As the big day gets closer, The Stray Ferret is compiling a list of events across the district to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.

If you have an event that you wish to include in our list, please send the details to contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.

Thursday, May 4

Ripon 

5.30-6.15pm – Ripon Cathedral: A coronation-themed evensong service will be held at the Cathedral.

Knaresborough

Flowers in the shape of the coronation crown will be on display at the Market Cross in Knaresborough until May 13.

Friday, May 5 

Harrogate

7pm – St Wilfred’s Church, Duchy Road: Solemn Festival Mass for the Coronation followed by barbecue supper at 8.30pm. Tickets £15 to include food and welcome drink. Contact bookings@stwilfrid.org for tickets.

Killinghall

7.30pm-11pm – Killinghall Village Hall: A coronation ceilidh with The Dark Horse Ceilidh Bank. Drinks will be available at the cricket club bar and a pizza van will be on site. Adults £5, children go free. For details, click here.

Ripon

5.30-6.15pm – Ripon Cathedral: An evensong service with Coronation Vigil will be held at the cathedral ahead of the royal ceremony.

6.30pm: Tribute bands playing live in the Market Place.

Saturday, May 6  Coronation Day 

Harrogate

10am-8pm – Valley Gardens: A big screen showing the coronation and other coverage of events in London, followed by family films. Family entertainment, fairground rides. Entry is free.

10am-6pm – Valley Gardens: Little Bird Artisan Market will be held alongside the coronation celebrations in Valley Gardens.

Time TBC – Majestic Hotel: A big screen showing the coronation, along with family entertainment and the chance to win prizes. Bring a picnic blanket and deckchairs, and you can buy food and drink from the hotel throughout the day. Free to attend. For more information click here. 

Noon-midnight – The Oatlands: Family open day with children’s entertainment, barbecue and an evening party. For more information go to www.theoatlands.co.uk/.

Killinghall

2.30-8.30pm – Killinghall Cricket Club: Bring a picnic and enjoy some games at the Killinghall Big Lunch Picnic. The bar will be open.

Knaresborough

10am-5pm – Knaresborough House: A big screen will stream the Coronation, as well as two family films on the day. People are welcome to bring picnics, but food and drink stalls will also be available at the free event.

10am-4pm – Castle Yard: Little Bird Artisan Market will be held as part of the coronation celebrations.

7pm – Gracious Street Methodist Church live streaming the Coronation Prom  from the Royal Albert Hall in London from 7.00pm (concert starts at 7.30pm). Admission is free.

Langthorpe

Langhthorpe Parish Council, in conjunction with the Coronation Hall trustees, will be opening the the Coronation Hall with live coverage on a big screen. Drinks and nibbles will be provided. 100 free tickets will be provided on a first come first served basis.

Lofthouse

3pm – coronation celebration at the cricket ground. Races, activities and game from 3.20pm, dog show at 5pm and disco 6pm to midnight.

Masham

2-6pm – Swinton Park: Live music, garden fete activities and a variety of food and drink will all be on offer in the hotel grounds. The event is free to attend and the gardens will be open throughout the day for visitors to enjoy.

Nidderdale

4-10pm – The Queen’s Head Inn, Kettlesing: The Acoustic and Rock Cover Party. Various local musicians will perform covers of classic rock and acoustic hits. Afternoon tea is included in the ticket price, which is £25 (£15 for under 14s).

Ripon

9.30am onwards – Ripon Cathedral: A live stream of the BBC’s coverage of the coronation will be shown at the Cathedral. It it free to attend and there will be free self-service refreshments available.

Sunday, May 7

Beckwithshaw

2pm-4.30pm – Beckwithshaw Village Hall field: Afternoon tea. Bring a picnic, have fun with games and races. Tea, coffee and squash will be provided.

Harrogate

10am-7pm – Valley Gardens: Family entertainment, fairground rides,. Entry is free.

10am – 4pm – Valley Gardens: Little Bird Artisan Market will be held alongside the coronation celebrations in Valley Gardens.

