On April 24 1982, millions of people from 30 countries had their eyes on Harrogate when the town hosted the 27th Eurovision Song Contest.

Four decades later, it seems almost unbelievable that little Harrogate got to host one of the biggest events in Europe. It turned out to be an occasion to remember.

Harrogate historian Malcolm Neesam recalls in one of his books:

“The contest itself was a great publicity coup for the town, generating a tremendous atmosphere.

“Michael Hine, former Harrogate tourism promotion manager, said ‘It was the most exciting event to work on and it promoted the newly built conference centre to the world… The atmosphere in the town was truly amazing. “

How the conference centre looked on the night.

On the four previous occasions the UK had staged the event, it had been held three times in London and once in Brighton. But in 1982, Harrogate had a shiny new conference centre up its sleeve when the search was on for a venue.

Philip Broadbank, who is the only surviving Harrogate borough councillor from 1982, looks back on the manoeuvrings that led to its selection and recalls the trial night.

Then Giles Rocholl, a 19-year-old trainee press photographer at the time, gives his memories of a week like no other in Harrogate’s history.

Philip Broadbank: ‘It showed Europe there was life outside London’

“When the UK won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981 it was widely known that a UK venue would be needed and I think somewhere outside London was sought – probably to show the rest of Europe that there was life in the UK outside London!

It was known that the conference centre in Harrogate would be open and available for use and that it was big enough to host the event. Harrogate wanted something big to show the conference centre off and the organisers of the event were asked to consider Harrogate to host the venue. It was accepted as the venue and it was scheduled to be the big opening event of Harrogate Conference Centre.

I don’t recall any bids being made but the event was seen as a huge publicity boost for our district. I wasn’t involved in the behind-the-scenes negotiations and it was kept confidential until it was deemed certain to go ahead.

The signs on the convention centre.

I am the only councillor left who was on Harrogate Borough Council in 1982 and none of the staff involved then are still working for it. Tony Miles was the officer in charge of the centre – he passed away some time ago. Paul Lewis was deputy director of the conference centre and I think he is now living somewhere in Wales.

My recollection is that everybody involved the construction of the conference centre was confident that it would be open for business by April 1982. They were looking for a big event that would draw attention to the building and the district and when the UK won the 1981 contest.

In those days the venue was big enough to host the Eurovision Song Contest – something that would not be possible now. In March 1982 there were a couple of events held at the centre to test out the technical, organisation and sound arrangements and there was the trial run held on the Friday night. There was quite a buzz about the place because such an event with a potential live audience of around 250 million people certainly put the district on the map.

Jan Leeming looking at the scoreboard.

There was a dress rehearsal the night before and nearly 2,000 free tickets were distributed to local people to be in the audience. My wife and I were there and it was a great night with lots of interest and excitement both for the event itself and the opening of the centre after six long years and controversial problems and issues with the construction of the building.

We picked out the song that we thought would win – A Little Peace by Nicole of West Germany, which did indeed turn out to be the winner. There was one act, from Denmark whose singer jumped around on stage and hit a giant pom-pom on his head while singing the song in Danish. He stormed off stage halfway through his song because he resented the audience laughter at his act.

Nobody could understand why until the following night, when it was televised live, Terry Wogan explained it was a song about not having the nuclear bomb dropped on his head. Obviously the Friday night audience didn’t have the benefit of subtitles to read while the artists were performing.

The Eurovision Song Contest broadcast obviously put Harrogate on the European map that night and helped to promote the centre for bookings.”

Giles Rocholl: ‘It was a week-long festival of fun’

Photographer Giles Rocholl was a 19-year-old trainee press photographer at Ackrill Newspapers Group, which was based at Herald Buildings, Montpellier. The site later became the Slug & Lettuce pub.

“In the three years I had worked, this was by far the biggest news event the town had hosted. Swarms of photographers and news crews from all over Europe descended on Harrogate. The hotels were fully booked with parties and photo opportunities throughout the week running up to the big night.

Giles Rocholl (centre) with UK Eurovision entrants Bardo. Pic courtesy of Giles Rocholl

“It felt like a festival of fun and I managed to cover several events over the week. So many languages, colourful costumes, laughing and singing — it was an exciting and vibrant time.

