This story is sponsored by Wolseley.
Ripon brothers Andy and Rich Hudson love working at Wolseley’s distribution centre in Melmerby.
Between them they have clocked up almost 40 years of service at the plumbing and heating merchants, which has its UK headquarters in Ripon and Warwick.
In fact it has been somewhat of a family affair, with their father and aunt also working for the firm until retirement.
Andy said:
“My Auntie Connie was with Wolseley for most of her working life and is still the telephone answer service when you ring head office.”
The company, which has a £1.8bn turnover, employs almost 5,000 staff in the UK, of which 270 are based in Ripon and 150 at the distribution centre in Melmerby.
It is Melmerby, a short ten-minute drive from Ripon, where the two brothers are based.
Andy said:
“I’m coming up to 20 years service. I started off as a general picker, packer.
“The advantage of working at Wolseley is there is always the opportunity to work somewhere new within the distribution centre and expand your knowledge base.
“I excelled at what I was doing in one area and then I moved into a different area.
“I’ve been trained on various manual handling equipment, fork trucks and more. There are about six or seven trucks I’m actually trained on. So Wolseley invest heavily in their employees to get the best out of them.”
Safety is key.
Andy, who is currently working in the stock team, credits his long service to the variety of work.
He said:
“There are always different areas you can work in and different ways you can advance through the company.
“I’ve done various qualifications with Wolseley. I’ve done an NVQ in warehousing. I’ve also just completed a Wolseley Talent Booster and I’m about to start another course shortly through our Wolseley Talent Guild.
“This is in-house training and they have recently invested in the training suite at Ripon head office. So anybody can be put forward for this training by their manager. I’ve completed the training booster for Team Leader and I’m about to start training for manager level.”
Andy said there is always scope for growth at Wolseley.
Wolseley is currently training more than 130 apprentices across the UK and boosting the skills of more than 150 existing employees.
Andy added:
“All the way through there is training and support from your managers. Everybody wants the best out of you.
“I feel very valued and it’s such a nice atmosphere to work in.
“Every day is different. There are no two days the same.”
Wolseley started life in a very different form in 1887, moving into the heating space in the 1960s. Wolseley moved into Ripon in 1971 as The Wolseley Hughes Group.
It was based on Boroughbridge Road, where it remains to this day, and was made up of three companies OBC, Yorkshire Heating Supplies and Granville Controls.
In 1985, the company expanded its site and by 1996 was known as Wolseley Centres.
Wolseley is a leading specialist provider of plumbing, heating, cooling, and utility products to trade customers. Trading under a number of leading brands including Wolseley Plumb & Parts, Wolseley Pipe, Wolseley Climate, William Wilson, Jointing Tech, Burdens, and Fusion Utilities. It has over 560 branches nationally, three centres of excellence in the utilities space, support centres in Warwick and Ripon, and four distribution centres.
Rich Hudson has worked for Wolseley for almost 18 years and is currently the warehouse Team Leader at Melmerby.
He said:
“There is plenty of variety and plenty of opportunities to keep you interested.
“There are different machines to learn to operate and different departments you can move into – it never gets stale.
“There are also a lot of learning opportunities. Wolseley is currently putting me through an NVQ qualification in leadership and management. They offer qualifications for any area you want to go into.
“I met my lovely wife, who also worked for Wolseley, so they must be doing something right!”
North Yorkshire health bosses are urging people to get their flu and covid vaccines ahead of the winter period.
NHS officials say they are preparing for a busy winter of respiratory illnesses, which may overwhelm hospitals.
Dr Bruce Willoughby, Harrogate GP and part of the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, said he expected to see more cases of covid in hospitals in the coming weeks.
He said:
“Health and care services in North Yorkshire and York, like everywhere, are already extremely busy. We do expect to see more cases of covid in the coming weeks as people mix freely again and spend more time indoors as the weather gets colder. The risk of catching covid is highest indoors and in crowded places.
“More people are likely to get flu this winter as fewer people will have built up natural immunity to it during the pandemic. The best time to have the flu vaccine is in the autumn or early winter before it starts spreading.
“You can help though. Your actions during the pandemic made an enormous difference and we need people to look out for each other in the same way again.”
