey replacement on the same site.

Planning documents sent to Harrogate Borough Council describe the current 1970s structure as “deteriorating and neglected” and would cost more to refurbish than it is worth.

It is poorly insulated with ageing communal showers and the changing rooms lack privacy, the documents say. They add:

“Umpires and female cricketers currently have nowhere designated to get changed, so have to use communal areas, the toilets or come already changed. The facilities for the scorers on matchdays are currently a wooden hut situated next to the clubhouse, which is neither attractive nor very comfortable to sit in.”

Killinghall CC has been on the rise in recent years, Last year the team were crowned first division champions in the Nidderdale and District Cricket League.

The club has opened up its facilities to the public during summer.

Since the demolition of the Three Horseshoes pub and long-term closure of The Greyhounds Inn, the club has also used its pavilion and bar to provide a social centre for the village at weekends.

It hopes a new pavilion would help it fulfil this and encourage the creation of a junior team. The documents say:

“The proposal will provide exceptional changing and hosting facilities for visiting teams, which would be of the best in the current Killinghall teams’ leagues.

“There is a hope to introduce junior cricket back to the cricket club, that used to be a vibrant and engaging part of the local community. The introduction of these new facilities will help facilitate the introduction of this and hopefully attract them to the club.”

“This development is very much needed to the club and the village community. We feel that the scale of the pavilion is appropriate for the size of the site and has been carefully considered. The chosen materials and design compliment and contribute positively to the overall character of the pavilion, cricket ground and the surrounding village.”

Read more:

• Honour for Killinghall resident after five decades of volunteering
• Rapidly growing Killinghall school praised by Ofsted

Firefighters came to the rescue when a horsebox left the road in Killinghall today.

Crews from Harrogate and Ripon were summoned to the village at 12.07pm after a 7.5 tonne horse box left the road following a single vehicle collision.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s incident log said:

“Crews stabilised the vehicle to allow the owner to remove the horse from the rear of the vehicle. Incident then left with police.

“Crews used a tirfor winch and stabfast stabilisation equipment.”

Five minutes after the Killinghall call, Harrogate firefighters attended flooding in the basement of a house in Beckwithshaw.

The incident log said:

“Crews pumped water from basement and gave advice to owner. A light portable pump and hard suction were used at this incident.”

The incidents were part of a busy day shift for the Harrogate crew, which at 8am dealt with a reports of a diesel leak on a road in North Rigton.

Firefighters carried out an investigation and requested a highways gully-sucker to unblock a surface water drain.  

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A petition has been launched to award honours to all members of the England Lionesses team that won Euro 2022 — including Harrogate’s Rachel Daly.

Captain Leah Williamson was appointed OBE while Beth Mead, Lucy Bronze and Ellen White became MBEs in today’s King’s New Year Honours.

But the decision to recognise four players and not others in a team game has caused controversy.

A petition calling for all of the Lionesses’ playing squad to receive honours has already attracted 2,000 signatures.

Michael McCann, who started the petition, said:

“It simply does not feel fair at all, that after such a monumental collective effort, and given the historical precedents set with previous sporting successes in England, to chose to honour just four of the Lionesses players.”

Mr McCann calls on the Cabinet Office to “honour the entire 23-player squad with at least an MBE”.

Politicians, including Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, have questioned why only four of the team were recognised.

Why only four? They were a TEAM. It should be all or none and I say ALL. https://t.co/lc6ysVKZWL

— Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM) December 31, 2022

The Daily Mail’s northern football correspondent, Dominic King, also expressed forthright views on Twitter.

If Gareth Southgate’s squad had won the World Cup, every member would have got recognition in the honours list. It’s puzzling, them, why every member of Sarina Weigman’s squad hasn’t been honoured. Sir Hugh Robertson’s explanation for the exclusivity is nonsense, too.

— Dominic King (@DominicKing_DM) December 31, 2022

Daly, whose career started at Killinghall Nomads, has had an amazing year. Besides winning Euro 2022 she has twice been named Women’s Super League Player of the Month for her scoring exploits at Aston Villa.

Rachel Daly receiving her player of the month award November.

Read more:

• Harrogate’s Rachel Daly named WSL Player of the Month — again!
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A long-serving community volunteer has been awarded the British Empire Medal in the King’s New Year Honours.

Anne Holdsworth has served on Killinghall Parish Council since 1973, including as its current chair.

It is just one of the roles she has held over many decades, giving her time and energy for the benefit of the village community and others.

After receiving a letter about the honour a few weeks ago, she told the Stray Ferret yesterday:

“It was a huge surprise and a great honour – totally unexpected. I’ve no idea who put me forward, but I’m very grateful for it.”

Her first public role came after she had her two daughters and attended a mobile clinic. A health visitor spotted a born organiser and signed Cllr Holdsworth up to help once a month.

She went on to help with a meals on wheels service and joined the village hall committee.

Among Cllr Holdsworth’s achievements was helping to set up a youth club in the village, as well as pushing through a project to raise money and extend the village hall.

She sat on the health authority and was a governor of Killinghall Primary School, also serving on the committee of the group of Harrogate primary schools.

She also represented the parish council at borough and county council level.

Read more:

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When the first community radio station launched in Harrogate, Cllr Holdsworth got involved, borrowing equipment from the BBC in Leeds to go out and interview people around the area.

