A Knaresborough business owner has made made the “devastating” decision to close her charity shop after it flooded for the fifth time in five years.

Rachel Wills runs the Watermill Cafe at The Lido leisure park in Knaresborough.

When her niece Bella was diagnosed with leukaemia, Ms Wills wanted to support the hospital caring for her so she decided to open a charity shop within the premises.

It began as a book table in the corner of the cafe but as more people heard Bella’s story, a bigger space was needed for donations so Ms Wills converted the ground floor cellar and opened a ‘bring and buy’ shop.

Since opening three years ago, the venture and annual summer BBQs have raised more than £10,000 for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

But the cafe stands on the banks of the River Nidd, making it a frequent victim of flooding. Now, after last month’s storms, Ms Wills has decided she can’t keep rebuilding the shop.

The high waters during a night of flooding and then a few days later.

Each time it floods she and her partner have to rebuild the shelves and put a call-out for more donations.

Last month’s floods forced the cafe owner to throw away three-and-a-half tips of donations and food stock and pump out more than 500 litres of water.

She said:

“I was watching the waters rise on the CCTV. I could see things dropping into the water. I just knew I couldn’t go through this again, every time it happens it’s harder to build back again.

“If I keep it on and we get flooded again I’m back to square one. It’s an awful decision to make but I will keep holding events to support the hospital but keeping the shop open is just really hard when it floods so regularly.”

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Bella was diagnosed cancer-free in March 2020. Nevertheless, Ms Wills wants to continue finding ways to donate to the hospital.

Each year, she holds a summer barbecue outside the cafe on the river banks, with live music and games, which raises around £1,000 — this will continue.

Ilkley-based property developer Opus North and Bridges Fund Management have been granted planning permission from Harrogate Borough Council to build a 600,000 square feet business park near Flaxby.

The business park will be called ‘Harrogate 47’ as it will be built close to junction 47 of the A1 (M). The developer believes it could support 2,000 jobs.

It’s allocated as the main strategic employment site in the council’s Harrogate district Local Plan and already has existing planning permission for more than half a million square feet of employment space.

The new plans include up to 130,000 sq ft of office accommodation, about 75,000 sq ft of tech starter units and approximately 430,000 sq ft for logistics and warehouses.

Ryan Unsworth, development director of Opus North, said:

“This development is key for the Harrogate and wider North Yorkshire economy due to its capacity to transform vacant land into office and industrial space for local, regional and national occupiers, and the vast job-creating potential it has.

“The delivery of Harrogate 47 will allow local companies to expand and grow within the region in addition to attracting inward investment into the district and we are delighted that its potential has been recognised through the positive planning outcome.”

Electric vehicle show comes to Harrogate

A global event that promotes clean energy and electric vehicles will come to Harrogate’s Yorkshire Event Centre in May 2023.

The event is called Fully Charged, the World’s no.1 Electric Vehicle and Clean Energy Show, and is expected to attract 10,000 visitors from May 19 to May 21.

The event will be hosted by Red Dwarf actor and YouTuber Robert Llewellyn.

There will be 120 exhibitors and visitors will be able to test drive some of the latest electric vehicles on sale in the UK.

Dan Caesar, joint chief executive of Fully Charged Live, said:

“Fully Charged Live has been a huge global success, and we are delighted to be bringing the show to the north of England at last. Harrogate is a great location, and the Yorkshire Event Centre, with its indoor and outdoor space, and its sustainability credentials, is a natural partner.”

(L to R) presenter Robert Llewellyn, Richard Moorhouse operations manager at the YEC, Dan Caesar, joint CEO of Fully Charged Live and Ben Chatburn sales manager at the YEC.

Grants of up to £100,000 available for Yorkshire social enterprises

The Social Enterprise Support Fund is now open for the second round of funding and will provide grants of between £10,000 and £100,000 for social enterprises that have been impacted by covid.

This follows the first round of applications in December that saw over 800 applications from enterprises across England, requesting grants worth over £37m.