Louise Wallace, North Yorkshire’s director of public health, added that there was also a risk of a wave of flu hitting hospitals.
She said:
“We expect to see a wave of covid in North Yorkshire during October/November and possibly another in January.
“There’s also the risk of being hit with a wave of flu cases at the same time so it’s particularly important that people take up the offer of vaccinations as soon as they can.
“Please also remember the basics – hands, face, space and fresh air. They protect against covid, flu and lots of other nasty viruses that can make you feel quite unwell.”
People aged 50 and over, pregnant women, carers, frontline health and care workers, care home residents and people of all ages who are vulnerable are eligible for a covid booster jab now.
Those who are able to book their vaccinations can do so via the NHS website.
Most groups are eligible for a flu vaccine and have been offered a free vaccine. People do not need to wait to be invited for a flu jab and can book at their GP surgery.
Starbeck and Bilton community libraries set for 10-year council dealCommunity libraries in Bilton and Starbeck are set to be given 10-year leases to continue their services.
North Yorkshire County Council‘s executive will be asked next week to approve the proposal, which aims to give long-term stability to libraries run by volunteers.
Both Bilton and Woodfield, and Starbeck, were previously run by NYCC but difficulties with funding led them to handing over day-to-day running to the communities.
The county’s libraries budget fell from £7.8m in 2010 to £4.3m in 2017, prompting communities to rally to ensure their facilities stayed open. Across the county, 1,700 volunteers came forward.
Bilton and Woodfield was the area’s first community library, celebrating its 10th anniversary earlier this year.
The libraries have continued to receive support from the council with books and IT services, as well as support from paid library service staff.
North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for libraries, Cllr Greg White, said:
“We take great pride in the community-run model with our service being in the top 10 per cent of performance nationally. Working in partnership with communities alongside volunteers in all libraries allows the service to meet local needs.
“There continues to be interest from other local authorities and central government as it is proven to retain high standards whilst delivering savings. The original leases of five years were introduced as the new model was unique and unproven. However, it has been a great success so we are proposing to introduce longer leases which will avoid costs around future renewals.”
Around half of North Yorkshire’s book-lending is via community libraries across the county and almost 40% of active library users belong to them.
During the summer, more than 1,000 people visited community libraries to claim household support fund vouchers, while 3,500 children used them to complete the summer reading challenge.
Libraries manager Chrys Mellor said:
‘Use it or lose it’ warning as bus passenger numbers fall across Harrogate district“During the pandemic many of the community libraries became the base for community support organisations who were vital in the delivery of food, prescriptions and books.
“During the cost of living crisis our libraries are offering warm spaces for vulnerable people in their communities, providing a range of activities.
“Residents should be proud of their communities and library service for retaining such a high-class service which is delivered at a local level.”
Bus services across the Harrogate district are under “unprecedented” pressure thanks to dwindling passenger numbers, leaving some routes at risk of being cut.
North Yorkshire County Council has issued a stark warning that, faced with passenger numbers of only around 80% of their previous levels, additional funding would be needed to maintain services.
The authority’s leader, Cllr Carl Les, said unless more people travel by bus, the new North Yorkshire Council may be unable to maintain the existing services.
A planned cut of funding from the Department for Transport has been delayed from October until March, but local authorities face reduced income and rising costs even before the money runs out.
Cllr Les said:
“We are in a time of immense pressure for bus services nationally and North Yorkshire is no exception.
“Throughout the pandemic, the government has provided significant support to commercial companies to keep services running in North Yorkshire that would otherwise have been lost.
“While it is very welcome that this has been extended until March, we know many routes are continuing to struggle and companies tell us it will be impossible for these to continue operating without significant additional funding.
“The stark reality is that the survival of many services across the county are on a knife edge. We know how important public transport is for many residents but we are in a use it or lose it situation.”
The drop in passenger numbers follows the covid pandemic, with more people now thought to be working from home or using other modes of transport.
NYCC has already tried to mitigate the impact of the pressures on bus services by setting up an enhanced partnership agreement, which met for the first time in August.
It sees the council work with bus operators to improve facilities and introduce measures to enhance operating conditions.
