A conference will take place in Harrogate on September 24 based around the themes of peace and demilitarisation.

It will happen from 10am to 6pm at Friends Meeting House on Queen Parade and has been organised by Harrogate Quakers and HUFUD (Humanity United for Universal Demilitarisation).

The wars in Ukraine and Yemen are expected to be touched upon and speakers will also discuss the environmental impact of war.

Speakers include Columbian human rights activist Angelo Cardona, Shan Oakes & Victoria Wild from Extinction Rebellion Harrogate, Martin Schweiger from Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign and artist and peace campaigner Shahina Jaffer.

It’s free to attend and for a full list of speakers click here.

The day will end at 6pm with a 30-minute peace concert by musicians from the Harrogate Philharmonic Orchestra and guests.

Paul Whitmore from Harrogate Quakers said:

“This will be a good conference to learn more about how the world and individuals are affected by militarism and what you can do to counteract it.”

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The Stray Ferret is publishing two articles this weekend looking back at Harrogate’s links with the Falklands War.

Yesterday, we spoke to Harrogate woman Christina Nelson who was only 22 when her husband Stephen Heyes was killed aboard HMS Ardent aged 21. Read the article here.

“Where’s the bloody Falklands?” was Harrogate sailor Neil Harper’s first thought following the Argentine invasion on April 2, 1982.

The former Harrogate High School pupil was always destined for a career at sea. He spent his formative years as a sea cadet in Harrogate and his dad was in the Royal Marines.

He was 19 when the British government dispatched a naval task force to the islands in response to the invasion.

Mr Harper joined the Navy aged 16 and was an able seaman gunner so knew that his services would be required.

“When it kicked off I was back in Harrogate on leave so it was a case of ‘get back to the ship’.”

After returning to Portland in Dorset, the captain of HMS Argonaut told the crew:

‘I can’t tell you where you’re going, but you’ll have a damn good idea.”

‘Attack after attack’

Mr Harper said the feeling onboard the ship on the 6,000-mile journey “was of apprehension, but not fear”.

He said:

“We were all a bit young and stupid!

“It was finally a chance to do the job were trained to do.”

The sailors encountered  the Falklands’ unusual landscape, which Mr Harper described as being like “The Yorkshire Moors without the trees”.

“There are rolling hills, tundra grass and peat bogs. It’s quite bleak and it can be very, very cold. But it can be absolutely glorious down there too. You can see killer whales, penguins, seals and birds that are only found in the Falklands.”

Many hoped the crisis would be solved through diplomacy, but the fighting was fierce.

On May 21, HMS Argonaut faced assault from the sky. Mr Harper remembers “attack after attack” and frantic efforts to save the ship.

An unexploded bomb that was dropped on the HMS Argonaut

He said:

“They hit us with two 1000lb bombs, one in the boiler room and one in the diesel tank.

“Neither exploded luckily, but it caused a fire. We lost all power and were headed towards Fanning Head with no steering or working engines.

“At the time you were too busy to think about what’s going on.”

Two of Mr Harper’s friends, able seaman Iain Boldy and able seaman Matthew Stuart, were killed.

‘Are we gonna win?’

Lieutenant Peter Morgan is credited with saving HMS Argonaut after he dropped one of the ship’s anchors to use as an emergency brake.

The crew worked around the clock to restore power and radars. The captain sent out a signal to the crew to say they couldn’t move the ship, but could still fight.

Over the space of a couple of days, HMS Ardent, HMS Antelope and HMS Plymouth were also bombed.

Mr Harper said:

“We knew the Ardent had been hit. So there were thoughts of ‘what’s going on over there — and are we gonna win?'”

Once-in-a-lifetime assignment

Stray Ferret journalist Tim Flanagan was chief reporter for the Harrogate Advertiser in 1982.

He said the war was the talk of every pub, shop and workplace in the town.

Journalists at the paper kept a close eye on events due to the military connections in Ripon and at Pennypot in Harrogate.

Journalist Tim Flanagan in 1980

Mr Flanagan remembers interviewing Harrogate woman Christina Nelson, Stephen Heyes’ widow, not long after he died. She told him how Stephen’s pet cat Charlie still missed him, which has stuck with the journalist 40 years on.

“For a young woman, she was very poised. She was still in shock. She was courageous and a very brave person to speak about it. She wanted him to be honoured.”

Harrogate soldier Gavin Hamilton was also killed during the war and posthumously awarded the Military Cross for bravery.

Valentines messages

A year after the war was over, the newspaper sent Mr Flanagan to the Falklands. It was a once-in-a-lifetime assignment for a local news journalist who normally didn’t get further than Northallerton.

He stayed aboard HMS Sir Tristram to visit Royal Engineers from Ripon who were helping to rebuild runways and clear mines.