“I was envious of the German photographers’ top of the range camera kit and particularly their Metz Flashguns — a beast of light production. I got one a few years later for myself.

“On the big night I remember having a brief chat with the late, great Terry Wogan and snapping a photo of my editor’s wife Rosie with him before the contest. Jan Leeming looked stunning and even more charming than she appeared on TV.

Giles Rocholl’s picture of West German winner Nicole. Pic courtesy of Giles Rocholl

“During the show the press had our own hall to view the events going on above us on stage at the conference centre and when the winner Nicole was announced the German photographers all leapt up and were overjoyed.

“We photographers were all escorted up to the stage by security and Nicole and her band were lined up ready for us. As we all filed in, I felt I could not get a good photo because I was squeezed out by the mass of photographers so I very naughtily broke ranks and went around the back of the performers as I saw they were turning around to wave and thank the audience.

“I managed to get the shot I wanted of Nicole and felt that having all the photographers in the background added to the focus on her. Happy days!”

Harrogate Borough Council leader Richard Cooper has been accused of using a misleading statistic to support a £47 million redevelopment of the town’s convention centre.

Cllr Cooper has claimed 88% of conference delegates to the centre return to the area for leisure. However, the Stray Ferret has not been able to find the statistic he refers to -— only one that says, when asked, delegates said they were likely to return.

The statistics matter because the soon-to-be-abolished council wants to fast-track the start of what would be one of the biggest public spending commitments in its 48-year history.

It says Harrogate Convention Centre needs the investment to continue attracting visitors — and to boost the economic impact on the entire Harrogate district.

What is Cllr Cooper claiming? 

Cllr Cooper, the Conservative council leader and chair of the convention centre board, told a council meeting this month:

“The purpose and vision of the convention centre is to deliver high quality conferences, exhibitions and events that bring maximum economic impact and prosperity to the district.

“It is important to emphasise that this is for the district and this is not a noose around the district’s neck.

“And I can demonstrate that by saying almost nine out of 10 people — 88% — an astonishing statistic — who come to Harrogate Convention Centre for business return to the district for leisure. This is streets ahead of other venues.”

Read more:

• Major redevelopment of Harrogate Convention Centre could start in October
• Council refuses to say if jobs at risk at Harrogate Convention Centre

Kirk Hammerton resident Alex Smith has submitted a freedom of information request asking where this information was from. Neither he nor the Stray Ferret has been able to find it.

Mr Smith told the Stray Ferret he was not a member of any political party but was interested in transparency and standards.

The Visit Britain Statistics

His FoI suggests Cllr Cooper may have been referring to 2018 research by Visit Britain on how much delegates to business events spend.

This research said 88% of delegates to Harrogate Convention Centre, from a sample of 98, said they were ‘likely or very likely’ to return to the area. Of those, 62% said they were ‘very likely’ to return.

But it does not say how many actually do and neither Mr Smith nor the Stray Ferret is aware of any research that does so.

Mr Smith’s FoI request says:

“Residents are used to Cllr Cooper’s robust approach to political point-scoring.

“But, as chairman of the Harrogate Convention Centre, he is obliged to give out accurate information; and as a councillor, he is bound by a code of conduct not to mislead the Mayor and council.

“He is not free to invent ‘astonishing’ statistics to suit his argument.”

The FoI then asks for Cllr Cooper’s source, adding:

“If there is no other source than the one I’ve quoted I’d be grateful if you could inform me when and how Cllr Cooper will correct his wilful misinformation.”

The Stray Ferret asked Cllr Cooper last week where the statistic he quoted was from but has not received a response.

Previous claim

In July 2020, Cllr Cooper told a council meeting that 75% of Harrogate Convention Centre delegates returned. He said:

“75% of 150,000 is 112,500 visitors that come to our district because of the convention centre who we would never see here otherwise.”

Again, it is not clear where this information is from — or why the figure appears to have grown to 88%.

Harrogate Borough Council will be abolished next year as part of a shake-up of local government that will see a new North Yorkshire Council formed.

Cllr Cooper has said he does not intend to seek re-election in May’s local elections for the new council.

Hundreds of comic book fans flocked to the Harrogate Convention Centre this weekend for the Thought Bubble Comic Convention.

Three exhibition halls were filled with artists, illustrators and authors who were meeting fans and selling copies of their art. It’s Harrogate’s biggest celebration of comic culture.

