‘I do it for myself,’ says Ripon beauty queen

To some, beauty pageants are outdated concepts that demean women.

Ripon’s Victoria Hind, who was recently crowned Miss North Yorkshire Galaxy, admits the stigma almost stopped her competing.

But she says the contests have helped her, and other female competitors, grow in confidence and she finds it empowering to walk on stage.

Ms Hind had never met another pageant competitor before she competed in Galaxy pageants so she says she was aware of the common misconceptions about how they’d be. But she met women of all races, backgrounds and sizes who were simply competing for fun.

She says:

“When I got my first Harrogate title last year it took me weeks to tell anyone because of the stigma. It’s completely opposite to what people think. People think pageant girls are bitchy but I’ve not met a single nasty person.”

Supermarket worker Ms Hind initially applied to enter for Miss Galaxy UK as a dare by her friends but after watching a TikTok video by a former Miss International about the benefits of pageants she went ahead.

Victoria Hind (centre) at the final for Miss Galaxy UK in November.

She insists that “old-fashioned views” about pageant competitors all looking a certain way and spending hundreds of pounds on dresses is no longer the case:

“None of us look alike, we’re all different races and have different backgrounds. I’ve seen people win in £20 dresses!

“There’s a huge misconception about pageants but people will never properly understand them until they know someone who competes.”

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Ms Hind said some of her friends and family don’t like her taking part in pageants while others are more encouraging by telling her “you do you”.

The 23-year-old says she can understand why some people harbour negative perceptions but her experience has enabled her to grow as a person.

Photograph: Brian Hayes Photography

Pageants have boosted her confidence and encouraged her to speak out about her experiences with dyslexia. Now she wants to go into schools and talk to young students about coping with learning difficulties and uses her platform to spread the word about causes close to her heart.

She adds:

“I don’t think I’m the most beautiful girl in North Yorkshire but I have the confidence to get up and walk on a stage and just have fun. It’s empowering to be up there and I do it for myself, no one else.”

Hot Seat: Building a £117m business in Ripon over 40 years

In 1982, Geoff Brown and four colleagues started a modest agricultural machinery business called Ripon Farm Services.

The firm, which took on John Deere and Land Rover franchises, began with 19 members of staff and budgeted to generate £1.1 million in its first year.

Now, as the company celebrates its 40th anniversary, it has 270 staff, 12 depots and recorded turnover of £117.2 million for the financial year ending January 31, 2021 — significantly up on the £106.4 million figure for the previous year.

Ripon Farm Services, which is based on Dallamires Lane in Ripon, has become one of the Harrogate district’s biggest and best known employers. It supplies a wide range of new and used equipment from franchises including John Deere, Kuhn, Bailey, Kramer and Stihl.

Mr Brown (left) and a colleague alongside a John Deere tractor.

Mr Brown, who was brought up on a farm and has lived in Burnt Yates all his life, has been at the helm throughout the company’s existence.

Now 76, he remains a director and is keen to drive the business forward for “a while yet”. He adds:

“While I’m OK I will carry on.”

Brexit and Prince Charles

The last 12 months have been hectic, dealing not only with covid but also the impact of Brexit, which has had major repercussions for agriculture.

He also met Prince Charles — not for the first time — at Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Show, where Ripon Farm Services always has a big presence.

The two men chatted amiably for some time. Mr Brown says:

“Somebody asked how did I make him laugh. I said I just talked to him. He knows a lot about farming and machinery. I met him previously at the Pateley show. He’s a very down to earth fella.”

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Mr Brown admits the company benefited from the backwind that British agriculture enjoyed in the 1980s and 1990s but thriving over four decades is testimony to far more than luck. He says:

“It’s just been steady growth since we started.”

Ripon Farm Services at Great Yorkshire Show

Ripon Farm Services at the Great Yorkshire Show

61-year career

Mr Brown’s working life spans a remarkable 61 years. He started in 1961 at Glovers of Ripon, a car and agricultural machinery dealer.

Glovers was taken over by Appleyards in 1965, which lost the Massey Ferguson franchise the following year and consequently took on one of the first John Deere dealerships in the UK.

In 1966 Mr Brown was promoted to John Deere demonstrator at Appleyards.

Geoff Brown at Ripon Farm Services' New Year Show last month.

Geoff Brown at Ripon Farm Services’ New Year Show last month.

When Appleyards sold its agricultural business in 1982 — something Mr Brown heard about when he was setting up the stand at the Great Yorkshire Show — it paved the way for something new.

So by October than year Mr Brown, along with Maurice Hymas, Bill Houseman and two other directors, had set-up Ripon Farm Services.

