Bygone Harrogate

PRECIOUS SNAPSHOTS OF HARROGATE’S HISTORY


From 1997 until 2015 the late Malcolm Neesam (1946 – 2022) contributed a weekly column to the Harrogate Advertiser. Originally called “Bygone Harrogate” and later “Harrogate Heritage”, most of the topics he chose dealt with the history and heritage of our town. Even so, Malcolm could be a fearless, not to say fearsome, critic of modern Harrogate, and some of his criticisms were very frank.

In 1999 the Advertiser (as part of its millennium celebration) published a reprint in book form. Rather patronisingly they called it the best of Malcolm’s articles. Although no longer in print, second-hand copies are available online; thoroughly recommended to anyone with an historical interest.

But after Malcolm’s death we discovered that the Advertiser had binned their entire back catalogue. So we were delighted when Simon Kent (who had worked closely with Malcolm in his later years) re-created the original texts from the microfilm archive in Harrogate Library. The Advertiser agreed to reprint selected articles and the first, chosen by Simon, assisted by Paul Jennnings, appeared in late 2024. This was followed by a further ten, all of which are archived in the "History Articles" section of the Society’s website. Following a brief pause, I am delighted that a second batch is currently being published and archived monthly.

I am extremely grateful to Simon and Paul for all their hard work and delighted that the Advertiser is also happy for us to convert these articles into another book, perhaps at some later date.

Nigel McClea : Chair – History Group