The fund is available to social enterprises if most of their beneficiaries are in England, and their annual income has been between £20,000 and £1.8m in either of the last two financial years.

Sheffield-based Key Fund supports social enterprises across Yorkshire. Its chief executive, Matt Smith, said:

“The UK’s social enterprises have been at the heart of community survival and recovery during the pandemic. In a post-covid world, where the inequalities within society are even starker, the work of these organisations will be needed more than ever.

“This grant funding has already proven to be a lifeline to many social enterprises and the communities they work in, and so we welcome this second round of financial support.”

Matt Smith, CEO of Key Fund

Knaresborough artist Shirley Vine presented her lockdown portraits to key workers on Saturday.

Ms Vine started the project to pay tribute to people on the frontline during the darkest periods of the pandemic.

Her 15 subjects included a fireman, a care worker, nurses, teachers, a police officer, refuse collector, dentist, signalman, and foodbank volunteers.

The acrylic paintings have been on display in the Chain Lane vaccination centre in Knaresborough but have now been presented free of charge to the subjects at a reception Ms Vine organised on Saturday at COGS (Centre On Gracious Street).

Ms Vine said:

“Lockdown was fine at first, as it was the time when I usually finish my watercolour classes for the year and spend time sorting the house and garden.

“That was OK for a few weeks, but I soon realised that something more was going to be needed for the future unknown time of covid.

“Tom Croft, a professional portraitist appeared on BBC TV to galvanise any artists to paint their NHS heroes. I took to this and painted 15 local frontline key workers”.

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• Delayed A1 (M) junction 47 works to finish end of March

Receiving the portraits brought back often difficult memories to the key workers who Ms Vine painted.

Deborah and Ian, from anti-food waste community group Resurrected Bites said,

“It has been a privilege and so good to be able to help when so many were desperate”.

Deborah and Ian with their portrait.

Gee, a care worker, said,

“As the residents couldn’t have visitors, we became their family, which was so important”.

Gee and her portrait.

Lesley, a dentist, said,

“Stunning Portraits. A poignant reminder of what we were doing and now feels like a lifetime ago”.

Lesley with her portrait.

Sam from Noah’s Ark Pre-school said:

“It was hard work but rewarding, cocooned within Noah’s Ark. Shirley has captured how children’s learning continued throughout and how parents valued the setting and all of the staff.”

Sam and her portrait.

A total of 23 trees will be chopped down in Knaresborough this week to make way for the town’s new £17 million leisure centre.

Fencing has been placed around the affected area, which includes the play area where the new centre will be built. Work to remove the trees is expected to begin today and take five days.

Once work is completed, the play area will reopen.

A letter from Harrogate Borough Council to councillors says the trees “will be replaced in due course with native species at a ratio of at least 2:1 – either on Fysche Field or in Knaresborough”.

It adds:

“Much of the wood removed will be turned into wood chippings and used in the parks and open spaces we manage.

“The larger trunks that can’t be chipped will also be used in other ways such as natural bases for signs, benches or habitat creation to ensure the continuation of biodiversity on site.

“The carbon capture of these younger native trees, along with the removed trees being repurposed, will encourage wildlife and ecosystems for years to come.”

Read more:

• £28m contracts for new Knaresborough pool and Harrogate Hydro upgrades approved
• Knaresborough councillor supports £13m leisure centre ahead of crunch vote

The council is undertaking the work as part of a scheme to build a larger leisure and wellness centre in Knaresborough.

The local authority approved its own plans last week to build the new centre, which will include a six-lane, 25-metre pool, activity pool with flume, sauna and steam room, fitness suite and studio, spin studio, café, electric car charging points and bicycle storage.

Its letter to councillors says work on the centre will “start in the coming weeks”.

The centre will be built on the site of the existing play area, and slightly beyond. To compensate for its loss, another play area will be built in front of the new facility.

‘Bit of a shock to people’

Andrew Willoughby, a Liberal Democrat who represents Eastfield on Knaresborough Town Council, said it was sad to lose any trees but the plans were reasonable because of the wider benefits of the scheme and the fact that twice as many new trees will be planted.