Selling Land Rover

Regrets? Just a few. The company sold its Land Rover franchise in 2016. Mr Brown says:

“They wanted us to move to Harrogate or Knaresborough and sell Jaguars but I didn’t want to do either of those things and now, ironically, they have relented and dealers don’t have to sell Jaguars.”

Ripon Farm Services continues to be synonymous with the distinctive John Deere green. It’s a truly international set-up: a British firm, selling American machinery all around the world. Mr Brown says:

“We export a lot of tractors and combine harvesters. Our biggest overseas markets are Poland and Spain.”

He acknowledges Brexit has caused some bumps but “it hasn’t stopped us”.

British farmers still face uncertainty about what payments will replace the loss of EU subsidies but Mr Brown remains optimistic about the future for farmers:

“As long as the government looks after them and gets something in place of the grants I can’t see it being a problem. The good ones will still be around.”

Harrogate council awards £280,000 electric vehicle contract to London firm

A London company has been awarded a £280,000 contract to install 34 electric vehicle charging points across the Harrogate district.

Connected Kerb, which installs charging points across the country, has been appointed to oversee the project.

The company has already overseen electric vehicle charging point projects in Kent and Swindon.

Harrogate Borough Council has commissioned the company on a contract due to start this month.

The company will be tasked with installing, maintaining and managing charging points at:

Cllr Phil Ireland, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for carbon reduction and sustainability, said previously: 

“The Harrogate district has seen a rapid uptake in the purchase of electric vehicles, outstripping all other districts in North Yorkshire.

“If we are to achieve our ambition of net-zero by 2038 it is important we support those residents that have the ability to purchase electric cars, while also encouraging more cycling and walking.

“These new charging points will support the uptake in electric vehicles for both our residents and our visitor economy.”

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The contract is due to end in January 2027, however a council report published last month recommending the contractor be appointed said this could be extended.

The move comes as the council aims to get 10,000 electric vehicles on the districts’ roads by 2023.

To help hit this target, the authority plans to install charge points at several council-owned locations to encourage motorists to make the switch ahead of the government’s ban on the sale of petrol, diesel and hybrid cars in 2030.

Ripon students learn how to save a life

Students at Ripon Grammar School are being taught vital skills that could help them save a life one day.

Nine sixth formers and five Year 11 students are working towards National Pool Lifeguard Qualification (NPLQ), the most widely recognised lifeguard qualification in the UK & Ireland and a requirement for most lifeguarding jobs.

Trainee lifeguard Neive Zenner encourages others to consider the course:

She said:

“My advice would be, don’t be scared of throwing yourself into everything. You may feel embarrassed to shout across a pool, however the confidence you gain is worth it.”

Course tutor Myles Strudwick, who has been involved in lifeguarding and lifesaving for 20 years, both nationally and internationally, agrees:

He said:

“I am passionate about the development of skills in this area for anyone at any age, and nobody is too young or too old to start taking part.

“Even if it’s not something you use every day, the skills covered might just be enough to save a life one day. And it’s a strange – but thankful – feeling when that happens.”

Henry Grice-Holt, plans to work at Camp America during his gap year, where he hopes the qualification will help him get a lifeguard role.

The 17-year-old, who aims to study medicine after RGS,  inspired him to apply.

Henry, who plans a career in medicine after RGS, pointed out that the most important thing he had learnt was how to perform CPR with the use of a defibrillator:

“I have also been taught how to safely get someone who is unconscious out of the water and get them in the recovery position.”

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Neive, 17, said she was taking the course to help her get an interesting part-time job while at university. The accomplished swimmer added:

“Practical lessons allow you to have hands-on experience and basic first aid training, while theory provides you with the information you need to apply to lessons and even life situations.

“The most important skill I have learnt is communication, I found myself speaking out and answering questions in theory lessons, this then transferred to our pool sessions where we worked in teams relying on verbal skills.”

Henry and Neive use their Wednesday afternoon enrichment period – when sixth formers can take a break from studies to enjoy a range of other activities – to gain their qualification, which involves lessons for two hours a week at the school’s swimming pool, with additional home study.

Year 11 pupils have been taking their lifeguarding classes after school.

As well as being qualified in pool lifeguarding and supervision, with integrated defibrillation and anaphylaxis training, there is the option for the students to gain a First Aid at Work qualification and students, who began the course in November, will gain their qualifications at the beginning of April.

Harrogate council responds to calls for recycling wheelie bins

Harrogate Borough Council has responded to calls to introduce recycling wheelie bins, which were backed by 200 residents.

The Stray Ferret asked readers whether they would welcome the change after last weekend’s storms blew recycling left out for collection across streets throughout the district.

We received an overwhelming response to the question on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Of 200 comments, the vast majority were supportive of the proposal.

