A round-up of news from your council this month, including outdoor activities for the school half-term holidays and how a butchery event will help to improve your maths skills.

Help shape the future of Scarborough with millions of pounds in investment

The Government selected Scarborough last year as one of 55 towns to be awarded £20 million over the next 10 years as part of its Long Term Plan for Towns.

We have launched a consultation – Let’s Talk Scarborough – to ask how we should use this money to shape the future of the town.

This is a key opportunity to improve Scarborough and residents’ voices in this consultation will directly influence how we grow and change for the better.

The Government has highlighted the following themes for projects using this substantial funding - enhancing safety and security, reviving our high streets, preserving our heritage, and improving transportation and connectivity.

Projects are not just about infrastructure but about creating a vibrant, inclusive community where everyone feels at home.

Let’s Talk Scarborough is the first step in a decade-long journey of transformation.

The consultation uses an interactive map so you can drop a pin and tell us the exact spot you'd like to see improvements in the town.

Take part in the consultation and share your views.

Harrogate to showcase electric vehicles and green energy

A concerted effort to tackle climate change will see a North Yorkshire town host a major event promoting electric vehicles and green energy.

Harrogate has a burgeoning reputation for putting on high profile events that grab the public’s attention and between 24 and 26 May it will be the base for Everything Electric North, dubbed the world’s number one home energy and electric vehicle show.

The event is being held at the Yorkshire Event Centre at the Great Yorkshire Showground and North Yorkshire Council will be represented, with its electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure officer set to be a member of two panels of experts.

The panels will debate whether electric vehicle charging at work and destinations should be standard practice and whether you really need a driveway to own an electric car.

Our assistant director for highways and transport, Barrie Mason, said:

“Our aim is to encourage more people to make the move to electric vehicles and our infrastructure rollout is an important part of convincing people across the county that there is a dependable, viable alternative to petrol and diesel.”

This is the second consecutive year that Everything Electric North will be held at the Yorkshire Event Centre, and its 15th exhibition around the world.

The event’s chief executive, Dan Caesar, said: “The centre was a natural choice as a venue that offered a beautiful indoor and outdoor setting for our 'festival of electrification', suitability for a major test drive programme, and its central location to give access to the North, Midlands and Scotland.

“North Yorkshire has given us a huge welcome, and is for many of our audience and customers, the favourite of our shows across the globe.”

See information on tickets and exhibiting for Everything Electric North.

Butchery giving you the chance to hone your maths skills

An event is being staged to show how the art of butchery will help people to develop their maths skills.

Multiply North Yorkshire has teamed up with the team at Roots Farm Shop to bring a new learning experience on Monday, 10 June, from 10am to 2pm.

The Multiply project was launched in 2022 to improve the numeracy skills of residents in York and North Yorkshire and received a £3.3 million investment via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Designed to develop maths skills through fun activities, the scheme has been hugely successful across North Yorkshire and a series of workshops have been lined up over the summer months.

The event with Roots Farm Shop will include a sausage-making session which will involve adding up the amount of ingredients to make the perfect example.

Visitors will have the opportunity to tour the farm, make sausages, understand the skills of a butcher, and take part in fun activities which Multiply has to offer.

Lunch will be provided by the café staff, and visitors will get a chance to shop in the farm shop with a complimentary £5 voucher to use.

This event is free but places are limited and bookings can be made by emailing Multiplyteam@northyorks.gov.uk

Please note this event is not suitable for children.

Keep up to date with other Multiply sessions taking place across the county.

Businesses set to benefit from £1 million in funding to develop enterprise

Businesses which form the bedrock of North Yorkshire’s economy have the chance to benefit from £1 million in funding through a new package of capital grants.

Small and micro businesses, which make up 98 per cent of the county’s economy, can apply for the small business grant scheme, administered by North Yorkshire Council through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The scheme is focussed on increasing business growth, productivity and resilience and grants of between £1,000 and £10,000 are available.

This is the second round of small business grants, following an incredibly successful first round of this programme in the last financial year which saw £750,000 awarded to businesses across the county.

Alex Brown, a videographer based in Selby, was awarded a grant of £4,300 to purchase new camera equipment including a drone to expand and upgrade his services.

Thanks to the new equipment, Alex was able to secure two commissions from a German international TV news channel, a job he would not previously have been able to take as his old camera didn’t meet the broadcaster’s requirements.

Alex said: “The fact I’ve got a better camera which is Netflix-approved means people will be getting a better product.

“I’ve had two jobs already that I simply wouldn’t have been able to do had I not had the funding so that’s great.”

