A Knaresborough delivery company took a very special afternoon tea set to one of the town’s elderly residents after she recently lost her sister to coronavirus.

Mavis Bendelow says her sister Rose Hill went to Harrogate District Hospital with sepsis and pneumonia but died from COVID-19.

Claire Bendelow, Mavis’ daughter, got in touch with Knaresborough Delivers to see if they could do afternoon tea for one to raise her mum’s spirits.

When Ashleigh Lambert, from Knaresborough Delivers, heard what happened she took the delivery round herself for free and then later took a Sunday Roast to her as well.

She said: “For me it was lovely to be able to do that for Mavis. It’s awful what’s happened with her sister but it was nice to be able to put a smile on Mavis’ face.”

Ashleigh set up Knaresborough Delivers as a collaboration between local businesses in March after her pub Six Poor Folk was forced to close. They also launched a Harrogate version on Sunday and hope to keep it going even after the lockdown.

Mavis welcomed the afternoon tea delivery and said that “it’s a bit like wartime really.” She added: “But in wartime, you knew what you were fighting. You really don’t know what you’re fighting now. With my sister dying, she went into hospital she didn’t have coronavirus but that’s what she died of.”

Mavis Bendelow recently lost her sister to coronavirus.

Andrea the singing NHS nurse entertained her whole street in Knaresborough with a special wartime inspired performance.

She was due to perform in the town centre as part of a much larger display but coronavirus meant that it needed to be cancelled.

Florin Drive turned out in numbers and in high spirits to watch Andrea perform and clap for one minute for veterans at 4pm.

The Great Knaresborough Bed Race will go ahead this year in a virtual format after coronavirus forced organisers to cancel the spectacle.

Details are sparse at the moment but the ‘Bed Race 2020 Unplugged’ will take place on Saturday, June 13, 2020.

Over the coming weeks, the Knaresborough Lions Club will try to keep spirits high by getting the community involved in the bed race at a safe distance.

First up, the organisers have asked people to draw, paint, and make collages of beds to put up in their windows and send them into their Facebook page.

Amanda George, for the Knaresborough Lions, said today:

“We must not gather on the streets, so there will be nothing to go and see outside on the day – but people will be able to enjoy a virtual Bed Race experience from their homes. As ever, it will combine community spirit, joyful pageantry, gritty athleticism and downright quirkiness.”

A tough year lies ahead for charities in the Harrogate district after swathes of fundraising events were cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

From supporters taking part in the London Marathon to their own community activities, charities rely heavily on numerous events in their annual calendars. 

Now, with almost every event being cancelled because of the coronavirus crisis, many are left wondering how they will meet their costs. 

Stephen Tongue, director of fundraising at Henshaws, said:

“We have got all our usual costs and additional costs of getting back-up staffing and deep cleaning areas – that’s quite expensive.

“It’s a challenging time. We do have some money coming in, but there’s a huge question mark over so many events.”

The charity held an art auction in early March and, even then, attendance was only around half of what was expected. Meanwhile, several upcoming fundraisers have been cancelled, including Knaresborough Beer Festival in May. 

Stephen is hopeful two outdoor events – a golf day at Rudding Park and a Yorkshire Three Peaks walk – will be able to take place in June and July, depending on government advice at the time. Its corporate donations, however, may also dwindle over the coming weeks as SMEs in the Harrogate district – a key source of support to Henshaws – struggle to find spare cash. 

To make up the shortfall and meet the additional needs of its students during the crisis, Henshaws has launched a new fundraising appeal.

For Open Arms Malawi, which sends around £500,000 per year out to its projects in the African nation, the worries are just as severe. Founded by Harrogate couple Neville and Rosemarie Bevis in 2000, it still has strong links with the town and relies on local people to contribute to its work with orphaned children. 

Ashville College has been a long-term supporter of Open Arms Malawi, sending students to volunteer there last summer

Fundraising manager Claire Collins said: “We were having a really good year for fundraising and just starting to look at new and different activities. Everything has been cancelled – all the challenge events, runs, and activities in the schools which support us. 

“We have two corporate partners who do trips to Malawi to see how funds are helping and donate significant amounts to us. They still want to support us, but without the trips it’s very difficult: when people see the work, they become really big advocates for what we do.” 

The charity has two infant homes, 10 nursery schools and five family homes for older children, as well as an outreach programme supporting families in the community. As yet, there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Malawi but, with high numbers elsewhere in Africa, all the homes and schools are taking extra precautions with hand washing and cleaning procedures. 

“HIV is still a big problem in Malawi, along with malnutrition,” said Claire. “Coronavirus is a huge risk on top of that. They’re taking it very seriously.” 

