This article is sponsored by Park Playground. 

Who knew a group of eight middle aged women could have so much fun romping around a distant planet, fighting aliens and solving the world’s clean energy crisis in about an hour?

When I suggested a virtual reality experience at Park Playground to members of my Harrogate book club, it’s fair to say they were a little sceptical. This was tech that they’d no idea about but, I successfully argued, would make us pretty cool with our kids and grandchildren.

I had already been to Park Playground on a wet August day with an eleven year old and had a blast…literally.  I was convinced Book Club would also find it hilarious.

Group of visitors to Park Playground in Leeds, Photograph provided by Park Playground

Off we set from Harrogate for a night out in Leeds, beginning with our session at Park Playground.

Ahmad was hosting us and we began by taking a virtual lift to the top of a sky-scraper. Once at the top, the doors opened and we each had to walk a plank off what felt like the top of the Burj Khalifa. If you can’t stand heights like me, it’s so real it’s terrifying. I couldn’t do it – but some of my fellow book lovers did it, egged on by the rest of us, shouting encouragement.

So the scene was set for our main session – a journey to a distant planet to collect a crystal which produces clean energy. We fought aliens (big and small) and an enemy army so we had to work as a team. Team work is very hard when you all start acting like teenagers and spend much of the session screaming and howling with laughter.

Our mission was eventually accomplished and we had saved the planet. Pheww. Book Club were awesome!

The technology is so impressive – you feel as though you really are jetpacking and the aliens who come at you are intimidating. It’s serious fun.

Park Playground is not just for the kids – it’s for everyone. I think every Book Club should go – as should every work team.

You enter another world, you are immersed in your new surroundings and it’s one of the best hours I’ve had this year.

Transport yourself to another world for half the price and double the fun, with our exclusive vouchers.

Enjoy 50% off a 60-minute VR experience at Park Playground in Leeds for 4 people!

The Harrogate branch of the pregnancy crisis support charity Reflect is asking people to light candles next week to remember babies that died during pregnancy.

The candles will form a virtual wave of life during Baby Loss Awareness Week, which begins tomorrow.

The week raises awareness of pregnancy and baby death in the UK.

This year will focus on the isolation many people experience after pregnancy and baby loss – women, partners, other family members and friends, especially since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. 

To get involved, Reflect is asking people to light a candle at 7pm on October 15 and share a photo of it online, accompanied by the hashtag #WaveofLight.

Landmarks across the UK will light up blue and pink, and virtual services will be held as part of the week-long activities.

Tanya Allen, manager of Reflect Harrogate said: 

“We hope that Baby Loss Awareness Week will spark conversations about baby loss and give local bereaved parents and families an opportunity to talk about their precious babies.

“For some people Covid has meant that they have felt more isolated in their loss, and for others the slowdown has caused the past pain of loss to surface, which they may now need to process.”

Tanya Allen, manager of Reflect

Read more: 

• Harrogate charity Frank’s Fund moves comedy night online
• Friends conquer the hills for Ripley charity

Reflect provides free and confidential support services for individuals and couples to help them cope with their bereavement. 

For further information about Baby Loss Awareness Week visit: www.babyloss-awareness.org

North Yorkshire County Council has organised several events and launched a new app as part of Libraries Week, which began today.

The app enables library members to view their account, search the library catalogue and reserve and renew books, as well as download e-books and e-audio books.

The week, which promotes libraries, also includes online events and activities.

Despite library closures due to Covid, about 3,000 people joined the library service over lockdown and there was a big increase in the number of e-books and e-audio books borrowed.

In the Harrogate district, the community library in Bilton and the main Harrogate library are offering virtual story tellings on Facebook this week.

Four authors and the poet, Andy Croft, are holding virtual events for North Yorkshire residents.

To find the event schedule, click here.

Bilton and Woodfield Community Library is among the libraries taking part.

Harrogate library is also holding a superhero competition for families. Craft packs can be collected from the library by families and once completed their superhero will go on display in the library.

Read more:

• The home library service offered comfort and a pass time for those isolating through lockdown. 
• The proceeds from Summerbridge author’s first book will be donated to Yorkshire charity. 

Greg White, the county council’s executive member for libraries, said:

“Nowadays, many customers expect services to be available easily on their phone. This app aims to meet those expectations.

“You’ll be able to find a local library, check its opening hours and check whether a book you’re looking for is there.”

Libraries are open to the public but each one has a limited capacity to ensure social distancing.

As well as wearing a mask, visitors are asked to limit their visit to 20 minutes.

The feva festival in Knaresborough is going ahead online this weekend, with 10 days of performances posted online for audiences to enjoy.

Coronavirus restrictions have forced the festival to become virtual this year, beginning on Friday, August 14.