Cllr Willoughby added that the majority of trees to be lost were planted about 30 years ago when the current pool was built. He said:

“Losing 23 trees is a bit of a shock to people. It’s sad to see any trees go. But I think what they are doing is quite reasonable.”

Cllr Willoughby added it was necessary to remove the trees quickly before birds started nesting in them in a few weeks.

Agricultural machinery supplier Ripon Farm Services has appointed Sophie Allanby (pictured) as marketing manager.

Ms Allanby, who grew up on an arable farm just outside Malton, has a first class business honours degree from York St John University and has been in the marketing world for the past ten years in varying roles.

She was communications executive at the Castle Howard Estate from 2018-2021.

She said:

“It will be my responsibility to develop and implement a dynamic marketing strategy that builds upon the substantial progress that Ripon Farm Services have made over the past two years.”

Mother Shipton’s wins Small Visitor Attraction of the Year award

Harrogate-based manufacturer celebrates 70 years by planting 1,200 trees

To mark the 70th anniversary of Belzona, staff at its European headquarters in Harrogate got together with family members to plant 1,200 trees in the Royal Forest of Knaresborough.

Belzona designs and manufactures composite materials and industrial protective coatings.

This initiative is part of a three-year partnership with the White Rose Forest, the community forest for north and west Yorkshire. The company plans to plant seven-million trees throughout Yorkshire by 2025.

“We were absolutely thrilled to see so many colleagues getting involved in our first tree planting project. Working alongside the Bilton Conservation Society, 25 Belzona volunteers, including employees and family members, worked together to plant 1,200 trees in the local area. This is an incredible achievement – thank you to everyone who got involved!”

The Belzona team dig deep to plant 1,200 trees in the Royal Forest of Knaresborough.

Send your business news to contact@thestrayferret.co.uk

A row of derelict properties on Knaresborough High Street have been renovated with a £1m investment from Harrogate Borough Council.

The council bought the seven Grade II listed properties in 2019 after they had been unoccupied for several years. They consist of three retail units and four residences.

Renovation began with planning permission and listed building consent in 2020, and has just been completed.

One of the properties that did not need renovation has already been occupied by Knaresborough Exotic Rescue.

The other properties have been listed for rent or sale.

Councillor Graham Swift, deputy leader and Cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development, said;

“These properties had been a blight on the high street in Knaresborough for several years.

“But after they were brought to our attention by Councillor Darling, we recognised the potential they could have to provide both homes and business spaces, we took the necessary steps to purchase them.”

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A former resident of one of the properties, Ms Hassall, wrote to Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough Andrew Jones to share her thanks for the project, saying;

“I am so very pleased that 82a Knaresborough High Street has been renovated; I lived there when I first got married in 1949.

It was quite a bad state then. However, we decorated it and made it as nice as we could.

It is good to see these properties being renovated.”

A new womenswear shop arrived on Knaresborough’s High Street this week after the owner fell in love with the town when she was cycling through it last year.

Dianne Houghton said before cycling through the town she’d never visited Knaresborough, despite being from Hebden Bridge. She instantly knew she wanted a presence in the town.

Her shop, Wild Thing, opened on the high street yesterday.

She is no stranger to running a shop after working in fashion for 30 years she has moved the brand around four different premises in Otley.

Taking up 46 High Street, across from Market Place, Ms Houghton said she is excited to get to know the people of Knaresborough and their styles.

The shop is full and ready for new customers.

As the name suggests, Wild Thing isn’t all block colours and monochrome.

Ms Houghton said her style is a little “wild” and she loves finding something no one else is wearing:

“I’ve always wanted to wear something a bit different, something I won’t see anyone else in. Everything I have is a bit different, I love statement prints but also a classic jean and leather trouser is something you can never go wrong with.”

In the store you will find a variety of clothing and accessories from jumpers, midi dresses, jeans and even a statement necklace or two. Most things range from £10 to £80.

