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14
Sept 2024
Editor's Pick of the Week: Meeting Vic Reeves in Harrogate and double woe in Knaresborough
There was some trepidation when I met Jim Moir, also known as Vic Reeves, at the opening of his Birdland exhibition in Harrogate on Thursday night.
Having only experienced him as Vic, I was unsure whether Jim would turn out to be a somewhat humourless and pretentious artist.
Turns out he was affable and his dark humour is never far from the surface, as some of his comments in the interview revealed.
Celebrity launches are more London than Harrogate. Full marks to RedHouse gallery for another stylish exhibition that elevates Harrogate’s cultural scene.
Jim Moir at his Birdland exhibition at RedHouse. Pic by Ernesto Rogata
It felt at times this week that some of the birds Jim Moir paints had defecated from a great height over Knaresborough.
Last year North Yorkshire Council entered talks with Knaresborough Town Council about handing over control of the town’s ancient market, as part of its double devolution agenda of devolving power locally.
The town council waited for months to get some financial details then North Yorkshire Council suddenly announced without warning it was going to stop putting up the stalls at the weekly Wednesday market in Knaresborough and the Thursday market in Ripon, which threatens their future viability.
This week the council confirmed its top-down hardline approach. Talk about adding bad faith to discussions that are supposed to be about devolving power.
There is form in this area. In 2020, the council announced plans to open primary schools in Northallerton and Knaresborough to serve new housing estates. The £7 million Northallerton school opened this month to great fanfare, while the £6 million Manse Farm school in Knaresborough appears to have been forgotten. For a council based in Nothallerton, the optics are terrible.
Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce followed up last week’s lively Station Gateway meeting with another stellar line-up this week featuring new mayor David Skaith, his chief executive James Farrar and North Yorkshire’s chief constable Tim Forber.
Harrogate-born Mr Skaith ran a menswear shop in York before turning to politics this year. Four months into the role he’s looking more confident, but he still appeared less of a politician than either of the two men alongside him at the meeting. His lack of slickness may add to his appeal, but I do wonder if he enjoys the brutal world of politics.
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