Your Harrogate’s star presenter leaves to join York radio stationHarrogate nephew of former broadcaster to cycle 1,000km in 48 hours

A Harrogate man is taking on an epic cycling challenge in memory of his late aunt.

Simon Gregory is set to cycle from North-West Scotland to Winchester Cathedral to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support, which cared for his aunt, Rev Ruth Scott.

He aims to complete the 1,000km route in less than 48hours, in the hope of raising £25,000.

At the time of aunt’s death in 2019, Simon was just taking up cycling and he said the sport helped him deal with his grief.

In 2021, Simon completed a 280-mile cycle from his hometown in Yorkshire to University Hospital in Southampton, raising £14,000 for Macmillan, before planning his next challenge.

The upcoming 1,000km ride, which Simon will complete in June, begins and ends at the locations where his aunt’s ashes are scattered and interred respectively.

Rev Scott was part of the BBC Radio 2 feature Pause for Thought, alongside Sir Terry Wogan and then Chris Evans.

Preparing for his challenge, Simon said:

“It’s to remember my aunty Ruth who battled T-cell lymphoma. She was an incredible lady who led the most remarkable of lives; as a circus clown, a midwife and then a priest.

“She touched thousands, maybe millions of lives in conflict resolution and as a broadcaster for 25 years on BBC Radio Two. She was an incredibly selfless lady who was my second mum. She was always there to support and guide me when I needed it.”

Simon hugs Ruth’s nurse, Mairead, after completing his previous fundraising challenge

As well as remembering his aunt, he also paid tributed to her nurse, Mairead:

“To think that somebody faced cancer without what Ruth had in her nurse, Mairead, just kept nagging at me. Mairead offered a huge amount of knowledge, support and understanding so we could deal with the situation much better.”

 Simon’s £25,000 target would cover 101 days of Macmillan nursing.

You can donate £5 by texting ‘RUTH48’ to 70550 or visit Simon’s Just Giving page. People can also donate £33 – which funds one Macmillan nursing hour – and have a loved one’s name included on the bike to join Simon on his journey.

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Rare heather moorland holds up TV transmitter replacement

Plans to replace the fire-damaged Bilsdale transmitter and restore TV and radio signals for large swathes of the Harrogate district are being held up by the transmitter’s location within a rare heather moorland.

The blackout of Freeview TV channels and loss of radio signals has affected thousands of homes, particularly in the northern part of the district, after a major fire on August 10 put the 1,030 ft mast out of action.

Patience is wearing thin among many people, who have now been affected for three weeks.

Stray Ferret follower Lynette Cooper, who lives in central Harrogate, summed up the mood when she said:

“I’m totally fed up. For weeks now, I haven’t been able to see any of my favourite programmes.

“It’s the same for my daughter Helen at her home in Pickering and a friend told me that some elderly people at a Harrogate nursing home she goes to, just sit there with nothing to watch.”

The Bilsdale transmitter, built on the moors near Helmsley in 1969, is one of the most powerful transmitters in the UK, serving hundreds of thousands of viewers and listeners from North Yorkshire to the North East and beyond.

Fire crews were called to Bilsdale mast near Helmsley this afternoon after reports of smoke coming from the area.

The Bilsdale mast’s moorland location.

In a statement on August 13, transmitter operator Arqiva said:

“Our plan involves the erection of an 80m temporary mast at Bilsdale and we have been surveying the site to identify the best alternative locations within the restrictions we have.

“Included in this is the fact that Bilsdale is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, meaning we have to seek agreement to place any additional equipment.”

In its most recent update since the fire incident, the company could still not provide a likely date when services would be restored. It said:

“We continue to work through the process to enable access to the Bilsdale site to build the temporary mast.

“There is no specific new detail to share at this point but we are continuing to work round the clock to find a way forward.”

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The transmitter’s location within a government-protected area of 44,000 hectares of moorland continues to be a stumbling block.

The area was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its heathland habitat and breeding birds. Special permission needs to be granted for access across it.

Natural England says on its website:

“Heather moorland is rare on a worldwide scale – there is probably less heather moorland in the world than tropical rainforest.

