King Charles has built strong links with the Harrogate district over many decades.

He is patron of the Royal Hall Restoration Trust, a position he took up when the group faced the mammoth challenge of raising £2.7m to save the historic building.

Opened in 1903, the hall was forced to close less than 100 years later when part of its ceiling collapsed, leaving it in need of more than £13m of repairs.

An urgent project was undertaken to carry out repairs, led by Harrogate Borough Council and the Royal Hall Restoration Trust, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Once work was completed, King Charles officially opened the newly refurbished Royal Hall in 2008, welcomed by its chairman, the late Lilian Mina MBE.

In support of the trust, King Charles said:

“As Patron of the Royal Hall Restoration Trust, I am delighted to lend my support to the Trust’s efforts to raise the funds towards the restoration of this unique part of our national heritage.

“Over the past one-hundred years, this magnificent building has faithfully served the people of Harrogate and the surrounding district in many different roles.

“The inherent versatility of Frank Matcham’s brilliant concept for this theatre building has enabled the Royal Hall to be used for a range of purposes – from a cinema to a boxing arena, from an area for exhibition displays to a dance hall; from ballet to theatre performances, from school speech days to concert hall – the list is almost endless.

“It has truly justified the “act of faith in the future of the town” made by those far-sighted local leaders who were so inspirational in its creation and who saw it as a vital part of Harrogate’s future prosperity.

“I would urge you to support the appeal in any way that you can.”

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King Charles has other long-standing links to the Harrogate district.

King Charles is a freeman of the city of Ripon, an honour conveyed to him in 2002 for his support to the community.

A plaque was unveiled near the front door of the town hall to mark the occasion and the future king visited the city for the occasion.

His interest in farming and the countryside saw him become patron of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society in 1998, taking the role from the Queen who had held it since 1952.

His first visit to the Great Yorkshire Show was the following year, 1999. He returned in 2006, 2011 and 2015, accompanied by the Queen Consort.

Their last visit was last summer, when the show was held over four days for the first time in order to enable more social distancing during the covid pandemic.

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• ‘Fondly’ remembering the Queen’s visits to the Harrogate district

Members of an acting dynasty will be in Harrogate next month for the premiere of a play about their ancestor.

Samson Fox will be the focus for The Man Who Captured Sunlight at the Royal Hall, exploring the inventor’s life and his controversial legal battle with author Jerome K Jerome.

The play has been penned by Doctor Who writer Gavin Collinson and aims to celebrate the former mayor of Harrogate’s achievements – including building the Royal Hall.

It will be seen by Samson Fox’s great great grandson, the actor Freddie Fox, and his mother and fellow actor Joanna David, as well as other members of the famous family.

They will take part in a Q&A after the matinee on Friday, September 23, along with the actors and director Sian Murray.

Freddie, recently known for playing Mark Thatcher in Netflix series The Crown, said:

“Regardless of my connection with the Royal Hall, which I just think is the most amazing building anyway, I just think the notion of celebrating great new work, particularly as the story of Samson is so intrinsically tied to Harrogate, is utterly vital.”

Samson Fox grew up in poverty but went on to become a wealthy man and renowned inventor, responsible for revolutionising train travel, engine construction and street lighting.

On his death in 1903, King Edward VII sent a telegram of condolence to his adopted home town of Harrogate – but that, along with many of his other letters, medals and awards, were lost or destroyed over the years.

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The late Harrogate historian Malcolm Neesam found the royal telegram disintegrating in a skip when much of the former mayor’s heritage was ripped out in the 1970s.

Now, however, his story is being brought to life in a new play produced by Harrogate agency Cause UK. Director Clair Challenor-Chadwick said:

“Harrogate owes a great deal to Samson – as does the world, not just for his inventions and engineering legacy but his vital role in the arts.

“It’s fitting that the play has been written by Doctor Who writer Gavin Collinson, as it’s a bit of a time-bending scenario that without Samson, we wouldn’t have this incredible acting dynasty.

“As well as Freddie, Edward, James [and] Emilia, there’s also Robert Fox – the acclaimed theatre producer behind David Bowie’s last production, Lazarus.”

Freddie added:

“No-one would really know who Samson was, and yet if you trace the history of his inventions and the legacy of what they created now, he is probably one of the most important names in industry for this country.