North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for highways and transport, Cllr Keane Duncan, said the problems were down to the drop in passenger numbers, making many more routes unsustainable. He said:
North Yorkshire spends twice as much as other areas on HRT, figures show“This is an unprecedented situation with around a third of the network at risk of seeing a reduced level of service or ceasing altogether unless patronage levels improve.
“We have already seen several routes cease, often at short notice, and the unfortunate expectation is that others may follow unless usage improves.
“While the council uses £1.6m each year to support services that are not commercially viable, this cannot meet the scale of the challenge we are now experiencing from routes operating without council subsidy.
“The council has been successful in lobbying government for extra financial support, but we accept this will not continue in perpetuity. We are working closely with operators to encourage passengers to use services and protect them for our communities.”
North Yorkshire spends nearly twice as much as other areas on Hormone Replacement Therapy for women aged between 45 and 60.
According to analysis by the BBC Shared Data Unit, North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group spent a total of £621,387.40 on the drug between April 2021 and June 2022.
The figure amounts to £12.04 per woman aged 45 to 60 in the county — more than double that of the lowest spend in Leicester at £5.56.
However, it is lower than the highest area in West Suffolk NHS, which spent £14.09.
The data comes as experts said the decision-making of local health boards had contributed to a postcode lottery and that some women were not being offered the full range of options because their local health board did not fund them.
HRT replaces hormones that are at a lower level approaching the menopause. Not every patient will need or want HRT, and clinicians advise against it in some circumstances, including for patients with a history of certain types of cancer or blood clots.
Diane Danzebrink, of the Menopause Support charity, said GPs’ “hands were tied”.
She said:
“Often we will hear from women who are being prescribed oral tablets as a first line, and they’re not being offered options.
“Sometimes that is because those options are purely not available on their local CCG formulary. So that sort of ties the hands of their doctors to be able to offer them choices. But we do definitely see that it seems to be in some parts of the country rather than others.”
An NHS England spokesperson said:
“The NHS has a Menopause Pathway Improvement Programme, which includes increased learning for clinicians in how they can best support menopausal women, and working with clinical colleges and menopause organisations to improve awareness and understanding.
“A new Menopause Optimal Pathway will also guide clinicians and help women in the workplace during peri-menopause, menopause and post-menopause.”
Spooky castles, pumpkins and haunted houses: Halloween fun in the district
Halloween is creeping up, with the celebrations and events across the district becoming bigger, better and more ghoulish each year.
This year it falls just after October half-term, so there is plenty going on for little witches and wizards – and big ones too!
So whether you fancy some pumpkin picking on a farm, spooky trails, or haunted houses, we’ve put together a list of five places to enjoy some Halloween fun.
Birchfield Farm’s Pumpkin Festival is a firm favourite amongst families in the Harrogate district. Is it even Halloween if you haven’t taken a selfie with a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins at the picturesque Summerbridge farm?
You don’t need to book for this one and there are plenty of pumpkins of all shapes, sizes and colours to go around and you can visit everyday until October 31.
There are also lots of activities to do on the farm so you can make a morning or afternoon of it.
After you have picked your pumpkin from the patch – and there really is a huge selection of all shapes and sizes – you then have the option of visiting the farm for £5.95 per person. Then take your kids for a homemade ice cream at the farm’s café.
Activities include:
Soak up the spooky atmosphere at Knaresborough Castle – the setting of the new Creepy Castle Spooktastic Halloween trail.
Set in the grounds of the ancient monument, expect to see see wizard magic shows and spooky characters along the way. There will also be face painting, stories in the castle, cookie decorating and more scary surprises.
Stockeld Park is another firm family favourite and the Halloween festivities are always magical.
This year The Enchanted Forest will be transformed into an explosion of colour for a Day of the Dead Fiesta. Interact with the enchanting ancestors as you venture round the forest and look out for friendly skeletons.
Little ones will love exploring the pumpkin patch and will be able to pick their very own pumpkin to take home. Every paying child will get to choose a free pumpkin.
The Playhive will be open to explore and you can salso ee the family-friendly Monster Mash show.
There’s something suitably scary for all ages.
Are you brave enough to follow the spooky Halloween trail?
Head up to Swinton Bivouac, part of the 20,000 acre Swinton Estate, and follow the ghoulish clues to help you find your way through the eerie woodland.
