Remembrance Sunday is going to look very different in the Harrogate district this morning.

The pandemic has seen the Harrogate remembrance parades at the town’s war memorial cancelled, with people encouraged to to stay at home.

Instead, those who wish to pay their respects have been urged to stand on their doorsteps for a two minutes silence at 11am.

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A service will be held at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Harrogate.

The Stonefall event will be a much smaller scale event due to the pandemic, with only a handful of people taking part.

Harrogate Brigantes Rotary Club said a few of its members will lay wreaths on behalf of the Royal British Legion, politicians and local service groups.

Knaresborough pays its respects on Remembrance Sunday in 2019. Picture: Charlotte Gale.

Meanwhile, David Houlgate, from the Knaresborough branch of the Royal British Legion, asked that people commemorate the occasion from home.

He said:

“Unfortunately we can’t do anything this weekend due to covid-19.  So there will be no parade, no service and no official wreath laying.

“The Knaresborough Branch of the Royal British Legion is asking townsfolk to stay at home in order to protect themselves and those closest to them.

“They can attend the remembrance service in Whitehall via TV, remembering that this year is the 100th anniversary of the unveiling of both the Cenotaph and the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.

“At 11am, we ask that people please stand on their front door step, for a two minutes silence and remember.

“If people and organisations wish to lay  wreaths, individually, at some time later, please do on either Remembrance Sunday afternoon or on Armistice Day on the 11th.

“I’m sure that our fallen would understand the reasons behind these actions, in view of this terrible pandemic.”

In Ripon, a dedication ceremony was held in the city’s Garden of Remembrance last Sunday ahead of the national lockdown coming into force.

Numbers in attendance were kept to a minimum and social distancing measures were in place, as the Dean of Ripon, The Very Revd John Dobson, blessed the garden and led prayers.

Nationally, a small ceremony will be held at the London Cenotaph. People have been encouraged to watch it on TV at home to pay their respects.

Two Ripon schools have merged as part of a £1.5 million project.

Funded by North Yorkshire County Council, the scheme has brought together Moorside infant and junior schools onto one site.

The project involved refurbishment of classrooms, cloakrooms, toilets and a construction of a new workspace extension for pupils and staff.

It comes after county council bosses gave the go-ahead last March for the two sites to merge into one primary school and nursery.

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Authority officials said there are plans for an opening event when it is feasible to do so.

Claire Rowett, headteacher at Moorside school, said the outcome of the project was “exceptional”.

She said:

“The most rewarding part is seeing our children happily learning in a safe and stimulating environment, where they will grow and develop from when they begin in our Nursery up to when they leave in Year six, ready for secondary.

“We are already seeing the positive impact of our continuous and consistent approaches in providing high quality teaching and learning for our pupils, as one school community.

“Both during and after the completion of the building work, our governors and staff team – and their families – have voluntarily invested hours into setting up our fabulous new provision, and I will be forever grateful to them for sharing our vision, and being part of what has been a memorable journey to success.

“We have also appreciated a great deal of support from our wider community, including Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and other locally-based businesses, who have also kindly donated their time and resources.

“We just can’t wait to be able to welcome previous and current members of our school and their families to see the transformation, when covid restrictions are lifted. We feel very excited about the future.”

Cllr Patrick Mulligan, executive member for schools said: 

“This development has benefited so many children and families in the Ripon area. 

“It’s enabled the creation of a newly refurbished school with specially-designed spaces to inspire children and help them achieve their potential with the extra resources and facilities available.”

Harrogate district golf clubs will fight the government’s enforced one-month closure.

Clubs in Harrogate and Ripon believe golfers have been able to play safely in recent months and should be allowed to continue to do so.

They have the backing of England Golf, the governing body for amateur golf, which is in talks with the government.

Catherine Grant, who is responsible for marketing and events at Oakdale Golf Club in Harrogate, told the Stray Ferret:

“We could keep the clubhouse closed and just have two golfers playing together to make it even more safe. This has been a difficult year and another month of closure would be tough for us financially.”