Mr Flanagan took with him some special messages from the wives of Harrogate district servicemen who were stationed there.

“I flew out on Valentine’s Day 1983 and went there with various things. I took messages for sweethearts and three or four Valentine’s cards. 

“I got a lot more on the way back from the soldiers, and asked to drop off flowers, chocolate and letters to their wives.”

Legacy of war

The war lasted just 74 days but 40 years on, time has not healed all the mental wounds brought on by the conflict.

The UK government’s treatment of its veterans, and their widows, have made it more difficult for them to receive closure.

Christina Nelson has campaigned for the government to subsidise expensive air travel to the islands so widows can visit their partners’ graves.

She said:

“I’ve not seen Stephen’s grave since the 25th anniversary. The government should do right by us. I’d love to go again, but I will not beg. It should be our right, but they are not bothered.”

Like many veterans, Neil Harper has suffered from PTSD. He left the Navy in 1989.

“We were offered no psychiatric help when we got back. It was a case of ‘man up and get up with it’.”

He returned to the Falklands in 2019 with some fellow seamen who he served with.

He added:

“Like any sort of trained blokes, we try and not shed a tear, but we do. We talk and remember, we’re a support group.

“It was time to go back and put a few demons to rest.”

255 British military personnel died in the war. Three islanders and 649 Argentine soldiers also died.

The Stray Ferret is publishing two articles this weekend looking back at Harrogate’s links with the Falklands War.

Today, we speak to Harrogate woman Christina Nelson who was only 22 when her husband Stephen Heyes was killed aboard the HMS Ardent aged 21.

HMS Ardent was sunk by Argentine bombs 40 years ago this month, on May 22, 1982.

Twenty-two British sailors died.

Ms Nelson told the Stray Ferret she finds every anniversary difficult. The couple had only been married for one year before his death.

“It doesn’t seem possible that I’m here at 62 and he never made it.

“He’s not growing old and grey and wrinkly. 

“He said that to me before he left, ‘you’ll go old, grey and wrinkly but I’ll never grow older than 21’.

“He knew he wasn’t coming home.”

Meeting

Stephen, who was from Wigan, was 16 when he joined the Navy in 1976.

His first ship was HMS Cleopatra, a frigate that had been adopted by Harrogate since the 1940s. It was even given the freedom of Harrogate in 1979 and sailors aboard the ship would sometimes march through the town.

Ms Nelson, who went to Harrogate High School, worked for the Ministry of Defence on St George’s Road.

She attended an MOD dance at the Royal Hall where she met Stephen, who was there with some fellow sailors from the Cleopatra.

Ms Nelson said:

“Me and my girlfriends went out, we had no idea we’d bump into a group of sailors – there’s no ground water in Harrogate!”

Stephen knew he’d met the girl for him as, two weeks later, he hitchhiked to Harrogate from where he was stationed on the south coast and proposed.

Their wedding was two years later at Christ Church on March 28, 1981, which Ms Nelson remembers as “all done on a budget but we didn’t lack on anything”.

Stephen was a huge Roxy Music fan and their first dance was the song ‘Dance Away’.

Navy career

After getting married, the couple together lived in Devonport, Plymouth.

Stephen was a seaman in electronic warfare and “absolutely loved it” in the Navy, said Ms Nelson.

But unusually for a sailor, he couldn’t swim.

She said:

“He was terrified of water. When they told me it sunk, I said they won’t find him as he can’t swim.”

The stricken HMS Ardent. Credit: HMS Ardent Association

HMS Ardent was attacked by at least three waves of Argentine aircraft on May 21. It sank into the Atlantic Ocean the next day.

But at the time there were only rumours that a ship had been hit.

Ms Nelson was working part-time at a Ladbrokes bookies and her boss told her to go home after the rumours spread.

She spent an agonising night on the phone with military officials, hoping to receive an update on Stephen. She was eventually told that his ship, HMS Ardent, was not in that area where the attacks happened.

But that all changed when a customer came into the shop and said: “Bloody hell, you wouldn’t have thought they’d sink the Ardent.”

Ms Nelson said she knew then that Stephen had been killed.

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Good memories

Stephen was an animal lover and had adopted a stray cat called Charlie, who would still wait for him to come home long after he died.

Ms Nelson said it was a sign that he was still with them in some way.

She said:

“Every day at 4pm, Charlie would meet Stephen after work to have his tummy tickled. After he died he still did the same thing.”

Christina now lives in Alicante, Spain. She spent last weekend’s anniversary with one of Stephen’s old friends from the Navy, who had cycled over from Benidorm.

She said it still doesn’t seem real that four decades have passed by since her husband’s death.

“I’m sat here looking at pictures on the wall — how the hell can it be 40 years?”

Stephen and Christina’s wedding day in Harrogate

Christina said she likes to remember Stephen as a big-hearted family man.

