Homes plan for Piccadilly office block, and 15 other news snippets you may have missed

A developer wants to bring the former Crown Prosecution Service building at United House in Piccadilly back into use as studio flats and one, two and three- bedroomed apartments. 

An earlier application, agreed by the City of York Council last year, would have seen it converted into 116 residential apartments in total including 12 large one-bed apartments, 102 smaller apartments and two penthouse apartments. 

The latest scheme includes 59 studio, one, two and three-bedroomed apartments in the seven-storey building.

Man injured in burglary

A NORTH Yorkshire man is in hospital after he was assaulted during an aggravated burglary.

North Yorkshire Police said two men entered a house in Bondgate, Ripon, between 4.20pm and 7pm on Tuesday, and punched and kicked the 44-year-old man to the ground.

The men both had scarves covering their faces, and detectives have urged anyone who saw anything suspicious to contact them on 101 with information.

It is not yet clear what was stolen in the burglary.

Beverley relief road to be opened by Minister

BEVERLEY’S Southern Relief Road will be officially opened this afternoon by Transport Minister Robert Goodwill.

The 2.8 km stretch of road - named Minster Way - is a key part of the £22 million Beverley Integrated Transport Plan and is forecast to carry 13,000 vehicles a day around the south of Beverley, reducing congestion and improving traffic flows in the East Yorkshire town.

College lambing Sunday

BISHOP Burton College, in East Yorkshire, will be holding its lambing Sunday this weekend.

The event’s 50th anniversary coincides with Mother’s Day. As well as new-born lambs, there will be activities for visitors including showjumping, dressage and a tractor display.

Mother’s Day meals can also be booked at £16 for adults and £9 for children.

Gates are open from 11am to 3pm, and a free park-and-ride service will run from Beverley racecourse from 11am, with the last bus back at 3.15pm. There will also be free buses from Hull and Beverley stations.

To reserve places or bus tickets go to shop.bishopburton.ac.uk.

Follow the birds

BIRDS leaving Parliament Street in York are among the signs of spring conservationists are urging nature lovers to look out for in the coming days and weeks.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is calling for help in documenting the arrival of spring and have listed some sights it is expecting to see in its 97 nature reserves.

It will retweet and share spring sightings such as the first daffodils which nature-lovers post on Facebook and Twitter using #wildspring.

Among spring sights recommended by the trust is the departure for their summer homes of winter-roosting pied wagtails from Parliament Street in York; puffins, guillemots and kittiwakes returning to Flamborough cliffs; avocets, which used to be on the severely threatened list of birds, returning to North Cave Wetlands near Brough and adders emerging from hibernation at Allerthorpe Common near Pocklington, Ellerburn Bank, near Thornton-le-Dale and Fen Bog, near Goathland.

Terry letters a new attraction at York’s historical gem


Celebrating Goddard’s reopening are Clare Fletcher, left, and Karla Simpson with tea and a Terry’s chocolate orange cake.

A HISTORICAL gem at the heart of York’s chocolate history has reopened for a new season.

Goddards, the Arts and Crafts house in Tadcaster Road that once belonged to the Terry family, can be visited from Wednesday to Sunday from 11am until 5pm and visitors can enjoy new trails around the property and new displays.

The main display features neverbefore- shown letters between the former owner of the house Noel Terry and the man who designed the property, architect Walter Brierley.

The letters offer a detailed insight into how the house was designed and built.

Clare Fletcher, visitor experience and volunteering manager, said: “Goddards is a hidden gem in York – a tranquil garden and chocolate-box house and we invite you to come and discover it in a new way this year.”

Goddards House will remain open to visitors until the end of June. For admission prices, go to nationaltrust.org.uk/goddards.

Get quicker broadband in Pocklington

RESIDENTS and traders in Pocklington can now access super fast broadband.

A partnership between East Riding of Yorkshire Council and BT has made fibre broadband speeds of up to 80Mbps available to more than 4,000 homes and businesses in the town.