Paul Spence, who works in administration at Ripon City Golf Club, said:

“I can see the arguments either way but I think that golf courses are quite safe. A lot of our golfers are in the older age group and this is one of the few places where they can see their friends in a safe way.”

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Jeremy Tomlinson, chief executive of England Golf, has written an open letter to the government saying it will “respectfully challenge the government’s rationale”. It says:

“It is our sincere belief that it is counter-productive to shut down a healthy pursuit. Golf naturally lends itself to social distancing in the open air.”

Golf returned on May 13 after the first coronavirus lockdown but this new lockdown will stop play again on Thursday.

Ripon City Netball Club has held a socially distanced version of its annual awards due to covid.

The awards are the biggest event on the club’s calendar, but this year only award winners were invited to attend the presentation outside Ripon Grammar School, where the club trains. 

Some of the award winners.

The club has five teams, each named after a different bird of prey, with three trophies given out per team for most improved player, coach’s player and players’ player. 

The 2020 award winners were;

Hawks: Kerry Rich, Lindsey Stockdale, Karen Dodds.

Eagles: Carla Darbyshire, Thandiwe Mahlangu, Becky Stacey.

Ospreys: Rebecca Kirby, Claire Barnett, Jenny Addyman.

Kestrels: Kimberley Adele, Joanna Wallace, Hayley Blaymires.

Falcons: Frankie Louise, Sarah-Louise Norton, Jenna Sadler.

Other winners of individual prizes were: Lindsi Baldwin, Kirsteen Dixon, Helen Mackenzie, Georgina Roberts, Samantha Wilson, Karen Ellam, Cathy Simms, Jackie Laugher, Lindsey Virr, Rachael Clark, Suzanne Armstrong, Nicola Lymer, Louise Withy, Becky Ash and Tracy Chapman.

Jump into romance, find intrigue in mystery or escape with adventure. It is all on offer on the bustling shelves of this “hidden gem” of a book shop in Ripon.

The Little Ripon Bookshop, founded by husband and wife team Gill and Simon Edwards, is part of the independent book shops resurgence.

While the online behemoths find it easy to offer cut-price books, more and more people have been flocking to the likes of Gill and Simon’s shop.

The shelves are stacked with a mix of new books and classics.

It may have been a daunting task in the beginning and during the coronavirus lockdown, but the Little Ripon Bookshop has thrived on community, friendship and loyalty.

The shop has grown in recent years and even expanded into a vacant unit next door. It has been doing so well that it’s not so little anymore.

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On a rainy weekend in a gloomy year, Gill thinks there is nothing better than the prospect of curling up with a novel by the fire. She told the Stray Ferret:

“I think that people do have a sense of belonging here. We have got a book club that’s really successful. We are doing it online at the moment, but it’s still going well.

There are just loads of people that love books and they know that if they don’t use it then it doesn’t work. So many people are keen to keep us here and that’s wonderful.”

Find the shop on Westgate in Ripon.

Coronavirus has, of course, been difficult for the shop. It closed its doors for three months but adapted to the online world and delivery quite quickly.

Gill and Simon’s customers appreciated the deliveries but the book shop was trading at about a quarter of what it normally would.

Things are a little different in The Little Ripon Bookshop.

But as soon as they opened the doors again in June, customers flocked back to support the book shop and have kept coming back since.

With a few months of consistently busy trading, the shop is now in a good position to weather any coronavirus lockdown storms on the horizon.

This is part of the Stray Ferret’s ‘hidden gem’ series, highlighting small, independent businesses. They need to be tucked away but growing in popularity with an eye-catching and unique product or approach. Send us an email with your nominations.

Extensive subsidence has caused the evacuation of four properties in a Ripon housing development.

The problem is believed to be caused by sinkholes in the area.

It was deemed so severe that owners of two of the properties in Bedern Court were advised by tenancy management company Joplings to tell tenants they had to leave for their own safety.

Mat Pritchard, whose 81-year-old father Norman was living in 5 Bedern Court, had to rapidly make arrangements for him to move out.