The itinerary includes a brand-new play, ‘Shake The City’, about the lives of female clothworkers in 1970, as well as music and poetry.

The festival has proved popular with people in Knaresborough and this year the committee is hoping for an even wider audience to view the acts online via the website.

Lucy Barrow, chair of the feva organising committee, said:

“Obviously, we haven’t been able to pay the acts as there is no prospect of money coming in. Despite this, many have been still willing to record something which they have sent in for the online version of feva.

“It means that our loyal audiences in and around Knaresborough who usually come to the festival will still get to enjoy a little of what the live 10-day event would have had to offer, with top-of-the bill attractions like Simon Armitage and Snake Davis. As word has started to spread, there has been a wonderful reaction from the public for the effort that we are making.”

Previous years have seen theatre companies perform at the festival. This year it has relied on acts filming themselves.

Local businesses will also continue to be involved with art shows available to visit in a number of locations. The venues include McQueen’s Café and The Atkinson Pet Store on the high street, Floral Decor and Tanacetum on Kirkgate, Cave and Castle on Castlegate, Ruebury Flowers in the Market Place and Briggate Art.

Read more:

• Knaresborough’s Frazer theatre will have to remain close due to difficulties surrounding social distancing. 
• New York Brass Band brought some excitement to Harrogate’s streets.

The event is also hosting a Knaresborough’s Got Talent competition. Residents are being encouraged to send in videos of their act for shortlisting by the committee.

They will then be posted on the Facebook page and a public vote at the end of the 10 days will choose the winner.

For more information visit the feva festival Facebook page or visit feva.info. 

The line-up for this year’s Great Yorkshire Show has been announced ahead of the first day today.

For the first time in history the show will be broadcast online from the Great Yorkshire Show website and will feature a packed schedule which celebrates farming, food and the countryside.

Some top attractions include a behind the scenes tour with Olympic show jumper Graham Fletcher, a Q&A with stars of The Yorkshire Vet and a performance from East Yorkshire based TV stunt performers Atkinson Action Horses.

Read more: 

• Great Yorkshire show goes virtual for the first time ever 
• Market traders in Ripon and Knaresborough face rent increase 

Charles Mills, the show’s director, said:

“Never before has the Great Yorkshire Show been celebrated as a virtual event and so we are incredibly grateful to everyone who has contributed to bringing the show to life in this way. There will be something for everyone to enjoy online over the show’s three days and we dearly hope that you will join us for what promises to be a very special showcase…”

Charles Mills, Show Director.

The show, which normally welcomes more than 130,000 visitors and 8,500 animals was cancelled in March due to the pandemic. In previous years the show has generated large amounts of traffic through Harrogate.

The organisers were determined that “the show must go on” and instead encourage people to enjoy the event from the comfort of their own home.

To view the full schedule visit – https://greatyorkshireshow.co.uk 

Harrogate International Festivals has released the line-up for its virtual arts weekender taking place from 23-26 July.

Having cancelled this years Summer Season due to coronavirus, HIF were determined to still celebrate the arts and have instead taken their weekend festival online.

The weekend begins by crowning the winner of Harrogate’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in a virtual ceremony. This will be followed by interviews from crime writing royalty including Ian Ranking and Val McDermid.

The free virtual festival will also feature the world premier of Eclipse. The new piece of music, commissioned by Harrogate International Festivals, features celebrated trumpeter Mike Lovatt.

Val Mcdermid, crime fiction writer

Read More: 

• HIF commission brand new piece of music for world premiere 
• Ripon Grammar School launch lockdown photography competition 

Sharon Canavar, chief executive of Harrogate International Festivals said the arts had the ability to transform lives:

“Out of crisis comes creativity, and Harrogate International Festivals is delighted to present a world class line-up for our first virtual HIF Weekender…we are extremely proud to be presenting this rich selection to our audience world-wide for free, ensuring the arts remain accessible to all at a time when we need it the most.”

Granny’s Attic will be one of many bands featured this weekend.

Harrogate International Festivals hopes to welcome people back to the festival this year despite the circumstances and is determined to make it a year to remember.

For more information and to see the full line-up for the HIF Weekender visit – www.harrogateinternationalfestivals.com

St Aidan’s CoE High School in Harrogate has created a virtual performance of “King of Kings” by Yorkshire songwriter Jarrod Cooper.

The uplifting production includes 64 current and former members of the St Aidan’s chamber choir.

A spokesperson from the school told the Stray Ferret:

” During the extraordinary locked-down days of April 2020, we have decided to create a virtual choir performance to the hugely popular worship song. “King of Kings” features regularly in our collective worship at St Aidan’s and is truly an Aidan’s Anthem! “