Currently residents in the Harrogate district use blue bags to recycle paper and card and a black box for tins, plastic and glass.

In some other areas of the country run, people use large wheelie bins for recycling.

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Given the level of support for the change, we asked Harrogate Borough Council if it would be possible to roll out recycling wheelie bins. A spokesperson for the council said:

“Using wheelie bins for recycling can in some instances lead to higher contamination rates (items presented that can’t be recycled). So any changes would need to be carefully considered.

“Another challenge we would need to overcome is the wagons used for collection. At the moment they cater for black boxes so any change would require adaptation of the fleet.”

“Recycling rates have increased significantly across the Harrogate district year-on-year and the current contamination rates are less than one per cent. This community effort ensures our recycling is high-quality and easily accepted at the processing sites so we’d like to say a massive thank you to the residents for always going above and beyond to help us and our crews.”

Harrogate council to be asked to support return of assets to communities

Harrogate Borough Council will be asked next week to support the return of community assets to Ripon City Council and Knaresborough Town Council.

A motion due before a full council meeting calls on the council to back requests for Knaresborough House, Ripon Town Hall and Hugh Ripley Hall being transferred back to local communities.

Harrogate Borough Council took control of the assets when it was created following local government reorganisation in 1974.

But the decision to scrap the borough council next year and replace it with a single authority called North Yorkshire Council covering the whole of the county has led for calls for local assets to be returned to town council control.

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A motion due before the council meeting next week, which was first proposed by Ripon Independent councillors Pauline McHardy and Sid Hawke and later amended by Harrogate Fairfax Cllr Chris Aldred and Knaresborough Scriven Park Cllr Hannah Gostlow, who are both Liberal Democrats, will say:

“That this council supports the principle of specific locality community assets, such as Knaresborough House, Ripon Town Hall, Hugh Ripley Hall and other such community facilities across the district being transferred to the ownership of the appropriate city, town or parish council, should these bodies express a wish to take on ownership of their local assets, in preference to ownership transferring to the new unitary authority. 

“To start the process that this council writes to local parish, town and city councils to ask which assets they would potentially take ownership of.”

Cllr McHardy told the Stray Ferret previously:

“There’s absolutely no reason for Harrogate to hang on to assets that rightfully belong to us.

“Not a penny was paid for them when they were handed to Harrogate in 1974 and we want them to be transferred back.”

The full council meeting which will debate the motion will be held on Wednesday, February 9.

Harrogate and Ripon hospitals maintain visitor restrictions due to high covid rates

The NHS trust that runs hospitals in Harrogate and Ripon is to maintain visitor restrictions while coronavirus case rates remain high.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust imposed restrictions at Harrogate District Hospital and Ripon Community Hospital on December 23 amid concerns about the Omicron variant.

It means visitors are only allowed for patients on end of life care, patients with a learning disability or severe cognitive impairment such as dementia. Parents or carers of children and birthing partners are also permitted.

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At the time, the hospital said it would review the restrictions regularly and relax them “at the earliest opportunity”.

However, although the government removed all Plan B measures a week ago, the trust has yet to say when regular visits will resume.

A spokesperson for the trust said today:

“Visitor guidance has not changed since December 23, 2021, although it is regularly reviewed.

“While infection rates remain at the current levels, we need to maintain the current restrictions on visitors to our wards for the safety of our patients and staff.

“These restriction also still apply to those people wanting to accompany outpatients to their appointments.

“Anyone entering our hospital will also need to wear a mask, ensure they sanitise their hands and maintain social distancing.”

Another 339 covid infections were recorded in the Harrogate district yesterday, bringing the seven-day average to 1,305 cases per 100,000 people — the highest in North Yorkshire and considerably above the England rate of 1,048.

Ripon car park could be resurfaced by Friday — and has bigger bays

Ripon contractors are on target to complete the resurfacing of the city’s cathedral car park a week ahead of schedule.

The work by A E Duffield & Sons as part of a £106,000 contract is due for completion on February 11, but progress suggests it could be finished by this Friday.

In an additional boost to motorists, a city council request for bays to be increased in size, to make parking easier, has been taken on-board.

A contractor told the Stray Ferret:

“The bays are now a minimum of 2.4 metres wide, compared with the previous ones that were 2.2 metres.”

photo of parking bay at Cathedral Car park

The parking bays have been widened to 2.4 metres 

To accommodate the enlargement of the spaces, it is estimated that a dozen of the car park’s 193 bays will be lost.

Ripon City and Harrogate district independent councillor Pauline McHardy, who led the call for the bays to be increased in size, welcomed the progress made this week.

She said:

“I’m pleased with the positive response from Harrogate Borough Council to our request and thank them for that.