Tenants at the other properties, 1 and 3 Bedern Court and 17 Skellgarths, which is within the scheme, have also had to move out at very short notice.

Mr Pritchard is chairperson for Bedern Court Ltd, which is a non-profit company controlled by leaseholders and owners.

It manages the leaseholds and freeholds for the 29-unit brick-built block, which was built in 1986.

He told the Stray Ferret:

“The block has now been in effect, partially condemned for human habitation, with numbers 3 and 5 worst affected and issues also affecting the neighbouring  properties at 1 Bedern Court and 17 Skellgarths.”

Mr Pritchard said:

“Joplings told BCL that a recent geo-technical and building site investigation had returned very concerning results and they believed that flats 3 and 5 were no longer safely habitable.”

Jane and Mat Pritchard are pictured at Bedern Court, where their flat is deemed unsafe because of major subsidence issues.

He added:

“Our priority was the safety of the tenants after large internal and external cracks opened up. Because of the visible shift of the building it was also necessary to evacuate the two adjoining properties.”

The block is within the shadow of Ripon Cathedral and alongside one of the main routes into the city centre.

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An adjacent block of flats built after the Bedern Court development was subsequently demolished and Peacock’s Passage, which runs between the two sites, has clear signs of subsidence.

BCL believe that sinkholes in the area are the likely cause of the subsidence, but claims dating back to 2009 lodged with underwriters Aviva and subsequently QBE, have been turned down by both insurers.

Mr Pritchard said:

“In the urgent situation we find ourselves, we have lodged a further claim with QBE.

“We have also contacted our MP Julian Smith and Ripon City Council seeking any help or advice they can give us and we will continue to ask for cooperation from the owners of neighbouring sites.”

A parliamentary watchdog has refused to publish its correspondence with Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith about his £3,000-an-hour advisory role.

The Stray Ferret revealed in August Mr Smith would be paid £60,000 for 20 hours work for low carbon transport company Ryse Hydrogen.

Because of his former government role in Northern Ireland, Mr Smith sought advice from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments about a potential conflict in taking the role with Ryse.

In 2019, when Mr Smith was Northern Ireland secretary, Jo Bamford, the executive chairman of Ryse, became owner of Ballymena-based bus manufacturer Wrightbus.

The Bamford family owns JCB and are Conservative Party donors.

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We asked Acoba, which advises former ministers on employment and conflicts of interest after leaving office, to provide details of its correspondence with Mr Smith.

The FoI response said Lord Pickles, chair of Acoba, considered that disclosure of the correspondence “would be likely to inhibit the free and frank provision of advice and exchange of views; and would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs”.

It added:

“The information being withheld includes that which was provided voluntarily by Mr Smith to
enable Acoba to properly advise on the application that had been made.

“Disclosure of the information requested would, or would be likely to, make applicants
reluctant to share information as freely with Acoba in future, especially if there was any
perceived sensitivity about the information. This in turn would compromise the advice that
Acoba is able to give.”

The response said the publication of its letter to Mr Smith on its website had fulfilled public interest requirements.

The letter said the appointment was not a conflict of interest, provided Mr Smith does not lobby on behalf of the company or advise on government contracts in the two years after he departed as Northern Ireland secretary in February this year.

The Stray Ferret is to request an internal review of the decision.

Ripon City Council has unanimously rejected a transport report commissioned by Homes England for the proposed 1,300-home Ripon Barracks development.

The report in support of the development came under heavy fire at Monday’s virtual full council meeting.

In the longest debate of Monday evening, the consultants’ findings were described as ‘flawed’

Council leader Andrew Williams said:

“The report fails to address core issues that local residents and the city council have raised.”

Cllr Williams said the council supported the principle of developing the former army bases, but added:

“A great deal more needs to be done, especially with regard to addressing the questions about the capacity of major junctions in the city.

“With such a flawed report, it is impossible for us to support the outline planning application for this huge scheme.”

The Ripon Barracks site

Councillor Mike Chambers, who is also a district and county councillor, agreed a number of key transport matters needed to be addressed.