“One of the largest continuous expanses of upland heather moorland in England and Wales is here in the North York Moors – a sheep could wander from Egton to Bilsdale without leaving it. Moorland covers a third of the North York Moors National Park and most of the higher ground is covered in heather.”

The area is also a designated Special Area of Conservation — a status reserved for important plant habitats in Europe — and a Special Protection Area because of its importance to breeding birds.

Although the access issues are yet to be resolved, Aquiva said last week some Freeview services had been restored for those who receive signals from smaller relay sites. None of them are in the Harrogate district.

A TV Licensing spokesman has said customers unable to receive TV coverage for more than a month will be eligible for a refund or free extension of their TV licence.

 

 

 

 

Still no TV or radio services for district residents after transmitter fire

Thousands of homes across the north of the Harrogate district remain without TV or radio freeview services, a week after a major fire at a transmitter mast.

The blackout was caused by the fire last Tuesday that put the 315-metre Bilsdale transmitter out of action.

The loss of the transmitter is affecting parts of Harrogate, Boroughbridge, Kirkby Malzeard, Knaresborough, Masham, Pateley Bridge, Ripon and other locations that rely on a signal that serves the Tyne Tees region.

An update issued on Friday by Arqiva, owners of the transmitter, estimated that the repair work will take up to 14 days.

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As viewers and listeners ask questions about when they can tune in once more to freeview on TV and radio,  one resident has contacted Julian Smith MP requesting that the government look at the bigger picture, in relation to critical infrastructure that serves millions of people.

Julian Smith, MP for Ripon and Skipton.

James Thornborough, who lives in Sharow and whose work saw him specialise in disaster planning, recovery and business continuity, told the Stray Ferret:

“I emailed Mr Smith to raise wider concerns about the potential ramifications of the loss of the service from the mast.

“There is clearly a need to have robust contingency plans in place that anticipate the potential for this kind of occurrence at the Bilsdale transmitter and how to resolve it. ..

In my email to Mr Smith, I said – I am sure you will concede that a TV service being lost to one million viewers qualifies as the loss of a critical national infrastructure service, not least because it deprives the broadcasting companies of the ability to share public safety communications (breaking safety news) by TV or Radio to the design scope audience.”

In an email response, Mr Smith said:

“I note the concerns you have raised in this respect, and have sent a copy of your email together with an email of my own, to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, to pass your points on to him.

“I will write to you again as soon as a reply is received.”

In its statement on Friday, Arqiva, provided an update on on-going reinstatement works at the existing site and efforts to bring a television signal back to thousands of properties.

It said:

“We have had some success during phase 1 of our recovery plan using the Eston Nab site to restore services for some areas.

“Eston Nab is unfortunately unable to reach all the areas served by the larger Bilsdale mast, as broadcast signals rely on line-of-sight between transmitter and receiver (your rooftop aerial).

“This is the reason why masts such as the one at Bilsdale need to be so tall, and why they are located where they are – to reach as many homes as possible.”

For many avid TV watchers and radio listeners, a two-week wait is too long and they are looking for other means of tuning in to their favourite programmes.

This can range from re-setting digital TV boxes, to calling in professionals to have their aerials turned to pick up the signal from the Emley Moor Transmitter, which serves the Yorkshire television area.

People can also tune in via the BBC iPlayer.

 

Harrogate and Wetherby to get dedicated radio service

Ofcom is to offer Harrogate and Wetherby a DAB radio licence.

The communications regulator said today organisations would be able to bid for the licence, which will enable listeners to tune in on digital radio, in the coming months.

Harrogate and Wetherby is one of 25 licence areas included in the latest round of Ofcom’s roll-out of small-scale digital licences.

At the end of last year, in a previous phase of the rollout, five organisations bid for the digital licence in Leeds.

Currently only Greatest Hits Radio in the Harrogate district has an FM licence.

Other stations such as Harrogate Community Radio, Your Harrogate and Harrogate Hospital Radio are available online, via an app and or smart speakers.