12pm onwards – Majestic Hotel: Music from DJ Mark Green. Bring a picnic blanket and deckchairs, and you can buy food and drink from the hotel throughout the day. Free to attend.

4pm-midnight – Ivory: Charles and Camilla Go Large. A night of 90s house music with DJs Delano and Millsy

Kirby Hill

Coronation tea will be held at the church in Kirby Hill. Everyone is welcome.

Kirkby Malzeard

1pm onwards – Highside playing fields: Friendship lunch party: Bring a chair, food and drink for a party that includes Maypole dancing, music and children’s activities.

Knaresborough  

6pm-11pm – The Coronation Concert will be screened live at Knaresborough Castle.

Masham

2.30pm onwards – Masham Square: Celebrations including a parade of floats, fancy dress competition, barbecue, live music and a quiz, ending with a firework display. Click here for details.

Nidderdale

12-6pm – The Queen’s Head Inn, Kettlesing: The Jazz Blues and Brass Extravaganza. Performances will be held by Eugine’s Jazz Band and Harrogate Jazz Band, with a carvery lunch included. Ticket prices begin at £15.

Noon-3pm – Pateley Bridge Recreation Ground: The Big Lunch. Bring a picnic and enjoy live music from Ant & Frank and Dacre & Summerbridge Silver Band. Free entry.

North Rigton

Noon onwards: Village garden, North Rigton: North Rigton Parish Council is hosting the big coronation lunch. Bring a picnic or join friends for a meal.

Pannal and Burn Bridge

Noon-5pm – Crimple Meadows: Family fun day including food and drinks, licensed bar, fun races and tug of war. Cake sale, raffle and bouncy castle will also be on site. There will also be fundraising for local causes. Admission is free.

Ripon

1pm-6pm – Street party on Carr Close.

Last year’s jubilee street party on Carr Close was such a success, it’s happening again.

Spofforth

7pm-11pm – Celebrations will take place in front of Spofforth Castle. Gates open at 7pm, bring a picnic or enjoy on-site caterers with pizzas, crepes, ice cream and coffee. There will be circus entertainers and face painting plus a jazz band followed by the group Beatlemania playing sets of the Fab Four, finishing at 11pm with fireworks over Spofforth Castle. Stockeld Park is illuminating the castle in red, white and blue. Tickets available from the village shop.

Boroughbridge

10am – St Andrew’s Church, Aldborough: A service to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III, hosted by the Mayor of Boroughbridge, Cllr Sean Hynes, and Rev Karen Gardiner. Visitors are asked to be seated by 9.45am.

Monday, May 8 – The Big Help Out 

Harrogate 

10am-4.30pm – Valley Gardens: Family entertainment, fairground rides, Little Bird Artisan Market. Entry is free.

1pm-2pm – Wesley Chapel: Coronation-themed song recital with Gareth Brynmor John (baritone) and Christopher Glynn (piano). Tickets £10 on the door.

1-3pm – Oatlands Community Centre: Afternoon tea and community barbecue with crafts, face painting and other activities. Free.

Kirkby Malzeard

12pm-2pm – Mechanics Institute and around the village: The Big Help Out – assist a neighbour with weeding, sweeping or odd jobs and village litter picking. Refreshments at the Mechanics Institute.

Masham

Noon onwards – Masham Square: Family fun day with car boot sale, sports, a tug-of-war, welly wanging and a cow pat competition. Click here for details.

Nidderdale

1pm onwards – Glasshouses Village Green: Live music, children’s activities, and tea and cake, hosted by Glasshouses WI and Village Association. Bring a picnic and Prosecco to toast the King. Donations will be made to IDAS (Independent Domestic Abuse Service). Free to attend.

4-10pm – The Queen’s Head Inn, Kettlesing: The Tribute Band Party will see an afternoon of tributes to the likes of ABBA and The Beatles. A hog roast is included in the ticket price, which begins at £15.

Ripon

11.30am-5pm – Ripon Cathedral: Bank holiday Monday will see the Coronation Beer Festival take place in the grounds of the Cathedral.

