An event aiming to celebrate disability and promote living life in the way people wish will come to Harrogate next month.
The Slightly Alternative Seminar is organised by Disability Action Yorkshire (DAY) and will see high-profile names tell their own stories of life as a disabled person.
‘Punk Chef’ Scott Garthwaite and TEDx speaker Pippa Stacey will take to the stage, along with Bafta-winning screenwriter, director and journalist Charlie Swinbourne.
Disability Action Yorkshire chief executive Jackie Snape said:
“We are so excited to be holding our second Slightly Alternative Seminar. The feedback from our first event was amazing and we have built on that to bring together some fantastic speakers who have some remarkably interesting stories to tell. We are looking forward to a wonderful day.”
The event takes place at Pavilions of Harrogate on Friday, May 5, from 10am to 3.30pm.
Ms Snape said the charity is aiming to grow it year on year, as a unique event for members of the disabled community and people who support them.
She added:
“There are few events aimed specifically at disabled people apart from those selling equipment.
“The people we work with were telling us that they wanted information on a variety of subjects that matter to them, not just where to buy a wheelchair, and we listened and we responded.”
The Slightly Alternative Seminar is free to attend and includes free refreshments. Attendees can attend for all or part of the day.
As well as British Sign Language interpreters on hand, the venue has step-free access and a hearing loop.
To book a place, email Hanne Jackson at Disability Action Yorkshire or call 01423 855420.
Read more:
- Harrogate man wins landmark disabled settlement against major gym chain
- Paralympic champion among new trustees at Harrogate charity
‘Winter wonderland’ plans to boost Harrogate this Christmas
An ice rink and a big wheel are set to come to Harrogate as part of this year’s Christmas festivities in the town.
Nick Rhodes, chief executive of Market Place Europe and John McGivern, destination events manager for Destination Harrogate, told Harrogate BID members last night about how Christmas will look in the town this year.
A “winter wonderland” will be created in Crescent Gardens, which will include the ice rink, apres ski, carousel and children’s rides.
Mr Rhodes said an expanded Christmas market will run from December 2 to December 11 with stalls on Cambridge Street, as well as “probably” Oxford Street and Cambridge Crescent.
Last year was the first event run together by the two organisations. Mr McGivern acknowledged there were some “teething problems” but said staff were working hard to make it bigger and better this year.
He said 90% of stallholders from last year have said they would like to return.
Mr McGivern said there was some feedback from last year about a lack of atmosphere but that covid hampered what they were able to offer.
He said this year will have more of a Christmas feel with the addition of carol singers, among other plans.
The popular Candy Cane Express road train will be back, but there will be two trains this year instead of one due to high demand.
The location is yet to be confirmed, but a 32m big wheel is likely to be placed at Harrogate’s war memorial where the helter skelter was last year.
The big wheel, ice rink, carousel and rides will be in place until January 8.
Read More:
Cheers! Knaresborough and Harrogate to host beer festivals
Beer lovers in the Harrogate district will be spoiled for choice with two festivals taking place in Knaresborough and Harrogate.
This weekend, Knaresborough Lions will stage their annual beer festival during the FEVA arts festival. It gets underway tonight (Friday) at Knaresborough House from 7pm where there will also be live music on offer for revellers.
Entry is free and there will be a large selection of beers, ciders, lagers, wine, soft drinks and food available.
On Saturday, the festival runs from 12pm until 11pm and will coincide with FEVA’s Picnic in the Park, which is also being held at Knaresborough House.
On Sunday, the festival starts from 12pm until the beer runs out.
Harrogate Beer Week
Harrogate is gearing up for the return of its beer week following its debut event in 2021.
Running from September 19-25, Harrogate Beer Week will celebrate the town’s craft beer scene, brewing heritage and beer in the community.
There will be events hosted at bars, brewery taps, and other venues across Harrogate such as beer and food pairings, blind beer tasting quizzes, bottle shares, home brew competitions, talks and brewery tours exploring the making of beer.
Other features on the programme will include an ‘Indie Beer Trail’ and live local music and a special local beer has been brewed for the occasion. The programme will be announced on August 24.
The event is being sponsored by Harrogate Business Improvement District, Cold Bath Brewing Co, Daleside Brewery, Harrogate Brewing Co, Roosters Brewing Co, and Turning Point brew Co and Black Sheep Brewery.
Harrogate Beer Week was created by Harrogate-based Rachel Auty. She said:
“This event is a spotlight on the very best of what’s on offer in Harrogate and is created and delivered by people who actually live and work here, and know the town.
“The north of England is a superb destination for great craft beer and I’m incredibly proud of the beer scene we have in Harrogate — we boast some of the UK’s leading innovators in brewing and a truly unique portfolio of indie bars and taprooms.”