Councillor Jonathan Owen, deputy leader of the authority, said: "Both the council and BT are working in partnership to ensure local communities benefit from high-speed broadband, which is essential in this digital age, as technology develops and more and more business and social connections are made online."

John Skidmore, director of corporate strategy and commissioning, added: "At home, superfast broadband will enable people to run multiple bandwidth-hungry applications at the same time making gaming, watching BBC i-Player, using Skype to keep in touch with friends and family anywhere in the world, or downloading films and music much quicker and free from ‘buffering’ or screen freeze."

For more details about where the service is available visit www.broadband.eastriding.gov.uk

New LED lights for Tadcaster swimming pool

THE trust in charge of a popular swimming pool will soon install LED lighting in changing rooms and on the poolside after it received a huge donation of cash.

Yorventure donated £20,000 to Tadcaster Swimming Pool Trust after it managed to generate funds through Yorwaste Ltd.

The new lighting has been installed by JH Services.

Chris Porter, manager, said: “It’s fantastic that Tadcaster Pool has been awarded this money and we are using it to improve our customer experience and reduce our CO2 emissions

Music to the ears of youth

YOUNG musicians can join big bands, choirs and guitar groups to hone their musical skills.

York Music Service is to run Saturday morning workshops at Canon Lee School from April 18 for people aged from 8 to 25.

Derek Warley, director, said: "York Music Service has been teaching in schools for three years now, and as our numbers increased, we decided that we really needed to provide the opportunity for our students to join together to make music.

"When Canon Lee School told us they would have space that we could use after Easter, we jumped at the chance to bring our plans to life.

"We are already planning our first performances, and out first foreign concert tour which will be in summer 2016."

Details of all the groups that young musicians can join can be found on the York Music Service website.

For more information on York Music Forum, contact; forum@yorkmusicservice.co.uk

Sneak preview of film based on former college student

A SPECIAL preview event was held in York to showcase a new British film inspired by the story of a former York College student.

X Plus Y, starring Asa Butterfield, Sally Hawkins and Rafe Spall and directed by Morgan Matthews, is due for national release on Friday, March 13, but there was an invite-only screening at York’s City Screen on Sunday – where guests got to meet the inspiration behind the film, Daniel Lightwing.

The film is largely based on Daniel’s life, showing a young man with Asperger’s who struggled with social interactions and relationships, but still managed to attain success with a silver medal in the International Mathematics Olympiad.

Daniel is now in his 20s and living in London, has worked as a programmer for Google and recently joined the company Greenday, who are building what will be the largest building in Europe, as IT, translating and marketing manager. His dad, David, an Elvington GP, still lives in Wharthill with his wife, Carolyn, and they hosted the screening.

The film will be showing at City Screen from Friday, March 20.

Can your gardens help a hedgehog?

A WILDLIFE rescue centre is looking to re-home hedgehogs this spring.

Over the coming weeks, staff at Selby Wildlife Rescue will look to people who can offer space for the prickly animals.

Annette Pyrah, owner, said: "Over the last few days all our hibernating hedgehogs have woken up and as the weather warms up we are hoping to release them into suitable gardens and habitats.

"We also have many tiny hedgehogs who were born late in the year and are simply too small to hibernate.

"These little ones have never been asleep and have gorged themselves all winter on cat food and mealworms.

"They are now huge and need to be out in the wild as soon as possible."

Annette is looking for gardens which are not completely enclosed as the animals require around 10 gardens in which to forage and meet others.

Anyone interested in helping can call the centre on 07803 180720 or visit the website at www.selbywildlife.co.uk

Call to report hate crime

THE Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire has said she wants to see higher reporting of learning disability hate crime in the region.

Her statement supports the Stand By Me campaign, which was launched in 2011 by mental health charity Mencap, and recently called on PCCs around the country to promise to help ensure people with learning disabilities can live free from fear of hate crime.

Julia Mulligan said: “Hate crime is drastically under reported, so much so that improving how the police deals with hate crime forms an important part of the Police and Crime Plan. Unlike most crimes I want to see an increase in reported incidents as this will signify an increased confidence in the police’s ability to deal with these crimes.”