Starbeck

10am-2pm – St Andrew’s Church, High Street: The Big Help Out – get involved with volunteering to improve the area. Plenty for all ages to do, and a family picnic on Belmont Field.

Problems of loneliness and isolation are often associated with older people.

But one social enterprise in Harrogate says the issue is just as likely to affect young mothers – and it is trying to put an end to the problem.

MyLifePool set up the Working Mums Network several years ago, but it stopped meeting during the covid pandemic.

Now, the group is being re-established to offer dinners, nights out, and events with speakers and social time, to enable like-minded mums to form stronger bonds.

Founder Vic Smith-Dunn said:

“Many working mums struggle with feeling disconnected from their peers and their community and motherhood is a significant trigger for loneliness. At myLifePool we understand that being a working mum can be an isolating experience, especially during these challenging times.

“That’s why we created a community where mums can connect, share experiences, and have fun together.”

Read more:

• Bus route changes ‘could leave vulnerable more isolated’ in Harrogate
• Men in Oatlands live 13 years longer than in Bilton Woodfield, says report

One local mum recently posted on Facebook saying how lonely she was, prompting a flurry of responses offering support – including Vic.

She said she has been putting together new events over the last few weeks to combat loneliness and support people through rising fuel costs. They include the Warm Wednesdays social sessions, as well as a Lego club for primary school children and their parents.

While opportunities for families to get together during the day are popular, Vic said working parents often miss out and can be lonely even when they are busy.

She said:

“We often think that it’s retired people living alone who are in danger of becoming socially isolated, but new parents and working parents are just as vulnerable.

“It’s like the old saying goes, it’s possible to be lonely in a crowded room.

“This kind of thing is everything I’m so passionate about: people just need the opportunity and a gentle introduction to widen their social circle, which makes the world of difference to people’s mental health and, in turn, their physical health.”

The Working Mums Network will meet at Oatlands Community Centre next Wednesday, March 8, from 7pm to 9pm.

It will run in partnership with Parent Smart Learning, offering life hacks to help working parents to save time and make home life easier. A short presentation will be followed by time for socialising.

Tickets are free to myLifePool members, or £4 for non-members, who can get a month’s free trial to attend the event. To book a place, click here.

A free drama class will use common experiences to unite the generations in Harrogate this month.

The Cuttings extra care apartments in Starbeck will welcome pre-school children to take part in the new drama class run by a familiar face around the Harrogate district.

Ami Stott is running the event, on February 13, through her new venture, Stardust Drama. The free class will see young and old unite to explore the weather theme, with storytelling and music to guide them through.

Ami said:

“I had already formed a link with The Cuttings before covid and it was amazing to take classes there.

“Then covid struck and that stopped everything. They weren’t able to have groups coming in for a long time, but they’ve been wanting me to come back for a while.

“It’s brilliant for the residents. It’s new faces, it helps combat loneliness and it just brings a bit of joy to their days.

“For the children, there’s no fear at that age. As children grow up, they can become nervous of elderly people and it’s if you get these activities form a younger age, hopefully you can avoid that.”

Taking “great British weather” as a universal theme, the session will use drama and imaginative play to take participants from a trip to the beach to a storm and into snow.

Familiar songs and stories will help residents to recall trips to the seaside and they will be able to join in the action from the comfort of their own seats.

Ami said she hopes the event, which has already sold out, will become a monthly fixture in the calendar at The Cuttings.

Read more:

• Harrogate mum launches group for neurodiverse children and their parents
• Harrogate district school launches parent and baby group to help with cost-of-living crisis

Meanwhile, Ami is also launching weekly drama classes for children aged between two and four.

Taking place at Oatlands Community Centre on Wednesdays and Elim Pentecostal Church on Park View on Thursdays, they aim to encourage children to develop a range of abilities, including theatre skills, confidence and making friends.

Ami, who trained in drama and arts education at Bretton Hall, was previously head of drama at Heckmondwike Grammar School for seven years, before leaving teaching to raise her children.

She has since led classes for other baby and children’s groups around the Harrogate district. Stardust Drama is her first solo venture, and classes begin at the start of March.

