Business Breakfast: Cloud Nine develops its own photo studios

The Stray Ferret Business Awards, sponsored by Prosperis, will be held on March 9 at the Pavilions of Harrogate. Early bird tickets are available until February 9. The event will celebrate success and business excellence across the Harrogate district. It’s a night not to be missed! There’ll be a fabulous prize draw for all attending and Richard Flinton, the incoming Chief Executive of North Yorkshire Council, is guest speaker. 

Global hair and beauty brand, Cloud Nine, has opened two new studios at its Harrogate headquarters, bringing all previously outsourced photo and video shoots in-house.

The beauty company says the aim of the new studio is to develop the creative, commercial and media skills of its team.

The hair and skin stylist area has mirrors and lights with different coloured walls to suit models with different skin tones. There’s also a Green Room designed for the models and guests to relax in before and after each shoot.

CEO Martin Rae, who launched the business with his brother, Gavin, in 2009, said:

“We have created our own studios for two very good reasons. The first is we have a fantastically talented team based within our Harrogate headquarters, who are eager to create their own campaigns, from inception through to execution”.

“And secondly, harnessing the artistic skills of our own people makes perfect business sense, and will benefit us commercially”.

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Knaresborough business group supports Ukraine

A lorry full of of medical equipment, blankets and warm clothing, supplied Knaresborough charity PhysioNet and the town’s Rotary Club, is due to arrive in Ukraine today.

The lorry left Knaresborough five days ago and has made its way to Zaporizhzhia in the South East of Ukraine.

Knaresborough Rotary President and Chairman of Physionet, David Kaye, said:

“This is the sixth PhysioNet consignment for Ukraine. The £6,000 transport costs have been paid for entirely by Rotary in Yorkshire”.

PhysioNet was founded in 2005 by Knaresborough Rotarian Peter Thompson.

It collects and refurbishes discarded mobility and physiotherapy equipment – including wheelchairs, Zimmer frames, crutches and walking sticks – and redistributes it for use by the disabled in developing countries.

 

PhysioNet and Rotary volunteers gave up their Saturday morning to load the lorry for Zaporizhzhia.

Harrogate Scrubbers complete covid memory quilts

At its peak, Harrogate Scrubbers had 800 members making scrubs for hospital staff during the first covid lockdown. The group worked frantically and in just six weeks, 2037 scrubs were handed over to front line staff at Harrogate District Hospital.

It was an extraordinary community response to a health crisis and a serious shortage of PPE supplies.

To celebrate and remember their achievement, scrubbers were invited to sew a square of fabric for a quilt. Each was asked to detail what it meant to them to be part of the sewing group.  The squares have been made into five beautiful quilts. The scrubbers founder, Fran Taylor, has also created a book with photos of the squares and each group member’s memories.

Tonight, the group will gather at the Pavilions of Harrogate to see the quilts on display in what is expected to be an emotional event.

Fran explained,

“The experience of being part of the Harrogate Scrubbers meant so much to so many people, that we wanted to commemorate the groups achievements, and also give everyone something to remember for the part they played supporting the NHS in the pandemic”

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One of the five completed quilts (above) and below an excerpt from Fran’s book. 

Lisa Sumpton from Harrogate, who two years ago was in charge of logistics for the scrubbers, said:

“It’s just nice to see all the squares that have been lovingly made by individuals- to represent a moment when a community came together to something good at a time of great uncertainty”.

The contribution the scrubbers made to support the NHS and its staff locally has not been forgotten.

Sammy Lambert, the business development, charity and volunteer manager for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said:

“It does feel surreal two years on. Unless you lived through the time and felt the community spirit, it’s hard to explain.

“We’d like to say a huge thank you to Fran and all the scrubbers for helping us to do our jobs at such a difficult time”

Tonight the scrubbers will come together, many having formed friendships through the project, they’ll raise a glass to each other and be formally thanked by Sarah Armstrong, Chair of Harrogate Hospital Trust for their wonderful work during the pandemic.

 

 

Harrogate hospital to recycle face masks using new machine

Harrogate District Hospital has ordered a machine that turns single use plastics, including face masks, into reusable material.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust is one of eight health trusts pioneering the new technology.

Covid has forced hospital staff to use far more personal protective equipment (PPE).

But some face masks are thrown away after just a few hours.

Research from a waste company suggested the UK throws away 53 million masks every day and just 10% are recycled.

Official government guidance urges people to dispose of face masks as waste rather than recycling.

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But with so many masks going to landfill and incinerators, hospitals have turned to Cardiff company TCG Solutions’ new machine.

Called a Sterimelt, it melts down polypropylene, which is a material used in the manufacture of face masks, into solid blocks of plastic that can be repurposed and used as items such as bins.

Philip Davison-Sebry, founder and managing director of the company, said:

“What was once going out to landfill, can now be turned into new material.”

