Police have appealed for information about a missing woman from Wetherby who they believe may be in Harrogate.

Judith Holliday, 72, was reported missing this morning.

West Yorkshire Police described her as 5ft 2ins tall and slim. She is believed to be wearing floral trousers, a blue-t-shirt and black shoes.

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 and quote log 309.

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One of Europe’s biggest indoor children’s play centres, with the capacity to host 2,000 visitors a day, is set to open at Stockeld Park next year.

Called the Playhive, it will cost £3.5 million to build and is expected to create about 50 jobs.

The Playhive, which will be set in the grounds of the 2,000-acre Stockeld Park estate, near Wetherby, will comprise of themed adventure zones set in a doughnut-shaped building with a 33-foot tower in the centre.

The outer ring of the Playhive will be the equivalent of travelling the length of a football pitch.

Children will be able to enjoy the wooden play pieces themed around four zones: space, aeronautical, subaquatic and jungle.

Peter and Susie Grant, who own and run Stockeld Park, took out a loan to build and design the Playhive.

Mr Grant said:

“The Playhive is a passion project. We didn’t want the usual soft play scene, but one that truly inspires imaginations.

“There will be some really spectacular features and we’ll be announcing these on the run up to the opening of the Play Hive.

“It has capacity for 2,000 visitors per day and is expected to bring significant additional revenues to the area, as well as supporting local suppliers.

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‘We need to come back fighting’

Mr Grant said covid had hugely reduced Stockeld’s capacity and the natural reaction would have been to reduce spending but lockdown reconfirmed their commitment to the project. He said:

“Now more than ever, our tourism sector needs to come back fighting, and after the isolation and anxieties of the last year, families desperately need to get away and have some fun. We need this good news story.”

The Grants started the tourism business at Stockeld Park in 2006 to attract visitors at Christmas.

The initiative grew into the Christmas Adventure and since then the Easter Adventure, Spring Adventure, Summer Adventure, Halloween Adventure and February Fun have been added to its offering.

In 2019, over 200,000 guests visited Stockeld Park.

A Harrogate man is set to dominate TV screens over the festive period after finishing ninth at the World’s Strongest Man.

Luke Richardson’s result in Florida completed a remarkable year that has seen him go from novice to one of the most talked about strength athletes on the planet at the age of just 23.

Luke, a former powerlifter, only took part in his first strongman competition last year. Since then he has finished fourth at Britain’s Strongest Man, won Europe’s Strongest Man and is now ranked ninth in the world.

Channel 5 is due to broadcast coverage of all three events over Christmas and New Year.

Luke does the log lift. Pic courtesy of SBD. 

It’s still sinking in for Luke, who was working as a lifeguard at Starbeck Baths recently and is now a professional strongman with his own gym, multiple sponsors and almost 60,000 Instagram followers. He says:

“It’s been quite a year. But I was actually a bit disappointed with my performance in the World’s Strongest Man final.

“I held my own on some events but some silly mistakes on others let me down. Next year I’d like to get in the top five, then finish on the podium and then maybe win a few.”

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Luke would become the youngest ever winner of the World’s Strongest Man if he takes the title in 2021. Beyond that, he has his sights set on breaking the all-time record of five World’s Strongest Man titles held by Poland’s Mariusz Pudzianowski. He says:

“It’s a tall order but i’ve got age on my side and I love what I do. It’s my passion.”

Starbeck school

Luke has lived in Harrogate all of his life. He attended Starbeck Community Primary School and Harrogate High School and discovered he was “quite strong” when he joined Phoenix Fitness in Starbeck at 18.

North Yorkshire is a strongman hotspot. Darren Sadler, a former World’s Strongest Man competitor who now organises many of the leading events, owns Absolute Fitness in Boroughbridge which attracts many top competitors.

Luke trains there on a Monday night but has opened a gym in Wetherby with his training partner Richard Parish called the LR Strength Shed.

He entered his first powerlifting competition when he was 19 and won three British, two European and one world title before switching to strongman 18 months ago.

He only lost one powerlifting competition and at 21 became the youngest person ever to achieve a total of 1,000 kg in the three powerlifting lifts when he managed a 403 kg squat, 222.5 kg bench press and 385 kg deadlift.

Weighs 150 kg

Strongman is far more multi-faceted than many people realise, which makes Luke’s rapid ascent to the top even more remarkable. Luke, who is 6 ft 3 tall and weighs 150 kg, explains:

“My training has changed massively. You have to be the most versatile athlete: you’ve got to have the strength of a powerlifter and the movement of a Cross-Fitter. You have to be a jack of all trades.

“The guy who can pull 500kg on a deadlift probably won’t be as good carrying five sacks down a course because he won’t be as quick. You have to be fit, fast and big.”

Luke Richardson winning Europe’s Strongest Man. Pic courtesy of SBD. 

6,000 calories a day

Luke trains five days a week for four hours a time. He eats 6,000 calories daily in five meals.

By strongman standards, he’s quite small. Hafþór Björnsson, the Icelandic former World’s Strongest Man and Game of Thrones star, is 6 ft 11 and 205 kg. Luke says:

“We are emerging out of the era of mass giants.  You don’t have to be 200kg to win these days.”

It isn’t easy for strongmen to blend in but Luke still walks around Harrogate largely unnoticed. Does he ever get recognised?

“Sometimes when I’m in shops. I don’t mind. It’s nice to be recognised when you try hard to achieve something.”

After this month’s strongman TV coverage, it may happen more often.

Burglars made off in a BMW with a first aid kit, a box of face masks and two sets of handmade doctor’s scrubs from a home in south Harrogate.

The Westbourne Avenue home was targeted between midnight and 6.45am on Saturday, June 20, when thieves broke in and took the keys for the grey BMW 220 D, which was on the driveway.

The car was recovered later that day after crashing and being abandoned on the way to Wetherby. However, items from inside the car were stolen.

As well as the face masks, scrubs and first aid kit, they included a child’s car seat, Ray-Ban sunglasses and a make-up bag. A personalised thermometer was also stolen from a doctor’s bag, but the bag was left outside the house.

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North Yorkshire Police is appealing for witnesses and information from the public aboutt he “two-in-one” burglary. A spokesman said:

“In particular, [we] are appealing for information about any suspicious people or vehicles seen in the area, and any CCTV or dash-cam or doorbell footage taken in the area at the time of the offence.

“[We] would also like to hear from anyone who has seen or been offered any of the stolen items for sale under suspicious circumstances.