Ami said:

“I am so excited, I just want to get started now. The themes of each week will link to national events, so we’ll be starting with one on World Book Day and exploring We’re Going On a Bear Hunt.

“We’ve got a mascot, TaDa the Star, and I’m absolutely loving creating all the lesson plans and getting ready to deliver the classes in the way that benefits the children the most. That’s where my passion lies.”

A Harrogate mum who set up a play and support group for neurodiverse children and their parents says the response has been “incredible”. 

Emily Yeates, whose three-year-old daughter Elsie is non-verbal and still awaiting a formal autism diagnosis, launched Neurodiverse Stay & Play to provide parents with a supportive environment and a chance to swap experiences. 

Emily said: 

“Being the parent of a non-neurotypical child can be quite isolating. Elsie can go from being calm one moment to having a meltdown the next. All people see is a ‘naughty child’, but actually, Elsie just doesn’t understand. 

“Birthday parties, meals out, and even soft-play areas have all become difficult – they’re too loud, there are too many people, or too many restrictions – so we don’t tend to take her to them any more. 

“It got to the point where I was isolating myself so much that I was struggling, and I wanted to find other parents in the same position.” 

The group held its first session on Saturday, and more are planned in the coming weeks. The two-hour-long events take place at Oatlands Community Centre and will initially be free; from April it will cost £4 a session, but remain free for members of local community network myLifePool.

Parents and children at the first Neurodiverse Stay & Play session enjoyed food and drink sponsored by The Harrogate Dog Walking and Pet Company.

Emily said: 

“Our first session was fully booked, and the feedback has been incredible. The Harrogate Dog Walking & Pet Company very generously sponsored the food and drink, and we’ve been contacted by speech and language therapists and even by North Yorkshire County Council about grants. It just goes to show how much this is needed in Harrogate.

“We offer an environment where there’s no judgement – if your child kicks off, we get it! – and where parents can just chat and offer each other moral support and understanding.”

The next sessions run by Neurodiverse Stay & Play will take place at Oatlands Community Centre on: 

• Tuesday, February 10 – 10-12 noon 
• Saturday, February 25 – 2-4pm 
• Thursday, March 9 – 10-12 noon 
• Sunday, March 19 – 10-12 noon 

To book in for a session, go to the Events page at myLifePool.

Read more:

• ‘Long waiting lists’ for child ADHD and autism in Harrogate, says MP
• Harrogate district autism charity celebrates 10th anniversary
• Harrogate Library to launch Lego club for children with autism and disabilities

Windows around the Oatlands area of Harrogate will be lit up to tell a festive tale a week before Christmas.

Families are being invited to tour the streets and follow the story of Robin Red Breast on his mission from Santa, to gather his friends together and cook a Christmas meal to feed the community.

It is being organised by Oatlands Community Group and will, fittingly, raise funds for A Seat At My Table, a series of community meals it serves each year to 40 local people who would otherwise eat alone.

The Christmas meal will be held at Oatlands Community Centre on Sunday, December 18, and the Christmas trail takes place that afternoon from 4pm to 6pm.

Organiser Vic Smith-Dunn said:

“While the trail is completely free, we are hopeful that if people enjoy the trail they will consider making a donation to our fundraising efforts to keep Oatlands Community Centre running.

“The community centre depends heavily on fundraising to generate an income to ensure that it can remain open and an asset to our community.”

The Christmas window trail has been held every year since 2016 when Oatlands Community Group was established. There are nine windows decorated on a route that takes in Mount Street, Cromwell Road, Hookstone Avenue, Beech Road and Leeds Road.

One of the Oatlands window displays and some of the knitted robins to be given to children.

On returning to the community centre, participants can enjoy hotdogs, popcorn, cakes, mulled wine and hot chocolate served by volunteers.

There will also be an opportunity to meet Father Christmas and each child will be given a robin knitted by a member of the Oatlands community.

Anyone who would like to take part is asked to register on the event’s website to ensure there are enough knitted robins to go around.