The machine, which costs £55,000, turns polypropylene into reusable plastic blocks, which can be used to make bins, chairs and other items.

Although the machine is not up and running yet in Harrogate, the trust hopes to start recycling as soon as possible.

£4.1 million spent on PPE in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire County Council has spent £4.1 million on personal protective equipment since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, it has been revealed.

A report due before the authority’s audit committee next week said the council has distributed four million items of PPE to 67 different sites, including care homes.

Gary Fielding, corporate director of strategic resources, said in the report the authority had to spot purchase stock in the first weeks of the pandemic due to problems with the supply chain.

A total of 17% has been spent on suppliers in County Durham and Teesside.

Of the remainder, 40% was spent on national suppliers, 28% on local suppliers and 15% on regional suppliers.

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The council has distributed one million aprons and one million faces masks, with 282,000 items of PPE sent out on a weekly basis.

Mr Fielding said:

“The council never ran out of PPE at any point during the pandemic, and by the summer had secured stock to cover the council needs based on forecasted usage, up to the end of March 2021. 

“Currently the council holds around 8.4 million items of PPE in stock at a secure storage location”

It comes as the county council has estimated that the pandemic will cost the authority an additional £82 million this year.

This is due to an increase in spend on support for vulnerable residents and measures to combat covid, as well as lost income from council tax and business rates.

As a result, council bosses are considering increasing council tax by 1.99% next year, equivalent to a £27 rise, in an effort to plug its financial gap caused by the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the council had anticipated a funding gap of £186 million by next year due to austerity. However, it has since found £173 million in savings.

Now the authority needs to find £103 million over the next three years to cover loss of central government funding.

Officials have launched a consultation on the budget proposals, which people can take part in until January 11.

County council leader, Cllr Carl Les, has urged residents to take part.

He said:

“We want North Yorkshire to be a thriving county and pride ourselves on being a well-run authority, but the funding gaps in our budget create huge uncertainty. 

“I would encourage everyone to take part and let us know their views on our council plan priorities, setting council tax for next year and our longer term plans.”

Strayside Sunday: politics isn’t Priti…

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

Great news for the residents of Spofforth; the relentless encroachment of concrete on countryside has been stopped, or at least paused.  Harrogate Borough Council planning committee made what sounds like a good decision this week to reject a planning application to build 72 homes in the village.

Having given outline approval for the scheme in March 2019, sight of final detailed plans for the development clearly spooked the council horse, with the planning committee voting it down 6-3 in the face of a council report recommending the application be granted.  Hurray.  Local residents had described the development as “a carbuncle of urban sprawl” and had mobilised an effective campaign to block it.  Historic England, Natural England, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, the council’s principal ecologist, North Yorkshire’s highways, the Lead Local Flood Authority and Spofforth Parish Council joined 300 residents in raising concerns about the scheme.  This is local democracy in action and is why we need more of it.  It demonstrates that politicians can do the right thing, if we pay enough attention, get organised and fight for a just cause.

Meanwhile, up the road on Long Lands Common, People Power has also won out.  A campaign to raise funds for the creation of a community forest, community owned and to be accessible for all, reached a key milestone of £300k.  This means the land can be bought, ensure we can enjoy verdant space and, of course, protect our environment. This is just brilliant news and further demonstrates what people can achieve when they act together for the common good.

One politician whom it seems can be guaranteed not to do the right thing is Priti Patel.  It turns out our hectoring, reactionary Home Secretary is a bully, so says Sir Alex Allan, the government’s independent advisors on standards.  It seems that in her dealings with her civil servants, including toward her Permanent Secretary Sir Philip Rutman, Ms. Patel’s behaviour (allegedly harassing and belittling) broke the ministerial code.  Sir Philip resigned (very publicly) in a huff and is now suing for wrongful dismissal.

Although I wish he wouldn’t, Boris will stand by her I suspect.  The Prime Minister is fast running out of political friends and allies, particularly those Brexiteer fellow travellers primarily responsible for his elevation.  Friends he chose at the very last when he wrote two versions of his referendum coming out article, one Remain, one Brexit, before sniffing the wind and throwing in with the Little Englanders.  With Cummings and Cain gone he can’t afford to lose Patel in close succession.  If Patel had any honour she would resign.  She doesn’t and she won’t.

(While writing I have just received a news notification on my mobile phone to report that Sir Alex Allan has resigned following Boris Johnson’s ruling that the Home Secretary had, in his view, not broken the ministerial code. The Prime Minister has, in effect, officially sanctioned bullying in his government.  It really is a world gone mad. Black is white. Up is down. White slacks after November 1st.  Red wine with fish.  It’s sickening). 