“So yes, a bit of celebration of Samson’s genius is long overdue.”

Sponsored by the Gilbert & Sullivan Festival.

Audiences can double their fun at the Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Harrogate this year with a special buy one ticket, get one free FESTIVAL TASTER offer.

The 28th festival will open at the stunning Royal Hall on Wednesday, August 10, where it will be for 12 days of outstanding entertainment.

There will be 20 performances at the Royal Hall alongside a memorabilia fair with a programme of lectures, concerts and more.

During the festival you can enjoy shows from the National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company.

The company will bring all-time favourite The Pirates of Penzance, an enchanting production of Iolanthe and a lavish, rarely performed production of Utopia Limited.

An incredible crowd in the Royal Hall for the Gilbert & Sullivan Festival.

Opera della Luna, Charles Court Opera and Forbear! Theatre will also bring HMS Pinafore, The Mikado, Patience and an all-singing and dancing production of The Gondoliers.

So, if you have never seen Gilbert & Sullivan before, or your memories flash back to The Play That Goes Wrong in a draughty village hall, then the festival organisers would like you to join in the fun this year and see just how well it can be done.

There’s never been a better time to get involved with a rare buy one ticket, get one free offer. All you need to do is use code TASTER22 on the Gilbert & Sullivan website or by calling 01422 323252. This offer expires on Friday, August 9, 2022.

A rare original poster from The Beatles’ famous 1963 concert at Harrogate’s Royal Hall has fetched £2,800 at an antiques auction.

The poster was given to the seller in the early 1980s as a gift by a colleague who had worked at the Royal Hall in the 1960s.

The concert on March 8 was during the height of Beatlemania and was the group’s first and only Harrogate gig. It has since become part of Harrogate folklore.

The poster was sold at Ryedale Auctioneers in Kirkbymoorside last week with fierce interest from bidders.

Auctioneer Angus Ashworth said:

“The provenance was good, and the poster was in good condition commensurate with its age. We knew there would be plenty of interest, and bidding was fierce.”

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Last month the Stray Ferret visited the Royal Hall’s archives to look at a collection of bill posters from the 20th century.

Since opening as The Kursaal in 1903 it has welcomed some of the biggest names in entertainment, including The Beatles, Louis Armstrong and Little Richard.

Other huge names of the 20th century such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sir Ernest Shackleton also visited to perform lectures in Harrogate.

Bill posters from Harrogate’s Royal Hall show the venue has hosted a surprisingly varied range of performances including boxing, sea lions and even a game of football.

Since opening as The Kursaal in 1903 it has welcomed some of the biggest names in entertainment, including The Beatles, Louis Armstrong and Little Richard.

Other huge names of the 20th century such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sir Ernest Shackleton also visited to perform lectures in Harrogate.

A collection of bill posters from the Royal Hall’s past are held in its artifacts room. They were collected and donated to the Royal Hall by the late Mike Hine, who was a leading member of the Royal Hall Restoration Trust.

If you’d like to find out more about the history of the Royal Hall, it runs several open days throughout the year.

We’ve included some of Mr Hine’s collection below.

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TV architect George Clarke will share stories from a ‘Life in Amazing Architecture’ at Harrogate’s Royal Hall.

He will visit the town on October 18 as part of his debut live tour, which will give fans a glimpse behind the scenes of Mr Clarke’s hit series, including The Restoration Man, Amazing Spaces and Remarkable Renovations.

The live show will include audio-visual features, as Mr Clarke shares tales from his childhood, how he was inspired to pursue architecture, and how he stumbled into TV, as well as talking audiences through some of the architectural highlights of their local area.

The Sunderland-born architect is no stranger to Harrogate, having filmed a number of TV episodes in the town, including the restoration of The Chapel on Grove Road and the transformation of a 200-year-old dilapidated barn.

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Mr Clarke said:

“I’m just a storyteller, about people and about buildings. So to be going on tour, to be able to tell my story is amazing.

“I already felt like the luckiest boy in the world to do architecture, but to travel the country talking about architecture and my life – it’s off the scale amazing.”

Tickets for George Clarke’s Life In Amazing Architecture go on sale at 10am on Friday, March 11 from www.ticketmaster.co.uk

40 years ago two spandex-clad giants came to Harrogate.

