This story is sponsored by York Maze.
A family attraction in York has been crowned the best in the UK and, with all that’s on offer, it’s certainly no wonder why.
York Maze is Yorkshire’s multi award-winning summer attraction, home to the largest Maize Maze in Europe, as well as over 20 rides, shows, and attraction.
Over 1 million maize seeds are planted in April – which leads the maze to grow to the size of 8 football pitches – and GPS technology is used to create the intricate pattern pathways. The attraction began trading from an old double decker bus (that housed an office, the ticket office, and gift shop) but, after 21 years, York Maze has become one of the biggest in the world and sees no plans to stop.
The Cornula 1 track
The attraction was awarded Best Large Farm Attraction in the UK at the annual National Farm Attractions Network, as well as winning other awards for Outstanding Customer Service (twice), Best Large Attraction and Yorkshire Tourism Experience of the Year.
If you haven’t visited York Maze, you may be wondering what leads the attraction to win so many prestigious awards. Visitors can enjoy a plethora of activities for a range of ages, from the Crowmania tractor and trailer rides, to amazing theatrical surprises.
York Maze promises a jam-packed day of guaranteed fun for all. If it’s endless excitement your child is looking for, they can come face to face with dinosaurs in the Jurassic Maize, zoom down the Corn Snake slides, or get lost in the illusions of the House of Cornfusion.
Perhaps your child is a budding thespian. If so, they can channel their creativity and enjoy the Crazy Maze Show, the Cornula One experience, and even the end of day Cornival Show and foam party!
This year, visitors can expect some brand-new attractions to make their day even more a-maze-ing, from the speedy Cobsleigh Run, to the relaxing Sunflower Corner.
Tom Pearcy, owner of York Maze, said:
“To be recognised as the best farm attraction in the UK is a tribute to our amazing team who cornistently work to make sure every single visitor has an amazing experience!
“We have some exciting plans for this year and a new maze design to reveal when we re-open in July.”
For a slightly older demographic, York Maze also hosts Hallowscream and Hallowtween each year – a spine-chilling Halloween event that, too, has won awards for its success – as well as being a licensed wedding venue. Couples to be can hire the venue exclusively for three days at a time to tie the knot in the York countryside.
“Excuse the corn themed puns but, cornsidering where we started, we have certainly come a long way from the early days.
“It hasn’t always been easy, challenges have cropped up along the way, we’ve had to corntend with hurricanes, floods and drought and of course in 2020 due to Covid we didn’t get to open at all!
“The maize maze is still at the heart of what we do.”
York Maze is open from Saturday, July 15. Click to book tickets before it’s too late!
Find out more:
To find out more about all that’s on offer at York Maze, visit https://www.yorkmaze.com/ or call 01904 608000.
Harrogate man jailed for ‘flagrant disregard for people and their property’Harrogate man Cieran Bamford has been jailed for 16 weeks.
Bamford, 31, of Knaresborough Road, pleaded guilty to making threats to a named woman who feared violence would be used against her when he appeared in court on Tuesday.
Court documents state the offence was “so serious because the defendant has a flagrant disregard for people and their property”.
Bamford was given a restraining order prohibiting contact with the victim until April 2028.
Magistrates in York also ordered him to pay £154 to victim services.
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Dales Bus summer service to return this weekend
The Dales Bus summer service will begin its season this weekend.
The bus company provides access into and around the Yorkshire Dales on a not-for-profit basis.
It operates on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays throughout summer until October.
The 74 service from York Railway Station, which goes through Knaresborough and Harrogate and onto Ilkley, Bolton Abbey, Burnsall and Grassington, starts on Saturday.
Another Saturday route, the 59, will help people travel from Harrogate to Blubberhouses, Bolton Bridge and Skipton.
The 875 will depart from York every Sunday and Bank Holiday, starting this Easter weekend.
This year, an additional Sunday and bank holiday service – the 876 – will run from York to Leeds, Otley, Ilkley and Grassington, with onward connections to Upper Wharfedale and Hawes.
The national £2 single bus fare cap, which has been extended until June 30, will apply to Dales Bus services.
Find more information on services and timetables here.
850 scooter riders take part in Knaresborough rallyAbout 850 scooter riders made the most of yesterday’s sunshine by taking part in the annual Knaresborough to York rally.
The event is one of many ride-outs organised each year by Yorkshire Scooter Alliance.
It was the first gathering of 2023 and gave participants the opportunity to meet up for the first time since winter.