Dogs are welcome and fancy dress is encouraged!
An experience for adults, venture a little further outside the Harrogate district and explore the uncanny on this behind-the-scenes tour of the house where not all is as it seems.
If you were to venture beyond the visitor route, below stairs, you’d encounter a labyrinth of dark cellars and never-ending corridors.
Long since servants walked the halls and a fire ripped through the now empty wings, these parts of Castle Howard have remained largely unchanged.
Those interested in the history of the house may revel at the chance to explore these quarters, but a stay longer than necessary provokes a sense of unnerving discomfort causing the imagination to try and make sense of the darkness.
Flickers of light, footsteps, and the unexpected sounds of a servant’s bell can pierce the silent eeriness of these spaces, making this grand house feel somewhat awry.
You are encouraged to stay close to your guide as they lead you through these ghostly cellars, dark passages, and fire-damaged rooms, revealing stories and surprises that will make those childhood beliefs you thought you’d grown out of suddenly seem very real…
Calm your fears with hotdogs and refreshments at the Fitzroy Café before your experience begins.
Legendary chef Marco Pierre White started his culinary career in Harrogate four decades ago.
Since then, Marco has gone on to lead the country’s restaurant scene and helped kick-start the careers of chefs including Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal.
Later this month he is returning to the town he calls one of his “spiritual homes” to host a three-day food festival.
He spoke to the Stray Ferret about learning the trade in Harrogate, favourite Yorkshire restaurants and… tripe.
Forty five years ago a young Marco Pierre White was instructed by his dad to go and search for work in Harrogate. This was because it was less than 10 miles away from his Leeds home and crammed with hotels.
So one morning in March 1978, sandwiches in hand, he caught the bus to the town, went to the St George Hotel, on Ripon Road, and knocked on the kitchen door.
He said:
“I was there for about a year. I didn’t learn much about cooking. That’s the truth. But what I did learn was how to use a knife well. I learned how to absorb pressure, I learned to be organised. I learned to work hard. Very hard.
“I also used to stand and watch the chef, Stefan Wilkinson, do the pass. He was the greatest at doing the pass that I ever saw. He gave me my first break in life for which I’m very grateful for.
“I learned a lot there, but not about food.”
Marco said his time at the Harrogate hotel was very important as it prepared him for his role at The Box Tree in Ilkley.
The famous Yorkshire restaurant opened in 1963 and was one of the first four restaurants in the UK to hold two Michelin stars.
Marco began working in the kitchen at the age of 17 in 1979, where he remained for two years.
He said:
“In those days it was one of only four restaurants in Britain to have two Michelin stars. A lot of people regarded it as the best restaurant in Britain at the time.”
While he hasn’t visited Yorkshire since 2019 as a result of the pandemic, he is looking forward to returning to Harrogate on October 28 for his three-day food festival.
He said:
“I always say Harrogate is one of my spiritual homes.”
And while he hasn’t dined out in the region for almost four years, he credits his favourite Yorkshire restaurant as the Cleveland Tontine, Northallerton.
He said:
“I’ve been there many, many times. My friend Eugene has left there and now he has got the Crathorne Arms, just outside Northallerton. He’s a very good chef and cooks food you want to eat.
“But when I was a boy, Harrogate had restaurants like the Drum and Monkey (which is still open today) and we had Oliver’s and Number Six. The first ever posh restaurant I took a girl to was Oliver’s in Harrogate. We both had beef wellington and a langoustine cocktail.”
Marco also recommends Simon Shaw’s tapas restaurant, El Gato Negro, in Leeds, where he plans to dine ahead of the food festival.
The Great White Food Festival will be held at the Harrogate Convention Centre and Royal Hall from October 28-30 and is expected to attract around 15,000 visitors.
Marco said:
“It’s basically a celebration of food and there will be lots of artisan producers who make things like salami, pork pies and black pudding.
“There will be produce like smoked salmon and haddock. In my opinion Alfred Enderby, from Grimsby, smokes the best smoked haddock in the world and they are coming.
“Redefine Meat are coming who make vegetarian steaks.
“Pierre Koffmann, Simon Shaw, Jean-Christophe Novelli and I will be doing masterclasses. There are a lot of chefs doing them.
