It's a Manchester based "charity" run by millionaire Phillip Hanks. It is a CIC, not a registered charity, and uses aggressive tactics to scam people into donating to "empower and support young minds".

Here is their awful website where the only tangible proof of any money going anywhere was a £14,000 donation to a boxing gym - https://educateempower.org.uk/

I spent a good hour+ today making sure anyone that was approached was immediately informed of their company and its shady practises. During this time the tall mophead threatened me and told me to "move along" and not one of them could actually tell me what level of charity it was (the answer is it isn't one.)

One of them (a really nice guy caught in a shady "business" I hasten to add) also put through to their higher up on the phone who went on to threaten me and say he was going to call the police on me. Unlucky for Shavez, that failed as I was told I'm completely in my right to stop them from scamming people. He told me that "90% of all money goes to charity" which I then said if he could prove I would apologise and leave them alone....he then hung up. I then found out if they don't make X amount of money in one day, they don't even get paid. The entire thing is beyond shady and if you ever see them please make sure not to give them any money. If you have the time, hang around for a few minutes and make sure nobody else does too.

I spoke to their team leader for a good hour. He seemed like a great guy caught up in a desperate situation where he took any job he could. Their boss told me over the phone that if I didn't leave them alone he wouldn't pay them...Essentially leveraging his employees pay in my hands. If that doesn't tell you enough about how they operate, I don't know what will.

He also informed me they began operating in York on Saturday. They are prolific in Manchester with countless accusations thrown their way, so if we want them to avoid York in the future we need to make sure they're aware they're not welcome.

Anyone knows anything?

Any recommendations for a central venue for an elopement? It will be for two kids, two witnesses and a videographer. A very short affair before jetting off. The registry office won’t allow kids during the elopement without paying for up to 50 guests so may as well look at a nicer venue.

Hi,

Does anyone know of a jewellers where I might be able to pick up a necklace extension chain?

I tried Shambles jewellers and Fosters but they were more into selling off the shelf stuff rather than repairs.

Thanks

Okay, so, when I first visited York back in... 2008...? My mum, sister and me joined a ghost walk in the evening and it was great! It was autum/winter time, so it got dark quickly, there was no bullshit nonsense - no parlour tricks or humour - no kids, it was a much smaller group, and involved pure story-telling. We learnt of stories that weren't the usual fare. Sadly, I can't remember the name of the tour group. I vaguely remember their waiting point/board was around one of the museums. Possibly the Art Gallery...? I know it wasn't that far away from the Minster.

Fast forward to this year and my brother and I returned to York and decided to do another ghost walk. Sadly, I was underwhelmed. We ended up joining The Original Ghost Walk of York and I was less than impressed, to be honest. Going in the summer meant it was still light, but that wasn't the biggest issue. It was the fact it was a large group, there was too much silliness/humour, audience participation, families/kids, and it was the usual/famous haunts so we didn't go off the beaten path.

I'm guessing, as nothing good ever seems to last forever, that a lot of the old-style ghost hunts no longer happen...? That it's all based on what's popular, family-friendly, and generates the most money...? Or... Are there specific ghost hunts that are similar to the first I went on back in 2008? And what are they called? Thanks.

Have you ever known one small business to create such a fuss and get attention out of every little thing?!

This place baffles me. Constantly popping up on social media and press articles - I'm sick of hearing about it and have never searched it out.

They seem to have an army of online supporters ready to defend them over any little thing, most of whom don't even seem to have visited as it's always "I can't wait to come and visit/try some day", and they even offer a 'subscription service' to get the latest news etc.

Just wondered if anyone else gets as irrationally wound up as me about constantly seeing it everywhere (or maybe I'll just get bombarded by the aforementioned online tea room army).....

A little macabre maybe, but today I learned that the big white doors facing Castle car park on the side of the Castle Museum is the site of the gallows when the building was originally used as a prison. The gallows were last used in 22nd December 1896 to hang August Carlsen, condemned for murdering his lover Julia Wood in Hull earlier the same year.

Hi everyone, I help run Beyond Monopoly, a boardgaming group open for everyone. We run sessions on alternating Saturday days and Friday evenings at the Bar Convent on Blossom Street (Friday evenings you may need to ring the bell) and your first visit is completely free.
Whether you have any experience in modern boardgaming or not, if you're looking for a new hobby, or meeting new people, you are welcome along and we will do everything we can to get you playing an excellent game with great people. You are free to come in a group or on your own, and welcome to bring any games (although we have a massive selection featuring everything from light 10 minute games, party games, social deduction, strategy, abstract, to in depth games that can take the day, so bringing your own is not necessary).

Our dates for September are:

• Saturday 5th, 10am - 9pm
• Friday 11th, 5pm - 9pm
• Saturday 19th, 10am - 9pm
• Friday 25th, 5pm - 9pm

You are free to drop in and out at any time for those sessions, you don't need to stay for the whole time unless you want to!
Any questions just ask away.
Thanks, Mark

Hello you beautiful people.

I unexpectedly find myself in York when Hearts are playing Hibs, anyone know where York Hearts meet up to watch games? I've looked on the hearts subreddit and the hearts fan forum and I've seen two different places named.

Failing that, anyone have an idea of a pub that will show it in general?

Thank you in advance.

Really quiet today. We stopped at the Old Liquor Store for their beer festival, can recommend.

Photos taken with Lumix GX9 and Laowa 6mm, Lumix 35-100 lenses.

Hello people from York. I’m travelling to the UK next April and staying in York for three days. Is there any city or town you would recommend for a first-time visitor? I’m doing a day trip to Lincoln so I’m open to doing something similar on another day :).

