Harrogate Spring Flower Show – 20 to 23 April 2023

Visitors to the Harrogate Spring Flower Show will be able to see a specially designed Community Garden organised by HIP, which celebrates these twinning links and milestones. 

New Zealand Garden Refurbishment – opening ceremony 22 April 2023 at 11am.

The New Zealand Garden within Harrogate’s Valley Gardens is being refurbished, with a newly commissioned sculpture supported by generous donors, and a locally crafted bench donated by Wellington, as well as new planting. An updated information board is also being added, with kind donations from the family of Tony Sissons who designed the 2010 garden.

Visit from the Mayor of Barrie – 21 to 24 April 2023

On 21 April we are delighted to be welcoming Mayor Alex Nuttall from Barrie for a few days. As well as seeing the town and visiting the Harrogate Flower Show to view the twinning community garden exhibit, he will attend the New Zealand Garden reopening, and be having meetings with local business leaders. He will also lay a wreath in memory of the 660 Canadian aircrew buried at Stonefall, including Flying Officer William Porritt from Barrie.

ANZAC day commemoration – 23 April 2023 at 1pm

On 23 April, the nearest Sunday to ANZAC day 2023, HIP will be commemorating ANZAC day at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Stonefall, Harrogate. Distinguished guests representing both the Australian and New Zealand Air Forces will be guests at the ceremony.

Australian and New Zealand aircrew who were stationed in and around Harrogate and lost their lives during the Second World War are remembered at ANZAC Day which is on the 25th of April each year.

For 2023, the commemoration in Harrogate will be on Sunday 23rd April 2023 at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery at Stonefall in Harrogate.

Also, in Valley Gardens, the New Zealand Garden which was first opened in 1954 is being redeveloped and will be formally re-opened on 22nd April 2023.

New features will include a sculpture commissioned for Yorkshire sculptor, Jennifer Tetlow, with the majority funded by a generous private donation, and the balance kindly funded by North Yorkshire County Council. Also a new oak bench has been donated by Wellington City Council, and this is being crafted locally by Richard Taylor of Joblings, West Tanfield in North Yorkshire.

The redevelopment of the Garden is supported by other generous private donations, and contributions made by both The Friends of Valley Gardens and Harrogate International Partnerships (HIP) in support of the Garden’s management by Harrogate Borough Council.

Harrogate International Partnerships has entered a team of eight fell-runners into the prestigious Aneto Trail races which will take place over the weekend of 9th-10th July in our twin town of Bagnères de Luchon.

The Aneto Trail is the highlight of the local trail running calendar and takes its name from the highest mountain in the Pyrenees. There are many trails that criss-cross the mountains above Luchon set against a background of stunning scenery. As one tourist site for the area says, “the spectacular views are just as likely as the steep climbs to take your breath away.”

Members of the Harrogate team have entered most of the races which range from 10km to a challenging 85km. The latter is appropriately called the ‘Ultra’ and starts at 5am!

Harrogate will celebrate the 70th anniversary of its partnership with Luchon in 2023.

Harrogate International Partnerships, kindly hosted by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission held the very first ANZAC ceremony at Stonefall Cemetery on Sunday 24th April 2022 just as our friends on the other side of the world were gathering in preparation for the traditional 5am Dawn Parades on 25th April.

The ceremony started with the Parade of Harrogate Air Cadets bearing the flags of Australia and New Zealand. This was followed by The Airmen’s Hymn led by Tewit Band. Addresses by Commander Matthew Radford of the Royal Australian Navy and Sub Lieutenant Andrew Chisholm (in both English and Maori) of the Royal New Zealand Navy were interspersed with songs led by Harrogate Grammar School student Lucy Hargreaves, again in both English and Maori. Harrogate Grammar School has entered a twinning arrangement with Scots College in Wellington and another HGS student, Sam Featherstone, read Wilfred Owen’s ‘The Send Off’. Gareth Gibbs led the remembrance part of the ceremony during which Cllr Trevor Chapman, the Mayor of Harrogate, and civilian and military representatives laid wreaths. Before the national anthems were sung HIP representative Kate Spencer read out a message from Andy Foster, the Mayor of Wellington. At the end of the afternoon’s proceedings attendees were treated to ANZAC biscuits.

There are 97 Royal Australian Air Force and 23 Royal New Zealand Air Force servicemen buried at Stonefall, four of whom came from Wellington. They are Charles Agnew, Alfred Churchill Lockyer, Terence McKinley and John Matthew Stack.

Photographs by R.Pearce

The City Council of Barrie, Ontario, Canada is set to establish the 7th June as Sir Robert Barrie Day.

This is to honour the anniversary date of the signing of the Twinning Certifcate with Harrogate, which was completed at Ripley Castle on that date in 2013, and the 180th anniversary of Sir Robert’s death.

Sir Thomas Ingilby was instrumental in the formation of the twinning relationship with Harrogate, and with a strong family connection. Sir Robert married Sir Thomas’s ancestor, Julia Wharton Ingilby, on 24 October 1816, and Sir Robert is buried at Ripley Church.

“In early 1824, Commodore Barrie took up the post of commissioner of the Naval Dockyard in Kingston, Upper Canada. He was instrumental in developing the facilities at Kingston, as well as supporting the building of the Rideau and Welland canals.

He came to the Barrie area to inspect the Nine Mile Portage, a key trading route from Kempenfelt Bay to the Nottawasaga River and Georgian Bay. Lady Julia Wharton-Ingilby, Barrie’s wife, thought the area at the end of Kempenfelt Bay one of most beautiful places on Earth and suggested they settle there.

In 1833, that area was named Barrie in his honour.

In mid-1834, Barrie returned to England and King William IV made him a knight commander of the Royal Guelphic Order. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1837 and knight commander of the Order of the Bath in 1840. 

Barrie lived in retirement in Swarthdale, Lancashire and died on June 7, 1841.”

Deputy Mayor Barry Ward, who was a guest of Harrogate for the 2019 World Cycling Championships, stated,

“It is always a good idea to celebrate our heritage and teach residents about the person our city is named after. Sir Robert Barrie had quite an interesting life, both as a military commander and administrator in what later became Canada. June the 7th marks both the anniversary of his death and the anniversary of the signing of the city’s agreement to make Harrogate (North Yorkshire, England), where he is buried, a twin city of Barrie.”

A full and intersting biography of Sir Robert can be found on Wikipedia, and can be accessed with this link:

Robert Barrie – Wikipedia