“I’m also delighted that the resurfacing work has gone smoothly and with it likely to be completed early, that will mean a week’s less disruption for people coming into the city who need somewhere to park.”

A E Duffield & Sons has recently been awarded another contract by Harrogate Borough Council to resurface the Fisher Street Car Park in Knaresborough, at a cost of £30,000.

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Ripon’s platinum jubilee plans take shape

A new horn for Ripon will blast out for the Queen’s platinum jubilee, as part of the city’s celebrations.

The instrument will be used for the first time in the hornblower ceremony on Market Square at 9pm on Saturday 4 June and will be in regular use thereafter.

The event will be one of the highlights of the extended Bank Holiday weekend extravaganza, which also includes a special tea party at Ripon Cathedral for people with a June birthday, born between 1952 and 2021.

The aim is to create a ‘human timeline’ dating back to 1952, with one person from each of the 70 years of the Queen’s reign invited to attend, with a guest.

Photo of Ripon Cathedral

Ripon Cathedral will host a ‘timeline’ tea party with guests from each year of the Queen’s reign

City council leader Andrew Williams, told the Stray Ferret:

“In partnership with the cathedral, Ripon Business Improvement District, Ripon Together and the Ripon Community Poppy Project, we will provide an inclusive four-day programme of activities, that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

“There will be something for everybody as we and the entire nation join in the celebrations and after the bunting has gone from the streets, the platinum jubilee horn will provide a constant reminder of the Queen’s remarkable service to this country.”

On June 2, the cathedral, which celebrates its 1,350th anniversary this year, will be the focus of attention, when it hosts the civic service for North Yorkshire and later on that day, on Market Square, Ripon will join in a nation-wide beacon lighting ceremony.

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Free live music will be played from 11am until 11.30pm on Market Square between June 2 and 4 and fairground rides for children of all ages and adults will be in place.

On Sunday June 5, Spa Park will be the venue for music from Ripon City Band and children’s entertainers will also be performing.

The event is being arranged by the Ripon Community Poppy Project and attendees will be invited to take their own picnic.

 

 

 

Harrogate council housing company Bracewell Homes won’t pay any dividends this year

Harrogate Borough Council has insisted its housing company is performing well despite it not paying any dividends this year.

Bracewell Homes launched two years ago with the aims of turning the council a profit and intervening in Harrogate’s pricey property market to deliver much-needed rental and shared ownership homes at affordable prices.

Its developments are Horsa Way, Dishforth and The Willows on Whinney Lane in Harrogate.

It was set up with the backing of a £10 million loan from taxpayers and the council had budgeted to receive £267,000 in dividends this financial year.

However, the council has now said it won’t receive any of this money in a revelation which sparked questions over whether Bracewell Homes is underperforming.

Speaking at a meeting on Monday, Cllr Pat Marsh, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group, questioned if the dividend shortfall was being addressed as she said the company should be a benefit to the council and not a “drain” on its finances.

‘Extremely profitable’

But Paul Foster, head of finance at the council, responded to say the company was still “extremely profitable” and that it had continued to sell properties, although at a smaller percentage of shares than expected.

He said: 

“The company isn’t able to pay a dividend this year and the reason for that is a proportion of the shared home properties it has sold have been at shares of 25% and 30%.

“It would need to have sold shares of up to 50% for them to have enough cash to provide a dividend.

“In December, four or five properties were sold at a lower share than the company was forecasting and as a result there is less cash in the company.

“The company is not underperforming in particular. It is just not selling the larger shares which make it more cash rich.”

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According to documents filed with Companies House, Bracewell Homes had £459,565 in the bank as of March 2021.

Mr Foster also told Monday’s meeting that the council does not only benefit from the company through dividends, but also through cash coming from other areas.

He said: 

“There are three elements that the council benefits from Bracewell Homes – there is a recharge of staff salaries, interest charges on the loan that the council made to the company, and a payment of a dividend if the company is able to.

“The first two continue and we are still making money out of the company in that regard.”

40 properties by 2024

Since it was set up Bracewell Homes has so far acquired 26 homes and sold 22, which means it is on target to meet its initial aim of delivering 40 properties by 2024.

But with house prices continuing to soar and around 1,700 households on the council’s housing waiting list, there have been calls for the company to set much higher ambitions.

Cllr Marsh previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the company should be aiming to deliver “hundreds” of homes to ensure low-income earners can afford to live in Harrogate where average house prices paid rose to £395,526 in 2021.

Cllr Marsh previously said: 

“Forty homes in three years will barely make a dent in the need for the 1,700 on the waiting list, some living in very difficult circumstances.

“We need Bracewell homes to set targets to achieve hundreds of houses per year otherwise this crisis will never come to an end.”