The scooters converged at Conyngham Hall in Knaresborough before setting off through the town and on to York.
Here are some photos from the day.
Pic credit: Mervin Straughan
Pic credit: Mervin Straughan
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Councillors brand North Yorkshire devolution deal ‘York-centric’
Councils have pushed forward a move to transfer some central government powers to York and North Yorkshire, despite cross-party concerns York’s residents will gain more than the county’s.
Less than 24 hours after City of York Council gave its seal of approval to sending the results of a public consultation over a proposed devolution deal for the city and North Yorkshire, the majority of councillors on its Northallerton-based counterpart followed suit.
While the deal seeks to fuse the futures of the two councils, numerous North Yorkshire councillors underlined their view that York’s 200,000 residents would be the winners in a mayoral combined authority with just two councillors from each authority.
During a lengthy debate on the devolution deal during a full meeting of North Yorkshire County Council, numerous councillors attacked proposals to hand a disproportionate amount of power to York.
Many councillors agreed that the deal was far from perfect, but there was little option than to agree to it if the area wanted extra money from the government.
The authority’s leader, Cllr Carl Les, said the deal on the table was “just the start” of negotiations with the government to hand more decision-making powers and funds directly to the area.
He said:
“We have got to move on. The past is the past, this is the future. This is how government prefers to work. And if we negate that we are going to lose out yet again.”
Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council.
Cllr Les said the deal would help avoid bidding wars, by moving decision-making out of Whitehall to York and Northallerton, there would also be safeguards in place on the mayoral combined authority to protect the interests of both councils’ populations.
However, opposition councillors said the deal would lead to decision-making becoming more concentrated in a small group of unelected people on the combined authority.
Green group leader Cllr Andy Brown said the authority was being offered “crumbs not substance” following decades of the government stripping back funding for County Hall, so the deal was “more propaganda than reality”.
Cllr Stuart Parsons, Independents group leader, said of the £18m extra annual government funding the deal would bring, up to £4m would be spent on staffing the mayor’s office.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Bryn Griffiths said the mayor’s office would be “yet another layer of bureaucracy to be funded by the poor taxpayers”.
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Labour group leader Cllr Steve Shaw Wright said devolution would happen whether people in North Yorkshire wanted it or not, while Craven District Council leader Richard Foster said branded the deal was “York-centric”.
Ripon Cllr Andrew Williams said York was a “basket case of a council that the poor residents in York have to suffer” and that many people in York would like to see it abolished and being a part of a wider North Yorkshire.
He told the meeting:
“It is a local authority, quite frankly, which fails the people of York every day it opens its doors for business.”
Seamer division member Cllr Heather Phillips was among few councillors who expressed any solidarity with York.
She said:
High speeds and alcohol contributed to young Harrogate man’s fatal crash, inquest hears“York, we welcome you. We want to work with you and we’ll be a better North Yorkshire when we do that.”
A young Harrogate man died when his car left the A59 as he drove home after drinking heavily, an inquest has heard.
Samuel Ronald Gibson, known as Sam, was 24 when the fatal collision occurred in the early hours of March 13 last year.
His Peugeot 208 spun off the road, collided with a tree, lifted up and landed in a ditch close near Poppleton at around 3.30am, today’s inquest was told by a police investigator.
A toxicology report after his death found he had 201mg of alcohol in his blood, against the legal limit of 80mg.
A statement from his colleague and friend Sophie Rothwell was read at the inquest held at the Coroner’s Court in Northallerton this afternoon. She said:
“When Sam was sober, he knew drink driving was wrong. However, when he went out it was like there was no controlling or stopping him and it wasn’t possible to reason with him…
“I would describe [Sam] as an unsafe driver [even when sober]. He drove very fast, exceeding the speed limit and I didn’t feel safe as a passenger.”
The court heard a statement from Sam’s mother, Jennifer Perkins, who said he had “always had a strong work ethic”, beginning with a paper round in his teens. He later moved into hospitality, working at Revolucion de Cuba and then Sainsbury’s in Harrogate.
The former Rossett School student had been manager at the Cosy Club bar in York for three-and-a-half years before moving to the Ivy in early 2022.
After passing his driving test at 18, Sam lost his licence aged 20 when he was convicted of drink-driving. When he had his licence back, Ms Perkins said he was “always very careful and cautious about not driving when he knew he would be drinking”.
However, in the few months prior to his death, she said there had been a couple of occasions when he had driven home after drinking.
