Tag Archives: Harrogate

Trio Of Festive Fundraisers For Harrogate Neighbours

The team at non-for-profit organisation, Harrogate Neighbours have delivered a trio of festive fundraisers in a bid to spread joy and raise money this Christmas.

To make gift buying that little bit easier for residents and the wider community, a Christmas ‘pop-up’ shop took place at The Cuttings, Harrogate Neighbours’ extra care scheme.

Elizabeth, a resident at Harrogate Neighbours who makes and sells her own jewellery was joined by local, independent businesses who set up shop at the home selling a range of gifts, including tree decorations, chocolates, smellies and more. The initiative raised a close to of £200 for the charity.

Christmas wouldn’t be complete without a visit from Santa. To engage with the residents, their families and the wider community, an afternoon with the main man himself was organised at The Cuttings. This gave many local children a chance to meet with and write the most important letter of the year to Father Christmas himself.

Finally, Harrogate Neighbours launched its ‘Give a Little Kindness’ Christmas Card Appeal, which encourages people to consider donating to the organisation to support the local community instead of sending Christmas cards. The initiative has already raised over £150 for Harrogate Neighbours.

Raffles, a Christmas quiz and donation buckets took the Christmas fundraising total to over £500.

CEO of Harrogate Neighbours, Sue Cawthray said, “Not only have these fantastic events raised money for Harrogate Neighbours to enable us to continue to support older and vulnerable people living in the local community, but they’ve also brought the team together.”

“The residents also benefit hugely from events and activities that take place at The Cuttings – it’s wonderful to see their faces light up when the room is filled with love and laughter.”

“Christmas is a time to spread joy and that’s exactly what was achieved thanks to our team, residents and their families and friends.”

“We’re so grateful for the wonderful team here at Harrogate Neighbours and we’d like to remind people that we have a number of job vacancies available to join our organisation for anyone considering a career in care in the New Year.”

To find out more about job opportunities, visit the Harrogate Neighbours website here

Further Investment In Harrogate Leisure Facilities

Harrogate Borough Council is set to invest a further £1 million to ensure people can continue to keep fit and active for years to come.

Work is already well underway to provide a new 400sqm fitness suite, a new sauna and steam suite, improved reception and café, as well as an overhaul of the existing facilities, at the Hydro in Harrogate.

Outside, the building is being remodelled to provide a reconfigured car park, bicycle storage and electric vehicle charging points.

The existing gas boilers have been replaced with air-source heat pumps and 250 solar panels, along with new metering and energy monitoring and control systems. These energy efficiency measures come following a successful bid from the borough council through the government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) public sector decarbonisation scheme, and are anticipated to half the carbon footprint of the leisure centre.

The diving structure is also being replaced so that it can continue to create and nurture future Olympians.

As is often the case when refurbishing an existing building, some additional areas of work have been discovered that only came to light when the building was closed and a strip-out of the internal fabric had taken place.

This includes some improvements to the fire protection of the steel frame, replacement of corroded steelwork, replacement of soffit boarding, renewal of the existing moveable floor in the diving pool and resolution of heat loss between the roof and the external walls.

To help fund this additional work, and to ensure the building conforms to the latest legislation and is as energy-efficient as possible, the council have allocated a further £915,264.55.

Councillor Stanley Lumley, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, and chair of the board of directors at Brimhams Active, said: “At a time when some local authorities across the country are reviewing their investments in leisure facilities, we remain committed to ensuring people across the Harrogate district can keep fit and active for many years to come.”

“By carrying out this additional work now, while the facility is closed, we can ensure the building is fit for purpose and can conform to the latest legislation and building regulations.”

“And at a time of increasing energy costs, we are helping to offset this by making the leisure centre as energy-efficient as possible. And thanks to a government grant of some £1.8million, it will be able to utilise renewal energy.”

The council now anticipate the facility opening next summer.

In Knaresborough, the leisure and wellness centre is on target to open at the end next summer as construction work has benefitted from good ground conditions and weather.