The names Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks conjure up scenes of smoky ballrooms and chants of ‘easy easy easy’.

Harrogate’s opulent Royal Hall has hosted ballet, theatre and opera in its 120-year history — but for many people, it’s memories of big blokes wrestling that they cherish the most.

The Stray Ferret uncovered an advert for a tag team contest that involved Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks, which took place on a Monday night in February 1982.

Tickets cost £1.50 but it was £2 for ringside seats, a chance perhaps for the ladies to whack the wrestlers with their handbags.

Other household names such as Les Kellett, Jackie Pallo, Mick McManus and Kendo Nagasaki were also regular performers at the Royal Hall throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

The opulent Royal Hall regularly hosted wrestling. Credit – Jim Counter

“20 stone bull-necked brute”

Big Daddy, who was born Shirley Crabtree, was billed on the card as “children’s favourite, a hero of our time”.

The Halifax man was 6ft 6″ tall and had a record-breaking 64″ chest.

But even he was dwarfed on the night by his ring nemesis Giant Haystacks, who was billed as 6ft 11″ scaling a gigantic 40 stone. 

Haystacks reputedly ate three pounds of bacon and a dozen eggs every morning to maintain his strength. Paul McArtney and Frank Sinatra were fans.

Legend in Harrogate goes that after the match, Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks went for a drink at the cocktail bar in the Traveller’s Rest pub, but they both had to duck through the entry and just about filled the place on their own.

Also on the Royal Hall card in 1982 was Castleford wrestler, the “20 stone bull-necked brute” Mal King Kong Kirk.

But in a sad twist, he died in the ring after a trademark Big Daddy Splash and it was said Daddy was never the same man afterwards.

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Good memories

We asked members of the Facebook page Harrogate, Past, Present And Future if anyone had memories of the night in 1982.

Paul Mitchell said the fans went home happy after Big Daddy’s team won:

“Yes I remember, Giant Haystacks was disqualified before the bout started, so Big Daddy won”.

Jill Rimmel said she used to go to the wrestling at the Royal Hall with friends from work.

“There was a lady that sat ring side with her handbag that lashed out at the wrestler’s, so funny. I could have been there that night, good memories.”

Susan Aspey added:

“My mum used to work at the Royal Hall and I used to go and watch the wrestling sometimes. Jimmy Two Rivers was a favourite there as well.”

Harrogate Choral Society will welcome back one of its former longstanding conductors for a farewell concert this month.

Andrew Padmore was musical director of the society since 2005 until his retirement last year. But he has agreed to return to the Royal Hall on March 19 for a final performance.

The concert, which has been in the works since 2020 when it was postponed due to covid, includes Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and Rossini’s Stabat Mater.

Soloists include Sarah Power (soprano), Stephen Gadd (bass), Clare McCaldin (mezzo) and Austin Gunn (tenor). They will be accompanied by the choir and Manchester Camerata orchestra.

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The society is a mixed age, voice choir which has been running since the 19th Century.

Paul Jackson, co-chair of the choir, said;

“We are very pleased that Andrew is returning for this farewell concert, which includes, as Rossini himself rightly said, ‘music of the finest quality’. This will be an exciting evening.”

Tickets are £25 or £5 for concessions and can be bought from the box office at Harrogate Theatre.

The news that we are all facing extraordinary rises in energy prices, together with the forthcoming reorganisation of local government are but two aspects of the great lie and con trick played on us by decades of politicians and career officers, that bigger is always better.

It is this grotesque fallacy that has led to local people losing control of the services that they originally created, financed and administered, in exchange for services controlled by strangers for whom the screwing of as much profit as possible from their reluctant customers, with as low a service as possible, seems their only purpose.

Let me provide some examples relating to Harrogate, with the reorganisation of local government being a particularly topical issue.

Local government

The liars say that Harrogate has too small a population to be a unitary authority. Of course they say this, as it is in their interests to promote the concept of big authorities, as salaries and payments are invariably higher when applied to responsibility for a larger population as against a smaller one. They will say that the merging of – say – six local authorities will mean one chief executive instead of six, one borough planner instead of six, one treasurer, instead of six, etc. etc. Whereas in truth, the savings come at the dire cost of local people becoming further removed from control over the services for which they are paying.

