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30
Mar
The Harrogate Club celebrates 140 years in its Victoria Avenue home
The Harrogate Club has celebrated 140 years at its home on Victoria Avenue with a cocktail party attended by members and guests.
The private members' club was founded in 1857 and established at 36 Victoria Avenue in 1886, the same year Arsenal Football Club, the city of Vancouver, and – coincidentally – Taylors of Harrogate were all first established.
Past members include Sir Titus Salt, the Bradford industrialist who built Saltaire, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and past guests have included Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Fiona Movley MBE, president of the Harrogate Club, said:
This is a landmark moment in our history. Within these walls lies a rich tapestry of Harrogate’s past, and we are immensely proud of our place within the heritage of our town.
Most importantly, it is the friendships and fellowship of our members that continue to bring the club to life.
The Harrogate Club on Victoria Avenue in Harrogate.
One of the last traditional private members’ clubs of its kind in Yorkshire, the club continues to evolve. Since last year, its officers – president, honorary secretary and honorary treasurer – have all been women, for the first time in its 169-year history.
The officers of the Harrogate Club: honorary treasurer Tara Stagman, president Fiona Movley, and honorary secretary Catherine Wormald.
Reflecting the club’s development, the late Harrogate historian and honorary member of the Harrogate Club, Malcolm Neesam, once observed:
When I joined the club, it was male-only and the conversation could be terrible. The quality has improved immeasurably since females joined!
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