Once complete it will provide a six-lane 25-metre pool, activity pool with flume, sauna and steam room, fitness suite and studio, spin studio, café, electric car charging points and bicycle storage. It will also incorporate high-efficiency building materials, air source heat pumps and solar panels to reduce the carbon footprint and energy consumption.

Harrogate Town Players Help Out During Meals On Wheels Week

On Wednesday 2nd November, Players and Management from Harrogate Town AFC joined volunteers and staff at non-for-profit organisation, Harrogate Neighbours to deliver meals with a difference to mark National Meals on Wheels Week.

Kayne Ramsey, George Horbury, Lewis Richards, First Team Manager and Director of Football, Simon Weaver and CEO of Harrogate Town AFC, Sarah Barry spent the morning at The Cuttings, Harrogate Neighbours’ extra care scheme learning about the vital service which sees over 100 meals prepared and delivered into the community every single day.

Like so many areas of the social care sector, meals on wheels requires greater government funding to support older and vulnerable people living within the community, who without the dedicated volunteers who run the service would not receive a nutritionally balanced, hot daily meal.

Player Lewis Richards said, “I really enjoyed meeting the service users and seeing how much effort goes into preparing the meals. The volunteers are amazing – it was a real feel good factor.”

Speaking on behalf of the club, Sarah Barry, CEO of Harrogate Town AFC said, “Sue and her team are doing a fantastic job of tackling the issues facing this vital service. We were honored to be able to see first-hand how the service works and how important it is for so many vulnerable people living within our community.”

“The players really enjoyed seeing the meals being prepped, meeting the volunteers and joining them on their deliveries – the service users were all very excited to see Simon and the players at their door and hope our involvement helps raise awareness for this vitally important campaign”

Commenting on the initiatives, CEO of Harrogate Neighbours, Sue Cawthray said, “We’re so grateful for the support of the local community and especially the Harrogate Town AFC players who have dedicated their time to the cause.”

“As Chair of the National Association of Care Catering, Meals on Wheels Week is an opportunity to raise awareness of the service, say thank you to the volunteers, who without, the service would not be possible and do our bit here in Yorkshire to encourage more funding to ensure the sustainability of such a vital service.”

“Due to the rising cost of living, many people are going to have to choose between eating or heating and that’s just not right. Malnutrition in older people is on the rise, our service supports those at risk, protects the NHS and allows our team to provide not only hot food, but a daily ‘check-in’ which is vital to people’s wellbeing.”

Consultation Launched On Development Plan Around Hammerton & Catal

This week, Harrogate Borough Council have launched a consultation on the development plan document (DPD) for the new settlement in the Hammerton/Cattal area of Harrogate district.

Known as Maltkiln, the new settlement is a key part of the district’s growth strategy, providing much needed homes and jobs in a sustainable location along the York-Harrogate-Leeds railway line.

The broad location of the new settlement was established in the adopted Harrogate District Local Plan, but it is through the DPD that the boundary, form and nature of the new settlement will be set.

The DPD will be used to determine planning applications submitted in the area.

Councillor Tim Myatt, Harrogate Borough Council’s cabinet member for planning, said: “The DPD sets a clear and ambitious thirty year vision for Maltkiln and provides a policy framework that will enable the planning authority to lead, guide and manage how it is developed.”

As a result of the policies and proposals in the DPD, Maltkiln will be a place where people have access to homes, including affordable and self-build homes, a range of employment opportunities, shops, health, leisure and community facilities, schools, public transport and open spaces.

It will also be planned and delivered in a way that supports the delivery of net-zero carbon emissions by 2038. This means reducing the need to travel, providing walking and cycling infrastructure and improvements to public transport as well as supporting the transition to low emission private cars. As well as improving building standards to reduce the amount of energy needed in buildings and where it is needed that it is clean and green energy.

Councillor Myatt added: “I’d urge people to share their views on the draft DPD to ensure the new settlement is delivered correctly and provides first-class homes – and the appropriate infrastructure – for future communities.”

Residents can share their views online here or at the civic centre in Harrogate, Harrogate Library, Ripon Library, Knaresborough Library, Boroughbridge Library or Poppleton Library until 14 November.