Read more:

• Harrogate district gears up for comic convention with giveaway
• Green light for 1,000 solar panels on Harrogate Convention Centre roof

The cosplay phenomenon was popularised in Japan and involves dressing up as a character from a film, book, or video game.

See our image gallery of Saturday’s cosplayers below. Many will do it all again tomorrow.

Which costume is your favourite?

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political column written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party:

In the days after Boris Johnson introduced lockdown on March 24th, I wrote in the Yorkshire Post and Stray Ferret in praise of the Prime Minister’s leadership and in praise of the substance and effectiveness of government communication at the time. 11 weeks later the PM’S moral leadership is under threat and the Government’s initial clarity of communication has been lost.

This week, hot on the heels of the credibility-sapping Cummings affair, the government has asked for, and succeeded in bringing, all members from every constituency in the land back to parliament.  Observing social distancing requirements, it took MPs 90 minutes to make their way through the queue to vote for a measure that disenfranchises any MP with an underlying health condition, or who is isolated for family reasons. This cannot be sustainable.

As parliament will soon be rehoused to make way for the pending multi-billion renovation of the Palace of Westminster, the Government should have grasped the opportunity for a continued virtual parliament, embracing technology in circumstances that make it both possible and advisable: Saving money for the taxpayer; repatriating MP’s to spend more time in their constituencies; closer and more accountable to the people they represent.  Little wonder that Harrogate and Ripon’s own ‘virtual’ MPs, Andrew Jones and Julian Smith, both voted to return to Westminster.

Now that both MPs are back in the capital, perhaps they could ask ministers for urgent clarification about the future of Harrogate’s Nightingale Hospital, thankfully under-utilised for covid cases, which, from Friday past, was being used to provide CT scans for non-covid patients. In the “Before Times” Harrogate relied greatly on the income from conferences and attendees.

The NHS’s contract to use the Convention Centre ends on June 30th.  Given the centrality of the centre to Harrogate’s economic future we need urgent information from the council about the plans for it. It may well be that the Department of Health and Social Care is hedging specialist beds capacity against a covid ‘second wave’ spike. It might just be that a decision is pending. Either way, any plan to get the town’s economy back on its feet needs the Convention Centre convening again, not least to generate some proportion of the £57m economic benefit it claimed to bring to the town in 2017/18.  Even the public acknowledgement of uncertainty by Harrogate Borough Councillors Cooper and Swift is better communication than saying nothing at all and signals to the local business community that they need to make contingent plans for a much straitened economic future.

No political column this week can fail to mention the killing of George Floyd.  As of writing, the charge against Minneapolis policemen, Derek Chauvin, has been elevated to second-degree murder and the other three officers face counts of aiding and abetting murder. Mr Floyd’s death was caught on video and, thanks to social media ‘shares,’ has now been seen by millions around the globe.

On Tuesday, activists asked us all to post a “Blackout Tuesday” black disc in place of our social media profile pictures and asked that we spend our time understanding how to combat the innate and institutionalised racism that the organisers say we are all guilty of, because we were born into white privilege.  While it is undeniable that the good and, let’s face it, mostly white burghers of genteel Harrogate cannot in any way appreciate the lived experience of an urban black Minnesotan, to extrapolate from that to a blanket charge of racism is wrong headed and dangerous.

Which is a clue for those of you who’ve asked why I won’t participate in discussion on social media.  A battle of ideas fought on social media can’t possibly have the space, tolerance and reasoned discourse needed if we are to bottom out loaded subjects like race and make progress toward real equality together.

I don’t believe it is possible or even wise to attempt to substantiate reason and complexity in 280 characters or, as Twitter says ‘less’ (when of course it should say ‘fewer’).  Titbits of virtue signalling, local bores, selfie whores, moaners and the ‘let’s all pile on kicking of those who made mistakes years ago, in contexts long forgotten’, are not of interest and gladden neither heart nor soul.

I celebrate the power of social media to reveal acts of criminal violence such as the killing of George Floyd but I also denigrate its dumbing down and silencing of real public discourse.

Some things are as simple as black and white; it’s just that most things are not.  Things in the public realm are and should be difficult. Reaching agreement and achieving compromise asks the best of us, while, IMHO (sigh), social media amplifies the worst.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.