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Mrs Smith-Dunn said any donations received would go back into running the community centre and putting on events to support people in the area.

She also appealed for volunteers to help organise the events, including the four community meals which range from afternoon teas in the summer to a Christmas meal with a quiz and other entertainment.

She added:

“There is no charge for residents to attend these events which makes it accessible to everyone who attends. We’re able to do this with the support of local independence like KD fruiterers and Verity Frearsons who generously donate.

“The community centre is the home of Oatlands Community Group and the myLifePool social enterprise, without access to this valuable community space, community initiatives like A Seat At My Table would not be able to deliver community out reach.

“It would be fantastic if this Christmas, Harrogate people would come along and enjoy this community event and in turn support the sustainability of Oatlands Community Centre.”

While this year’s Christmas meal is fully booked, anyone interested in future community meals can call Oatlands Community Group on 07596 838508. To make a donation to the group, visit its website.

A ceramic tree mural created as part of a community arts project will be unveiled this weekend in Harrogate.

Oatlands Community Centre was awarded funding from the Arts Council to run the project in June, marking the Queen’s platinum jubilee.

Local ceramic artist Anna Whitehouse ran free workshops at the centre, teaching people about the history of brickworks in the Oatlands area and how to process the locally-dug clay.

They then created pieces of art themselves, putting together a ceramic tree mural which will go on display outside the community centre. Anna said:

“The tree design was chosen for its symbolism, with Oatlands Community Centre being rooted firmly at the heart of the community.”

The centre and its volunteers are the supportive framework; the roots, trunk and branches, but can only grow leaves and flourish through the engagement of the community and their sense of ownership.”

Oatlands Community Centre was previously a Methodist chapel, located near the top of Mount Street, just off Leeds Road. The street used to be the access road to the Harrogate Red Brick Company, which operated from 1860 to 1936.

The church itself was built using bricks from the works, which were taken from the heavy clay which lies in the ground across the area.

Read more:

• Breathing new life into historic building in south Harrogate
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Since the workshops were held in June, the ceramic pieces have been dried, fired in the kiln and assembled into a mural ready for the unveiling tomorrow between 10am and noon.

Anna will be on hand to talk about the project, and Oatlands Community Centre will be offering coffee and cake to visitors.

Funding was organised through Two Ridings Community Foundation. Its CEO Jan Garrill said:

“This was a great and very creative way to celebrate Her Majesty’s platinum jubilee. All credit to Oatlands for embracing both the spirit of the jubilee and the Let’s Create funding from Two Ridings.”

A baker from Harrogate is turning her life-long passion into a career after years of preparation and planning.

Lizzie Warburton began baking at home as a child, but never considered it as a potential job despite her obvious talent.

She said:

“I’ve baked all my life. My grandma is a baker, and my mum – it’s what we have always done as a family.

“I did a foundation course in art and design, and went to uni to do graphics, but I decided it wasn’t the field I wanted to be in.

“I used to bake caked for friends at school, but I never thought of it as a job. Working at Harlow Carr, we used to do Friday bake-offs. Everyone said, ‘you need to go on the Great British Bake-off’ and I never thought about it seriously.

“But eventually I thought, ‘why am I not doing this? I love it’. “

Taking the plunge, Lizzie enrolled on a course at Leeds City College to give her the professional understanding she needed to back up her experience. Once finished, she and mum Sue opened The Kitchen, a coffee shop on Otley Road, in autumn 2016.

Starting with a small menu of light lunches and cakes, they soon became popular with locals and Lizzie’s cakes had a particularly strong reputation.

When events took place, such as the UCI Road World Championships which passed in front of the door in 2019, The Kitchen was packed with cycling enthusiasts and the cake bench laden with special creations which all disappeared by the end of the day.

Read more:

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However, it was not Lizzie’s most ambitious bakes which proved the biggest hit during the five years the coffee shop was operating. She said:

“We made Mars bar crispies when we were kids and we thought they’d work well – I just updated it and added a layer of chocolate. They became our best seller, along with scones. Everybody still asks for them if I bump into any of our customers!