It isn’t as if the the Home Secretary doesn’t have form.  She had to resign her previous cabinet post as International Development Secretary in 2017, having been caught out freelancing in Israel with the Conservative Friends thereof (the CFI).  Forced to fly home in disgrace, on arrival she was photographed grinning like a Cheshire Cat from the front seat of a Jag.  Shameless.

Patel claimed she had been on a private holiday, although she had been accompanied on the trip by Lord Stuart Polak, the Chair of CFI.  They held upwards of a dozen meetings with Israeli government officials and political leaders.  Some holiday.  An even if you buy her version of events, what of her judgment?

This week’s further revelations of the way the government procured PPE equipment during the panic created by the advent of Covid are shocking.  A Spanish businessman, Gabriel Gonzalez Andersson, was paid a £21m commission by a Floridian Jeweller, Michael Saiger, to secure contracts worth a staggering quarter of a billion pounds for providing PPE at the height of the crisis.

I can forgive not buying British, what mattered then (as now) was saving lives.  I can forgive too using emergency powers, rather than the usual strangled, extended and often painful procurement processes.  What I can’t forgive is awarding contracts to suppliers with no prior experience in manufacturing essential medical equipment.  Saiger is a jewellery designer and owns a fashion brand for goodness sake.  Although the makers of novelty face coverings might beg to differ, looking good is not top priority during a pandemic.

Saiger is now reportedly suing Andersson for his middle-man money back.  Here at home The Good Law Group is on the case and is set to challenge the legality of the deal with the Department of Health and Social Care.  I hope the case succeeds, exposing as it does a total breakdown in good governance, a blithe disregard for the way taxpayers (yours and mine) money is spent and a supine acceptance of the worst consequences of the untrammelled market economy.  It drains the last reserves of my support for the Conservative supply-side ‘ideals’.  I’m currently reading a book called by Paul Collier and John Kay called “Greed is Dead; Politics After Individualism.”  All evidence to the contrary it seems.  Freedom should not be this expensive.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

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The Stray Ferret has been investigating the unprecedented amount of housing development in the district and examining the impact of Harrogate Borough Council’s failure to have a Local Development Plan up to March 2020. 
In a series of special reports each morning from tomorrow we will be asking: 
Building Boom or Housing Crisis– have the wrong homes been built, in the wrong places at the wrong price? 
Harrogate medical supplies company completes buyout

The final stage of a management buyout of a Harrogate medical supplies company has been completed.

Beaucare Medical, which employs 68 staff, supplies medical, nursing and hygiene equipment, including PPE, to the care sector.

Managing director Heather Mawrey and commercial finance director Joe Storr, have now bought the remaining shares in the business from original owner Jonathan Brown.

The pair bought into the business in 2017 when Mr Brown sold his controlling stake. They have now bought his remaining 45% of shares.

The company, which began life in 1992 in Mr Brown’s garage, now has an annual turnover of almost £12 million.

Ms Mawrey, who has worked for the company for 15 years, said:

“We’ve enjoyed a busy period in the three years since Joe and I initially bought into the business.

“We’re extremely grateful to Jonathan for his continued input, which has created a seamless handover, and we’re delighted to complete the final stage of this management buyout.”

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The company, which was advised on the buyout by Harrogate law firm LCF Law, has experienced a surge in demand for PPE and other medical supplies during the pandemic.

The buyout was funded by the Santander Santander Corporate & Commercial, which funded the initial £3 million buyout in 2017.

 

NHS PPE contract safeguards jobs at Ripon company

Production at Ripon-based company Network Medical, is going at full pace, seven days a week, after a vital contract was won to supply face visors for front line NHS workers.

The contract, which safeguards jobs at the company’s Kearsley Road headquarters, was awarded six days after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, accused the government of being  ‘slow on protective equipment and slow to take up’ offers of supply of PPE from British firms.

Network Medical refocused its operation on the manufacture of face visors in March and had been in discussions with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

The company’s wait for a decision on its contract bid was featured on Channel 4 News on 22nd April, the day the Labour leader raised the PPE questions at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.

On April 28th, Network Medical and a sister company based in Swansea – both part of the Innovia Medical group – received the order from the DHSC to supply 1.3 million face visors.

Because of the size of the order, production has been split between Ripon and Swansea and both sites are now at full capacity, with 100% of production being sent to the NHS.

 

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Neil Mercer, chief executive officer of Network Medical said the company is pleased to have secured a contract to manufacture and supply the Innovia face visors to the NHS.

Mr Mercer, told The Stray Ferret:

“Due to the reduction in routine procedures  we have seen demand for our Ophthalmic and ENT products reduce over the last few months. The introduction of the Innovia Face Visor at our Ripon and sister site in Swansea has allowed us to help protect our NHS heroes  whilst keeping the business operating at full capacity during these challenging times.”

