With its roundabouts, belching traffic and building sites, few would claim New Park to be the loveliest suburb of Harrogate.

But it could have been renamed News Park this week due to its constant appearances on the Stray Ferret — not all for good reasons.

On Friday, we revealed how contractors grinding tree stumps at the Tesco site somehow propelled a lump of concrete through the window of a house on Electric Avenue.

Work on the nearby Ripon Road site where the charity Harrogate Skills 4 Living is building supported living flats has also not gone entirely smoothly. The charity said this week it hopes the flats will be up by Christmas after partially-built apartments on the site were recently demolished.

Elsewhere at the ‘crossroads of North Harrogate’, as New Park has been dubbed (by me), plans to build 135 homes off Skipton Road look set to be approved and, in perhaps the only New Park news to be celebrated this week, the local primary school was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted.

Good news was, however, plentiful elsewhere. You could barely move in Harrogate town centre last Saturday night because the Beam Light Festival was so popular. And Knaresborough Tractor Run, that infectious parade of joy, attracted a record 401 tractors and raised £27,500 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Drone photographer Colin Corker joined me at the start and then hotfooted it around the route to capture some amazing footage. Check this out.

Channel 4 captured the somewhat earthier footage of a room of people squabbling when it attended the parish meeting in Ripon called to discuss the cathedral’s plans to build an annexe.

Our man on the ground in Ripon, Tim Flanagan, sent this photo of Channel 4’s chief correspondent Alex Thomson with tree campaigner Jenni Holman alongside the veteran beech tree at risk of being felled.

Knaresborough Town Council was unusually convivial on Monday night, but there was plenty of crackle in the room when Harrogate Spring Water managing director Richard Hall, flanked by helpers, fielded questions for almost 90 minutes on the company’s plans to expand its bottling plant, which would involve felling 450 trees.

A resolution to this saga seems some way off.

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A record 401 vehicles took part in the Knaresborough Tractor Run yesterday (March 17), organisers confirmed today.

The annual event saw the tractors depart the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate and then complete a 25-mile route that takes in Pateley Bridge and Knaresborough and numerous villages in between.

The event has raised more than £100,000 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance since it was first held over a decade ago. You can donate online here.

Drone photographer Colin Corker captured the start and then drove to Nidderdale to capture the spectacular sight of the procession snaking around the countryside.

Here is some of his work from another memorable day.

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Almost 400 vehicles tooted their way around the Harrogate district today in a record breaking Knaresborough Tractor Run.

The joyful atmosphere that greeted the 9am start at the Great Yorkshire Showground continued throughout the day as the tractors paraded their way to Pateley Bridge for lunch and then back to Knaresborough for the finish.

More than 390 tractors are believed to have taken part this year, each one raising money for Yorkshire Air Ambulance. That would beat the previous record of 383 but the official figure has yet to be revealed.

Some travelled long distances to take part. They included Craig Romanis, of Crop Services (Scotland), who set off at 2.30am this morning from the Borders to take part in a tractor raising awareness of the charity founded by late Scottish rugby player Doddie Weir.

The event has raised more than £100,000 for the charity since it was first held over a decade ago. Volunteers carried out bucket collections along the route and you can also donate online here.

Below are some photos from today. All the drone images were supplied by Colin Corker. We will feature some more of his stunning drone footage tomorrow.

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Craig Romanis supporting Doddie Weir’s charity.

Steven Brown, one of the organisers, helping at the start.

The event is held in memory of farmer Mike Spink.

Passing through Killinghall

A volunteer collecting at the start.

The hardy open cab tractor drivers led the parade.

Fuelling up at the start.

Green John Deere tractors were prominent throughout.

The stunning Nidderdale landscape.

Lunch in Pateley Bridge.

Hundreds of tractors will parade around Harrogate, Knaresborough and Pateley Bridge tomorrow for the annual Knaresborough Tractor Run.

The spectacle, watched each year by thousands of people, gets underway at the Great Yorkshire Showground at 9am tomorrow (Sunday, March 17).

Some 350 tractors will embark on a 25-mile route lined with spectators to raise money for Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The event has raised more than £100,000 for the charity since it was first held over a decade ago.

The parade stops for a hog roast lunch in Pateley Bridge before winding its way back to Knaresborough.

The 2024 route

The estimated morning times are:

9am leave Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate

9am-9.15am Knaresborough

10am-10.15am Burton Leonard

10.30am Bishop Monkton

10.45am Markington

11.15am Sawley

11.30am Grantley

Noon Pateley Bridge

The showground departure

A £25,000 online fundraising target has been set. Tractor drivers pay £20 to enter (£25 on the day) and passengers are charged £10. Spectators are encouraged to make donations when the vehicles pass or give online here.

You can donate here. Beware of fake links which appeared online last year scamming people.

Last year’s event took the total amount raised for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance to £113,341, earning the Knaresborough Tractor Run logo a place on the charity’s new helicopters.

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A life-saving charity has been awarded a cheque for £26,000 from the organisers of the Knaresborough tractor run.

The sum was the total amount raised from this year’s event, which saw 374 tractors parade 25 miles around Harrogate, Knaresborough, Pateley Bridge and numerous points in between last month.

