A POLICE helicopter flew over York last night as part of a search for a missing 78-year-old man.

Officers also searched the building site in Walmgate where The Press used to be situated before he was found safe and well elsewhere.

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CHRISTMAS dinner is set to cost less than last year thanks to the rise of the discounters, bringing welcome news for consumers facing the expense of the festive season.

Good Housekeeping said it would be possible to provide a festive feast for just £2.66 per guest by shopping around various supermarkets for the cheapest ingredients. It said the drop in cost was a direct result of the battle between the discounters and the traditional supermarkets pulling prices down for all consumers.

The magazine’s sixth annual survey found the cheapest Christmas basket is down three per cent on last year.

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A NEW childcare initiative is being trialled to help parents in York. Ten Community Childcare and Early-Learning Hubs have been set up across the country by childcare charity 4Children on behalf of the Department for Education – four of which are in York.

York was chosen because of its award-winning Shared Foundation Partnership initiative between the council, playgroups, nurseries, childminders and schools which helps develop more choices for families with children aged under five.

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RESIDENTS in Tadcaster have been urged to report any unwanted callers following a spate of incidents in the town.

North Yorkshire Police received several calls on Saturday, November 15, from residents in the Golf Links Avenue, Golf Links Crescent and Stutton Road areas, who had been asked by a man going door to door to take part in a health and wellbeing survey. Many of the residents who took part then received calls stating they had won a holiday, and police said the survey and the calls were thought to be bogus.

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A VILLAGE church is holding a fundraising event at the weekend.

There will be a variety of stalls at the church of St Mary the Virgin in Main Street, Hemingbrough, from 10am to 2pm on Saturday. People are asked to make or donate a reasonably priced item to sell at the event, which will raise funds for the church.

There will be tombola, home made cakes, a guess the weight of the Christmas cake competition, home made preserves, floral displays, other stalls ceramic vases and bowls and jewellery and a children’s activity area.

Funds raised will be for the church.Selby and District Dial, The Stroke Associations and Gems will all have stalls and representatives at the event.

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BE INDEPENDENT, York’s provider of equipment and warden call service, has equipped its mobile wardens with automated defibrillators.

Be Independent’s wardens are required to manage a variety of situations when they attend a customer’s house in response to a telecare call and have, on occasions, been required to carry out CPR on customers.

Heather Barden, chief executive of Be Independent said: “One of our wardens, Billy Partridge, made a suggestion that Be Independent’s mobile wardens could carry AEDs to enhance the services offered to customers.

“It was felt that this additional service would provide further reassurance to wardens, customers and their families about the intervention and support Be Independent can provide.”

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FORMER Foreign Secretary William Hague will be the special guest and speaker at a fundraising dinner for Northallerton’s Friarage Hospital.

The Richmond MP will give an exclusive speech on “Twenty-six years as an MP: highlights and experiences” in support of the campaign for an MRI scanner at the hospital.

The dinner – organised in partnership with The Rotary Clubs of Northallerton, Northallerton Mowbray and the Inner Wheel – is being held on January 24 at the Golden Lion Hotel, High Street, Northallerton.

It will start at 6.30pm for 7.30pm and includes a three-course dinner and auction of promises. Tickets, priced at £50 per person, are available from 01609 772875, 770779 or 770451.

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ONE in three workers would prefer more holidays to a pay rise and most believe extra leave would motivate them to switch jobs, according to a report.

A survey of almost 8,000 adults in 24 countries for travel site Expedia found that those in Britain and Europe had more holiday time than workers in Asia Pacific and North America.

The highest number of days offered to staff is 30 in Denmark, France, Germany and Spain, 28 in Italy, and 26 in Britain.

In comparison, holidays totalled 15 days in the United States and Mexico, and just 11 in Thailand, the study by consulting firm Northstar found.

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YOUNG Farmers celebrated this year’s Tour de France spectacle with a party, and raised £1,200 in the process.

The Selby group hosted a French-themed party for St Leonard’s Hospice and Marie Curie Cancer Care at Allotment Farm, in Wistow Common. More than 400 people attended the event.

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YORK’S brightest people will get the chance to join Mensa when it holds a supervised test session in York at the weekend.

It is the first of two sessions in the city held by the high IQ society, whose membership is open to anyone with an IQ in the top two per cent of the population.

This month’s session will be at the Priory Street Centre, Priory Street, at 2pm on Saturday.

Anyone wanting to take an IQ test must pre-book at www.mensa.org.uk/iq-tests, by phoning 01902 772771 (select option 1) or by emailing bookatest@mensa.org.uk The next session will be on February 21.

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NORTH Yorkshire pharmacies are emphasising the Government message for people to visit their local pharmacy with common ailments first rather than GPs’ surgeries and hospital A&E departments.

NHS England is actively promoting pharmacies as a key first-contact point for care with its campaign Feeling Under The Weather.

Liz Colling, pharmacist and chair of the North Yorkshire Pharmaceutical Committee, said: “North Yorkshire’s community pharmacies have lots of experience in helping people with advice on the best form of treatment for common winter ailments. We support the initiative to encourage people to use their local pharmacy more.”

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A MILITARY recruit from Harrogate, Air Trooper Alexander Strzeszewski, has been awarded the Soldiers’ Soldier Trophy after being chosen by his peers at the Phase 2 Army Air Corps Trade Training, Middle Wallop.

He said: “To win the award of Soldiers’ Soldier is a huge honour as it shows recognition from those around me. It is something I will always be proud to have achieved.”

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A CHOIR that has performed for the Queen and the BBC is to hold a concert in North Yorkshire this month.

The African Children’s Choir will visit King James’ School in Knaresborough on November 29, for a concert featuring children’s songs, hand clapping, spiritual tunes and ethnic instruments.

The concert starts at 7pm and will raise funds for orphaned children in Africa. Tickets cost £5 for adults and £3 for children and are available from the school on 01423 866061.

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MOTORISTS are reminded that one of York’s busiest junctions is closed every night this week, from 7pm to 5am.

Works are being carried out around Exhibition Square to improve bus services, so the junction of St Leonard’s Place, Gillygate and Bootham will be closed.

Traffic is being diverted away from the junction and pedestrians will only be allowed round the work accompanied by the road workers.

All of the roads are open as normal between 5am and 7pm but drivers should look out for ramps and raised ironwork.

On December 1, work will begin for two weeks outside the York Theatre Royal, including a new kerb, relocating bus stop flags and widening the pavement. The work has been timed to coincide with the theatre closing for two weeks for pantomime rehearsals.

The work to cover Exhibition Square began in September and is expected to be finished by mid-December. The stops in the area are used for 750,000 bus journeys a year, mainly to the north of York.