After 30 years in the industry, Ms Houghton has built up a following online. She said over lockdown she really focused on her online presence and is grateful to have built up the community she has.

Ms Houghton prides herself on not being a pushy sales woman but instead will listen to what customers want, she added:

“Through my life, I’ve been a size 6 and gone up to an 18 so I can really help women find something they love and feel comfortable in.

“I just love fashion, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”

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The former DJ said although its a new location for her she aims to bring the same unique pieces and cheery atmosphere to Knaresborough.

A team of volunteers hopes to fill more than a thousand sandbags in Harrogate tomorrow.

Harrogate Borough Council keeps a stockpile of around 3,000 sandbags to support communities across the Harrogate district when they’re threatened with flooding.

The recent floods have depleted its stock so the council wants to prepare for future floods by filling up sandbags from 7am at its depot on Claro Road in Harrogate.

During floods in Pateley Bridge in February, some residents reported difficulties in getting hold of sandbags to help protect their properties.

Volunteers will come from Ready for Anything, which is a database of North Yorkshire County Council volunteers that are called upon in times of emergency.

If you are interested in coming along contact Harrogate Borough Council’s emergency planning officer Ash Demaline at ash.demaline@harrogate.gov.uk

Read more:

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• Flooding reveals ‘major unresolved problem on West Park Stray’

Knaresborough Library has teamed up with Newcastle Building Society to open a community branch which will offer much-needed banking facilities to the town.

Knaresborough has been without a bank since Halifax closed last year and just two cash machines, which often run out of money.

This scheme is set to open in the summer and will offer the building society’s full range of services.

A similar project was launched within Hawes Library which includes cash withdrawals and it is believed the branch in Knaresborough will offer the same.

County Councillor Greg White, executive member for libraries, said:

“We are delighted to be welcoming Newcastle Building Society into Knaresborough library later this year. The offer of financial services promises to increase footfall into Knaresborough library and encourage new visitors through the doors.”

The Knaresborough site will be Newcastle Building Society’s 31st site across North East, North Yorkshire and Cumbria.

Read more:

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• £17m Knaresborough Leisure Centre approved

It looks like Knaresborough could have two sites opening this year offering banking services. There is another upcoming project, run by the Access to Cash Action Group, to open a shared banking hub in the town by the end of the year.

The hub will provide help with general banking queries and more specific issues. Representatives from various banks will also work in the hub on a rotational basis. The hub itself will be fitted out by the Post Office.

Charlotte Gale, a member of the hub’s focus group, told The Stray Ferret the library’s new community branch will not interfere with the banking hub but instead work as a “parallel project”.

A survey to have a say on the services the banking hub offers is still open, to complete it click here.

Mother Shipton’s Cave in Knaresborough has been forced to delay its reopening again after heavy flooding caused a landslide onto a path.

The famous tourist attraction was due to reopen this weekend after clearing up the debris from recent floods but has now had to delay its reopening for a second time until March 19.

The “slight landslide” has fallen onto Beech Avenue, which is the site of some of the oldest and tallest beech trees in the country, from a bank above.

The landslide has left the well-trodden footpath, which runs from the steps used to access the petrifying well to the entrance of the museum, impassable. Therefore the decision has been taken to delay reopening for another week until the footpath can be made safe.

Jay Stelling, marketing coordinator, said supporting structures were installed last year to prevent damage like this but the strength of the recent storms meant the landslide couldn’t be avoided, adding:

“Our maintenance team had been attempting to clear the pathway and put plans in place to prevent further problems with landslides while we were closed during the winter.

“To rectify this issue permanently we are waiting on permission from the council to gain access above Beech Avenue to assess and establish the remedial work required in order to prevent this problem in the future.”

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Ms Stelling said the slope had experienced a “noticeable shift” in recent years due to climate change. She added:

“We are devastated that this is the case and we are doing everything we can to get the site safe and on top form to welcome back visitors.”

The attraction will open on weekends from March 19 and on weekends and weekdays from April.