At the same time, she was working full-time for the Forensic Science Society in Harrogate, from which she retired after a 25-year career.

Cllr Holdsworth said a willingness to get involved and help get things done came naturally to her generation. Although she has missed out on receiving her honour from the late Queen, she said she still feels a connection to her through it.

“I’ve grown up with her, as it were. I remember her father, and her wedding. I was a child when they got married. My mother was very keen on following it.

“We try to emulate her standard, the majority of people of my age. My mother used to be involved in her community and I went everywhere with her, so life has evolved in the same way.”

Now a grandmother of two and great-grandmother of one, Cllr Holdsworth only told her family about her honour yesterday.

She has seen a great deal of change in Killinghall over the years – “some good, some bad” – but continues to serve her community through both the parish council and the village hall committee.

As the village continues to evolve, she hopes more locals, including many of the residents moving into new housing in the parish, will consider giving up some of their time in future too.

Reflecting on why she has given so much time to so many roles over the years, Cllr Holdsworth said:

“I’m a meddler, as people might say!

“I enjoyed it. I’ve never been bored, even after I retired. I just wish I had more years to add.”

A doctors’ practice that has been looking after patients in Harrogate for three-quarters of a century will be changing its name in the new year. 

Dr Moss & Partners was founded in 1947 – before the advent of the NHS – and has clinics opposite the convention centre on King’s Road, in the Jennyfields area of Harrogate, and in Killinghall.

From February 1 it will be known as Moss Healthcare Harrogate and have a new logo. 

Dr Moss & Partners on King’s Road in Harrogate.

In a letter sent today to to the firm’s 19,600 patients, senior partner Dr Nick Taylor said:

“Our decision to change our identity reflects the role of modern general practice and the different healthcare specialists patients can now access.

“Our practice now incorporates a much wider range of healthcare professionals and non-clinical staff.

“If you’re unwell, or living with a long-term condition, the best people to help aren’t necessarily doctors.”

In addition to its doctors, the practice now also provides services from nurses, healthcare assistants, advanced clinical practitioners, first-contact physiotherapists, pharmacists and social prescribers. 

Harrogate-born footballer Rachel Daly’s amazing year continued today when she was named Barclays Women’s Super League Player of the Month for November.

Daly, who was part of England’s thrilling European Championships success in the summer, has been in red-hot form in front of goal since signing for Aston Villa from Houston Dash this season.

She won the player of the month award in September and has now landed it a second time for playing a key role in Villa victories over Liverpool and Reading in November.

Rachel Daly displays her award.

The former Killinghall Nomads player scored a penalty to seal a 1-0 win over Liverpool before recording a hat-trick against Reading at Villa Park to give her four league goals last month.

Daly is the league’s joint top scorer and has helped catapult Villa to fifth in the table.

Read more:

• Harrogate’s Rachel Daly among winners at Pride of Britain awards
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Motorists are set for another day of delays on the A61 Ripon Road in Killinghall today, with long queues already forming.

Traffic in both directions was horrendous yesterday due to traffic lights caused by workers digging up the grass verge near Ripley.

After some respite later in the day, another set of roadworks appeared in the middle of Killinghall at 8.30pm as workers began digging up the road despite the late hour.

Late night roadworks in the middle of the village.

Four-way lights were installed at the junction of Ripon Road and Otley Road.

This morning, queues are again in place, with Yorkshire Water due to carry out work on Ripon Road all week traffic lights back.

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• Harrogate roadworks ‘paused’ until New Year

Killinghall Church of England Primary School has been rated ‘good’ in its first full Ofsted inspection for 10 years.

The village school has doubled in size from 95 to 183 pupils since its last full inspection in 2012.

Inspectors praised the way it had coped with the challenges presented by rapid growth and said leaders had created “a highly inclusive school community where pupils are valued” and pupils “are happy and feel safe”.

The school was rated ‘good’ in five of the six areas assessed and ‘outstanding’ for early years provision.

The report, published on Tuesday, said:

“Children get off to an excellent start in the early years. Most pupils behave well. They show kindness and consideration for others.

“Bullying is not a problem in the school. Pupils know that they can talk to any of the adults in school if they are worried about something. They are confident that adults will act quickly.”

Leaders, they added, had created “an ambitious curriculum”, staff were described as “skilled” and safeguarding arrangements were found to be “effective”.

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Sarah Bassitt, who has been headteacher for 12 years, said:

“We are really pleased, especially after the challenges presented by covid and flooding to the key stage two classrooms from February to May this year.

“I’m particularly pleased with the early years assessment and the comments saying we are caring and the pupils are happy.”

Areas for improvement

Ofsted identified two areas for improvement: ensuring expectations for pupils’ behaviour “are consistently high across the school” and ensuring “processes for identifying and monitoring pupils with special education needs are consistently strong and that targets are precise”.

Ms Bassitt said the school had already adopted a new plan for pupils with special education needs.

Marion McCormick, co-chair of governors at the school, said:

“We have a great deal of pride in the hard work and commitment that has led to this very good result.

“The report reflects the enthusiasm and high standards that embody all that the school stands for.

“The strength and resilience shown by the headteacher and her team to achieve this following a major flood throughout key stage two deserves huge praise.”