White horses to carry Harrogate’s Sophie Lambert on her final journey

White horses decorated with purple will carry Harrogate’s Sophie Lambert on her final journey this week.

Sophie, 22, was found dead last month after a five-day missing person search that touched the lives of thousands of people in Harrogate and beyond.

Animal lover Sophie was particularly fond of horses and her big brother Craig Robinson has chosen two to pull a carriage carrying her body to Harrogate’s Stonefall Crematorium on Friday.

Her pet chihuahuas Boston and Bentley will wear jumpers saying ‘my mummy is in heaven’.

Sophie loved animals and had two dogs.

A crowdfunding appeal set up by Craig to give Sophie “the best send-off ever” has raised more than £3,700 — well above the £3,000 target.

He wrote on social media:

“Well, Soph, these beautiful horses are the ones I’ve picked for you with purple on there as well as you loved bright colours, these horses will bring you home one last time my angel.

“I hope I’ve done you proud and done everything to be perfect for you.”

The 40-minute service at 11am, which will be live-streamed, will be followed by drinks celebrating Sophie’s life at the Malt Shovel in Brearton.

The purple and white horses will match Sophie’s favourite colours.

There is no dress code but Craig has requested everyone wears odd socks because, as Craig puts it, “Sophie never did believe in wearing the same coloured socks as she said life was to short to match them”.

He has been setting of bio-degradeable lanterns this week in memory of Sophie, and said:

“I thank you all once again for the support help and donations you guys have given us in order to give Sophie the spend off she has always deserved. Rest easy Sophie my little Angel night night.”

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Candlelit Christmas service to remember Harrogate war dead

More than 1,000 servicemen who died in the two World Wars are to be honoured at a candlelit Christmas remembrance event in Harrogate. 

Members of the public are invited to join the event, which will be held at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC) site at Stonefall Cemetery on Sunday, December 18 at 3.30pm.  

Visitors will be provided with battery-operated tealights to place on the graves of the fallen, which will be followed by a short service of remembrance. 

Stonefall is one of the largest CWGC sites in the North of England and holds 1,013 Commonwealth casualties, 988 of them airmen who died during the Second World War, when Bomber Command bases were established across Yorkshire. 

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Two thirds of these are Canadian – including two 17-year-olds – and there are also graves of servicemen from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Caribbean. Many of them died in the military wing of Harrogate General Hospital. 

Local resident Benji Walker, who conceived and organised the event, said:

“I feel it’s as important today as it was at the time to recognise the sacrifice of those who gave everything to serve this country. The Candlelit Christmas Remembrance is a chance for the local community to gather to remember the sacrifice of the hundreds of CWGC casualties buried at Stonefall, many of them thousands of miles from home.”  

Mr Walker, who has a son serving in the Yorkshire Regiment, will be using the event to raise money for the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation and Help for Heroes. Members of the public can sponsor a candle with the profits being split between Help for Heroes and the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation (CWGF).  

CWGC public engagement coordinator Elizabeth Smith said:

“We’re grateful to what Benji has inspired here, a chance for people from all over the world to pay their respects to the fallen at a unique site, and at a special time of year. This has now become an annual event and long may it continue.  

“The Air Force plot at Stonefall Cemetery is incredible and resembles the sites we care for overseas. At the end of the Second World War local people were encouraged to adopt the war graves of the Canadian servicemen and lay wreaths on behalf of their families at Christmas.”  

Those wishing to attend the service are advised to dress warmly, wear appropriate footwear, and bring torches. The meeting point is the war graves plot adjacent to Forest Lane. Parking is available in the cemetery car park off Forest Lane. 

WW2 nurse from Bilton who served in Dunkirk, Africa and Hiroshima

Sister Florrie Prest from Bilton saw remarkable service in the war, tending to injured service people across three continents.

Florrie served in the Territorial Army Nursing Service and was attached to Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS).

Elizabeth Smith from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission shared her research on the nurse with the Stray Ferret. She is buried at Stonefall Cemetery,

Ms Smith found two historic newspaper reports about Florrie in the now-defunct Harrogate Herald.