Harrogate too small to be a unitary authority. Rubbish! Today, the Harrogate district’s population is around 161,000, that of the town being little over 75,000. Yet when Harrogate town had a population of only 26,583, about two thirds smaller than the Harrogate town of today, it was able from the yield of its local rates, to build the Royal Baths, the Royal Hall, a gigantic series of reservoirs and an unequalled water distribution network, to run its own electricity works, to build and run its own schools and pay the staff salaries, to administer its own fire services, run its own public health facilities and many other things. All this was possible because Harrogate had the authority to levy its own council rates (and to keep the greater part of the income) and for Harrogate’s Council to spend the proceeds in ways permitted by Acts of Parliament.

The Royal Hall, previously known as the Kursaal, at height of Edwardian season. Pic: Walker-Neesam archive

Yet today, thanks to the gradual erosion of local democracy, the present North Yorkshire County Council takes the vast majority of every pound paid in council tax by Harrogate residents, with much less going to Harrogate Borough Council. Is it any wonder that our democratically elected Harrogate borough councillors are hamstrung at every turn when they try to provide the services demanded by local residents? The secret of true local democracy has little to do with population sizes, and everything to do with financial control, which must include the power to set local taxation and the power to spend such taxation within the town that supplied it – such powers being determined by Parliamentary authority.

Naturally North Yorkshire’s councillors and career officers will seek to expand their spheres of influence, and to retain and enhance their existing stranglehold on Harrogate – it is absolutely in their interests to do so. But history shows that their ever increasing power to control our lives has been at the cost of local representation and accountability. The latest calamitous “reforms” of local government will further reduce the rights and powers of local people to control their own lives, with Harrogate becoming further prey to the financial leech which is bleeding the town to finance road repairs in Tadcaster, libraries in Skipton, schools in Easingwold, and social services in Selby.

Nevertheless, it remains my hope that one day – maybe in 50 or 100 years time – Harrogate will regain powers to control its own finances, and re-establish democratic control of its affairs by its citizenry.

Gas

When some Harrogate people decided the town should have access to a supply of gas, they obtained an enabling Act of Parliament in 1846, after which a gas works was built at Rattle Crag financed by local private shareholders.

After overcoming initial difficulties with the Improvement Commissioners, the gas company supplied the lighting of the public streets as well as gas for residential and commercial use. The profits produced went back into improving the gas plant and paying the salaries of those employed in the work, many of whom lived at New Park.

After several extensions of its area of supply, Harrogate’s gas company was nationalised by the Gas Act of 1948, which merged some 1,062 privately owned and municipal gas companies into 12 area gas boards.

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The York, Harrogate and District group of gas companies had already merged on 1 January 1944, comprising Harrogate, York, Malton and Easingwold, which were joined by the Yeadon, Guisley, and Otley companies on 1 October 1946. This arrangement, however, barely survived for two years, until the 1948 Gas Act changed everything.

With every enlargement, control of the manufacture, distribution and pricing of gas passed further away from the people who had created the company, and for whom its products were intended, to huge, impersonal and uncaring conglomerates.

This process has continued to this day, resulting in the crazy situation that Harrogate’s gas customers now have absolutely no control over the gas they use nor the rate at which it is priced. What would those Victorian founders have said on hearing that we are to some extent reliant on Russia for the continuance of our gas supplies?

Electricity

Electricity works opening ceremony in 1897. Pic: Walker-Neesam archive

In order to provide the people of Harrogate with an alternative to gas, Harrogate Corporation’s elected representatives built a Municipal Electricity Undertaking near to the site of the present Hydro, which opened in 1897.

The people’s democratically elected councillors regulated the supply and pricing of electricity with regard to the local situation, so that when in 1933, at the height of the terrible depression, many were experiencing economic hardship, the council reduced the unit cost of electricity from one penny to three-farthings.

When war came in 1939, Harrogate’s Electricity Undertaking was supplying 20,670 consumers, and selling 26,815,046 units of power, with a gross income of £178,857.

By the end of the year to March 1945, those figures had increased to 21,977 consumers, selling 39,254,676 units of power, with a gross income of £242,412 – an incredible achievement given the conditions of war time operation.

