Harrogate’s John Shackleton, 83, is hoping to deliver an ambulance to war-torn Ukraine in September.

Local hero John has delivered almost 40 ambulances to hospices and hospitals in Eastern Europe since 1990 through his charity Aid to Eastern Europe.

He is no stranger to Ukraine, having previously delivered ambulances there in 2014 and 2016. He described it as “such a beautiful country”.

He said if the situation with the war improves, he will buy an ambulance from auction in Amsterdam and drive into Ukraine so it can be used by people injured in the conflict.

If he’s not able to enter the country, he has a backup plan to deliver the ambulance to a hospice in Georgia.

John said:

“Its very sad, I’ve been trying to contact my pals there but haven’t been able to get through. The situation is terrible.

“Ukrainians are exceedingly friendly, lovable people and they are very devoted to their country. They are so powerful in their thinking, they will die for their country”.

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To raise money to buy the vehicles, John chops down trees, cuts lawns, mends bicycles — anything to raise the £12,000 to £15,000 it costs to purchase an ambulance.

But he is currently under doctor’s orders to rest after suffering a heart attack last month.

It happened while he was chopping a tree down at the Oval in Harrogate last month whilst he had his chainsaw in hand.

Fortunately, he had his team with him and they took him straight to Harrogate District Hospital.

Amazing adventures

In January, The Stray Ferret met John at his home to discuss his amazing charity adventures and life.

Since then, he’s been featured on BBC News and had offers from Japanese, German and Gibraltar TV to come on his next trip.

He added:

“I don’t know how to deal with this, never had this publicity!”

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.

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.

 

 

 

 

After a fire at the Bilsdale transmitter a week ago many homes in the district still have no TV.  This week, we put out a social post asking people how it was affecting them and it had a huge response.  So we’ve hooked up with Jody Lovatt of Direct Aerials based in Knaresborough and put some of your questions to him.

Mr Lovatt says he has been inundated with calls and has been working long hours, visiting up to 30 homes a day to re-tune aerials. He has warned homeowners to be wary of people charging huge prices for aerials re-tuning. His charge is £30.00 per home.

Do you know when services will resume? 

The company responsible for the transmitter, Arqiva, says there will be “significant improvement” in the coming days. It’s my understanding that there’ll be a limited number of channels back by August 28 – when the signal returns to around 80% strength. Only the main channels will resume at this point.

Will I need to retune my TV when services resume? 

If you didn’t try to re-tune your telly when you first lost your TV signal then you will not have to re-tune. If you tried to re-tune your TV not realising the fire was the problem, then you will have to re-tune it.

Why doesn’t my TV retune to the Yorkshire region? 

About 90% of the Harrogate district can get Yorkshire TV, most will need their aerials moved and TVs retuned. There are a number of transmitters that I can turn your aerial towards, including Emley Moor, Hayshaw, Belmont and even Pontop Pike. It’s a quick job of around 20 minutes.

If you live in a higher part of the district, such as Harlow Hill, you may be able to do this without moving your aerial or calling out an engineer. Your TV will give you the option of the Yorkshire region when you try to re-tune it.

The only homes that may struggle with either of these options are low lying areas such at parts of Jennyfields or parts of Bilton.  Homes there may have to resort to buying a Roku stick to get services if they want some TV before the signal is restored.

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• Improvement expected for TV viewers after transmitter fire 
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What is a Roku stick? 

A Roku stick is a bit like an Amazon Fire Stick. It’s easy to buy (Argos, Sainsburys, and Currys stock them). It costs about £20 and is easy to install. It connects your TV to the internet if you have wifi. It is effectively a streaming box.

Will I get a refund on my TV Licence? 

Some of my customers have already asked the BBC if they will get a partial refund of their licence fee. I’m told the answer from the BBC has been no because BBC radio services are working.

Do you have a question for Jody? You can contact him directly on Facebook page here.    

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.

He conquered Europe in 2020 and tonight you can see how Harrogate’s Luke Richardson fared when he lined up against the best strongmen in the world.

Luke, 23, was one of 10 men in the final of the World’s Strongest Man, which is being broadcast on Channel 5 at 7.30pm.

The event took place in Florida in November and the Stray Ferret revealed last month how Luke fared.

If you want to know, you can type his name into the search function on our website but as many people don’t want the outcome spoiled, we won’t mention it here.

Whatever happened, 2020 was a remarkable year for Luke, a former lifeguard at Starbeck Baths who only transitioned from powerlifting to strongman just over a year ago.

He finished fourth at Britain’s Strongest Man and won Europe’s Strongest Man, which was held at Allerton Castle, near Knaresborough.

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All these events have been broadcast on Channel 5, providing huge national exposure for Luke over the festive season. He has 64,000 followers on Instagram.

Luke was one of 40 men who qualified for the World’s Strongest Man.

He finished second in his heat, which was shown on TV on Boxing Day, to American Jerry Pritchett to book his place in tonight’s final.

The final includes events such as the keg toss, Hercules hold, deadlift and the Atlas stones.

Luke has lived in Harrogate all of his life. He attended Starbeck Community Primary School and Harrogate High School and now trains at Absolute Fitness in Boroughbridge and LR Strength Shed in Wetherby, which he and training partner Richard Parish opened.