Claire has set up a new page on the charity’s website to keep supporters informed about the situation in Malawi. They are hoping supporters will still feel able to contribute, despite the difficulties being faced by many families across the Harrogate district. 

The Stray Ferret can exclusively reveal that stallholders in Knaresborough and Ripon are launching a joint petition, as they fight for their future at the two ancient markets. 

With Harrogate Borough Council (HBC), proposing rent increases of up to 32.4 percent, both say it will lead to the loss of traders at each centre and they will be asking the public to sign a petition, calling on the council to rethink its plans.  

Steve Teggin, a member of Knaresborough Market Working Group and president of Knaresborough Chamber of Trade, says: “We are going to fight this all the way to protect our heritage asset. The town was granted its charter by Edward II in 1310 and we have the oldest continuous market in England.” 

He adds: “We have suffered enough blows with high shop vacancy rates and our market – an important footfall driver on Wednesdays and particularly Christmas – must be protected, or the town centre will find itself under water.”  

Knaresborough is anticipating the loss of up to six stallholders if the rent rise proposed by HBC goes ahead from April 1, while Brian Murphy, the stallholders’ representative for Ripon market – whose charter was granted by James I in 1604 – anticipates the loss of up to five traders from its Thursday market.   

Mr Murphy, whose family has sold fruit and vegetables at the market for more than 100 years, points out: “This is the biggest increase in rent that any of us can remember and news of it was greeted with absolute shock and dismay” 

He adds: “With some of our stallholders considering packing up because the rent rise will make them unviable, Harrogate Borough Council is about to shoot itself in both feet, because the market will be less attractive, fewer people will come into the city on Thursdays and all businesses who rely on footfall, including cafes, pubs and restaurants, will all be hit – it’s a lose-lose situation.” 

The Stray Ferret asked HBC questions, ranging from how the council justifies the increase in rent to possible effects on footfall in Knaresborough and Ripon, if some stallholders decide to withdraw from the markets. We received the following reply from an HBC spokesperson:

“The increase (£5 per week) is to cover the cost of erecting a stall on behalf of the trader (the percentage changes because the charge is lower during winter months). Currently, it costs the local taxpayer £15 each time we erect a stall on behalf of a trader. For both self-assembly and provided-stalls, our rates remains competitive with nearby markets.

“We have never distinguished between HBC-erected and self-erect stalls before but felt it would be unfair to increase the price across all traders when the cost is actually only associated with only some of them (many traders in Knaresborough and Ripon use self-assembly stalls at these other markets they sell at). As previously mentioned, the cost of putting the stalls up is heavily subsidised by the tax payer.

“It is great to hear that traders feel they are seeing more footfall through the markets in Knaresborough and Ripon. This is the reason we want to introduce more diversity and flexibility in the way the market is run and the traders we can attract. It would be a shame if some of the regular traders missed the opportunity on offer to invest in their own equipment which would actually increase their trading scope to include other towns where council erected stalls are no longer an option.

“The budget was agreed on 12 February including the fees and charges for the 2020/21 financial year. This included the incentivised offer of a £5 reduction per week for traders to switch to self-erect for 2020/21 (if signed up between April and June). We look forward to seeing how many traders choose to take this offer and help ensure our town markets continue to thrive.”

Staff at Wetherspoon pubs across the Harrogate district are on a high hygiene alert to keep their premises germ free as the coronavirus crisis deepens. 

The pub chain, which serves food and drink to thousands of customers per week at the Winter Gardens in Harrogate, The Crown in Knaresborough and Unicorn in Ripon, has introduced an alarm bell system, which reminds staff on a regular basis to clean all surfaces that can be touched by customers, staff and suppliers. 

The emergency procedures apply across the whole of the Wetherspoon estate and staff are receiving practical advice and updates from head office on a daily basis. 

The Stray Ferret witnessed a cleaning session at the Unicorn Ripon this week, which happened straight after the alarm bell rang. All surfaces including door handles, bar tops, coffee machines, tables and chairs were assiduously wiped over. 

Unicorn regulars, Tim Freeman and Russ Kell (pictured above), were unaware of the bell alert initiative, but were impressed when told about it. Tim said:

“The tables in here are clean enough to eat your dinner off and the bar is always immaculate. I didn’t know that extra measures had been brought it, but it’s reassuring to discover that Wetherspoon are looking after customers to this degree.” 

Russ adds: “I’ve eaten at Wetherspoon pubs all over the country and they operate to a very high standard. It’s good to hear that they are protecting us in ways we didn’t even know about.”