Read more:
- Asda Harrogate introduces new parking system
- Northern’s new timetable includes early Harrogate to Leeds trains
Spofforth celebrates jubilee with huge children’s party
Spofforth celebrated the Queen’s platinum jubilee in style with a party fit for kings and queens.
It was the first knees up the village has had since the covid pandemic and Spofforth Cricket Club was full of families letting their hair down and enjoying themselves.
Spofforth platinum jubilee committee organised a party with a helter-skelter, bouncy castle, biscuit painting, face painting, BBQ, a magician and more.
The afternoon kicked off with a parade of the kings and queens of England where children dressed up as their favourite monarch from history.
Spofforth resident Bernie baked 100 biscuits for children to decorate and take home to eat.
She said:
“It’s been really nice to do something together at last.”
Read more:
- JUBILEE LIVE: Over 1,000 attend Bilton’s Party on the Pitch
- A cake fit for a Queen: Ripon mum wins Bettys Jubilee Bake Off
This evening Spofforth will join other communities across the district in lighting the jubilee beacon. It will begin at 9pm in front of Spofforth Castle and will include music from Spofforth school choir and saxophonist Millie Hope.
Tomorrow there will be a tea party with Prosecco, afternoon tea and music at the Long Memorial Hall, starting at 3pm.
In the evening there will be a party in the castle field from 7pm. There will be circus entertainers, a 50s style band, an oompah band with a disco and a fireworks finale at 11.30pm. For tickets to either of tomorrow’s events email Robyn Farmer at robynfarmer@ymail.com
Some images from today’s party are below:
What makes a good town crier?
Knaresborough’s Roger Hewitt says surprisingly, it’s not all about how loud you shout:
“You have to shout but a big voice is not enough. You have to be able to write your own stuff, it has to be engaging. It’s all about intonation, accuracy, engaging your audience and doing your best. It’s a good thing that volume isn’t the main thing!
The town crier is gearing up for a busy four-day weekend in early June, with the town’s Platinum Jubilee committee organising a huge list of events to celebrate the Queen’s 70 years on the throne.
Mr Hewitt says he’ll available whenever his town needs him.
One of his most important jobs will be leading a flag procession from the Market Place to the grounds of Knaresborough House for the Jubilee Garden Party.
He’s also written a special message to deliver on market day that pays tribute to Her Majesty.
Service to the town
Mr Hewitt has lived in Knaresborough for 45 years and has been the town crier for 8.
He dons his 18th-century-inspired robe, laces up his boots and rings his bell every Wednesday at the market, with one week off a year in between Christmas and new year.
The role is organised by the Knaresborough Chamber of Trade & Commerce and Mr Hewitt joked the unusual role came about through a promotion.
“I was the Chamber’s Santa Claus at the market, they said ‘you’re used to wearing silly costumes’, and I was asked if I’d become the town crier.”
Long lineage
Knaresborough’s town crier lineage goes back to 1680.
In the old days, they would inform the townspeople of the latest news, proclamations, bylaws and any other important information, as at the time most people were illiterate and could not read.
“The town crier was the local literate, then it went to hell when it came to me!”
Mr Hewitt’s role today is not too dissimilar to how it was hundreds of years ago, although he quipped that today, most locals tend to get their news from the Stray Ferret.
He called Sid Bradley, who was the town crier in the 1980s and 1990s, “absolutely brilliant and the town crier that everybody would have liked to be.”
Read more:
- Knaresborough daredevil, 70, performs 50th skydive
- Meet the Knaresborough woman who is a dog chaperone at weddings
Photo credit: Charlotte Gale
Former teacher
Mr Hewitt is well known to pupils of Harrogate Grammar School where he was a legendary chemistry teacher from 1991 until he retired in 2014.
He said his experience managing teenagers in the classroom has made him an even better town crier.
“Being a teacher helped tremendously.
“Somebody said to me recently, you don’t shout, you talk loud.
“That comes from teaching, particularly being a science teacher. When there are practical experiments going on in the classroom you can’t shout.”
Mr Hewitt has had a few unusual run-ins during his time as a town crier, including an encounter with a hen party that he called “the most harrowing day of my life”.
Good for the town
Hopefully, Mr Hewitt will be entertaining and informing visitors to Knaresborough for years to come.
He added:
Bettys to close early for staff celebration tonight“People come up to me and say ‘can I take your photo?’ I say yes, it’s complusory.
“Everytime they take a photo they take a bit of Knaresborough away.”
Bettys will close its tea rooms early today as staff gather to celebrate the end of two difficult years.
