A Harrogate band has represented the town at a flower festival in Luchon in France — a place twinned with Harrogate.
Tewit Silver Band, based in Huby, recently returned from Luchon en Fleurs 2023, which celebrated all things floral.
The band – which is made up of 30 players aged between 13 and 78 – and invited to feature in several parades.
It gave its first performance in Sqaure Lauret where its marches and overtures entertained the crowd despite poor weather.
The following show took place in front of the Mairie – the mayor’s office – and was accompanied by a procession of horses and dancers.
Pics: Tewit Silver Band Facebook
The final performance was held at a church in Garin and ended with a standing ovation.
The band said in a statement:
“Our free time was spent discovering the natural beauty of the surrounding area that was spectacular despite the weather.
“Members enjoyed walks, visits to the local areas, swimming in the lake and sampling a few of the local bars and restaurants.”
Tewit Silver Band, a charity, was formed in 2017.
It competes in various national and international competitions, as well as private functions and charity events.
Harrogate is twinned with Luchon and recently held its own floral festival – Harrogate Floral Summer of Celebration.
The relationship between the towns is overseen by Harrogate International Partnerships.
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GALLERY: Have you seen Harrogate’s innovative new floral displays?
Harrogate has been in full bloom this week following the Harrogate Floral Summer of Celebration, coordinated by Harrogate BID.
Nine innovative floral displays have been installed to represent the town’s international links, including its twinning with Luchon in France, Barrie in Canada and New Zealand in Wellington.
They displays follow the BID’s success at Yorkshire in Bloom 2022. Harrogate won overall winner in the Yorkshire Rose Town/City Centre BID category and was a finalist in this year’s RHS Britain in Bloom UK Finals.
It is in partnership with Helen James Flowers — who won a gold medal in the Floristry Awards at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023.
The summery showcase will be on display until Friday, August 4.
Take a look at our gallery below in case you missed it.
Pic: Harrogate BID Facebook page
Pic: Harrogate BID Facebook page
Pic: Harrogate BID Facebook page
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The Harrogate Floral Summer of Celebration has come into bloom across the town.
Harrogate BID has coordinated the floral celebration following success in Yorkshire in Bloom 2022.
Harrogate won overall winner in the Yorkshire Rose Town/City Centre BID category and was a finalist in this year’s RHS Britain in Bloom UK Finals.
The event is in partnership with local florist, Helen James Flowers, who was recently awarded a gold medal in the Floristry Awards category at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023.
The event will showcase several floral installations around the town, with help from Harrogate International Partnerships, RHS, Harrogate in Bloom, and North Yorkshire Council. These include props, an interactive floral trail, and a shop window competition.
The aim is to mark the town’s international links including the twinning of Harrogate with other towns such as Luchon in France, Barrie in Canada, and Wellington in New Zealand.
The shopfront of Helen James’s store on Station Parade.
The Yorkshire Air Museum, in York, has donated a wicker airplane from Canada to feature in the display, while Harrogate’s own Resurrected Bikes has provided bikes to form part of the display also.
Matthew Chapman, Harrogate BID Manager, said:
“We are proud to be recognised as a finalist for the Britain in Bloom UK finals, especially as we are the only town in Yorkshire that made it through to this stage in the competition.
“The Harrogate Floral Summer of Celebration will feature unique, vibrant and eye-catching floral displays, each telling a story of how international relations have flourished to bring together the very best of our respective cultures. From a giant Buddha to a floral musical wall, there will be plenty of exciting things to see and experience!”
Parts of the floral trail can be found near Nicholls Tyreman on a corner of Princes Square , Bettys, and the Victoria Shopping Centre.
The event draws on international links.
Helen James, from Helen James Flowers, said:
“We are so honoured to be involved with this special event, which aims to celebrate the town’s beauty and horticultural heritage through an array of stunning floral displays.
“We can’t wait to see the reaction from residents and visitors, as well as welcoming the Britain in Bloom judges.”
The Harrogate Floral Summer of Celebration will be on display from Friday July 21, to Friday August 4.
More information on the event can be found here.
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Valley Gardens ceremony to mark Harrogate’s 70 years of links with New Zealand
A sculpture symbolising eternal friendship and loyalty will be unveiled in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens this weekend.
The Maori pikorua symbol forms part of the newly-refurbished New Zealand Gardens, along with a new bench and an information board.
The garden was created in 1953 to mark the links between Harrogate and Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, forged during the Second World War. Four men from Wellington are among the 23 New Zealand Air Force crew buried in the Commonwealth war graves at Stonefall cemetery.
The refurbishment – the first work for more than a decade – has been funded by individual donors, along with support from North Yorkshire Council, including local councillors Sam Gibbs and Peter Lacey.
It follows the deterioration of the previous installations in the area, including wooden sculptures and a bench which were affected by the weather and targeted by vandals in 2020.
Dennis Richards, chair of Harrogate International Partnerships, which oversees Harrogate’s twinning programme, said:
“It’s not a memorial garden, but the trigger for it was the New Zealand air crew buried at Stonefall. It was a vision of the two towns to create this garden which celebrates history, culture and friendship.
“It has taken a long, long time to get the money together to do the refurbishment.”
The unveiling of the garden will take place at 11am tomorrow, Saturday.
Flt Lt Dan Channon of the Royal New Zealand Air Force will represent his country and its capital, Wellington, at the ceremony.