Mrs Mulligan said the new York-based Victim Services Unit, which is due to go live on April 1, will “support our most vulnerable victims and help them get their lives back to normal as quickly as possible”, and bring improvements for victims.

Rossanna Trudgian, Mencap’s head of campaigns, said: “As many as nine out of 10 people with a learning disability have experienced hate crime. This is disgraceful and must stop. Many police services are doing good work, and their response is getting better, but there is still a long way to go.”

Book fair weekend

BOOKWORMS could get their hands on a hidden gem next weekend.

The annual Harrogate Book Fair takes place on Friday, March 13 and Saturday March, 14, at Pavilions in the town.

The exhibition of antiquarian and second-hand books features 80 dealers from across the UK.

Should you need a short break to consider your favourites, there is an in-house café serving a range of sandwiches and cakes.

On Saturday, the Local Family History event, run by the North Yorkshire County Records Office, also takes place with entry half price on production of the Book Fair catalogue or ticket.

Parking is free and a shuttle bus service runs from the town centre rail and bus depots every 30 minutes. Complimentary tickets can be downloaded from www.pbfa.org/ For more information call 07950 647377.

New lay chair of Vale of York CCG announced

A senior health executive will be the new lay chair of the NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

Keith Ramsey, currently chair of the group's audit committee, has held senior posts in NHS and other health organisations and has worked closely with community health champions to reduce health inequalities across Yorkshire and Humberside.

He will succeed the current lay chair, Alan Maynard, professor of health economics at the University of York, on April 1 and hold office for three years.

Dr Mark Hayes, the CCG's chief clinical officer said: “Professor Maynard’s expertise, impartiality and probity have played a crucial role in the CCG’s ability to achieve its strategic aims and objectives.

“His scholarly prowess coupled with the recognition he has earned as a lead authority on health reform and economics have helped to give the CCG a national platform.

“The CCG will certainly miss working so closely with Professor Maynard but it looks forward to moving ahead with its plans under Keith’s guidance and expertise.”
 

Expert to give lecture on anti-cancer drugs 

AN EXPERT is to give a public lecture in York’s Tempest Anderson Hall about the chemistry of anti-cancer drugs.

Dr Patrick McGowan, head of inorganic chemistry at the University of Leeds, will explain how current research is exploring how potent anti-cancer drugs can be developed in the laboratory.

He will be delivering the latest in the Yorkshire Philosophical Society’s lecture series at 7.30pm next Tuesday at the hall in the Museum Gardens. All are welcome and admission is free.

New church moves into old York church and plans tribute concert to gospel singer 

A NEW church group is moving in with one York's longest established churches after reaching an agreement to share its building.

The Ark Church says it worshipped in Foxwood Community Centre for 11 years, but with council cutbacks and threats of closure, it was forced to make alternative plans, and it is now moving into Trinity Methodist Church in Monkgate.

Pastor Stephen Redman said there is still a traditional Methodist service every Sunday at 9.45am and then a 'more contemporary experience' with the Ark at 11am.

He said it was 'a joy' to work with the Reverend David Godfrey and his team at Trinity. "They have made us so welcome and been very gracious to us in every way. Now there are two reasons to worship in this grand old building!"

He said a number of activities were planned in the run up to Easter, including a vintage tea room experience from 1pm next Saturday. "There will be activities for children and displays of the work of the Ark Church as well as free tea/coffee," he said. The grand opening celebration will follow at 7.30pm with all welcome.

"The following week, at 7.30pm on March 21, the Ark is hosting an Andraé Crouch Tribute Concert in conjunction with Libberty Arts.

"This legendary performer died on January 8 and President Obama came to the lectern that night to say how much he and his wife had been impacted by his music.

"There will be a number of really special guests and talented musicians bringing the music of Andraé Crouch to life.

Steve Alexander Smith, author of the definitive book on the history of British Black Gospel will be there to share a little about Andraé’s impact in our nation."