Friends also said Sam was known to drive after drinking. Some had tried to hide his car keys to prevent him doing so, and others had stopped socialising with him.
Read more:
- Rossett School pays tribute to ex-student Sam Gibson, 24
- Police plea to call out drink drivers amid increasing Harrogate district incidents
In statements, colleague Sophie Rothwell and her boyfriend Max Bradford said they had been out with Sam in York on the night he died.
They said he had drunk lager, prosecco, wine, beer and spirits between around 8pm on Saturday, March 12 and 1.30am the following day.
Ms Rothwell said:
“He was so drunk that, at one bar, he couldn’t stand up properly and kept falling down.”
Sam stayed out after his friends went home, and he went to a nearby food van for something to eat.
Sam’s car was discovered in a ditch by the A59 around 7am the next morning.
The inquest heard he had suffered a “catastrophic” brain and spinal cord injury, described by the doctor performing the post-mortem as “an entirely unsurvivable event” which would have killed him almost instantly.
Forensic collision investigator PC Richard Barker said Sam had been wearing a seatbelt but the airbags in the car had not deployed, showing signs that they had previously activated and not been properly repaired.
Although he could not say for certain how fast the car was travelling, PC Barker believed it was in excess of the maximum speed at which the car could navigate the bends of the road.
North Yorkshire coroner Jonathan Leach concluded Sam had died as a result of the collision, saying:
“It would appear that Sam was driving along the A59 at speed and, I suspect as a result of the alcohol he had drunk, his concentration and his ability to drive properly was impaired.
“I suspect he over-reacted, left the road and struck a tree, and died at the scene.”
‘Devastation’
In their statements, both Ms Rothwell and Mr Bradford described Sam as a reliable friend and a good colleague who was the “life and soul” of both his workplace and any party.
Ms Rothwell added:
“Sam was the most reliable friend you could have asked for. He was the person you could call at any time and losing him has left a massive hole in my heart.”
Ms Perkins’ statement said Sam was a “nice young man” who had looked after her when she lost her sight and had taken gifts to an elderly neighbour who had moved into a care home. She added:
“While Sam made bad judgements and mistakes in relation to driving, this is the kind of loving, caring person Sam was and how I wish for him to be remembered.”
She added:
Homeless man admits theft at two Harrogate hairdressers“I can’t express in words just how much devastation losing Sam has left behind. The whole family are suffering as a result. I can’t believe he has gone.”
A homeless man has admitted committing theft at two Harrogate town centre shops on the same morning this week.
Anthony Fraser, 37, pleaded guilty to stealing products worth £380 from hair and beauty salon Hart & Hart on Commercial Street on Monday.
He also admitted taking products of an unknown value from the nearby barbers shop belonging to Nathan Cosgrove.
Fraser, who gave his address as Harrogate Homeless Project on Bower Street, appeared before magistrates in York yesterday.
He was remanded on bail until February 10, when he is due to be sentenced.
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- Man jailed for indecent exposure at Harrogate Library
Harrogate burglar jailed after ‘audacious’ raid of £10k worth of clothes
A prolific Harrogate burglar has been jailed for two years after stealing £10,000 of clothes from a warehouse in two audacious break-ins on the same night.
Aaron Herbert, 49, and an unnamed man drove from Harrogate to the commercial warehouse in York in a stolen VW Golf, York Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Michael Cahill said CCTV footage showed Herbert and the driver getting out of the vehicle and being joined by two other people including a woman outside the warehouse in an industrial compound on Malton Road, Stockton-on-the-Forest.
One of the men used bolt croppers to cut the lock of the warehouse doors to break in.
Mr Cahill added:
“A short time later, the two who arrived on foot left, leaving (Herbert) and the driver in the warehouse,
“CCTV showed the defendant and his accomplice going in and out of the warehouse…with stock from the warehouse, particularly coats.”
The burglars got back in the car and drove off after bagging £5,000 of loot in the raid, which occurred at about 11pm on December 11 last year. Herbert, who was a disqualified driver, was at the wheel.
Shortly afterwards, in the early hours of the following morning, Herbert drove back to the warehouse and was again with another man.
Mr Cahill said:
“The men made numerous trips in and out of the warehouse, stealing various items of clothing.”
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- More than half of violent crime in North Yorkshire is against females
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CCTV showed Herbert coming out of the warehouse with a bundle of coats – one of which he was wearing.
Mr Cahill said that about £5,000 of clothes were stolen in this second raid, and £10,000 in total.