I’ve been looking housing in the newish (last 5years) development on low field green in Acomb.

Does anyone living here be willing to share their experience.

My reservation is that the stats for the area have it quite high for recorded crime compared to the average.

Edit: just to say I’m using crystalroof.co.uk for the stats and that’s what the screenshot is of

It's my birthday soon and of course want to celebrate. What are the best places for non alcoholic drinks/mocktails?

Also any other places I should go to celebrate? 😁

Does anyone have any recommendations on a place in or near York that would repair some bluetooth earphones that have recently stopped producing sound from one side?

Struggling to find anywhere...

Hiya, does anyone know of any good fishing spots around or outside York? I know some of them you need to pay for or something? Or most of them are for carp, is there anywhere that’s free and not just carp.

Thanks!

On a throwaway account for various reasons.

I went to Mez the Barber for a haircut, I usually go somewhere else but it was raining and I knew they accepted card payment so was easier. Got into conversation with my barber (was the only one in there probably due to the weather) and I told him I work in a church. We chatted about that, and religion in general, and then he asked me if he could ask about having seen an LGBTQ flag outside a church and whether Christianity is gay friendly or not.

I tried to explain about the spectrum of views even within my own denomination and he told me about how he doesn't really have an issue with gay people (he has a gay friend and the people who own the shop upstairs are gay ...) *but* the whole LGBTQ alphabet thing was nonsense and told me how a client recently asked him about his pronouns and how silly that whole trans thing is.

I gently tried to push back because I myself am a gay transgender man, but I was very conscious of my own safety (or lack thereof) and that leaving a haircut halfway through was going to be impractical. But it felt very unsafe and just wanted to flag to others, especially trans masculine people because barber shops are already hard places due to being so gendered. I'll go back to Holgate Barbers where I have never had an issue

Hello all, we are a small group of four currently looking for more people to join us to play Sorcery Contested Realm on a Thursday night in York. We play very casually and always have a focus on fun rather than competitiveness.

Anybody at all is welcome and we can teach the game if needed. For anybody who doesn’t know Sorcery Contested Realm is a TCG from the roots of old school MTG where every single card is a hand painted piece. The game is played on a grid and incorporates this is weird and wonderful ways.

Here is a link for the Sorcery website…

https://sorcerytcg.com

If anybody at all is interested please drop me a comment here or message me directly.

I’ve planned my hen night (a mix of women and men) in York, UK for November. The plan is to do a bar crawl around the city. We’re all hugely into music, especially indie and alternative rock/ pop punk etc. I’m looking for places in York that would be a bit more up our street rhan the usual go-to hen night spots. Also aware some places do not allow hen/stag parties.
If not for the music, any great bars or pub recommendations would be appreciated!
Live music/ Indie club night would be a bonus!

Hi all! Family and I are moving to York. We’ve been trying to find a good area to live (from 150 miles away which means we can only visit in short bursts) and like the look of Bishopthorpe, but saw some stuff online about being able to smell the waste water plant in Naburn from there which makes us nervous.

So, if you live in Bishopthorpe, how often does it smell and how bad is it? A family member advised us it doesn’t smell (as much? At all?) north of Main Street. Any truth to that?

Any advice or experience you could give would be very much appreciated!

If you want to suggest another area, we’re looking for somewhere that has nice things we can walk to (library, coffee shops, pubs, etc) within the school catchment of a good school. Preferably somewhere with a nice community vibe and other young families. It needs to have good access to the A64 for my husband and York train station for me. Bishopthorpe felt like the perfect fit on paper, but potentially open to other options.

On a time limit, trying to get answer by 17:45!! Can anyone tell me how to get from platform 10 to platform 5?

Wife has missed one connection already, she’ll have 10 minutes to get between 10 & 5, is it possible?

My almost one year old is due to start nursery next week. We have them registered at one of the LGR sites. They have done a few settling in days, the first two went well but the third shed some light on how the nursery may be currently run and cleanliness. I won’t go into detail to avoid making which site obvious. Anyways, while there, there was a sick child and my child has come home sick from just one hour there. It seems like a stomach bug along with cold as they have been vomiting in their sleep and has the same cough this child at nursery had. We are very upset and nervous about them starting now. The child there did not seem well enough and my instinct was not to leave my child. I do not know the full circumstances and am not trying to pin any blame anywhere, but coupled with what else we saw, I’m seriously doubting sending them.

We don’t need to send them to nursery, my mother has been doing full time child minding since he was 8-months and they love spending time with her and she has said she will happily continue.

Why we decided to enrol our child:
- development opportunities
- mingle with other children
- possibly a break for my mum, although she has said she doesn’t need a break.

Why we don’t want to enrol him/what we didn’t like:
- what we saw, along with very short staff, many staff sickness
- they bring your child outside for pickup, no opportunity to go in and have a look at where your child has been all day
- the nursery seems better suited for older children, the baby area outside doesn’t seem the cleanest
- sickness
- my child doesn’t seem quite ready
- cost, despite the “free hours” it will still cost us around £300 a month.

There are other nurseries in York we have considered. Specifically:
- Fulford Montessori
- FunFishers

I suppose what I’m looking for advice in is:
- if you had the opportunity to not send your child to nursery at 1, would you hold off until they are an older age?
- what is your experience with LGR?
- what nursery in york would you recommend? Does anyone have any experience with Fulford Montessori or FunFishers?

We have considered flagging our concerns with the nursery but are concerned that our complaints will reflect on our child’s treatment, I’m sure they wouldn’t, but I’d hate for them to think our child is annoying or a burden because of what we have said.

*using they/them/child to avoid sharing information.

I have 1 half day in York what is a fun thing to do for myself and adult daughter?