The ‘Big Get Together’ will see all 1,600 staff from Bettys & Taylors invited to mark the hard work done by the company’s individuals and teams since 2020.
Today will be the first time everyone has been able to get together for what has been an annual celebration since the start of the covid pandemic.
Organiser Victoria Turner said:
“Every year we hold our internal Honours Awards which recognise the achievements and successes of our people over the 12 months.
“This year also marks the 60th anniversary of Bettys & Taylors coming together as Group, so it’s a special opportunity to bring everyone together to celebrate and reconnect after the challenges of the last two years.”
The tea rooms at Harrogate, York, Northallerton and Ilkley will close at 3.30pm today, while Harlow Carr closes at 4pm, to allow staff to join the celebrations.
Read more:
- Bettys applies to create new baby changing room in Harrogate tea rooms
- Bettys and Taylors win Queen’s Award for Enterprise
4km of jubilee bunting goes up around Harrogate
The streets of Harrogate have been adorned with 4km of jubilee bunting to celebrate the Queen’s 70 years on the throne.
The bunting has been bought by Harrogate Business Improvement District, with help from Harrogate Borough Council’s Welcome Back Fund.
Leftover bunting will be given to businesses within the levy area free of charge.
Streets the BID has dressed in a mixture of red, white and blue, various colours and ‘jubilee purple’ are:
- Market Place
- Cambridge Street
- Oxford Street
- Cambridge Road
- Commercial Street
- Beulah Street
- James Street
- Princess Street
Businesses within Harrogate’s town centre pay the BID 1.5% of their rateable value a year on top of their usual business rates. Harrogate BID, which drives footfall to the town centre, brings in around £500,000 from local firms.
Read more:
- Harrogate Bus Company announces free electric bus rides for Platinum Jubilee
- Platinum Jubilee Harrogate district: What’s On
Matthew Chapman, Harrogate BID manager, said:
Ripon joins in Chinese New Year celebrations“With the bunting now adorning town centre streets, Harrogate’s countdown to the Queen’s platinum jubilee has well and truly started.
“And whatever bunting is left over, we have separated in to 10m strips for businesses from with the BID levy area to put up outside their premises free of charge.
“In the next week or so, the hanging baskets with red, white and blue flowers, will also start appearing, giving the town a colourful, floral lift.”
Bambudda restaurant in Ripon served up a taste of Chinese New Year celebration with a lion dance yesterday evening.
The colourful event was due to take place on Kirkgate at 6pm, but the dancers and musicians were held up in traffic on their way from Manchester.
However, a large crowd of people, including families with young children, returned for 7.30pm to see two puppet lions gyrating to the percussive beat of drum, cymbals and tambourine.
The Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, dates back more than 4,000 years and is the longest holiday of the year in China. This year is the year of the tiger.
The lions ‘scare off evil spirits and bring positive energy’
The celebrations will last until 15 February and end in China and other countries with a spectacular Lantern Festival, which features ancient spiritual traditions and celebrates family reunions and society.
Some ancient Chinese traditions were on display in Ripon, as Bambudda owner Benjamin Wu, who was born in Hong Kong, told the Stray Ferret:
“It is believed that the lions will scare off evil spirits and bring positive energy.”
He added:
“They can also bring good luck and good health, which is what everybody wants and I’m delighted that so many people came to share and enjoy this cultural tradition with us. “
Bambudda owner Benjamin Wu, with the lions who bring good luck and good health
General manager Lucy Nguyen, said:
“I come from Vietnam and the New year is also celebrated there in a similar way.
“It’s like Christmas in this country and is a time to be with family and friends.”
The musicians
She added:
“We’ve brought the lion dance to Ripon since we opened four years ago, but we couldn’t hold it last year because of the covid lockdown.”
Read more:
St Wilfrid’s procession returns to Ripon this year
Ripon’s traditional St Wilfrid’s procession will be back this summer, after the covid pandemic caused its cancellation for the past two years.
Held in honour of the city’s patron saint, it is one of the largest events in the city each year, usually attracting thousands of people to the streets and Market Square.
The procession’s return on Saturday 30 July means it will be part of the 2022 celebrations marking the 1,350th anniversary of Wilfrid’s founding of Ripon’s ancient cathedral in 672 AD.
Born in Northumbria in 634 AD, the saint’s name can be found on street signs, a primary school, a cafe and a Catholic church in the city as well as in other towns and cities across the country.
It’s 914 years since King Henry I granted permission for the city to hold a fair to celebrate Wilfrid’s birth and Ripon – a city that takes great pride in its heritage – has held on to this tradition.
Procession organisers have kept the tradition alive in a scaled-back way over the past years, with a St Wilfrid Trail in 2020 and a walk around the city last year.