Herbert then drove the Volkswagen away from the loading-bay doors to make way for his
accomplice to drive out in a “mini” vehicle which he had stolen from inside the warehouse.
They then carefully closed the warehouse doors to make it look “as if nothing had happened”.
Herbert drove off in the VW and his accomplice drove away in the stolen warehouse vehicle.
However, it didn’t take police long to coming knocking at Herbert’s door as he was immediately identified from CCTV footage.
The two stolen vehicles were both found in Harrogate’s Fairfax Avenue.
‘Audacious’ raid
Herbert, of Deane Place, Harrogate, was arrested on December 15 and charged with two counts of burglary, taking a vehicle without consent and driving while disqualified and without insurance.
He admitted the offences and appeared for sentence today.
Mr Cahill said Herbert had taken the VW car after a sneak-in burglary at a named woman’s home in Harrogate in which her car keys were stolen.
Herbert’s 22-year criminal career comprised 27 previous convictions for 85 offences including burglary and 24 theft and kindred offences.
Defence barrister Harry Crowson said that Herbert, a long-standing heroin addict, had spent most of his time in prison in recent years.
Judge Simon Hickey described the burglaries as “audacious”.
He told Herbert:
“You were seen emptying the warehouse of a significant amount of clothes (which represents) a significant economic loss.”
He said the burglaries involved “significant planning” and that Herbert was now at risk of becoming “institutionalised”.
Herbert will serve half of the two-year jail sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence. He was also given a two-year driving ban.
Man jailed for two-month fraud spree at Harrogate and York hotelsA man has been jailed for embarking on a two-month fraud spree at hotels in Harrogate and York at the end of last year.
Parmpareet Singh-Pooni, of no fixed address, admitted two offences at the Crowne Plaza on King’s Road in Harrogate when he appeared before magistrates in York on Monday.
He pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining accommodation, food and drinks by claiming he was called Nikko Singh and not paying for them between November 3 and 6.
Singh-Pooni also admitted trying the same ruse at the Crowne Plaza on either November 23 and 24.
He pleaded guilty to stealing £140 cash from behind the reception at the Dean Court hotel in York on December 17 and defrauding Malmaison in York by giving another false name and not paying for food and drink between December 27 and 31.
He was jailed for 10 weeks, with court documents saying he was jailed because of the number of offences, his record and due to the fact he was on recall.
Singh-Pooni was also ordered to pay compensation totalling £1,083 to the Crowne Plaza, £140 to the Dean Court Hotel and £452 to Malmaison.
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- Amazon driver on Snapchat jailed for causing death of Ripon biker
Looking ahead 2023: Devolution – what happens now?
When Harrogate Borough Council is abolished in April, the first signs of political change in the district will come to fruition.
This year, we can also expect to hear more about the £540 million devolution deal for North Yorkshire which has been agreed in principle.
But what happens now with devolution and when can we expect to see a new mayor and combined authority that comes with the deal?
What happens from April?
On April 1, Harrogate Borough Council will no longer exist.
It will be replaced by North Yorkshire Council, which is replacing all seven district authorities and North Yorkshire County Council.
It means that council tax will be paid to the new council and services, assets and planning decisions will be transferred to the new authority.
What about the devolution deal?
The £540 million devolution deal, which includes a directly elected mayor for North Yorkshire and York, has been agreed in principle.
A public consultation on the deal was completed last month.
However, it still has to be ratified by both City of York Council and North Yorkshire County Council.
It is expected that this will come before both councils in February 2023 to decide whether to proceed with the deal.
When will a mayor for North Yorkshire be elected?
Councillors still need to agree to the devolution deal in order to start setting up the office of an elected mayor for North Yorkshire.
Both councils can then undertake a governance review in order to create the position of mayor.
According to the timetable outlined in the devolution deal agreed between City of York Council, the county council and government, a mayor could be elected in May 2024, should all go ahead.
What about the combined authority?
As part of a devolution deal which was announced this week, a combined authority will be set up for North Yorkshire and York.
The move will be historic for the county as it joins Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Tees Valley in setting up such an authority.
A combined authority is a body set up for two or more councils to make joint decisions.
In this case, the upcoming North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council would come together to make decisions on matters such as economic development and transport.
Should it be given the go-ahead, a combined authority could be set up for North Yorkshire and York by autumn this year.
Read more:
- £540m North Yorkshire devolution deal looks set to progress, say officials
- North Yorkshire leaders set up devolution decision making body