Tewit Intermediate Band will play from 10.40am before the ceremony is opened by Mr Richards at 11am.
It will include short speeches about the history of the garden, its links to Stonefall, and the significance of the pikorua sculpture.
Among those speaking will be Fran Pride, the daughter of Tony Sissons who was instrumental in its development through his roles with the Friends of Valley Gardens and Harrogate in Bloom.
His widow, Bobbie, will officially reveal a new information board explaining the links between the towns, before Virginia Partridge, whose late father Alan Rollinson had strong links with both Harrogate and New Zealand, unveils the new sculpture.
The national anthems of both countries will be performed, with soloist Amelia McQuire singing New Zealand’s.
Alongside the garden refurbishment, Harrogate International Partnerships is working to build stronger links between the people of Harrogate and the communities in their twinned towns.
As well as Wellington, Harrogate has twinning agreements with Barrie in Canada, Bagneres de Luchon in France, and the Unesco world heritage site of Montecatini Terme in Italy.
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Harrogate woman wins brutal 41-mile race in red-hot Pyrenees
Harrogate’s Helen Price ran for more than 12 hours in temperatures close to 40 degrees to win a prestigious race in the Pyrenees on Saturday.
Ms Price, 52, set off at 6am and crossed the line at about 6.30pm to win the female over-50s category and finish fourth female overall in the Luchon Aneto 40 mile trail run.
She was one of a team of eight runners representing Harrogate International Partnerships, the charity responsible for Harrogate’s town twinning links around the world.
Luchon, which is among the places twinned with Harrogate, hosts an annual trail run through the French Pyrenees with various distance options.
Competing in the 65 km event, Ms Price set off in darkness in woods but was soon under the non-stop glare of the mountain sun, in temperatures ranging from 35 to 38 degrees centigrade.
There were four water stops but it was so hot she also had to get water from mountain streams to stay hydrated as she climbed over 4,000 metres.
Ms Price, a sports massage therapist who is a member of running club Harrogate Harriers, is one of the best fell and mountain runners in the district but even she found it tough. She said:
“The heat was exhausting. I was a bit shaky at the end.”
Two other members of the Harrogate International Partnerships team also finished on the podium.
Caroline Lambert
Caroline Lambert, a former pupil of St Aidan’s Church of England High School in Harrogate, won the 20km female race in a new course record.
Bianca Dyer was the first over-40s female in the 40km race.
North Leeds Fell Runners‘ athlete Martyn Price, who is married to Helen, was fourth in the 45km men’s race. He said:
“The conditions were absolutely brutal. People were dropping like flies.”
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Call to remove damaged Valley Garden statues
The chair of Harrogate International Partnerships has called for damaged statues in the town’s Valley Gardens to be removed.
Vandals ripped out chunks of wood from the Kiwi bird and the carved Maori bench in the New Zealand garden section of Valley Gardens last year.
Dennis Richards, chair of the HIP, a charity that supports twinning groups, told the Stray Ferret the sculptures needed to be removed in order for the charity to come up with proposals to replace them.
The section of Valley Gardens commemorates Harrogate’s twinning with Wellington and the country’s airmen being stationed in the town during World War Two.
However, Mr Richards said the council needed to remove the statues. It follows concern about the condition of them ahead of a visit to Wellington by the HIP.
He said:
“All we are asking for is the wooden statues to be removed forthwith. That is what is causing this disconnect.”
Mr Richard added that once the structures are removed, the HIP will put forward proposals with what could replace them.
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Last week, Kate Spencer, the HIP’s representative who has travelled to New Zealand as part of the twinning arrangement, raised concern that the conditions “dishonoured” the airmen commemorated in the gardens.
Valley Gardens development plan
Harrogate Borough Council said in a statement previously that the sculptures had “already started to rot independent of any vandalism that has taken place”.
It added:
“We would welcome any support or fundraising ideas from Harrogate International Partnership for the replacement of these with something more sustainable and robust for the location.
“Equally if there is anyone who would like to help with maintenance of the space we would be happy to arrange volunteering sessions in conjunctions with our own team or the Friends of Valley Gardens who provide fantastic support in maintaining this space.
“More widely we are in the process of agreeing a Valley Gardens development plan to continue to improve these spaces over the coming years.”
The garden dates back to 1954 and chainsaw sculptor Mick Burns carved the Marlin, Kiwi, and bench in 2010.
Damaged Valley Gardens sculptures set to be replacedThe process to replace the damaged sculptures in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens is underway after private donors gave about £2,000.
Vandals ripped out chunks of wood from the kiwi bird and the carved Maori bench in the New Zealand garden section of Valley Gardens in July.
Harrogate International Partnerships (HIP), a grant-making charity that supports the twinning of places, has led attempts to replace the sculptures with more durable versions.
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With some funding now in place, Dennis Richard, chair of HIP, told the Stray Ferret it was working with Harrogate Borough Council on plans for replacement sculptures:
“It was shocking to see the state that the sculptures are in. We know we need to put this right as soon as possible. Damage attracts more damage so it needs to be fixed.”
The carved Maori bench has been badly damaged.
A Harrogate Borough Council spokesperson told the Stray Ferret it was too early to provide fuller details of timescales and plans.
The New Zealand garden commemorates Harrogate’s twinning with Wellington and the country’s airmen being stationed in the town during World War Two.
The garden dates back to 1954 and chainsaw sculptor Mick Burns carved the Marlin, Kiwi, and bench in 2010.