“Our Mars bar crispies would sell out every day. It’s the easiest thing – it takes 20 minutes to make. I’ve done all this training, learning how to make a cake properly, and it’s that simple childhood recipe that people love the most.”

When her parents decided not to renew the lease on The Kitchen last autumn and to move away, Lizzie knew her future was in baking.

She wanted to focus on her true passion and, before the coffee shop closed its doors for the final time, she began building up cake orders for birthdays and other celebrations. In many ways, the covid pandemic had actually helped her.

“When we were opening up, we started doing afternoon teas to deliver to people’s homes and that went really well. I knew people wanted a treat then, but I thought people would still want that even after covid.”

Though she knew what she wanted to do, Lizzie realised it would be some time before she would earn enough from her own baking to make a living. Over the last year, she has indulged her other passion: she has been working for a dog charity and a kennels, caring for animals and enjoying time outside.

An array of Lizzie’s Baked creations

Meanwhile, she has tested the water by offering pre-ordered boxes of cakes on selected weekends, which have always proved a big hit with customers old and new. She has also been building up contacts for wholesale business, baking treats for other cafes and shops to sell to customers.

Now ready to launch her new venture, Baked, Lizzie is holding a pop-up shop this weekend at Oatlands Community Centre – just around the corner from her home.

She’ll spend this week creating a huge stash of goodies to sell on Saturday between 9am and noon, as well as taking pre-orders to be collected on the day.

A selection of favourites from The Kitchen will be on offer alongside new recipes she has been perfecting. However, Lizzie knows she’ll need to stock up on the famous Mars bar crispies:

“It’s crazy that that one thing went so mad, but it’s so nice because it’s such a nostalgic thing we had as children. I’m just going to have to do trays and trays of it!”

For Vic Smith-Dunn, life is all about connections.

She’s a sociable person who likes to make links between people with something in common – even if that thing is they don’t know anyone else in the room.

Vic’s own connections have been particularly significant in guiding her to where she is now.

Her grandparents were wardens at the former Oatlands Methodist Church in south Harrogate and she is one of the people tasked safeguarding the same building.

Now known as Oatlands Community Centre, it also housed a pre-school for many years, which Vic’s daughters attended. Vic became a trustee of the pre-school after it bought the building around a decade ago.

Last autumn, the pre-school closed under the growing weight of expectations and regulations, which the small charity’s trustees were unable to meet. However, Vic wanted to ensure the building remained in use and the mortgage could still be paid.

“We decided the way forward and to safeguard the community space was to focus on delivering on our constitution in different ways.

“It said it had to be a service for families with pre-school children. One of the main aims is to work with community groups and social enterprises.”

Coincidentally, Vic had set up a social enterprise a few years before, called MyLifePool. It aimed to bring the community together in a simple, affordable way, creating social groups and events as well as supporting businesses.

For £1 a week, members access discounts from dozens of local partner businesses, from coffee shops to hairdressers, and can get discounted rates to attend a programme of family activities, nights out and more.

There are weekly stay-and-play sessions for children, including dedicated times for neurodiverse children. Drinks and snacks are provided, including fresh fruit from local business and MyLifePool partners KD Fruiterers.

While the membership fee is low, the demand has been extremely high, allowing the trustees to keep paying the mortgage on the community centre. Hall hire for children’s parties and other events has also contributed significantly.

Vic grew up and still lives in the Oatlands area, part of her reason for wanting to build up community activities and networks. She also recognises that the support which used to be on offer elsewhere is no longer as readily available.

“When my eldest daughter was a baby, I saw my health visitor every week.

“She realised I had postnatal depression. If it hadn’t been for her and my GP, I don’t know what might have happened.

“I worry about people in the same position now who aren’t having that regular contact – who is supporting them?”

Social media

Even with the support she had, her depression and loneliness prompted Vic to set up Ready Steady Mums, a free walking group for parents of children up to one, which still meets every Friday at St Mark’s Church.

Her experience of the value it offered to attendees stimulated her interest in doing more in the community – leading her to set up MyLifePool some years later.

