Month: August 2023

Rugby tour to Barrie – July 2023

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At the end of July 2023, the first leg of an under 16s rugby exchange between Harrogate and Barrie saw the Harrogate team head off to Canada for a nine day visit.

Aside from the competitive rugby matches themselves, and the wonderful opportunities to make new contacts and friends, the local organisers had included some amazing visits and activities.

These included a visit to the spectacular Niagara Falls, going up the CN Tower in Toronto, a visit to a historical site dating from the time of the first settlements in the 1600s, and a taste of canoeing on the up-country lakes and rivers.

In Barrie itself, they visited the massive Spirit Catcher statue which overlooks the bay, went swimming in the lake at the foreshore beach, met Alex Nuttall the Mayor in the Council Chamber, and helped to mark Yorkshire Day on 1 August with the raising of the Yorkshire flag in Barrie.

Mayor Nuttall said:

“These young men were excellent ambassadors for Harrogate and their rugby club. They were a delight to host, and strengthened a rapidly developing link between our two towns. Both towns have so much to offer each other.”

There was much local coverage, including on the evening television news.

TV News video

Twin towns feature in 2023 town centre Floral Celebration, which wins RHS Britain in Bloom GOLD AWARD

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Harrogate’s twin towns have featured prominently in Harrogate town centre, as part of the town’s 2023 Floral Summer of Celebration.

Harrogate’s Floral Summer of Celebration is a two-week long campaign organised by Harrogate BID (Business Improvement District) which ran from July 21st to August 4th. It included ten unique floral displays around the town centre, celebrating the four twin town/city locations and other international links. The project involved a number of local businesses and was partnered by Helen James, the local florist who has won Gold at the Chelsea Flower Show.

The trail started near the war memorial with a globe showing the twinned locations, alongside the eye-catching obelisk which shows more detail for each one. A floral trail connected the exhibits, with explanation boards at each site. For those related to the twinned locations, these included a short summary of the connections and how they came about.

Harrogate has a well deserved reputation as a floral town, and the town sign outside Bagnères de Luchon says it is “Queen of the Pyrenees” and is twinned with Harrogate “Reine du Yorkshire – Cité des Fleurs” (“Queen of Yorkshire – City of Flowers”) so the reputation has spread far and wide.

Maintaining this reputation clearly takes a lot of planning and hard work by the local Parks and Environmental Services teams including its Horticultural experts, with similar efforts from local businesses, Harrogate BID, and other interested organisations for example those supporting Valley Gardens, the Pinewoods, RHS Harlow Carr and other spaces in and around Harrogate, as well as interested individuals and residents.

Advance notice of the Floral Celebration also featured the twin towns, with BID arranging for large attractive displays to appear on several vacant retail properties in key locations.

A truly stunning project, and it is great to see twinning and the town’s floral and international reputation given so much exposure right in the centre of town.

The Floral Summer of Celebration also formed a central part of the town’s presentation for the visit by the judges for the RHS Britain in Bloom UK Finals – Harrogate was selected as one of three finalists in the category for BID entrants, and judging took place on 26 July.

And so fingers were crossed until …

In October, at the national RHS Britain in Bloom awards ceremony in London, Harrogate was awarded the RHS BRITAIN IN BLOOM GOLD AWARD!!

Very well done to the BID team and all involved! What a superb achievement!