“But it’s a celebration of Yorkshire really and all those individuals who contribute to it being wonderful.”
And his favourite Yorkshire dish?
“Tripe. Tripe is one of the most delicious things on earth. There used to be a tripe shop in Leeds Market. They used to hang it in all the butchers’ shops. People used to eat it cold with malt vinegar, black pepper and salt.”
A survey of all police forces in England and Wales has revealed motorists in North Yorkshire are the third likeliest to record speeding offences.
The average number of speeding offences in the county is 4.54 per 1,000 residents, according to the research.
Only Lincolnshire, where the rate is 5.43 offences per 1,000 residents, and South Wales, where the figure is 5.23, are above it in the league table of 43 police force areas in England and Wales.
At the other end of the scale, Durham has the fewest speeding offences committed on average each year, with just 0.95 per 1,000 people.
Price comparison website Forbes Advisor compiled the latest speeding offence data from data.police.uk spanning 2010 to 2020 across each police force area in England and Wales to establish an annual average of speeding offences made.
This was cross referenced with population data from ONS to find the areas with the most speeding offences per 1,000 residents.
North Yorkshire was found to have an average of 3,774 speed limit offences per year from a population of 831,600.
Kevin Pratt, from Forbes Advisor, said:
“Get caught speeding and, if convicted, you’ll get points on your licence, and these will likely stick for four years.
“Rack up a total of 12 or more and you could be banned from driving. On top of that, you’ll need to declare your points when applying for or renewing your car insurance, with an increase of around 5% on the cards because you’re now perceived to be a riskier prospect.”
Books that support the mental health of teenagers have been put in libraries across the Harrogate district.
The North Yorkshire’s library service initiative coincides with today’s World Mental Health Day.
The pandemic’s disruption to young people’s lives, alongside issues such as growing concern about global warming, has increased uncertainty about identity, position in society and future plans.
In 2020, almost half of young people said they did not feel in control of their lives and almost a third felt overwhelmed by feelings of panic and anxiety on a daily basis, according to North Yorkshire County Council.
The new books, which are recommended by health professionals as part of the Reading Well initiative, cover topics such as body image, bereavement, social anxiety, boosting confidence, surviving online, sexuality, gender identity and mental health.
They cater for a wide range of reading levels and formats to support less confident readers and encourage engagement.
North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for libraries, Cllr Greg White, said:
“Our libraries have embraced the Reading Well scheme for some years, already focusing on mental health, dementia and issues facing young people.
“This latest collection adds another strand to the support that young people can find at their library, again showcasing their important role in maintaining the health and wellbeing of the communities they serve.”
Every library in North Yorkshire, including Harrogate, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge and Ripon, will be displaying titles from the new collection and any title which is unavailable can be requested and borrowed free of charge.
The Reading Well collection is curated by The Reading Agency in partnership with experts from organisations and professionals including NHS England, leading mental health charities and library staff.
More information about the Reading Well collection can be found here.
Knaresborough gets into the spirit of Halloween with spooky window displays and scarecrow trailKnaresborough businesses are gearing up for Halloween with a spooky-themed scarecrow trail and window decoration competition.
Scary displays are already starting to appear in shop windows in the historic market town, including Sid Horner and Son and Claro Hairstyles.
The competition, organised by the Knaresborough Business Collective, is being run alongside the Halloween scarecrow trail, which starts on October 21.
Natalie Horner, from Sid Horner and Son, who launched the not-for-profit business group with Annie Wilkinson-Gill, from The Crystal Buddha, said:
“We are running the competition following the huge success of our spring and jubilee window competitions.
“It is aimed at making the town look amazing for our exciting scarecrow trail. The trail will feature 28 scarecrows around Knaresborough, which people can find on a map.
“They are all sponsored and made by businesses and they will all be themed based on what would suit their business. For example, we have a hairdresser doing an Edward Scissorhands scarecrow.”
The entrance to Sid Horner and Son, which has an impressive spooky Halloween window display.
Ms Horner and her team have been working on a Halloween window at Sid Horner and Son for the last few weeks and is inviting people to have a look.
She said:
“We are a bit tucked away on Finkle Keep. It is made from old printer parts and has lots of little surprises.”