“I had seen how social media was becoming really damaging to social interaction.

“People were so busy putting up posts showing themselves living their best lives that they were terrified to actually meet anyone, because you can’t be at your best all the time.

“Then it becomes even more difficult to walk into a room full of strangers.”

In recent years, she has drawn on her own experiences once again to set up a new group dedicated to women going through the menopause. From social meet-ups to informative talks from experts, the group has hit the ground running and already has dozens of attendees at each event.

MeNoPause was launched as one of MyLifePool’s events, but is open to anyone in the community.

Vic Smith-Dunn is the welcoming face of MyLifePool and Oatlands Community Centre

Similarly, there is a working mums’ group, offering mums the chance to socialise over drinks but still get home at a sensible time to be up for the school run the next day. It’s organised by one of the ‘lifepoolers’ who, with support from Vic, set up the kind of group she wanted and discovered there were many others who felt the same.

Vic says her role is always to connect people and give them the confidence to get involved.

MyLifePool has become so successful that Vic has been approached to expand the model into York and, if that works, beyond.

Wherever it goes next, Vic is clear about its purpose.

“I’m all about funding community stuff. It’s about finding ways for communities to become self-sustaining.

“We have to find innovative ways for that to happen.”

A new group set up to support women going through menopause has attracted almost 100 members after its first meeting.

Set up by Vic Smith-Dunn through her social enterprise MyLifePool, the group met for the first time on Monday evening at Oatlands Community Centre.

As well as hearing from nutritionist Linda Le Floch of Quality Health Foods, the evening offered members the chance to ask questions anonymously — which produced some surprising results.

Ms Smith-Dunn said:

“We ran a questionnaire asking what kind of topics people would like covering at future events.

“The responses ranged from the best types of exercise for bone health to skin care and fashion advice. However, one of the biggest demands was for advice on how to improve libido.”

Read more:

• New group launches for Harrogate women with menopause
• Harrogate woman sets up Lupus support group after 40-year battle

Ms Smith-Dunn was able to share some tips about supplements which can help, but the group discussed how much it comes down to mindset and self-confidence.

She added:

“I would love to make contact with local businesses or professionals who may have information or products to share that may support and empower our growing tribe of women, who are determined to grab back their lives along with their libido to truly make the most of living through this hormonal change rather than just pushing through.”

For more information about the group, visit the MeNoPause website.

A proposal to set up a group for women dealing with symptoms of the menopause has received an “overwhelming” response from the community.

Vic Smith-Dunn, who runs Harrogate-based social enterprise MyLifePool, posted the idea on the group’s Facebook page this week.

Within just a couple of hours she had numerous comments from people saying it was desperately needed. With a date for its first meeting arranged, more than 25 people signed up straight away.

Vic said:

“When you go to your GP, they haven’t necessarily been given a full in-depth education about perimenopause. Being able to say, ‘is this a possibility?’ and ‘maybe I could do this or that?’ can be helpful, but where do you find the information in the first place?

“The idea of the group is to share information – it’s about women supporting women.”

The inspiration for the group came from Vic’s own experience of perimenopause, which she said left her worried about her health. However, speaking to other women going through the same thing gave her reassurance that hormonal changes were to blame for her symptoms, including loss of memory and depression.

Read more:

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When the group first meets on May 25, biochemist and nutritionist Linda Le Floch from Quality Health Foods in the Westminster Arcade will give some tips on ways to manage symptoms.

There will also be opportunities for women to submit questions in advance or ask them on the night, and to share their own stories and advice about dealing with the impact of menopause.

The way the group operates will be guided by its members, who will be able to meet for coffee, nights out and other events as frequently as they wish.

Vic also hopes to put on a larger event in future, including information for husbands and partners supporting women through menopause. She said:

“My husband did a whole load of research and got to understand the hormone imbalance so he was able to explain to me what was going on. I just wasn’t able to do that at the time.

“Without that understanding, so many marriages break down because men don’t understand what their wives are going through – the women don’t always understand it themselves.”

To book a place at the event on May 25, click here.