Dear Reader: Real need for Harrogate Mayor + loving Harry & Meghan

A personal column by the Harrogate Advertiser's Graham Chalmers
The Harrogate Advertiser's Graham Chalmers.The Harrogate Advertiser's Graham Chalmers.
The Harrogate Advertiser's Graham Chalmers.

I was lucky enough to be a guest at the annual mayor making in Harrogate on Monday night.

It was probably the closest I’ll ever get to being invited to an investiture at Buckingham Palace.

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Without a chain of office or a splash of ermine I felt a little underdressed in the unfamiliar surroundings of the new, environmentally-friendly Harrogate Civic Centre.

There was so much ‘bling’ around thanks to the assorted councillors, mayors, high sheriffs, police chiefs and senior military officers it could have been a convention of rappers, asides from the obvious differences.

At one point someone appeared with a giant mace as if in a scene from the opening of the Houses of Parliament – or Game of Thrones.

As well as the announcement of the new line-up of cabinet members in the borough council where the Conservatives have the majority, there were respectful tributes to - and heartfelt speeches by – the outgoing and incoming mayors of the district.

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With the CV of four men’s lifetimes, the new mayor Bernard Batemen did well to keep his brief.

The previous mayor Anne Jones cut through the formalities with a passionate address about how much the community really appreciated the role in this day and age.

Handing over the glittering mayoral chains under everyone’s watchful eye proved a bit fiddly to say the least.

To be fair, the clanking civic links are actually fairly heavy, I’m told.

Who would have thought it in the 21st century?

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Like the the office of mayor itself, they’re not merely a matter of decoration, they still mean something.

The roads were eerily deserted on Saturday in Harrogate as, I suspect, they were in most places in the Harrogate district.

It could mean only one thing. Unless relations between nuclear rivals the USA and North Korea had taken a drastic turn for the worse, most of us were wrapped up in the royal wedding.

It’s a sign of changes times that’s street parties by her majesty’s subjects were thin on the ground, although churches did try to do their bit.

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Instead everyone seemed to be indoors glued to the TV or in the back garden enjoying fizz and barbecue with the TV set up in a prominent location.

Even I got caught up in the mania for Harry and Meghan.

I only meant to watch the start but, what can I say, it was a truly extraordinary occasion.

The whole thing brought back memories of a sadder time nearly 21 years ago in a different church; the funeral of a princess.

So unusual were Saturday’s events, they felt a little like the culmination of everything Di had fought for, and stood, for in her short life.