Micro businesses, with less than 10 employees, and small firms with less than 50 employees can also access free support beyond the grant through the business advisory teams at the council and the York and North Yorkshire Growth Hub.

North Yorkshire’s economy is heavily slanted towards smaller businesses and there are more than 32,700 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises alongside 90 large businesses in the county.

Our council leader and the chair of the SPF Board, Cllr Carl Les, said: “We are delighted to open this grant scheme once again after seeing such a positive uptake for the first round.”

To aid businesses with their applications, the York and North Yorkshire Growth Hub, with its partners at Enterprise Cube, has organised two webinars on writing a business plan and a cash flow forecast which will take place on 16 and 17 May.

The closing date for applications is Friday, 12 July.

See more information about the grant scheme.

See further details of the webinars.

Encounter vice and virtue at annual Archives at Dusk event

A chance to encounter vice and virtue across North Yorkshire is on offer to visitors to the County Record Office next month.

The annual Archives at Dusk event on 23 May is a fascinating free invitation to delve into the past and discover some little-known facts from the county’s past.

The event will be staged at the County Record Office on Malpas Road in Northallerton.

North Yorkshire Council’s conservation and digitisation manager, Rachel Greenwood, said: “Our Record Office is a treasure trove of information about our ancestors and how they used to live and Archives at Dusk is a highlight of our year.

“For this year’s theme, ‘Vice and Virtue’, our expert staff will explore expressions of faith through a variety of Anglican, Methodist and Quaker records. We will also look at acts of murder and wrongdoing from long ago through the North Riding Quarter Sessions, coroners, police and workhouse archives.”

The evening will also feature special guests, including Sophie Cawthorne, who worked with the Record Office on the current exhibition, ‘Treasures from the Parish Chest’.

The University of York’s archaeology professor, Dr Kate Giles, will talk about how parish records for Pickering can be used along with other historic sources and give an insight into the late medieval wall paintings at St Peter and St Paul’s Church in the town.

The curator for the Abbey Collection at Whitby Museum, Cristiane Kroebel, will talk about Saint Hilda and a case of medieval adultery in Egton from 1357.

West Yorkshire Archive Service’s archivist, Vicky Grindrod, will showcase documents about Fountains Abbey and explain their relevance to the National Trust’s Skell Valley project in Ripon and the surrounding area. The project involves 16 organisations and aims to create a sustainable future for the valley.

There will also be the opportunity to look at arts and crafts in churches, and take part in glass engraving with Sandra Snaddon, whose work can be found in St Mary’s Church, Masham.

Archives at Dusk takes place between 6.30pm and 8pm on Thursday, 23 May, at the North Yorkshire County Record Office, Malpas Road, Northallerton DL7 8TB. Entry is free and there is no need to book. Free parking is available on site and nearby.

Find out more about the County Record Office.

Find out more about the collections and events on the County Record’s Office’s blog site.

New trail gives visitors the chance to explore historic gardens in Scarborough

A new accessible orienteering trail is being launched for visitors to South Cliff Gardens in Scarborough.

The new venture will be showcased to the public on Friday, 17 May, when the team who designed and created the trail will be at the Beeforth’s Hive community hub in the gardens from 2pm to 7pm.

The trail is aimed at giving visitors the chance to explore the gardens in a new way.

The team will be giving out free waterproof maps on the day, and no experience of orienteering is necessary as there will be volunteers on hand to help get visitors started.

The course maps have been prepared by Peter Roberts, who is a member of British Orienteering and North Yorkshire’s Eborienteers Orienteering Club.

An experienced competitor in the sport, Peter has been selected as a member of the GBR orienteering disabled team for this year’s European TrailO* Championships taking place in Finland in early May. He has also been selected in the last two world championship teams and in both gained a podium place in the relay.

TrailO is a discipline in orienteering and is suitable for all levels of physical ability, including wheelchair users and people with mobility issues.

He will be at the launch event where people can come along and have a chat to him about his achievements and discover why he is so passionate about orienteering.

Peter said: “The Accessible course in South Cliff gardens is excellent for those wanting to try out their navigational skills. I first came across this area when I planned the 2019 British TrailO championships there.”

Our community engagement officer for South Cliff Gardens, Gemma Alexander, added: “It’s been a real pleasure to collaborate with Peter on this project.

“The gardens have a long history of being a great place to go to improve health and wellbeing, socialise, explore and enjoy the extensive sea views and charming tree lined pathways.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer this new and inclusive activity, it’s a fantastic way to experience the recently restored gardens.”

