Activities continue, and plans have been coming together for events in 2026.

Bagnères de Luchon

• For Luchon, this year we have been pursuing sporting themes, given the growing importance of health and wellbeing. Our attention was focussed on fell running and cycling.

• Luchon once again held its annual Aneto Trail festival of mountain running races, with numerous events over three days from 3 to 5 July 2026. This year we were able to coordinate HIP/Harrogate representation with sponsorship and a team taking part. The Aneto Trail has grown rapidly and is now one of the most prestigious races in Europe – places sold out within 2 hours. The festival itself includes family and children’s races too. The video on this link gives a taste of the incredible landscape which defines the festival and the routes. https://en.luchonanetotrail.fr/

• As regards cycling, Luchon is one of the most frequently visited and historic towns for stage starts and finishes in Tour de France history, and is the cornerstone of many of the famous ‘climbs’ in the Pyrenees. On 13 September 2026 La Lapébie Cyclosportif featured a choice of three routes, with the the longest at 121km including 3,380 metres of ascent, and ending with the incredibly demanding climb up to Superbagnères – which in 2025 saw a Tour de France stage finish at the very top of the climb.
• A team of 10 cyclists from Harrogate travelled this year to represent the town, and Harrogate Mayor, Cllr Viv Poskitt, also headed their (at her own expense) to give support. Nearly 600 cyclists took part, with Emma Dooley from Harrogate being one of only nine women to complete the longest route. This event generated a lot of local press interest, and some superb photos and video footage – see our separate webpages reporting on the visit.

City of Barrie

• Along with our friends in Harrogate’s twin of Barrie in Ontario, we marked Sir Robert Barrie Day on 7 June 2026, and Canada Day 1 July 2026. Our twinning with Barrie came about because Sir Robert Barrie – after whom Barrie is named – has local connections having married into the Ingilby family at Ripley.

• Sir Thomas Ingilby gave a talk on 19 September 2026 at All Saints Church Ripley, to tell the incredible story of his relative Rear Admiral Sir Robert Barrie, the swashbuckling naval officer who enlisted at the age of 10, fought in the Napoleonic wars and the war of 1812, captured numerous enemy ships, and who is buried in Ripley All Saints’ Church.

ANZAC Day

• The Anzac Day Commemoration was on Sunday 26 April 2026 at 1pm, at the Stonefall War Graves Cemetery in Harrogate. Maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, this is one of the largest CWGC sites in the North of England.
• Buried at Stonefall are 97 Royal Australian Air Force crew, and 23 Royal New Zealand Air Force crew – four of whom came from Wellington, Harrogate’s sister city. There are also over 660 Canadian aircrew, one of whom came from Barrie, Ontario, which is also twinned with Harrogate. After the second world war, visitors came to Harrogate to visit their war dead, and one couple moved permanently from New Zealand to Harrogate to be near their son. The links which grew then remain important today.
• The ANZAC Commemoration in Harrogate is now organised by a separate Charitable Organisation which has been formed to take the Commemoration forward. www.anzacremembrancecio.org 

Town signs and other initiatives

• We are also continuing to work on some longer term initiatives, including town signs on each of the main roads approaching the town, which will welcome visitors and mention the twinning locations. Previous signs deteriorated and disappeared long ago, and seem to have not mentioned the twin towns. This has been a long term project for HIP, and will raise visibility of our twinning arrangements for visitors and residents alike, and hopefully will come to fruition before long.

• We will continue our efforts in exploring opportunities for vocational training exchanges, notwithstanding the complexity of current regulations which affect such arrangements.

And we were mentioned in Parliament!

• Unexpectedly, we were mentioned in Parliament by Tom Gordon, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, praising HIP’s contribution to supporting international links with key partners. He was speaking during a parliamentary debate on UK-France relations, and he highlighted that partnerships such as our twinning with Bagnères de Luchon helped to support relations at local level by boosting cultural tourism, encouraging residents to visit each other’s towns, and helping people form lasting personal relationships across borders. He also highlighted the educational benefits of twinning, including school links, cultural activities and exchange visits, and described such partnerships as a “clear example of soft power in action, helping to maintain important international relationships”.

Watch this space for further news as plans develop…!