But in 1948, and by order of the government’s Electricity Act of 1947, Harrogate’s Electricity Undertaking was transferred to the enormous new British Electricity Board and thus removed from the town a valuable asset which had hitherto been controlled by local people.

Water

Turning on the reservoir water. Pic: Walker-Neesam archive

Just the same thing as described above applies to water. When a group of local people raised money to establish the Harrogate Water Company, following a Parliamentary Act of 1846, the townspeople supported the project, and the little company grew as the town grew.

In 1897, an Act of Parliament empowered Harrogate Corporation to buy out the private water company, which was then run purely for the benefit of the townspeople. Under the inspirational leadership of Alderman Charles Fortune, the corporation undertook a massive programme of reservoir and distribution construction, which ensured Harrogate had an adequate supply of water for the next 50 years.

Harrogate’s municipal water undertaking was one of the jewels in Harrogate’s crown until the 1945 Water Act, which paved the way for the creation of the huge Claro Water Board in 1958/9, which covered an area of 420 square miles, between one fifth and one sixth of the area of the West Riding of Yorkshire, with a population of 119,000. On such a scale, it was inevitable that the concern would no longer be run purely in the interests of the people of Harrogate, nor would its profits be returned to the local economy.

Malcolm Neesam, Harrogate-based historian

Cancelled shows and a huge roof renovation have made the last 18 months “very difficult” for Harrogate Theatres but the chair says it is going into 2022 “cautiously optimistic”.

Knaresborough-born Deborah Larwood, who has been visiting the theatre for years, worked in the arts sector for over a decade before she took a seat on the board four years ago. She then became chair in December 2019.

Harrogate Theatres is a charity that hosts events at Harrogate Theatre, Royal Hall and Harrogate Convention Centre.

Its biggest challenge during the pandemic has been generating enough income to cover costs whilst being unable to get on stage.

It has held online workshops, socially distanced theatre and launched its HT Together fundraising campaign.

Ms Larwood said initiatives like these and grants from the likes of Arts Council England have been crucial to the theatre’s survival and allowed it to plan for upcoming events.

Cinderella ends today

The biggest event for the theatre each year is its annual pantomime. As Cinderella comes to a close today, after running since November, Ms Larwood said she was pleased with its success although it is unclear how well tickets sold compared with previous years. She said:

“People’s habits have changed during the pandemic and some of our usual audience members still aren’t comfortable in the auditorium. We still had huge success in terms of ticket sales, but it was different especially with some schools choosing to cancel their trip.

“When we lost the panto in 2020 it was a significant worry because we rely so heavily on that revenue we earn.”

Some of the cast of this year’s pantomime, Cinderella. Photograph: Karl Andre

She added tickets for this year’s pantomime, Aladdin, are already selling with a number of schools also choosing to book.

Roof completion date still set for March 

One of the biggest projects undertaken in the last 12 months has been the roof renovation. The project has been managed by Harrogate Borough Council, which owns the building.

Work began in May last year and with multiple setbacks due to covid and building materials it is now due to be completed by March.

Ms Larwood said workers on site were “determined” to stick to that date.

The theatre roof during works in June 2021.

The board has been trying to recruit new trustees. Last year, Ms Larwood, said multiple trustees came to the end of their tenure, which gave the opportunity to bring in new people and expertise.

She said:

“The pandemic allowed us to refocus and its exciting to hear from new people who are equally as passionate as us about the arts.”

So far the charity has added Fiona Hunt to its board but plans to speak to more potential new trustees after panto season.

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‘Necessary evil’ to make people redundant 

During the pandemic the theatre made staff redundant in an attempt to remain open. Ms Larwood said it was a “necessary evil”.

Long-term closures in 2020 and 2021 meant a big loss in revenue. Ms Larwood said despite the grants, cuts had to be made.

However, the charity hopes to start recruiting again this year. She said:

“We had terrible levels of redundancies but we had to make sure we made it through the other side. Recruitment will begin in earnest, but it’s all about striking a balance. We need people but we live in a time of rapid change and hiring too quickly is a big investment to lose.

“Our core team has been amazing throughout, doing the job of a team normally two or three times its size. It’s now time for us to bring in new people as we move into a busy year.”