Enjoy a fun-filled, action packed May half-term in the great outdoors

Our outdoor learning service are running an action-packed Adventure Club in the May half-term school holiday and launching fun-filled Family Activity Days that adults can enjoy with their children.

Our Adventure Club gets young people active, outdoors and in touch with nature enjoying a school holiday experience like no other.

A mix of land and water programmes suitable for ages eight to 13, activities could include climbing, caving, high ropes, river scrambling and water sports such as canoeing and sailing.

If you want to help them grow in confidence, learn team building skills and make new friends, then book a space now for one, two, three or all four days.

The Adventure Club is running on 28, 29, 30 and 31 May and you can choose from either Bewerley Park Outdoor Education Centre in Pateley Bridge or East Barnby Outdoor Education Centre in Whitby. Drop-off is from 8.30am and pick-up by 4.45pm.

Adventure Club places cost £50 per young person per day with a 10 per cent discount for siblings or booking more than one day.

Find out more about Adventure Club.

But why let the kids have all the fun? On our Family Activity Days, everyone gets a go.

Make lasting memories this May half-term by getting together with your children in the beautiful Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or the North Yorkshire Moors National Park.

We’ll be offering a range of adventurous outdoor activities which might include canoeing, caving, high ropes, paddleboarding and sailing at both Bewerley Park and East Barnby Outdoor Education Centres. The activities are suitable for children aged eight and upwards.

Join us on 30 or 31 May from 9.30am to 4pm. Family Activity Day places cost £48 per person per day.

Find out more about our Family Activity Days and book now.

Festival to give visitors a chance to celebrate culture and environment

An annual festival to promote both culture and the environment will be held in Scarborough in May.

This year the Big Ideas by the Sea event will bring some of the best local and national speakers to the town to talk about the big issues related to the environment, climate change and history.

Now in its fourth year, this year’s festival line up, which takes place from 17 to 31 May, includes talks by writer and broadcaster Sir Christopher Frayling, leading industrial designer Richard Seymour, creator of the Jorvik Viking Centre John Sunderland, renowned Egyptologist and television broadcaster Professor Joann Fletcher, artist Jeremy Deller and photographer Derek Santini.

The ambitious programme of 40 events for all ages also includes live music, archaeology, installations, photography exhibitions, wildlife talks, theatre, poetry, drawing workshops and guided walks.

Uniquely for an arts festival, the practical archaeology project The Big Dig will once again be undertaking a further two-week excavation of the medieval site at Paradise. A first in Britain, this recent initiative offers primary school groups the opportunity to excavate a real archaeological site supervised by professionals.

For more information about the festival and to book tickets.

Libraries relaunch popular wellbeing bags with new contents

Library visitors across North Yorkshire are being encouraged to take advantage of new-look wellbeing bags aimed at boosting mental health.

The initiative was launched in 2019, when wellbeing bags filled with books and activities were first available to borrow. The bags have since been borrowed by library users more than 570 times.

The new contents include playing cards, a stress ball and notebook, along with a different colouring book, jigsaw puzzle and puzzle book. They also include a book from the library’s Reading Well collection.

The bags can be borrowed by groups or individuals to use at home, in the library or out in the community.

Wellbeing bags can be borrowed for three weeks from any North Yorkshire library for free with visitors using their library card.

For more information, contact your local library. See more information about your local library.

Food festival to offer culinary treats to visitors

The highly-anticipated Filey Food Festival is returning in June to showcase Yorkshire’s famous produce as well as culinary treats from across the globe.

There will be more than 65 stalls showcasing the very best of Yorkshire’s food and drink as well as fantastic produce from outside the region.

Taking place within the Evron Centre and Crescent Gardens, which have superb views across Filey Bay, the popular event is a great day out for all.

There will be a wide variety of stalls with many tempting food and drink delights available. If you’re looking for seafood, there will be fresh lobster, crab or caviar served with prosecco. Or perhaps the large variety of locally made cheese will tempt your tastebuds.

Other offers will include gourmet Scotch eggs, home-made cakes, curry sauces, chutneys and jams, artisan chocolates and more.

There will also be street food representing countries across the globe including Greece, Thailand, Italy, Germany, South Africa and the Caribbean.

There is set to be a Yorkshire real ale bar with seating at Crescent Gardens with many stalls offering a variety of wine, gin, vodka and rum.

If you’ve been to the festival before, this year the food festival has expanded further into Crescent Gardens with additional stalls selling pies, gin, flavoured vodka, meats and treats suitable for those looking for vegan and gluten free products.

More stalls will be announced nearer the time. The festival is open on Saturday, 8 June, and Sunday, 9 June, from 10am to 5pm. Admission is free.