She added:

“He was just somebody with a smile that could light up the room – when he smiled you knew he was there. He didn’t have a nasty bone in his body, he was a gentle soul.”

Stephen Heyes was one of 255 British military personnel that died in the war. Three islanders and 649 Argentine soldiers also died.

Tomorrow, we speak to Harrogate Falklands veteran Neil Harper about his experiences during the conflict. We also speak to journalist Tim Flanagan who reported on the war for the Harrogate Advertiser.

Two appointments at Roecliffe pub

A new chef and general manager have been appointed at the Crown Inn in Roecliffe, near Boroughbridge.

The 16th century coaching inn was bought by the Coastal and Country Inns Group in September 2020 and was subsequently refurbished.

The group has hired chef Paul Murphy, who previously helped to establish the Timble Inn near Otley into a five-star hotel. He also worked with fellow chef Frances Atkins at the Michelin-starred Yorke Arms near Pateley Bridge.

Paul Bennington will also join the team as general manager.

Mr Binnington, who first teamed up with Paul Murphy at the Station Inn in Birstwith, previously ran the Black Lion in Thirsk.

Chris Hannon, managing director of Coastal and Country Inns, said:

“These two appointments are crucially important for the future of the Crown. The two Pauls, who are both very experienced and very talented, are a true dream team. They work brilliantly together.”

Harrogate’s Duchy Hospital sends medical supplies to Ukraine

The Duchy Hospital in Harrogate has worked alongside a UK-based Ukrainian Doctor to deliver more than 110 tonnes of medical supplies to Ukraine.

Working with the Ukrainian doctors’ union and the British Red Cross, the Duchy Hospital has identified the supplies needed by war-hit hospitals.

The Duchy Hospital is one of 53 Circle Health Group hospitals that has stockpiled supplies such as ventilators, crutches, respiratory masks, scrubs, wound kits and operating tables for Ukrainian hospitals.

The latest delivery contained £185,500 of medical equipment loaded on 35 pallets.

Staff and doctors at Duchy Hospital have raised additional funds with a bake sale, food collection and a 12-hour continuous cycle, which have raised more than £2,000.

An ex-Navy officer from Harrogate has pledged to donate some of his £5,000 lottery prize money to a charity that supports veterans.

Jerry Anderson, 70, scooped the top prize in the latest Veterans’ Lottery draw. The lottery provides the main source of income for the Veterans’ Foundation, a military charity that supports men and women who served their country.

Mr Anderson served for 32 years in the Royal Navy and said he was shocked to learn he’d been awarded the winner’s cheque.

He said he planned to spend his winnings on two electric bikes, but he also wanted to give some of it back to the charity after seeing the work it does supporting fellow veterans.

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Mr Anderson said:

“Now I’m getting on a bit and I’m 70 with dodgy knees, we’re going to buy two electric bikes.

“But I’m also going to donate some back – I want to help veterans a bit more.”

He added:

“I’ve got some empathy with veterans as I was medically discharged myself.

“You’re not only supporting a very worthy cause (playing the Veterans’ Lottery), you might just win a prize.”

Find out more about the lottery here.

A ceremony to honour World War Two air force casualties from Australia and New Zealand who are buried in Harrogate will take place at Stonefall Cemetery on April 24.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) will host the Harrogate International Partnership’s Anzac Day Ceremony. It will highlight more than 100 casualties who were serving with the Australian and New Zealand air forces.

These include flight officer Terence McKinley, 21, who piloted a Halifax bomber on a test flight on November 14 1943 when both starboard engines failed just after take-off and the aircraft crashed just behind the Vale of York Hotel, Thirsk.

Four of the five crew on board also lost their lives.

McKinley had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross a few months before his death after completing a tour of duty.

His citation describes him as ‘outstanding’ and says ‘his fine fighting spirit, courage and leadership have gained him the entire confidence of his crew’.

The Anzac Day Ceremony has been organised by Kate Spencer, who looks after the twinning between Harrogate and Wellington for Harrogate International Partnerships.

Ms Spencer said:

“I felt it was the right thing to do for these young airmen who, like thousands upon thousands of others, saw their lives cut drastically short in service of their country and the Commonwealth.

“I have the full backing of the RNZAF and Wellington City Council, who are delighted that this inaugural ceremony will now be held this year and for many more years to come. With the help and support of Colin Gibbs BEM and Elizabeth Smith of the CWGC, the ceremony will be a fine tribute to honour all these young Australians and New Zealanders who lie here together.”

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The ceremony will see representation from both the Australian and New Zealand High Commission as well as the Mayor and Mayoress of Harrogate and Andrew Jones MP.

The music will be provided by Tewit Youth Band and a pupil from Harrogate Grammar School will sing the New Zealand national anthem in both Maori and English.