At the start of March, Network Medical geared up to making face visors and during a four week planning stage, contacted existing UK customers, who include NHS Supply Chain, local NHS trusts and private hospital groups. In addition to contacting local and national government to let them know about the visors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harrogate Scrubbers hit target of making 2,000 items for hospital

Harrogate scrubbers made their final trip to Harrogate district hospital today to deliver homemade scrubs.

The group, which was set up just 6 weeks ago, has of 830 volunteers which have provided the town’s hospital with over 2,000 scrubs, 260 gowns, 550 scrub hats and 1,000 scrub bags.

Fran Taylor, the founder of Harrogate Scrubbers, told the Stray Ferret that it had been really humbling:

This started 6 weeks ago… it was about people wanting to help the NHS and I think we really have achieved that. It has also really helped people’s mental health as those that are stuck in the house isolating or on furlough have been able to have a focus and help others at the same time.

Charlotte Gannaway is a nurse at Harrogate Hospital. She was there today to receive the final load of scrubs:

“At the start we had a shortage of scrubs, but we now have enough to go round all the staff. Its made us a lot more comfortable at work, especially when we are working long hours.

We have come together as a team and we are definitely seeing a good number of patients getting discharged”.

Harrogate firm labelled as ‘disgrace for inflating prices on PPE’

A Harrogate firm has been labelled as disgraceful for selling medical face masks for up to three times the price of its competitors.

Following a tip-off, an investigation by the Stray Ferret found that Change Mobility has been listing five masks for £17.99 – £3.60 per mask.

The masks are graded as Type II and are normally destined for care homes or hospitals to protect staff from coronavirus.

Several other websites online have listed the same Type II masks for between £1 and £2 per mask.

UKMeds sells 50 of the masks for £49.99, The Glove Club sells ten of the masks for £19.99 and Medisave sells 50 of the masks for £54.99.

The Stray Ferret took its findings to Unison and the owner of a care home in the Harrogate district.

The listing on Change Mobility’s website from May 5.

Wendy Nichols, the branch secretary of the Unison North Yorkshire branch, told the Stray Ferret:

“I find it absolutely appalling that someone is trying to make extra money from the current crisis the country finds itself in. PPE has been difficult to secure and someone inflating the price could put at risk both residents and Unison members in care homes. It’s an absolute disgrace.”

Unison Yorkshire & Humberside’s head of health Tony Pearson added:

“Gowns, gloves, masks, and visors are vital in the fight to keep health and care workers safe. No-one should be looking to make a quick buck at this time of national crisis. It’s wrong to hike prices and charge VAT when the government scrapped it on PPE last week.”

The owner of a care home in the Harrogate district was disappointed by the price the local firm was charging:

“We are still up against a shortage of PPE in care homes. We have sourced masks from around the country and around the world but not many locally. I think that firm is charging too much. We normally pay around £2 to £2.50 for these Type II masks.”

Change Mobility changed the listing just 30 minutes after the Stray Ferret got in touch.

The Stray Ferret approached Change Mobility with its findings yesterday afternoon.

A spokesperson for the company told the Stray Ferret that increasing demand meant that price increases were inevitable and that it needed to update the website:

“Change Mobility is owned by Beaucare Medical and the shop is currently closed on Kings Road due to COVID19. Therefore due to the Government changes that took place on Thursday, we have concentrated on the Beaucare website amends and the Change Mobility site hasn’t been touched. This website doesn’t control stock and we are out of stock on this specific type. But I’m about to add some that we do have in stock. So feel free to check the website shortly and the Beaucare one. We are trying our utmost to not increase sell out price on PPE, but some increases are inevitable as raw materials and interest in the market is increasing demand.”

Within 30 minutes the listing was marked as out of stock and reduced in price.

Change Mobility wrongly charged VAT

While investigating Change Mobility’s masks, the Stray Ferret noticed that it was wrongly charging 20% VAT on top.

The government gave the sale of PPE a VAT zero-rating in effect from May 1 to July 31. Other sellers have removed VAT.

Change Mobility has since changed the listing to remove VAT.

WATCH: Harrogate Dentist using 3D printers to make protective visors

 

Dentists and technicians from the Raglan Suite Dentistry Laboratory in Ripon have developed a protective visor from 3D printers normally used for dental work.

So far they have provided almost 2,500 visors free of charge to local care homes, hospitals and other key workers that need them.

Steven Campbell, Dental Technician at the Raglan Suite and MD of Nexus Dental Laboratory, told The Stray Ferret:

“Dentistry is on pause, so we wanted to make use of our 3D printing machines that usually make night guards, liners and dentures. I was shocked at the lack of PPE available so we have managed to come up with the perfect design to create these essential visors. It is brilliant to be able to provide  PPE equipment to our local area.”

The technicians have also been making 900 ear savers each day to make the visors more comfortable for people to wear for long periods of time.

There has been industry funding for the production of these and there is also a go fund me page where people are able to donate towards the making of them.