Organisers visited the Yorkshire Air Ambulance station at Nostell in West Yorkshire on Saturday to hand over the donation.

The tractor run fundraises for the charity each year because of its value to rural communities.

Participants pay to take part and spectators are encouraged to make donations.

One of the organisers, Tom Fawcett, said:

“We can’t thank everybody enough for the amount of support and donations that we’ve received.

“The Yorkshire Air Ambulance is an invaluable service, that in this economic climate, needs our support more than ever.”

Tractor power will fund the air ambulance’s mission. Pic: Rachael Fawcett Photography

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It started with a few mates from Knaresborough riding a dozen tractors around Tan Hill in 2012.

It is now one of the biggest annual events in the Harrogate district, involving almost 400 vehicles and thousands of well wishers along a 25-mile route.

How did the Knaresborough tractor run become such a beast?

Ramsgill sheep farmer Steve Brown, chairman of the tractor run committee, ponders the question a week after the event’s latest success, which saw 374 vehicles convoy around Harrogate, Knaresborough and Pateley Bridge last Sunday to raise more than £23,000 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance. He says:

“I think it’s a lot to do with the cause. If you work in a rural setting you don’t know when you might need an air ambulance. It’s a cause close to the heart.”

Advertising the cause. Pic: Rachael Fawcett Photography

That might explain why farmers and other rural workers get involved, but why do so many people line the route all around Nidderdale? Steven says:

“Where else can you see 400 tractors in a line? I think it’s that simplicity. Plus it keeps the kids occupied for a couple of hours and it doesn’t cost anything.”

Whatever the reasons, the tractor run has become as much a part of local life as the Great Yorkshire Show, the Knaresborough Bed Race and Harrogate pantomime.

How it started

A family photo of Mike Spink

The fun nature of the event belies its sad foundations.

Mike Spink, a member of Knaresborough Young Famers who took part in the early tractor runs, died in a road accident in 2017 after moving to New Zealand six months earlier. Steven recalls:

“Mike was a dairy farmer and a very big believer in the air ambulance. When he died we got together and thought ‘why don’t we make it a bigger event and raise money in his memory?'”.

So what until then had been a bit of fun on tractors around Tan Hill and Whitby each year suddenly became a more serious affair.

Credit: Rachael Fawcett Photography

Eighty tractors took part in the first event in memory of Mike and next year 134 lined-up. Soon the tractor run had outgrown Knaresborough and the start had to be moved to the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate to accommodate all the vehicles.

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This year’s total was 10 fewer than last year’s record 384 and Steven thinks the total has plateaued between 350 to 400. But the tractor run never fails to surprise.

Passing Knaresborough House. Credit: Rachael Fawcett Photography

Not all the surprises are pleasant. This year’s decision to introduce a free livestream, which enabled people to see where the first and last tractors were so they knew when the convoy would be passing, attracted scammers who cloned the tractor run website and urged people to give their bank details. One person lost £1,500 before the ruse was spotted.

There’s also the constant issue of safety, which has put such a big insurance risk on Knaresborough Young Farmers that the committee is increasingly running it as a standalone event. Steven says:

“I always think of the most idiotic thing that can happen and work back from that. We do the best we can —that’s all we can do. Fortunately we’ve never had a major incident but you can never be lackadaisical. Safety is paramount.”

The committee meets about 10 times a year to plan for the event, and its first get-together to discuss the 2024 gathering was due to take place yesterday.

Steven says a “colossal amount” of work goes into planning and trying to work out the best route. The template doesn’t change much but there are always minor improvements and things to consider. Last year the food ran out at lunchtime in Pateley Bridge.

These children brought their own tractor to watch the start at the showground.

But it all comes together gloriously each spring: excited children jump up and down and cheer and even gnarly old farmers get a tingle as they parade like rock stars down Pateley Bridge High Street or through Markington, tooting their horns to large crowds.

It’s seven hours of pure tractor power with a touch of theatre set against the glorious Nidderdale backdrop and there is nothing like it. Whether it’s the biggest tractor run is debatable but few would dispute it’s the best. Steven says:

“We are led to believe it’s the biggest tractor run in the country. Some have more tractors but they don’t do a run like ours, they just go a few miles down the road.”

You can still donate to the air ambulance on behalf of the tractor run here.

Passing through Hampsthwaite. Credit: Rachael Fawcett Photography

The organisers of the Knaresborough tractor run have revealed that this year’s event has raised £23,340 so far.

It means Knaresborough Young Farmers, which started the event in memory of former member Mike Spink, have now raised £107,840 over the years for Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Almost 400 tractors took part in the 25-mile route on Sunday, which started at Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground.

The convoy passed through Ripley, Knaresborough, Staveley, Burton Leonard, Markington, Bishop Thornton and Glasshouses before stopping in Pateley Bridge for lunch.

It then continued to Bewerley, Dacre, Darley, Birstwith and Hampsthwaite before finishing in Knaresborough.

A statement on the event’s Facebook page said:

“Big thank you to all those who attended yesterday.

“Thank you to our sponsors, marshals and anyone who helped on the day, without you we couldn’t have reached this total.

It is still possible to donate here.

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