According to a report from 1946, Florrie worked as a dressmaker in Harrogate in the years before the war. She then trained as a nurse in London and worked at Harlow Wood Orthopedic in Sutton-in-Ashfield.

When war broke out, Florrie served at Dunkirk, northern Africa, Japan and in the Atlantic and Icelandic waters.

The report says she was of modest disposition and refused to speak about her service but admitted to once saving a person’s life from a blazing building in Iceland.

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Her second mention in the Herald was her obituary a year later. She died in York Military Hospital aged just 46 on October 26, 1947.

Florrie had been assistant matron on the hospital ship Dorsetshire. She was also mentioned in dispatches for service in the Middle East.

Ms Smith suspects this was when she was on the Dorsetshire when it was attacked several times in the Mediterranean despite being a hospital ship.

In North Africa, Florrie was in charge of field dressing station.

A dear sister

Later she was matron on the hospital ship Principessa Giovanna that was seized from Italy by the Royal Navy in 1944.

Her last appointment had been in Hiroshima, Japan before she was flown home.

Her parents lived at Bachelor Gardens in Harrogate and died before her. The personal inscription on her headstone was written by her brother. It reads:

“I HAVE LOST A DEAR SISTER BUT HEAVEN HAS GAINED ONE OF THE BEST THE WORLD CONTAINED.”

Free Stonefall tours

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission runs free tours and events at Stonefall Cemetery throughout the year that give visitors fascinating insights into some of the graves.

The next tours will be during War Graves Week and will shortly be available to book via Commonwealth War Graves website.

Harrogate International Partnership is also organising an ANZAC Day service at Stonefall on Sunday April 24.

It is shaping up to be an interesting event with local dignitaries, representatives from the RNZAF and the RAAF, local cadets, a brass band and potentially a haka.

Councillors approve ‘much-needed’ Harrogate pet crematorium

Harrogate Borough Council‘s planning committee has unanimously backed plans to build the district’s first pet crematorium.

The crematorium will be built inside a converted shipping container at Stonefall Cemetery on Wetherby Road, Harrogate.

There will also be a ‘goodbye room’ in a converted garage where owners can say final farewells to their pets.

The council, which approved its own plans for the crematorium yesterday, currently charges £36 to collect dead pets from people’s homes. The closest pet crematoriums are in Leeds, Thirsk and Skipton.

John Club, the council’s commercial and community development manager, told the meeting there are around 47,000 pets in the Harrogate district and that owners increasingly want to give them a dignified send-off after they die.

The move follows the lead of councils in north east Lincolnshire and Barnsley, which have already opened or started work on pet crematoriums.

This storage building will be converted into a ‘goodbye room’.

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Stephen Hemsworth, bereavement services manager at the council, took questions from councillors about the project.

Mr Hemsworth said it would cost around £50 for a rabbit to be cremated whereas a dog would cost over £200. He said revenue would be invested back into the council.

He added the facility would be used by the general public as well as local vets.

Good news for pet owners

Conservative councillor for Washburn ward, Victoria Oldham, who is also a farmer, said she fully supported the proposals.

She said:

“It’s much needed in the area. I’m jolly glad that it’s coming forward now. I am sure it will be well used. Having a goodbye room will mean an awful lot to pet owners.”

Pet crematorium planned for Stonefall Cemetery

Harrogate Borough Council has this week submitted a plan to build a pet crematorium at Stonefall Cemetery.

It follows the lead of councils in North East Lincolnshire and Barnsley, which have already opened or started work on pet crematoriums.

Harrogate council currently charges £36 to collect dead pets from people’s homes.

Currently, the closest pet crematoriums are in either Thirsk or Skipton.

The crematorium at Harrogate would be built inside a converted shipping container.

The plans also include converting a storage building at Stonefall into a “goodbye room”, where owners can say their final farewells to their pets before they are cremated.

A decision on the proposal will be made at a later date.

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Stonefall candlelit vigil remembers war dead at Christmas

About 60 people, including the Mayor and Mayoress of Harrogate, lit candles for more than 1,000 fallen soldiers at Harrogate’s Stonefall Cemetary yesterday.