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Harrogate Community Radio said it would look into the financial situation before deciding whether to bid but it was excited about the opportunity. Board member Charley Christopher said:

“It’s definitely something we’re looking into but we would need support from others. There may be grants available that we could look into. It is exciting for us and potentially another platform to expand into.”

Your Harrogate presenter Nick Hancock said it intended to bid for the licence. He added:

“It’s great that all our efforts, as well as those of many others, for this to come to Harrogate and Wetherby, have been rewarded.”

 

Your Harrogate set to launch tomorrow

Your Harrogate is set to launch its online radio service tomorrow with familiar faces from Stray FM.

The show on Monday at 8am and promises to offer the “best of life in Harrogate.”

Currently Your Harrogate is only available online and people can listen on their phones through an app or through a smart speaker.

Your Harrogate will launch with an all-male lineup who are all former DJs on Stray FM, which closed last year.

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Nick Hancock will be on breakfast duty and promises to set listeners up for their day with local weather, travel and school news.

Pete Egerton will be on daytimes, Ricky Durkin on weekday afternoons, Alex Cann on weeknights, Will Smith on weekends and David Whittle on weekend afternoons.

Stray FM broadcast its final show at the end of August ahead of a merger with national station Greatest Hits Radio.

Bauer Media, the owners of Greatest Hits Radio, promised to keep the show as local but there have been complaints on social media that it has not delivered.

The full line up is as below:

Weekdays
6am Early Breakfast
7am Nick Hancock
10am Pete Egerton
2pm Ricky Durkin
6pm Alex Cann

Saturdays
7am Ricky Durkin
10am Will Smith
1pm David Whittle

Sundays
7am Alex Cann
10am Nick Hancock
1pm David Whittle

Harrogate district to get new local radio station

A new radio station covering the Harrogate district’s community news, weather and travel is set to begin broadcasting in March.

Your Harrogate Radio is being launched by the website Your Harrogate and will be available online, on smart speakers and through its app.

Former Stray FM presenter Nick Hancock, who set up Your Harrogate last year, said he received countless requests to launch a radio station.

He said:

“So many people have messaged me or come up to me in the street and said they really miss having their own local radio station and asked me to do something about it, so now I have!”

“I know from being on air during the first lockdown how many people use the radio for company and to cheer them up a bit during such challenging times”.

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Mr Hancock, who will host the breakfast show, said listeners will hear a broad range of music from classic tunes of the 80s and 90s to modern day.

He said the heavy snowfall last Friday was another sign that the district was in need of a radio station providing live coverage.

Stray FM was rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio in September.

Stray FM licence should have been re-advertised, says Harrogate peer

Stray FM should have had its licence re-advertised rather than be allowed to lose its “special identity” to “out-of-town owners”, a Harrogate Conservative peer has said.

Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate said Ofcom, which regulates commercial radio, needed to do more to protect “well-loved” radio stations that were being “absorbed into the mega-conglomerates that now seem to control the sector”.

Speaking in a Lords debate about radio licenses, he added:

“In the region where I live in Yorkshire, a large number of local stations have lost their special identity as their out-of-town owners dispose of local staff and content, and simply hijack the licensed frequency to pump out centrally edited music that is obtainable in various other ways, either from national broadcasters or through web streaming services.

“That simply should not have been allowed.”

Lord Kirkhope, who is a lawyer and former MP for Leeds North East, has a long-standing interest in radio.

He helped set up a hospital station in Newcastle in the 1960s and subsequently applied unsuccessfully for for the Tyne and Wear franchise that went to Metro radio in 1973.

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He told the Stray Ferret he had Stray FM, which owners Bauer Media rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio in September, and other local radio stations in mind when he made his comments in Parliament.

He added licences should not have granted “without adequate local content”, adding:

“In those cases I consider there has been a breach of the spirit of the regulations if not the legality.

“In some of the obvious local cases like Stray FM those licences should instead have been re-advertised.

“After all, I might have been interested myself in maintaining the local spirit and I think there are others who might have joined me.”

Bauer Media has always maintained the station retains local content and services, as well as a presence in Harrogate.