THIS week, Harrogate Grammar schools canteen extension was finally finished. Building work went on for around 4 months, with most of the work being done during the schools' summer holiday.
The extension, named ’The Hub’, was created to make room for the ever-expanding number of students taking school lunches, as well as the increase in the school population. It provides an additional seating space for another 200 students, and will hopefully reduce the queues within school. The unusual name of The Hub was given because everyone is hoping it will become the heart of the school.
Mr Steven Howell, the schools business manager, said “We’re all really pleased with how The Hub has turned out; it means that not only will it reduce queues at lunchtime, but also it is a new place for sixth formers to work quietly in, as well as providing a larger amount of room for staff meetings.”
As well as this, year 10 students expressed delight at the schools new facility saying that it will definitely encourage them to use the schools meal service as it makes eating a much more pleasurable and sociable experience.
Head teacher Mr Richard Sheriff, had this to say “The students at Harrogate Grammar are very privileged to have this facility available to them, and this is just the start of expansion work at the school. Contractors are due to begin work in a week’s time on an extension to the sixth form block.” So far, profits at the canteen are significantly up as students have reacted very positively to the new facility.
Comedy festival begins
LAST Monday saw the first Harrogate Comedy Festival kick off with John Bishop starting the entertainment at the Harrogate Theatre. Bishop, 42, treated the audience to a hilarious night of comedy taken from his award-nominated Edinburgh Fringe show. His performance at Harrogate marked the start of a whirlwind 70-date tour . The show started off with Bishop getting to know the crowd through light hearted exchanges with the braver members of the audience, and Bishop himself finding out about Knaresborough ‘crag rats’. With a slightly free formed first half, what followed was a more structured – but equally as funny – second half, when Bishop laid bare all of his worries about middle-aged life such as when its wrong to still be wearing white trainers, his sons not liking him, and finally reaching the age when Elvis died. What many found about John Bishop is his fantastic ability to talk to people of all ages, as the audience was a huge mixture of different ages, ranging from 17-70! There wasn’t a dull moment during his routine, the audience was left howling with laughter, and the Gazette wishes Bishop the best of luck with his comedy career.
Race For Life donations
ORGANISERS from the Race For Life events are still asking for donations to be sent through, so that Harrogate’s £150,000 target. Around 70% of people have sent their completed forms in.
Second Car Flips
YET another car has flipped over onto its side after leaving Waitrose Car Park this month. The family, who were in a Vauxhall Zafira, hit the bollard outside Waitrose and proceeded to flip over. This is a repeat of an incident which happened on the 8th September involving a Renault Clio. Luckily in both cases, the drivers were unharmed.
Harrogate's fat cats
IN a recent survey, it was found that Harrogate has Yorkshires biggest population of overweight cats. The survey found out that out of the 70% of Harrogate citizens who own cats, around 65% ofthose are too overweight to be considered healthy. This is incredibly worrying for pet owners, as the risk of a cat developing health problems such as diabetes and cancer is increased. The cost implications of this are dire because (besides the extra food costs!) as we all know, vets fees are on the up. Aneysha Wakelin, 34, told the Gazette “I’m really worried about this, my cat Sooty is three times the weight he should be, and I simply can’t afford to go to the vets to get him checked up on all the time”.
Experts simply cannot understand why it is Harrogate that is the worst offender, but vet Fiona Reaney had this advice to share; “If you find your cat is overweight, try putting them on a dry food diet – as this is much better for them – and make sure you don’t give them more food than they actually need". If residents of Harrogate listen to this advice, hopefully we should see a vast improvement to our cats.