Yorkshire

"A new memoir, Cavalier George Buck and The Haunted Hamlet of Little Fenton – Ghostly Tales from The Heart of Yorkshire and Beyond, is out now and we caught up with its author to find out more.

This short book is a collection of about 30 true ghost stories emanating from the North Yorkshire hamlet of Little Fenton, situated ten miles south west of York as the crow flies.

The new book is in the style of a memoir and has been written by Ricardo de Fenton, the pen-name of a local 54-year-old gardener who claims he lives in one of the most haunted hamlets in Yorkshire if not the UK..."

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17070373

Animal-lover Nicci Knight got the shock of her life when her beloved cat, Ted, arrived home – four days after he’d been cremated.

Nicci was halfway through a family holiday in Turkey when she received a heartbreaking message, revealing poor Ted had been found dead back home in North Yorkshire.

She was relaxing by the pool in the resort of Dalaman when the message came through on her mobile phone – via her video doorbell – in the North Yorkshire village of Newby, near Stokesley.

Nicci burst into tears when her neighbours’ children even held up five-year-old Ted’s distinctive black and white body to the camera as proof of his untimely passing after being found dead in their garden pond.

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However, four days later, Elise, who was also popping in to feed Ted’s sister, Moosh, made a traumatised call to say: “You’re not going to believe this – Ted’s just walked in through the cat-flap!”

“I thought I was seeing a cat-ghost,” exclaimed Elise.

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Nicci immediately called Heavenly Pets to alert them to the mistake but was told the cremation had already taken place.

“It’s not Ted – it’s a lookalike!” Nicci found herself yelling down the phone.

It led to the ashes of the doppelganger moggie being temporarily stored in a container labelled: “Not dead Ted.”

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/16825132

A Sheffield man has been banned from touching unattended vehicles after he tried to steal a van.

Ricky Roberts, 36, was arrested on July 24 after South Yorkshire Police responded to reports of a man trying to break into a Ford Transit van on Brompton Road, Sheffield. He was discovered in the process of forcing his way into a van and fled after he saw police officers.

He got on a pedal bike but was arrested less than 20 minutes after the initial call reporting the attempted theft. A bag Roberts dropped was found to contain several power tools which had been stolen from vehicles in Sheffield the night before.

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Roberts, of Richmond Hall Road, Sheffield, was handed a two-year Criminal Behaviour Order which bans him from touching or entering any unattended motor vehicle, motorcycle, or pedal cycle without the permission of the owner. He has also been instructed to take part in a drug rehabilitation course.

"Over the past few years Leeds has emerged as a go-to destination for British institutions looking to venture beyond the M25.

Since 2018 Channel 4, the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority and the UK Infrastructure Bank have all opened hubs or expanded their presence in the city, adding hundreds of new jobs and millions of pounds to the local economy.

While “North-shoring”—the practice of companies relocating from London to Northern England—isn’t a new trend, the recent surge of firms choosing Leeds over larger nearby cities like Manchester marks a shift.

So how is the West Yorkshire city holding its own?

The answer, according to the chief executive of Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Henri Murison, could lie nine miles west in the neighbouring city of Bradford..."

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/13205778

Hollywood bigwigs have been called on to look north to stage their latest box office hits after the UK film industry was dealt another major blow recently as £750m plans for a new film studio in Buckinghamshire were quashed.

Already home to Pinewood and Shepperton studios, planners at Buckinghamshire Council rejected proposals for a 36-hectare production site despite being backed by the likes of Avatar director James Cameron and actor and filmmaker Andy Serkis.

In the aftermath of the decision West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin took to X (formerly Twitter) to call on film supremos to consider investing in Yorkshire instead of always defaulting to the South East.

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But while it appears the South might be falling out of love with Hollywood, the North is poised and ready to capitalise.

Last December work started on a film studio on the site of the former Littlewoods pools business in Liverpool, which when finished will create 40,000 sq ft of production space.

The recently approved Crown Works Studios in Sunderland, part-funded by the production company behind The Kardashians, will pave the way to create thousands of jobs across the north of England.

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The vast majority of the UK’s large-scale film studios – categorised by the British Film Commission as having at least one stage over 15,000 sq ft – are clustered around London, with production facilities in the south outnumbering the rest of the country 25 to five.

The financial implications of this are huge.

Every 100,000 sq ft of stage space contributes between £60m and £80m to the surrounding economy, according to a 2024 study commissioned by Hounslow Borough Council.

The sector has already added £2bn to West Yorkshire’s economy alone, and employs 50,000 local people.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/12757380

A traffic cop who once warned speeding drivers "this is not Silverstone'' has been sacked for going 154 mph in a police car while on duty.

PC Adam Smith was dismissed by North Yorkshire Police after a misconduct hearing found him guilty of gross misconduct. Smith was caught driving at 154 mph and 98 mph on the same journey, shortly after filming a force publicity video aimed at cracking down on 'street racing' in Selby.

A Wetherspoons pub located in a Yorkshire seaside town has defended the installation of CCTV cameras in its toilets, causing customers to express concerns of potential 'stage fright'. The Lord Rosebery in Scarborough, part of the national pub chain, installed cameras in both the men's and women's facilities.

The news emerged when a bothered customer posted a photo of said camera on Reddit, leading to a discussion about the legal aspects of such an installation.

A variety of users responded with confusion, fearing that they might experience "stage fright" if they knew a camera was possibly watching them while they used the loo. JD Wetherspoon clarified that the cameras are not aimed at the urinals or cubicles, but instead to ensure 'customer and staff safety'.