1) A YORK shopping centre has got festive fundraising all wrapped up in aid of Martin House Hospice. McArthurGlen York Designer Outlet is supporting the children’s hospice through a partnership with designer Peter Pilotto. Together they have launched an exclusive collaboration of three one-of-a-kind Christmas wrapping paper designs with all proceeds going to the charity.

 

2) The long-running saga over whether a footpath between Bridge Street and Pottergate, in Helmsley, should be added to the North Yorkshire Definitive Map of rights of way, is to be sent to the Secretary of State for the Environment by the end of next March, the town council has been told, after which a decision is expected to be announced.

 

3) PEOPLE in Hambleton are being encouraged to recycle the aluminium tops on glass bottles. The Leave Your Cap On campaign aims to increase the recycling of aluminium screw tops and collars by urging people to screw the tops back onto the empty glass bottles before taking them to recycling bottle banks, or putting them out for kerbside recycling. Hambleton council’s Brian Phillips said: “Thanks to modern recycling methods aluminium bottle tops are easier to recover for recycling when they are collected with the glass, so it is now possible to recycle and continue re-using this precious metal over and over again.” Posters promoting the scheme can now be seen on the sides of the council’s refuse wagons.

 

4) A BANK has announced it is axing a market town branch. NatWest said its branch in Bedale Market Place would close on March 25, leaving the town with two banks, as the number of transactions taking place there had dropped by 20 per cent over the last few years. It expected the trend to continue as an increasing number of its customers banked using its mobile app, online, by telephone and its network of cash machines. A NatWest spokesman said all branch staff would be redeployed elsewhere.

 

5) A WINDOW cleaner from North Yorkshire has scaled dizzy heights by reaching base camp at Mount Everest. Nick Brown, 51, from Knaresborough, took on the 14-day trek in Nepal to raise money for Henshaws Society For Blind People, as he cleans the windows of the charity’s Arts & Crafts Centre in Bond End, Knaresborough. Mr Brown completed the challenge despite coming down with food poisoning six days into the trip. He said: “It was an unbelievable experience and something that I will always remember. “The scenery is mind blowing and photographs and documentaries simply cannot do it justice. I am delighted to have done it in aid of such a great cause.” So far, Mr Brown has raised about £3,000 for the charity, and the Knaresborough branch of Halifax has agreed to double his fundraising total. To donate, go to tinyurl.com/nickeverest.

 

6) AN 85-year-old man died in York Hospital just over a fortnight after falling and fracturing his skull, an inquest heard. George Henry Barnes fell outside his home in New Lane, York, on November 21, said Coroner Jonathan Leach. A CT scan showed a fractured skull and bleeding and he was admitted to the high dependency unit, but Mr Barnes’s condition deteriorated, and he developed pneumonia and died on December 7. The inquest was adjourned to a later date. Mr Barnes’s funeral will take place at St Helen’s Church, Wheldrake, at 2.30pm next Thursday.

 

7) RESIDENTS in the Selby district will have their waste collected as usual over the festive period – unless their collection is due on Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day. Selby District Council and Amey Plc will bring forward refuse and kerbside box collections due on December 25 to Saturday December 20. Collections due on Boxing Day will take place on Saturday December 27 and New Year’s Day collections will take place on Saturday January 3. Garden green collections will be suspended from Monday December 15 until Friday January 9.

 

8) FORMER staff from the melangeur and chocolate supply department at the Nestlé and former Rowntree factory are being invited to a free Christmas party at Bootham Conservative Club at 2.30pm on Wednesday December 17. People can just turn up, said organisers.