He seconded Cllr Williams’ motion for a letter to be sent  to Harrogate Borough Council planners, calling for resolution of outstanding issues before outline planning can be approved.

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Both he and Cllr Williams met last week with David Walpole, a traffic consultant appointed by the city council to look at the impact of the Clotherholme scheme on the the feeder road network and the city as a whole.

One issue that featured in the Walpole report was the amount of traffic generated by a new primary school in the development.

Cllr Williams said the report for Homes England had not taken account of the fact that 132 places at the school will be provided for children living ‘off-site’ in other parts of Ripon, creating traffic movements that had not been accounted for in the overall assessment of mitigation measures that would need to be taken to alleviate pressure on the road network.

Councillor Pauline McHardy told the meeting:

“This is the biggest single development ever seen in Ripon and its size has consequences, not just for the immediate area, but the whole of the city for years to come.

“Traffic movements to and from the site will impact on everybody and we have a duty to ensure that the developers provide the required road infrastructure and don’t cut corners.”

In the run up to this year’s Remembrance Day, almost 40,000 knitted poppies have appeared around Harrogate and Ripon.

Between 25,000 and 30,000 poppies can be seen at prime locations throughout Ripon, after people involved in the Ripon Community Poppy Project spent thousands of hours making the stunning displays.

Many of the poppies were put in place over the weekend. The cascading display on the walls of the town hall (below), was installed with help from a Ripon fire station crew.

The ones seen in Harrogate town centre were donated to the Poppy Appeal campaign last year.

They were put up this morning by a small socially distanced group including Harrogate Mayor Cllr Stuart Martin.

Fiona Burks, of independent business Yarn Etc helped to coordinate the effort, and will be offering poppies to businesses for their window displays.

Cllr Stuart Martin said:

“The comments we’ve had since putting them up this morning are just tremendous. People are so pleased that we’re making an effort for Remembrance Day and you can’t help but smile when you see them.”

Cllr Martin is encouraging people to commemorate Remembrance Day on November 11 by observing two minutes of silence from their doorstep, and placing poppies in windows.

In Ripon … 

Cascading display down Ripon’s town hall.

The entrance to Spa Gardens.

Volunteers in Ripon fitting the knitted poppies to the railings along Kirkgate.

Along the shopping street of Kirkgate.

Spa Park. Credit: Cllr Stuart Martin

Along the railings outside the Wakeman’s House.

Ripon bus station. Credit: Cllr Stuart Martin

In Harrogate … 

Across from Harrogate war memorial. Credit: Cllr Stuart Martin

Along the railings outside of Bettys cafe in Harrogate. Credit: Cllr Stuart Martin

On the corner of Cambridge Street, Harrogate. Credit: Cllr Stuart Martin.

Charitable Ripon people have stepped up to save Santa’s sleigh from the scrap heap after coronavirus cancelled this year’s tour.

Lions Clubs International spreads Christmas cheer every year with its sleigh, festive music and Mr and Mrs Claus.

The group also collects money for the Ripon community but, with tight social distancing rules, the event is not viable this year. Without the means to collect money the sleigh would burn a hole in their finances, with running costs around £1,000 a year.

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To try and cut the losses Ripon Lions decided to “send this sleigh to the big sleigh park in the sky”. However, support from the public has helped to put the annual fundraising on ice, ready to return in future.

With the £100 scrap price to beat, the group opened up bidding to the community on the Facebook group “Blow Your Horn Ripon”. Within hours the bids had reached £800, and the sleigh was eventually sold for that price.

Helen Mackenzie, one of the volunteers, told the Stray Ferret:

“We can’t go knocking on doors or park up on Market Place so it would be difficult to take any donations. It is a disappointment but we hope with this money we can put it towards some great causes and towards a new sleigh for Santa so we can come back bigger and better next year.”

With many of the volunteers for Ripon Lions in the older age category, they are more at risk of coronavirus. However, they still hope to hold some form of festive tour this year even if they cannot collect donations.