Harrogate mum Benji Walker has been running Candles for Heroes every year since 2018 because she does not want the soldiers to be forgotten.

Yesterday’s vigil raised over £300, which will be shared between the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which maintains the site, and armed forces charity Help for Heroes.

Ms Walker said:

“I have a son who serves in the Yorkshire Regiment. It’s important to me. They should always be remembered. Christmas is a special time anyway for family, so it’s a nice time to remember the sacrifice they gave.”

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Stonefall is one of the largest war grave sites in northern England.

The cemetery was created in 1914 but most burials are airmen who died during the Second World War when bomber command bases were established in Yorkshire. About two-thirds of the dead are Canadian.

Hundreds attend free war graves tours at Harrogate’s Stonefall cemetery

Tours were held throughout the day at Stonefall cemetery in Harrogate yesterday as part of the first war graves week, which was organised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Stonefall, which has more than 1,000 graves, is one of the largest war grave sites in northern England and one of only five directly maintained by the commission. About two-thirds of the dead are Canadian.

The cemetery was created in 1914 but most burials are airmen who died during the Second World War when bomber command bases were established in Yorkshire.

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones, Lieutenant colonel Simon Farebrother, commanding officer of the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, Harrogate mayor Trevor Chapman and Johanna Ropner, the Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire were among those attending the tours.

They heard the stories of some of the dead, including Isikeli Komaisavai, 24, believed to be the only Fijian who flew with the British Royal Air Force and two 17-year-old Canadians who lost their lives.

War graves week gave those unable to travel to burial sites in Flanders and Normandy because of covid the opportunity to discover the war heritage on their doorsteps.

It is hoped it will become an annual event.

The commission, which is funded by governments in six Commonwealth countries, maintains more than 12,500 war grave sites in virtually every town and city in the UK.

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To coincide with the week, it launched a postcode search function to enable people to search online for more than 4,000 war dead. It is available here.

Claire Horton, director general of the commission, said:

“By simply entering your postcode on our website you can take the first step towards making a new connection.

“We want people to share the stories they find and download a tribute for the men and women from their communities and display it in their window for War Graves Week.”

Ms Ropner said:

“I would encourage everyone to find out more about the men and women commemorated by CWGC here at Stonefall and indeed around the world.”

Free tours of Harrogate’s Stonefall cemetery as covid puts focus on British war graves

Harrogate’s Stonefall Cemetery is holding free tours on Friday next week as part of a bid to encourage more visitors to British war graves.

With covid preventing people travelling to pay their respects to fallen soldiers in France and Belgium, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is highlighting alternatives in this country.

Stonefall is one of the largest war grave sites in northern England and one of only five directly maintained by the commission.

It therefore looks very similar to sites abroad, with rows of immaculately maintained white graves of even size.

Junior soldiers at Harrogate’s Army Foundation College, who usually travel to war graves in Normandy, recently visited Stonefall and the commission hopes the covid travel restrictions will encourage others to do likewise.

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Stonefall will be the focus of the final day of the commission’s first War Graves Week from May 21 to 28.

Tours limited to 10 people will take place throughout the day at the cemetery off Wetherby Road, which is open 24 hours a day to visitors.

Tours are free but places must be booked in advance.

Stonefall Cemetry

Elizabeth Smith, public engagement coordinator for the commission in the north-east, said:

“We are trying to draw people’s attention to the fact that we have a lot of war graves in this country,. People are aware of them abroad but less so here.

“Harrogate is a really special site for us.”

Stonefall’s Canadian connection

Stonefall has more than 1,000 graves, mostly of soldiers from the Second World War.

About two-thirds are Canadian, as its air force was based in North Yorkshire. But there are also also almost 100 Australian graves, five Caribbean graves and also the grave of the only Fijian who flew with the British Royal Air Force.

Stories of those who gave their lives will feature prominently in the tours.

A private closing ceremony for the week will take place at Stonefall on the 28th. It will be broadcast live on a Facebook as part of the commission’s digital festival.

Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, the mayor of Harrogate and the Lord-Lieutenant for North Yorkshire are expected to visit Stonefall that day.