Members of the public are invited to gather from 2.30pm for the ceremony start at 3pm.

Ripon-based soldiers in the 21 Engineer Regiment have begun a deployment in Cyprus as part of a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping force.

The soldiers will spend the next six months carrying out patrols on the buffer zone that runs between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

The UN force was set up in 1964 to prevent further fighting between the two island communities.

Sappers from the regiment took up their duties on Monday in a ceremony in the country’s capital, Nicosia.

Lieutenant colonel Perry Bishop, commanding officer of 21 Engineer Regiment said:

“Peacekeeping poses some unique challenges that I have not experienced elsewhere in my career.”

“The Regiment’s soldiers understand the importance of this mission, and are eager to put the British Army’s world-leading training to good effect.”

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21 Engineer Regiment has three squadrons based in Ripon.

In recent years, it has seen a significant focus on support to UN peacekeeping operations.

This has included deployments to Cyprus, Somalia, and South Sudan.

Every month the Stray Ferret tries to find out what our local MPs have been up to in their constituencies and in the House of Commons.

This month the war in Ukraine dominated the news, with constituents across the district raising money, donating goods and offering their homes to refugees.

We asked our three Conservative MPs, Harrogate & Knaresborough’s Andrew Jones, Skipton and Ripon’s Julian Smith, and Selby and Ainsty’s Nigel Adams if they would like to highlight anything in particular that they have been doing this month, but, as usual, we did not receive a response from any of them.

Here is what we know after analysing their online presence.

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

In Harrogate and Knaresborough, here is what we found out on Mr Jones:

• Mr Jones spoke about the Ukraine war nine times in the House of Commons this month. On March 2, he said: “My constituents have told me that they want to see the government continue to support the Ukrainian resistance in three ways: humanitarian assistance in the region; welcoming refugees here; and military aid.”
• On March 1, the Conservative leader of Harrogate Borough Council, Richard Cooper, who is also Mr Jones’ office manager, told a council meeting that the MP had written to Boris Johnson to ask if council housing stock could be used to house Ukrainian refugees.
• On March 4, Mr Jones met with the new acting chief executive of the Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, Jonathan Coulter, to discuss catching up on elective care and visiting arrangements at the hospital.
• Writing on his Community News website, Mr Jones praised the local fundraising efforts in Harrogate and Knaresborough for Ukraine. He wrote: “Locally, the outpouring support is typical of the generous and compassionate nature of our communities.”
• On March 22, the MP voted in favour of Clause 9 of the Nationality and Borders Bill. The clause is controversial and gives the Home Office the right to strip people of UK citizenship without warning. A petition calling for its removal received 325,000 signatures.
• Following news that rail operator Northern would be cutting several train services from Harrogate station, Mr Jones wrote to the company’s chairman urging it to ‘rethink’. Despite his plea, Northern announced on March 29 that the cuts would be staying.
• On March 24 Mr Jones called on the government to tackle fake ads that purport to be from consumer journalist Martin Lewis.
• On March 29, Mr Jones posed for a picture at a Sight Loss Councils event in Westminster. The group briefed MPs on issues affecting blind and partially sighted people.

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• New gritter tracker shows which roads in Harrogate district are being treated

• Harrogate council ranks in lowest 15% of local authorities for tackling climate change

Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon.

In Skipton and Ripon, here is what we found on Mr Smith:

• The Ripon MP praised Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky following his speech to MPs at the House of Commons on March 8. “Incredible leadership and resilience,” he tweeted.
• On March 9 in the Commons, Mr Smith called on the government to “look again” at its approach to Ukrainian refugees.
• On March 14, he thanked his “many constituents” for offering their homes as part Homes for Ukraine scheme that launched that week.
• The former Northern Ireland secretary attended a St Patrick’s Day event at the Ireland Embassy in London on March 16.
• Eight of his 11 tweets were related to Northern Ireland.
• On March 14, Mr Smith voted against a Liberal Democrat amendment to the government’s Animal Welfare Bill that would force the government to publish the number of animals killed by sewage dumping in rivers every year.
• Posting on his website on March, 18, Mr Smith said he was pleased to hear that work on the A59 at Kex Gill is expected to start at the end of this year.

In rural south Harrogate, here is what we found on Mr Adams:

• On March 30, the MP praised the bravery of fellow Tory MP Jamie Wallis for coming out as trans.
• Whilst attending the Conservative Party spring conference in Blackpool, Mr Adams had another confrontation with ‘Stop Brexit Man’ Steve Bray. The MP said in a video: “I see a village has lost its idiot”. Last year, Mr Adams told Mr Bray to f*** off outside Parliament.
• On March 20, the MP met the Ukraine ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, in Blackpool. He said it was “great to see him join the standing ovation for Boris Johnson”.

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.

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!”